Character conversions and death

[Hope Ann]

So, I was thinking the other day about how much more a Christian author has to do when writing a Christian story than a ‘normal’ author has to do. And this mainly has to do with characters being Christians. In a ‘non-Christian’ story, a bad guy might redeem himself and die in the process and it’s somewhat sad but everything is as it should be. In a Christian story, a bad guy could die for the others, but he either needs to become a Christian as well or else the death is even sadder because he’s not a Christian and so, even though he’s done something noble, he’s still not saved.

Anyway, this isn’t so much a question as a discussion, but what are your thoughts on this. And what do you think about conversions in stories as well as ways to make conversions realistic without repeating yourself (if there end up being multiple conversions) as well as bringing good points across without getting preachy. What book or movie conversion do you think are really good (or really bad and examples of what not to do. 😉 )?

• This topic was modified 8 years, 9 months ago by Hope Ann.

INTJ - Inhumane. No-feelings. Terrible. Judgment and doom on everyone.

[Daeus]

Taken from Daeus’ Encyclopedic Unabridged Fictionary of the English Language.

A good conversion is:

.Essential to the plot. If you don’t have to rewrite the story by taking it out, it will probably seem thrown in there.
.Carefully built up to. This is just the way it is with any character arc. The reason for the incident that led to his conversions should make sense and be part of the overall plot. the reasoning that brings him to the conviction of christ should be subtly presented or displayed in the earlier parts of the story.
.Comprised of two unique characters. When we write a conversion scene, we may be tempted to turn on our analytical minds and run wild with facts, philosophies, and reasoning tricks. That’s all good and well, but it leaves out the fact that we are actually dealing with real people with unique personalities and emotions. It is highly important to display those. The great fervor, fear, or faith of the one sharing; the doubt, the annoyance, perhaps anger, the nagging feeling that the other may be right – these things felt by the one hearing. This subject is closely tied into the realm of realism. If a character would make a certain argument or express a certain fear, that must be done. One trouble we may face is trying too hard to convert our readers. I am convinced our primary goal should be to convert our character. It is the same message, but we may not go into the same arguments or in the same way. If you think about it, if the whole plot is leading up to a character’s conversion and then you make that scene more about the reader, there’s going to be a disconnect. Really, as fiction writers, we have a disadvantage in this area. We have no keep our philosophical aims narrow. Our advantage, however, is that we can take that narrow realm of truth and expand it into a larger than life thing. We also have a deeper level of connection with our reader and we can reach a wider audience.

Troddle toe. If I think of more, I shall return.

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