The Rules for Writing Christian Fiction

If you've ever had a novel idea that had too much Christian content to please the average secular publisher, perhaps you've considered submitting to one of the Christian publishers. You may have even considered a Christian publisher because you thought it might be easier to find a publisher that way, this may not be true, by the way, but a Christian publisher might be a good opportunity for you. But in order to write good Christian fiction, you must learn the rules.

The world of Christian fiction has changed over the past few decades. It includes most genres, romance, mystery, historical, fantasy, science fiction, in fact, everything other than the sex novel. It's important for the aspiring Christian fiction writer to begin to read widely in Christian fiction.

A highly important consideration is whether the would-be Christian fiction author is, in fact, a Christian in matters of faith. It's not enough to have been born to Christian parents, to have been baptized, or to have attended a few Sunday school or catechism classes as a child. You have to have a current and up-to-date faith to be a Christian writer, and that's something that isn't easy to fake.

Most Christian publishers want non-denominational stories. The recommendation is often given, instead of calling your main character's church 'Good Shepherd Baptist Church', just call it 'Good Shepherd Church'. My gleeful smart-aleck response is, oh, instead of 'Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church', just call it 'Our Lady of Lourdes Church'. Seriously, most Christian publishers are evangelical Christians, and hope to reach as large an audience as possible by not being too denominational. As for the Catholic writer, you will either have to tone down the Catholic content considerably or seek a Catholic publisher.

What about the Christian message of your fiction? While some publishers traditionally wanted a conversion to Christianity as part of the story, that's no longer necessary with most. Stopping the action of your story to deliver a sermon is frowned upon. Having a Christian message that is so subtle most readers miss it can also cause you problems.

There are some issues that might cause you problems with the less 'edgy' Christian publishers--- abortion, adultery, teen pregnancy and other such strong issues, even if dealt with from a Christian perspective, don't fit in with certain Christian publishing lines. Again, check it out before you submit.

You may think you know all the other rules for keeping your content Christian-friendly--- no explicit sex, no profanity. But many publishers have rules that the average Christian doesn't know about--- a legacy from the earlier history of the evangelical churches. You may be asked not to have your characters drink alcohol, play cards, or dance. And words like 'gosh', 'gee' and 'darn' may be forbidden as 'minced oaths'--- in other words, they are substitutes for misusing the name of God or Jesus, or for the word 'damn'. These particular rules may seem silly, but they are still an issue for some people and you may need to abide by them to get published in some places.

Another important rule is that your writing must be your best quality work. Christian publishers have more than enough submissions that they don't need to accept second best; if you send them first drafts or second rate fiction, don't be surprised by rejection.

Christian fiction is an exciting world, and you may well find that it's something you want to be a part of. Once you have learned the rules for writing Christian fiction, you will be able to produce works which have a chance for acceptance.