Pitfalls When Writing YA Christian Fiction

Because most novels for teens are written by adults, they sometimes forget what they liked to read as teens. In YA Christian fiction, adult authors want to produce novels that contrast or contradict themes in the secular market. But that attitude can lead to pitfalls when writing YA Christian fiction.

Too Perfect?

The key to creating a main character for a YA novel is to make them likable and relatable. But sometimes adults authors want to make their teen main characters (MC) role models for teen readers. That’s not bad in itself. But if authors think the only way to create a role model is to create a perfect main character, the story will suffer for it and turn away readers. A perfect teen MC is not relatable and eventually will become unlikable. All major characters need flaws and giving the MC of a Christian fiction novel flaws makes them human.

Too Easy?

Teen MCs also need to wrestle with their problems. Giving a teen a problem that is solved simply by listening to an adult is not only unrealistic but also undramatic. As a parent of teens, I know full well there are times I’m not sure what advice to give my kids. Or I do know what they should and tell them, but then I have to let them come to agreeing with that view in their own way and in their own time.

Since I have to let my own teens struggle with their own problems, I should do the same for my teen MC and, honestly, all my characters. Authors of YA Christian fiction need to show how our faith works in a complicated world. Our faith does have the answers, but often it’s a struggle to discover what that answer is, and teen readers benefit when they see teen MCs with struggles they can relate to.

Many rookie authors, regardless of genre, have a hard time letting the characters they like suffer. But the suffering and struggle is what makes the characters grow and is the gas that propels the story vehicle.

What do you think? Should characters be flawed and struggle? Writers, is it hard to make your characters flawed and give them struggles?

Here are more tips on writing Christian fiction.

August 28, 2025 0

Bible Verses for When You Feel Content

As we wrap up this month’s theme of Christian fiction, my final Monday Sparks are bible verses for when you feel content. I think joy and content are two sides of the same feeling. To me, joy is the excited, cartwheel-turning, I-have-to-tell-everybody-about-it thrill while content is quiet satisfaction. I’ve experienced both emotions about the same event, person or situation. Usually, the joy comes verse, followed by the contentment. Here are verses that seem to demonstrate contentment.

Psalm 16:5-6

Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup; you make my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance.

I love this verse. It reminds be to appreciate all kinds of blessings.

Habakkuk 3:17

Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.

Hebrew 13:5

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have.

What verses do you know that show contentment?

Here are more posts on writing Christian fiction.

August 25, 2025 0

Using Names from the Bible for Characters

My youngest goes to a Christian high school and has many classmates named Luke, Ben, and Caleb. There’s a little more variety to the girls’ names, but my niece went to a small Catholic grade school and had five Graces in her class. So if you want to try using names from the Bible for characters, try find unusual ones. But, of course, the name has to fit the character.

The Fun of Finding Unusual Names

I love naming characters. It’s more fun than naming my kids because I don’t have to consult anyone. I have almost unlimited freedom, but I should follow one of the golden rules of naming characters–names should be easy for readers to pronounce . If the name is Tchakach, but it’s supposed to be said “Take”, don’t use it. Here is my post on the two golden rules for naming.

A third rule to keep in mind is the reputation of the name. Ahab and Judas are easy for English-speakers to pronounce. But they come with a ton of baggage. There’s a reason Herman Melville named his mad captain Ahab. If you use a Biblical name like that, you have to consider the impression it will make on readers before they’ve gotten to know the character.

Following those rules, here are some overlooked Bible names that will make your characters stand out. I put “f” for names that are traditionally female, but for English-speakers, many of these names could suit either gender.

Abel, Amasa, Boaz, Bilhah(f), Cozbi(f), Damaris(f), Dinah(f), Emmanuel, Festus, Gad

Haggar(f,) Hiram, Huldah(f), Ibzan, Japheth, Jehu, Joab, Joram, Justus, Keturah(f)

Kish, Laban, Merab(f), Mishael, Neco, Nemuel, Onan, Oreb, Palti, Rizpah(f)

Rumah(f), Sally, Sceva, Sharar, Shem, Shua, Terah, Tema, Tobijah, Vashti, Zebul, Zeba

Biblical place names that can work as given names.

