First, I need to clarify something (and this topic will be for another day!) I am writing for a specific group of people.
Christians.
A Christian is someone who is called by Jesus Christ, bought by Jesus Christ's blood, and live a life conforming to Jesus Christ.
This is my chosen audience, if you are not a Christian, you are welcome as my audience, I pray that Jesus Christ would ransom you just as He has me!
But, I am writing as a Christian, for Christians.
This is why today's topic has come up, and is very important.
Is the gospel in your novel?
When I write stories, I plainly speak from a christian view, yet that is not always a necessity. C.S. Lewis did a fantastic job of presenting the gospel throughout his books in the Chronicles of Narnia. Another way of doing this is by presenting the ideas of the gospel, salvation, and redemption, you may fancy JRR Tolkien's various books.
It is important to have the gospel in your writing, because we are to do everything unto the Lord, and we are also designed to be creative, part of this is taking every thought captive to Christ. You know as do I, that what is written is first a thought in the authors mind. By taking these thoughts captive and placing them into submission to Christ's will, we are able to craft brilliant stories!
Now, what I am not saying is that ingenuity is taboo, or that fiction is bad, or that silly tales are frivolous. Rather, what I am saying, if you are giving effort and time to something, aka your novel, then it needs to represent Christ, just as you and everything you do, represents Jesus Christ.
Obviously, if you are sticking to the NaNoWriMo rules, then you are writing fiction. If you are attempting to write 50,000 words in 30 days, then you need to be ingenious. If you try doing everything in your life plus NaNo, then some of your writing will become frivolous from sleep deprivation.
If you prefer not to present the gospel as the most obvious point of your story, use the mind that God gave you and be creative in how you do things.
The character of Gollum is an epic example. He's the one who knew the truth, but never absorbed it, submitted to it, and proclaimed it. The evil consumed him and it was his ruin.
So, use the imagination that God gave you and enjoy creating awesome stories with clever characters and intricate plots!
Matthew 22:34-40
"But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”"
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