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

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?

Here are more posts on writing Christian fiction.

August 14, 2025 2

What Is Christian Fiction?

Since Christian fiction is my theme for the month, I should provide a definition for what is Christian fiction. To prepare for this post, I tried to find a very helpful blog post I read awhile back. In the process, I found a variety of definitions for the genre, not all of which I agreed with. So the definition I provide here is based on my own writing process and thinking and the definition used by many professionals in the Christian fiction industry.

Christian Worldview

Many times when I visit a page for a Christian writers group or publisher, they post a list of what they publish or represent. Often this includes they are looking for stories that demonstrate “a Christian worldview.” One publisher I found puts “Evangelical Christian worldview.” Since the Bible is a big book, what does that mean? Below are the basics of that worldview.

Theres is a God and He created the universe and all the people in it.
Sin is to disobey God, and it cuts us off from Him.
Jesus is God’s son and God himself. His choice to take the punishment for our sins gives us a chance to reconcile with God.
When we accept the gift of forgiveness, we spend the rest of our lives learning about God and growing closer to him as well as telling other about the gift.
When we die, we go to live with Him forever.

Christian fiction publishers will likely expect more from a manuscript, such as no graphic content, but if at some point, it deviates from the above list, it’s not a Christian worldview.

Two Approaches

As I’ve written in the genre, I’ve discovered two approaches to writing Christian fiction. One is deciding at the outset to that you’re going to write about a Christian theme. Author Francine Rivers took the book of Hosea and moved it to the American West in Redeeming Love. Someone else might want to put a modern spin on the story of Paul. Or construct a plot to demonstrate God’s love or mercy in any genre, whether it’s historical, speculative fiction, or thriller.

The second approach is to write a story with Christian characters, or characters who will become Christian, and see how they handle the situation they are in. This is how I write. I’m a character writer first. I build my main characters and then concoct plots that will test them, develop them, and are a ton of fun to write. My teen detective, Rae Riley, is a Christian because I am and it’s easier for me to imagine how she does life. As I write, a Christian theme may emerge. Or I may start with a theme in mind but it has to work naturally with the story. When I wrote “A Rose from the Ashes,” I’d thought the theme was mercy and forgiveness. That’s there, but about 18 months after I wrote it, I realized it was also a spin on the parable of the Prodigal Son.

Clean Reads

Clean reads are not Christian fiction, although most Christian fiction would qualify as clean reads. What are clean reads? These are stories without graphic sex or violence and little to no bad language, but they don’t have Christian themes or characters. Most cozy mysteries in the secular market could be called clean reads because readers expect the violence and any sex to take place off stage and not described in nitty gritty detail. Sweet romance stories fall into this category too.

If you read or write Christian fiction, how do you define it?

August 4, 2022 5

Tag: Advice for writing Christian fiction