Write2Ignite

“Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.”

― Neil Gaiman, Coraline

With tales full of wonder, hope, and endless imagination, it isn’t hard to see why fantasy is a popular genre. But how do we go about writing Christian fantasy that is glorifying to God? Where do we begin when creating a new world for our stories? What tropes do readers expect to see in fantasy written for a young adult or middle grade audience?

This past Saturday, Write2Ignite invited several authors and editors to speak on these and other questions facing Christian fantasy writers. The whole day was full of great information, good community, and incredible encouragement.

A Quick Overview of the Day:

Master Class Teacher Amy Earls led three fantastic workshops teaching the foundations of worldbuilding, plotting, and crafting a novel. Her sessions offered helpful tools and tips, and introduced attendees to a treasure trove of resources to explore.

Along with the three main workshops, the Master Class also included interviews with two guest editors and a panel discussion with three fantasy writers. In the morning, Dr. Jen Lowry, President of Monarch Publishing, shared about Monarch’s purpose and what she looks for in submissions. During the author panel, Erin Greneaux, Gillian Bronte Adams, and H. R. Hess dug into everything from how creativity can reinforce biblical principles to ways to approach magic in your stories. To finish off the day, Champ Thornton, PhD, an Acquisitions Editor at Crossway, shared advice for building your craft as a writer.

Each speaker shared so many useful tidbits that it’s hard to summarize all that I learned. However, here are a few of my favorite takeaways from the day:

3 Takeaways from Writing Christian Fantasy:

1 = Incorporating Faith Themes when writing Christian fantasy

One of my favorite topics that Amy Earls discussed was how to incorporate faith themes in our writing. She mentioned two practical considerations to keep in mind when weaving biblical themes into our stories.

First, she talked about the importance of thinking about your audience. Who we want to write for can impact whether we talk about God directly or allude to Him through our themes; our target reader can also affect what content we choose to include. This is true in any genre, but especially in fantasy, there are many topics that not all Christians are comfortable with. Knowing who we want to gear our books toward can help us decide what direction we want our worlds to take.

Second, Amy Earls encouraged us to consider our character’s greatest fears. How our characters handle and overcome fear offers an opportunity to show God at work in their lives.

2 = Writing Redemptive Stories

Pairing well with Amy’s discussion of faith in fantasy, one of the major topics during the author panel was redemptive stories. Erin Greneaux shared a wonderful breakdown of the three parts of a redemptive story arc. First, our characters need to be able to fail. Second, their failures need to have consequences. Third, the characters must find reconciliation outside of themselves. While we want our characters to have the agency to solve their own problems, the strength for redemption is not something we can give to ourselves. Just as we need Christ to save us, our characters need hope that doesn’t rest in their own abilities.

3 = The Treasure Trove of Resources

I mentioned earlier that Amy Earls had a wealth of resources that she shared with us, and the other speakers offered some great books, websites, and podcasts to check out as well. (Not to mention all the wonderful sounding fantasy novels they talked about as examples. My to-be-read list grew significantly by the end of the day). So before I wrap up, I just want to share a few of the tools that were mentioned.

World Anvil —

This worldbuilding website offers a wide range of features such as interactive maps, timeline creators, world building templates, and spaces to keep notes on your world’s history. Amy Earls recommended planning key features of your world before you begin writing, and she suggested this website to assist in that creative process.

The Ink Mages Podcast —

Want to learn more about fantasy as a genre? Dr. Jen Lowry suggested checking out the Ink Mages Podcast, which discusses everything from myths and legends to story craft and world-building.

Story Embers—

Story Embers offers classes as well as a blog and podcast to help Christian storytellers grow in their writing.

“The Five Types of Christian Fiction”—

Champ Thornton went over the Five Types of Christian fiction mentioned in this article by Jake Doberenz. The categories show that Biblical truths can be woven into our works in different ways. It’s a helpful breakdown especially if you’re struggling to decide how you want to write your story, or if you’re trying to figure out if your book fits with a Christian publisher.

16Personalities—

One of Amy Earls’s suggestions for creating characters was to take the 16Personalities quiz for each of your characters. Figuring out your character’s personality type can help give inspiration and insight into how your character might act in different situations, and can help give different levels to their development.

Final Thoughts:

I always thoroughly enjoy Write2Ignite Master Classes, and the class on Writing Christian Fantasy was no exception. Few things refresh my writing motivation more than gathering with other writers (even virtually) and learning from those who are experienced in the craft. I’m so glad I got to participate. If you weren’t able to join us for this class, I would definitely recommend checking out the next class in the fall. Classes and conferences are a great way to connect with others in the writing community, and those relationships offer encouragement to keep going.

If you were able to attend, what was your favorite takeaway from the event?