From Edie: Learn how to write Christian suspense novels that balance fear, faith, and redemption. Discover tips to craft thrilling stories with spiritual depth.
How to Write Christian Suspense: Balancing Fear, Faith, and Redemption
by DiAnn Mills @DiAnnMills
Suspense novels drop a character or characters into danger, whether from unscrupulous people, natural disasters, predatory animals, debilitating illness, the loss of basic needs, mental instability, or spiritual deceptions. The fear is real. It’s unavoidable, and something must be done to stop the ever-increasing threat.
How does a Christian writer tackle the tension when violence takes over a character’s life? How is redemption portrayed without a naïve approach? Can suspense and spiritual depth truly coexist in a world where faith is often viewed as a crutch or unreliable?
A suspense novel creates fear in a controlled environment—the reader chooses to close the book or keep turning pages. The challenge lies in the writer’s ability to root the reader so deeply in the story, that the line blurs between the character and the reader. Is the character courageous, or does fear control them? The thrill intensifies when the reader thinks, What will happen next to my beloved character? Or me? I must find out!
The character and the reader learn to recognize legitimate fears and healthy ways to confront them. Fear is in place to protect us, not an emotion to ignore, but to take heed, evaluate, and move forward to face, avoid, or cope with the awareness. That is where faith steps in.
Faith is trust in what we can’t see, but we are assured will happen. God is in control, and His purpose for the character—and the reader—is to teach and trust Him. Not easy, and certainly not a task where we are always successful. But flaws and weaknesses are a part of human reality and the character’s development. In faith-filled suspense, the character acknowledges mistakes, asks for forgiveness, and picks themselves up to begin again.
In these stories, prayerful decisions may lead the character forward. None of the following choices is wrong:
- Confronting the threat
- Escorting innocent people to safety
- Pulling a weapon or fighting
- Re-evaluating the situation
- Requesting backup
- Running
Whatever the character chooses, they must face the consequences: good or bad.
“You and I aren't afraid to deal with the hard stuff. We aren't afraid to rip open the scars of our past to show how God heals the messiness of life. The flourishing trees along the riverbank have endured mud and drought to thrive.” DiAnn Mills
We can craft faith-filled thrills with a knowledge of fear and faith without preaching. When truth, divine intervention, moral dilemmas, and spiritual growth are woven into a story through characters who live according to a Christian worldview, suspense becomes not just thrilling, but transformative.
What is a tip you can offer to write faith-fueled thrills?
TWEETABLE
She is the former director of the Blue Ridge Mountain Christian Writers Conference, Mountainside Marketing Retreat, and Mountainside Novelist Retreat with social media specialist Edie Melson. Connect here: DIANNMILLS.COM
No comments:
Post a Comment