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@daeus-lamb Thank you for the detailed reply. It helps a lot.

This is a good point. From a writing perspective, Jesus’ life story is amazing–the perfect hero stands strong and fearless, teaching, leading, working wonders. He faces temptation, rejection, betrayal. Falsely accused, He is put to death. But that’s just the climax, not the end. He overcomes what no man could; He conquers death and sin. He, our Father-King whose breath ignited the stars and birthed our universe, won the victory for us, all for love’s sake. What story can be greater? No writer can do it perfect justice, but the potential is there.

True. Jesus’s parables are an example of this, aren’t they? His stories were sometimes vague or cryptic, but held powerful truths for those willing to look deeper.

Ooo, I need to give your novellette a read!

True. Even secular fiction can have positive messages; it often has in the past (not so much recently though, from what I’ve read/watched). But what I’ve not seen much of is fantasy that hints at the raw potency of God’s love and wonder. There are stories depicting the Gospel effectively (Chuck Black’s Kingdom Series for example, even though it “tells” rather than “shows” waaay too much), but they end there. They don’t show how a character, once walking with God, sees His beauty in life, despite the mundane or darkness. They don’t show the Spirit’s personal intimacy. Nothing in life is as exciting or fun!

I don’t know, maybe I’m wrong. Maybe there’s a good reason we don’t see such stories.

Oh, I appreciate your shotgun-spray post! Here, let me respond with one of my own.

May I share a brief overview of what I’ve been writing to give you a better understanding? Please, do be critical of my ideas.

It’s a story about a family living in a village in a northern kingdom (with influences from Germanic and Celtic tribes and Norse religion). Despite their simple lives, the family is happy.

Then an empire invades (think Rome’s Northern Frontier campaigns). The village is raided, but while the villagers are being taken as slaves, aid comes. The mother and father are among those rescued, while their son and daughter are taken to the slave ships.

The two POV’s are the father and son (though I might change it to the daughter’s for more of a different perspective). The father’s story is one of war. With his wife by his side (their strong love is the only romance in the story), he is determined to do whatever it takes to help his people turn the tides. Victory in war, he believes, is his only chance of seeing his children again.

The son’s story is less adventurous, more dramatic. He and his sister are now slaves. They struggle with the hardships of cruelty, including despair and depression. Escape attempts fail.

Now, here’s where God and the fantasy elements come in: both father and son (or daughter?) are the prophesied “Dreamers.” Dreams reveal to the father how the gods’ thrones are empty (his people’s rites and faith in their false deities will not bring victory). His dreams call him to find aid beyond their forests, leading him and his wife on a journey that, while tainted with battle and terror, reveals how vast and beautiful the world is. Overwhelmed by the masterful creation, yet convinced that his gods are false and incapable of such art, he comes to find “God” through these dreams (of the “Lion-Lamb”).

The son’s dreams are more related to what he’s experiencing (in fact, I could drop his dreams entirely; this will make the father more unique). While he experiences life’s pain, the Voice in his dreams whispers of true freedom. He arrives to find an empire that, despite its wealth and glory, is enraptured in its sinful ways and drunk on pleasure, yet discontent and unfulfilled. He questions life’s purpose. Still the dreams insist there is more than the world, more than the mundane; there are joy and destiny to be found.

He finds it either through dreams, like his father (in which case the “Christ’s” death and resurrection have already occurred, and he’s converted to this new religion much like many Muslims, Islams, Buddhists, etc. that don’t know of Jesus yet encounter Him through visions), or through meeting a living character that will be “Christ” in the final stages of ministry (in which case he will witness the physical miracles, death and resurrection).

From there, both their journeys continue (though I won’t flood you with the remainder of the story). Salvation is not the end; it is the turning point, where the son experiences the Spirit’s presence and starts living a new life, even as a slave. A life that maybe, just maybe, will affect an empire. The father finds a living God to draw strength from, and though he still endures battle (now with appreciation for mercy), a new fire guides him.

Is it necessary for them to encounter God at all? Well, I’m not sure a boy enslaved could find any such hope and peace but in God. I’m not sure any man in the father’s position could face the terror rushing at him with a positive heart unless he knew the victory is already won.

Anyway, I’m still in my first draft, so these ideas aren’t set in stone. My plan was to write a trilogy, but I’ve been considering dropping the son’s POV and structuring the story into a single novel, which could easily remove the whole salvation story. It’ll then just be a father fighting for his children, which I guess can still hold a good message.

Wow, these comments really don’t have length limits, huh?
(This is a repost. Either I accidentally deleted it the first time, or something weird happened.)