The Art & Craft of Writing Christian Fiction

A Book Review by Naomi Downing

Back cover of The Art & Craft Of Writing Christian Fiction, by Jeff Gerke:

The essential guide to mastering Christian fiction!

To write a powerful, meaningful Christian novel, you must embrace the soaring creativity inspired by faith, while also committing to the serious discipline required of an artisan. You must be able to weave a compelling story with an underlying message that deeply affects both your characters and your readers.

As fulfilling as the Christian genre is, the road to a satisfying story–and publication–is filled with hard work. But take heart. The Art & Craft of Writing Christian Fiction can help make the journey easier. Inside, author Jeff Gerke provides page after page of insightful instruction and encouragement. You’ll learn how to:

  • Write for a Christian audience while glorifying God through your fiction.
  • Find your story amidst a bevy of ideas.
  • Avoid using hidden agendas, messages, and sermons in your writing.
  • Convert telling into showing.
  • Handle profane characters in Christian fiction.

From understanding your calling as a Christian author to finding a literary agent and navigating the path to publication, The Art & Craft of Writing Christian Fiction is the go-to manual for every step along the way.

This book was wealth of information. It covers topics from what your attitude should be while you write, who your real audience is, and then how to write well. Not only does Jeff Gerke explain how to write well, he gives examples—good and bad—on it too!

It is such a useful book if you are a serious writer of Christian fiction. When it comes to reading craft books, sometimes I can get discouraged looking at where I am supposed to be and where I am, but for The Art & Craft of Writing Christian Fiction the feeling only lasted briefly. The book was so helpful, encouraging, and even amusing.

I’d definitely recommend the book to anyone who writes Christian fiction. If you write fiction that isn’t Christian, you can probably still enjoy the book, but the target audience is Christian fiction writers, so you probably wouldn’t take as much away from it.

An interesting must read for Christian writers!

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Downing is a homeschooled high school student who live on a small farm in the middle of no where. She enjoys reading, writing, taking pictures and dreaming about her future. She blogs at naomiandbooks.wordpress.com.

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