Last night I saw God’s Not Dead. It had a good message about the existence of God along with many miscellaneous good points and moments. At some times I thought, “Yes! Right on!” Then at other times … I cringed. I hated that I cringed. I wanted to like the movie, and I still do like the movie, but … it did a lot of things that have made me steer clear of most Christian media–and I’m a Christian, a pretty strong one at that.
So if I as a Christian am cringing I’m sure non-Christians are too–perhaps to the point of stopping the show or movie or putting down the book. That is the opposite effect we want with Christian media. We want to put out God’s message in an inviting way, not a shove-down-your-throat way. Even if you’re a non-Christian and say you’re trying to put out a message like stop bullying or stop world hunger or whatever then this post could apply to you too.
Here are four points you need to avoid doing in your Christian or strong message-driven book:
1.) Readers Aren’t Stupid – Do not press your point in the story every two seconds. I see this too many times in Christian films especially kids films and kids aren’t as stupid as some adults seem to think.
One movie that did this badly was Veggie Tales’ Pistachio: The Little Boy That Woodn’t. I love Veggie Tales. I grew up with the show, but I did not like this recent Veggie Tales film because they kept shoving the message of children obeying their parents in my face, and it really annoyed me.
Please, don’t do this. This is easy to do, but writing isn’t easy. Subtly weave in your point throughout the story through showing not telling which leads to the next point …
2.) You Have to Follow Basic Story Rules – Just because you have a possible world-changing message does not mean you can throw basic story rules out the window. That means you can’t have contrived dialogue that tells about the backstory of your characters at unnatural times (a writing crime God’s Not Dead committed too frequently).
You must show and not tell and so on. If you’d like some tips on basic story rules I have a blog post about it here.
3.) No Sermon at the End – Do not summarize your entire story in a sermon at the end. Please, don’t do this. This is not a devotional. This makes the reader or viewer feel like a moron.
You’re basically saying, “If you didn’t get my tiny, well-placed hints then here’s some preaching to fix it!” That’s not good. If you have one of these at the end, just cut it out. Courageous was a great film, but then they had to put in the sermon … I like that entire movie, except that part.
4.) (For Christians Only) Tone Down the Christian Lang – We Christians have a certain language: “saved”, “spending time in prayer”, “Jesus come into your heart”, etc. Keep that language to a minimum. It can get cheesy really fast. Do you speak that much Christian language in real life as you’ve seen in some Christian films? Uh … I don’t.
Not only can it get cheesy, but non-believers will often not understand it. When I was in France on a Mission Trip, we were told not say we were “saved” but to say “we became believers”, because the French people wouldn’t understand it. Think of this the same for anyone who isn’t a Christian here. They’re not going to know our terminology.
I’m not saying all Christian or message-driven books and movies are this way. There are many good ones such as:
Books – The Dragons in Our Midst series by Bryan Davis, Captives by Jill Williamson and The Help by Kathryn Stockett.
Movies – Remember the Titans, Love Comes Softly and The Chronicles of Narnia movies.
There are many others, but these are a few. Watch and read media like this to get an idea of what good Christian or message-driven media is and try to learn from it for your own writing. A message you have on your heart is a beautiful thing. I have many of them, but don’t let them overwhelm your story or it won’t be as powerful as you’re seeking. God bless!
Have you caught yourself doing something like this? What do you think of Christian media writing?
(Note: please, don’t use this as a bashing excuse. I’m just using the examples to convey a point. We want this to be rudeness-free blog. Thank you!)
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I definitely know what you mean—I despised "God's Not Dead" and I've almost given up on the Christian fiction genre altogether. Like, I'm over it. But, because I know some people are still prone to its writing, I'm glad there are some resources out there to keep people in line, like this one. 🙂 I'm glad you pointed out these things—and I'm also glad that I feel not like a bad Christian for hating these things in Christian fiction. XD Thanks for the validation.
I understand. Thank you. ^ ^' There are a lot of good Christian books that aren't preachy (Jill Williamson, Bryan Davis and Steven James are some Christian authors that write excellent Christian fiction), but it seems in the movie department most Christian movies are pretty lame. It's like I almost feel that as a Christian I have an obligation to like it, but I just like good writing and I cannot stand bad writing so it's all about that for me. Thanks for commenting. 🙂 I'm glad you liked it. 🙂
YES. That's why I really hated the Girls One Year Devotions. The characters were all "Oh, you broke something? I'll now tell you all about how Jesus mends your heart!"
It just wasn't normal. I'm so happy you made this post!!!!
Lol. XD Oh really? It was also the reason I didn't like this homeschooling that had two perfect characters named Ace and Christi. Even as a middleschooler I could call "Lame". Thank you. 🙂 I'm glad you enjoyed it.
Great post! I hate it when Christian books or movies get too preachy. I think it's important to get across good messages, but I hate when they're shoved in your face.
And I know this was posted a while ago, but it's really great! 🙂
Thank you. 🙂 I appreciate the comment regardless. ^ ^
This is so darn true!!! I made pretty much all the mistakes in my first full length writing project, and hope to not make them again. >.<
Heh heh. We tend to do it early on because we don't know. It's went it's done in published books and theater-bound movies that I started wagging my finger. Thanks for commenting. 🙂
I wholeheartedly agree. I was just lamenting this to my mom yesterday. I've been having a lot of trouble finding books to read that aren't full of sex and other nasty things, and she said I need to read more Christian books. And I told her that I get so sick of reading Christian books because the characters are all so perfect, spiritual, and all talk in the "trust in Jesus" language. (not that I think any of it is bad, because I am a Christian, but you know- it get's old) and they ALL have sermon's in them. ALL OF THEM. It annoys me. Great post!
Thank you. 🙂 If you'd like some other good Christian books, I can give you recommendations. I know lots that are very good. They're mostly speculative though since that's my genre lol.
I'd take suggestions 🙂 I read practically any genres.
Cool. 🙂 The titles listed above for one, Halflings by Heather Burch, Precisely Terminated by Amanda L. Davis and Failstate by John W. Otte. I have reviews of these on my blog in the book reviews section if you want more details on them. 🙂
Awesome 🙂 thanks.
No problem. 🙂
These are so true! We have such a great opportunity, but I know I've caught myself ignoring storytelling rules because "it's the only way to make the point" or something. That doesn't mean the point is bad – it means the storytelling is bad.
Thank you. 🙂 I agree. Keep working at it. 🙂 It's possible to do it right. It's just harder.
Brilliant post! I've definitely noticed people getting too preachy in Christian books/movies, and sometimes, I even notice it in my own writing. I've been very careful, though, to try to keep the sermons and preachiness to a minimum in my stories, so hopefully I'm doing a good job.
Alexa Skrywer
alexaskrywer.blogspot.com
Thank you. 🙂 I'm glad you're recognizing it. It's an easy thing to fall into, but it's a habit that can be broken. Keep working at it. 🙂
I agree 100%. I usually avoid Christian movies and books, unless I've heard the best of the best things about them, because of these exact reasons. I'm a Christian and love Jesus, but seriously – even *I'M* irritated by it. I can't imagine what non-believers think when they see/hear that stuff. LOL 😉
Great post!! I really appreciate you putting it out there! 🙂
I totally understand. That's why I think us Christian writers who are aware of this need to put more well-written Christian media out there. 🙂
Thank you. 🙂 I'm glad you liked it.