How To Write Christian Fantasy-Putting God In The Mix

@godlyfantasy12

Ooh, this is something I’ve been thinking about too.

The trick is that you have to balance between being clear when God acts, but not heavy handed.

You could try something like this:

God intervenes at the character’s darkest hour in their internal conflict. Set things up so that as the character is wrestling with themselves it becomes clear that they will lose. God can intervene by just planting a seed. Something that they didn’t realize before that allows them to win their internal struggle. I haven’t tried this, but on paper it seems like it would work. For one thing, it doesn’t make it feel like God is solving all their problems for the character (which isn’t usually something you want in a story) because He only gave them a small bit of aid that let them win their internal struggle and also, the external climax is still ahead, which the character will now be able to solve, having won the internal conflict. In this scenario, God only provides a little push, but it ends being the thing that allows the character to triumph in both the internal and external conflicts.

Does that make sense? Was that helpful? Not sure if that was exactly what you’re looking for.

Sooo… I’m actually having a bit of the same problem… so I’ll just stick around and see what everyone else says… *subscribes*

@godlyfantasy12

I used to struggle with that, but I don’t really think about it that much XD I just kind of go for it?

Do you want me to post a scene for an example?

Sorry, I know I’m not much help.

@godlyfantasy12

(I almost put @marcel 🤦🏻‍♀️ ROFL)

Oh my XD I have an imaginary representative at the helm.

I like that about Luna, where it’s subcontext and stuff! Makes sense!!

Good! I have a hard time practicing subtext myself, but that’s okay. We’re learning.

@godlyfantasy12

@every-one else who commented on here gave such good advice as I’ve struggled with this myself!

I don’t know if it helps but in one WIP I had to set aside for the time being (it was too complex, needed to take a step back to reorganize later), my God-figure was included like you demonstrate, but was treated more as an enigma or an eldritch being without the horror, yet was still compassionate and kind, and deeply affects my protagonist. Bottom line, hinting and foreshadowing and treating Him as an extremely powerful and mysterious being is how I went about it, the main character dosen’t really know who or what he is until later in the story after the initial NDE that he had which made him experience this, and it’s always in the back of his mind throughout the rest of it, even though he dosen’t know a thing about religion.

If you want some good examples of a god-figure included like how you describe, almost anything George Macdonald related (The Princess and the Goblin and the Princess and Curdie are great examples) the Wingfeather Saga by Andrew Peterson, and if you want a webcomic example, I recommend Children of Eldair by JemmaMYoung on Webtoon, it’s unfinished, but what I’ve read so far is really good and she includes deity-like beings in an interesting way. (BTW there is mild gore, but it’s about Lord of the rings caliber, minus the “meat’s back on the menu, boys!” scene, but it does hurt a bit to watch as it happens to endearing characters), and there’s mythology, which is also including God-figures.

Also, think of ways your god-figure has impacted the world. Think of the Tower of Babel, the Great Flood, Mt. Siniai (look up the real mt. Sinai, it’s SUPER cool!) and the parting of the Red Sea as real-world examples. For fantasy, there’s the Stone Table that is cracked, the sunken part of Malacandra, and probably more that I can’t think of at the moment. Your God-Figure is a character in this story who has done things and will continue to do them. These types of large-scale events can illustrate how truly powerful this figure is and give us a glimpse into his nature.

As an example of this applied, in my WIP, my god-figure gave all the blood in his body to provide the world with water after a cataclysmic drought, and now the world has no ocean, but a couple large lakes and rivers that eventually turn into marshes that turn into an endless desert, with saltwater no longer existing but for one well maybe (I’m still worldbuilding and figuring a lot of this out) and all water contains a small amount of magic that affects every living thing, causing humans to be able to control animals, and elves to control plants (but there are some conditions to both these things) all based on a being’s retention of the magic that exists in the water (which is a will-amplifier/life force). It’s not perfect, but it’s the basic gist of how it works.

I hope this helps you!

@koshka

Anyway, I hope that was a little helpful to someone. My question is, What do I tell heart broken kids when their favorite character dies? (In other words, how to write Heaven and Hell in middle-grade animal fantasy.)

First off, the tips you gave were excellent!

Secondly, I’m not sure, whenever I’ve tried to do it (before I felt that the character didn’t really need to die) I considered showing a glimpse of that afterlife, or have the characters feel content as they can with dying. One character’s (temporary) last scene was being lead off by the God Figure, and the character feeling at peace, another his soul is seen after he dies and he looked relieved and happy before disappearing, and another the character he died realizing he was loved and had the forgiveness he’d fought his whole life for. but of course I keep on swinging between killing or sparing on this issue lol because I’m a softie with my characters.

I think mainly, imply, hint, and foreshadow before something happens, sublty of course. And if you want the readers to feel better about the death, be sure that they can tell the character is somewhat at peace with it. Don’t shy away from how it hurts the other characters, but definitely don’t make it feel meaningless. Make sure the character needs to die for the story’s benefit, and if so, don’t worry if it hurts your readers, just make sure there are other good characters who can carry the story in their absence.

Also, your “christian” characters (“” because you might have a different name for the religion, or keep things loosely implied) be content in some way like if formerly stated, even if they leave things unfinished, and your evil characters, if they are killed off, can have a negative emotion of some kind, not at peace.

I don’t know what to do exactly if you plan on including the afterlife in your story, I only ever hint at it or loosely imply it. For example soul-eating monsters versus a mysterious and powerful God that takes souls into his domain from one WIP on the sidelines, or literally becoming angels in another WIP that is on the back-burner till later.

Here are some examples of people who have done this, *MILD SPOILER WARNING!*

Wingfeather Saga does this well, but I’m not spoiling it for you even though it made me cry.

LOTR does this superbly, telling us about the afterlife off and on long before the implied death happens.

Chronicles of Narnia is probably one of the best examples. again won’t spoil, but will imply.

Beyonders by Brandon Mull does this well too, but I can’t spoil this either, it’s better to be surprised, but there are several deaths, and they affect the rest of the story.

The Space Trilogy also does this well, evil faces terrifying ends at the hands of their own wrongdoings, and the good guy who passes goes peacefully. Again won’t go into further detail, as books 2 and 3 are more adult reads than kid-friendly, even though they aren’t too graphic.

@koshka

You’re fine!

Ahh that makes sense!

Beyonders is a middle-grade fantasy trilogy, and it’s quite well-done, but not written from a particularly Christian perspective, (I think the author is Mormon? but it doesn’t greatly affect the story, but a certain character that only appears for a brief time is similar to the oracle of Delphi)

The Space Trilogy is written by C.S. Lewis and is an adult fantasy story (completely forgot this might not be an ideal reference for a teen site, as it has some heavy themes in books 2 and 3). It is AMAZING, but be prepared, the villains are super dark, but not dark enough to overshadow the good (It’s C.S. Lewis so it’s tactful). I don’t know how old you are (and you don’t have to tell me!) but go into this awesome series prepared for some heavy topics, (tv 14+ if it was a movie rating) and ones surrounding marriage (again, 14+ but tactful, but might raise questions you’re parents could be waiting to discuss with you). I read this series around 17 or 18 years old too, for reference. I included this without thinking as it was late when I responded to you lol, but if you’re younger, do get your parent’s opinions and probably only read book 1 until you’re about 17 or 18. Again, these books are really good, I cannot overstate that, but if you decide to read it, it has about a 14+ rating, and would be steeper if a movie. they aren’t light reading in books 2 and 3. But if you’ve read/like Ray Bradbury and C.S. Lewis, you may like this.