Christian Fiction

I’m not a teen but I’ve read some terrible books . Some so poorly written that I was unable to finish them . The Left Behind series comes to mind here and 50 Shades of Grey or Twilight . It wasn’t the subject matter it was the writing style. Horrible!

Welcome and good luck.

You may be interested in this forum.
Science Fiction & Fantasy

Hello @Jayden Gremm, WELCOME TO CF

You might want to take a look at our teen forums and see what topics are most concerning to them.

The Christian fiction that comes to my mind first is C S Lewis' collection of short stories called, The Screwtape Letters. WOW was that ever an important book to me/to my walk when I was a new Christian (and it still is today).

If you've not read it, it's a collection of short stories that Lewis introduced in a weekly radio broadcast (back in the 40's, I think). Most of the book comes down to demons discussing ways to be better tempters .. of us The cool thing is however, I was able to use what I learned about demons and how they operate in my life (even though these were, obviously, fictional stories) to both understand/more quickly recognize their attacks for what they truly are

Something along those lines, perhaps geared toward our iPhone/XBOX/social media bombing Z's and Alpha's could make for both an interesting and important read for them I would think

BTW, in case you haven't read The Screwtape Letters, but you'd like to now, you can do so for free online here. Just remember that things are turned around a bit in that book, because of the POV that it's written from (the demons' POV), so when you see the word "Enemy", for instance, you'll know that it's always referring to God.

A modernized book that would help explain sin/salvation/the atonement to Alpha's and Z's, along the lines of The Pilgrim's Progress, would be useful.

Oh, and the "New Calvinism" movement, that sprung up as a reaction against the Emerging Church movement by our Y's and Z's, might make for an interesting topic (especially since the world of Hip-Hop is so tied in with "New Calvinism"). Like LaCrae's song about the John Piper subject matter, "Don't Waste Your Life"


You might want to stream the movie "Calvinist" at Amazon to learn more about it (and also because the movie, "Calvinist", seems like it is overflowing with important subject-matter that needs to be addressed for our teens).

God bless you!

--David
p.s. - below is a quote of Lewis' that I found interesting, and I thought you might enjoy it as well.

Hello Jayden,
welcome to CF.

I hope you'll enjoy your stay here.

Jayden Gremm said:

Thank you so much!!! I’ve been trying to look for creative writing and I think this something J am going to look into tonight! This site has a ton and very helpful and God driven people on it, and I’m thankful!

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You're welcome BTW, I edited my post and added a couple of ideas that came to my mind after I'd already made that post, so check those out too if you have the time.

God bless you! (Numbers 6:24-26)

--David
p.s. - here's one of my favorite quotes from Pastor Mark Driscoll (who is part of the New Calvinism movement).

You might want to check out a non-fiction/autobiography called Bruchko. It a true story, but it reads like fiction. In short, an 18 yr old boy, Bruce Olsen, without church, missionary, or even parental financial backing, followed the Lord's lead from his home in Chicago to meet with a tribe if stone-age Indians in South America (who we only knew were there because of all the dead oil company employees we kept bringing out of the jungle).

I don't want to spoil the ride for you if you decide to pick up the book and read it, so I'll stop here, but I can all but guarantee that you will not be able to put it down until you finish it

There is also the life of Missionary Elisabeth Elliot to consider, as well her ministry (books and broadcasts and wisdom quotes, particularly for young Christian women).

If you don't know who she is (and her husband), she is worth learning about (you'll see one of her quotes below in my signature line). Again, in short, she married Missionary Jim Elliot and they had a baby girl. Jim went off to the mission field in Ecuador ahead of Elisabeth (as part of Operation Auca), but he was speared to death by members of the tribe that he was hoping to meet before he'd even been able to talk to them.

So Elisabeth packed up their baby girl and headed to South America where she met the men who'd killed her husband and led them, and many other of the Huaorani people to Christ

--David
p.s. - here's Jim Elliot's most famous quote (from his journal .. specifically what is underlined below in red).

Jayden Gremm said:

Hi, I’m a ya Christian fiction author, and I’m writing on my first book. I was wondering what kind of content fellow christian teens would like to see more of in books. What topics do you want to see or problems you would like a character to face? Anything!

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Welcome to CF, and check out the "teens" subforum.

And write your story. If your talents and interests lie with science fiction, write science fiction. If your talents and interests lie with historical romance, write historical romance.

And, to quote some good advice I read once:

• Read a lot
• Write a lot
• Be interested in stuff

In the fantasy space, for example, some Christian writers to read and think about are C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and N.D. Wilson. There are also some excellent Christian writers out there writing in many other genres.

Be interested in stuff means get deeply into topics that interest you. If, say, the 1930s interest you, read up on the 1930s; then you are equipped to write a story set in the 1930s. If horses interest you, read up on horses. If trains interest you, read up on trains.

St_Worm2 said:

p.s. - here's one of my favorite quotes from Pastor Mark Driscoll (who is part of the New Calvinism movement).

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He used to be. He no longer believes in Calvinism, and he spectacularly fell from grace in his pastoral role. Not perhaps the best role model.

Radagast said:

He used to be. He no longer believes in Calvinism, and he spectacularly fell from grace in his pastoral role. Not perhaps the best role model.

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That is very sad to hear (but thank you for letting me know). He, along with Sproul, Piper and several others, was featured in the movie "Calvinist", as someone many young people looked to for strong leadership as they ran away from what was being taught by the Emerging Church movement, so that's why I thought of him.

Again, thanks for bringing this to my attention

Michie said:

Welcome and good luck.

You may be interested in this forum.
Science Fiction & Fantasy

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I have been a fan of Frank Perrelli for some time. Some of his writings are dark but there is truth in that darkness. He did a few books, or started a series for teens and they were fairly good. But seems they were not well read. I was not a teen at the time but I found them to be good reads. I suppose his two best known writings are This Present Darkness and Piercing the Darkness. One just needs to remember they are fiction but they do present spiritual truths. Something in that style that is not overly preachy but the truth is right there for you.

Radagast said:

He used to be. He no longer believes in Calvinism, and he spectacularly fell from grace in his pastoral role. Not perhaps the best role model.

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Sad but true.

St_Worm2 said:

That is very sad to hear (but thank you for letting me know). He, along with Sproul, Piper and several others, was featured in the movie "Calvinist", as someone many young people looked to for strong leadership as they ran away from what was being taught by the Emerging Church movement, so that's why I thought of him.

Again, thanks for bringing this to my attention

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As I posted earlier a sad story but it serves to remind us we do not serve people, we do not follow them, we serve and follow Christ with others.

Jayden Gremm said:

Hi, I’m a ya Christian fiction author, and I’m writing on my first book.

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Adding to my previous suggestions, it is also worth following other young(ish), independent Christian writers on social media. It may be illuminating to read what they have to say about writing issues and how to address them.

And find some good resources on the tools of writing: words and sentences. Stephen King is a writer that not everybody approves of, but he really knows how to write. His On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft is packed with good advice (such as "the adverb is not your friend").

Hello and welcome to the community!

It would be nice if the book is interactive. Talk to your reader, put questions and demand to answer them.
Modern teens are crazy about robot technologies and space matters, but do not enjoy the history. Maybe a travel to the past with a robot would be an interesting plot?

Hi and welcome.

Welcome Jayden!