Edom, Haran, Rome, Zioń, Canaan, Aram, Emmaus, Gilead, Nazareth, Zair

Carmel, Galilee, Havilah, Sinai, Bethel, Beulah, Cana, Judea

Virtue names that go beyond Faith, Hope, and Charity

Content, Mercy, Justice, Temperance, Patience, Peace, Zeal

Cherish, Honesty, Able, Prudence, Honor, Truth, Noble

Here are more tips for writing Christian fiction.

August 21, 2025 0

Bible Verses for When You Feel Joyful

After highlighting verses for the darker side of human experiences, this week I’m focusing on Bible verses for when you feel joyful. I love the verses in which the writer personifies nature to describe joy.

Isaiah 55:12

You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you.

Isaiah 61:10

I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God.

Psalm 114:6-7

Why, mountains, do you leap like rams, you hills, like lambs? Tremble, earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Israel.

Zephaniah 3:17

He (God) will take great delight in you; in His love He will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.

Luke 15:3-6

Then Jesus told them his parable: Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, “Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.”

Psalms 144-150

These seven Psalms may be the most joyful section of the Bible. I feel like turning cartwheels after reading them. Here’s one of my favorite verses, Psalm 149:4

For the Lord takes delight in his people; he crowns the humble with victory.

What Bible verses do you read when you feel joyful?

Here is more writing inspiration from the Bible.

August 18, 2025 0

What Christian Fiction Isn’t

If you are unfamiliar with Christian fiction, you may have some preconceptions about these kind of novels and short stories that may be inaccurate. This was brought home to me when my college-age niece read the short story that kicked off my Rae Riley Mysteries, “A Rose from the Ashes”. She wasn’t expecting a story about a girl looking for her father because her late mother wasn’t sure of his identity. So here are a three points about what Christian fiction isn’t.

Christian fiction isn’t disguised sermons

At least, it shouldn’t be. If a work of fiction comes across as a sermon, then the author should really have written a nonfiction book. In Christian fiction, like in the secular market, the story is king. All the elements the author puts into a story should serve the goal of the story.

For me, that’s a mystery. If I put in a faith element that doesn’t mesh with the mystery, I have to take it out. Since my main character Rae Riley is a Christian, it’s easy for me to incorporate her faith as she solves a mystery because her behavior is based on her faith. But I still have to weave her code of conduct into the overall goal of solving a mystery.

Christian fiction isn’t only about pleasant topics

A lot of Christian fiction tackles a lot of serious topics. What hard topics a writer includes depends on the audience he or she is writing for. I write cozy mysteries. Those readers don’t like violence or sex dealt with in a graphic way, either in the Christian or secular market. I also write for teens, who have parents, and have to keep that audience in mind as I write.

In A Storm of Doubts, Rae’s father, Sheriff Malinowski, discovers a body that’s been in the woods a few days in the summer. When he tells the closest relation that he has to get fingerprints to verify it’s the person he suspects it is, I don’t go into detail about why fingerprints are necessary. And that makes sense for the sheriff not to go into detail either because he’s being sensitive to the feelings of the closest relation. So he just says the body had been damaged because it’s been exposed to the elements. Readers can fill in the gaps in their imagination without me filling in grisly details they don’t like.

Christian fiction isn’t only about a salvation storyline

Even readers of Christian fiction, if they haven’t read very widely in the genre, think there always has to be a character who moves from unbelief to belief. The Christian faith covers all life experiences, and any one of those can be used as the basis for a plot or growth of a character.

I’ve written three novels, and no character has a salvation arc in them. In my latest one, Rae and her family deal with different kinds of fear. Fear is a huge part of life, and my characters confront it based on their beliefs.

So now that I’ve told you some of the things Chrisitian fiction isn’t, if you read Christian fiction, what do you think are the common denominators in the genre?