Preface to this series: Back in 2019, towards the beginning of this blogging venture, I wrote a series called “Christians and the Creative Writing Process.” Now, seven years later, I wanted to revisit the topics to expand them and add new insights. The original version of this post can be read at this link.
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The Bible begins with God’s act of creation. He made everything: the stars that fill our night skies, the planets with diverse atmospheres, all of Earth’s unique creatures in the sky and on the land and deep in ocean depths and the tiniest organisms we can’t see with our own eyes, the plants that bloom and rustle in the wind—and so, so much more. Looking at nature with all its oddities and complexities, I am in awe of God’s creativity.
And yet, God’s most important creation came at the end of His creation week: Humans. Humans are the most significant creation of God because Man and Woman were made in God’s image (Genesis 1:27), the only created being to receive that blessing and honor. As many other Christian creatives have and do, I find my writing and storytelling to be a reflection of this reality: because I am created in God’s image, I am able to create as well. Because of the connection between human creativity and God’s creativity, I find art of any form most beautiful when it purposefully (or sometimes unintentionally) points back to the Creator. However, my own creativity and that of others vastly pales in comparison to what the Lord has made out of nothing. For me personally, I think part of the reason why I set my own fantasy stories in a mostly real-life Earth setting is because I find God’s creation so marvelous already. I want to highlight what He has already made, while weaving in some other fantastical ideas that are, admittedly, borrowed from His creation or others’ adaptations of His creation.
Beyond the visible aspects of Creation (peoples, creatures, plants, landscapes, etc.), I also consider the God’s Order of Creation in my world-building process and strive to build from a Christian-centric worldview. Fantasy as a genre still trends towards an underlying Christian (or general religious) worldview as well, which is perhaps due to the impact of Tolkien and Lewis on the genre’s earlier stages. However, the genre’s pendulum is shifting in terms of how it treats religion and specifically Christianity as a foundation. While not every fantasy story needs to be (nor should be) allegorical, a fair few examples of modern fantasy or sci-fi stories have flippant views of gods, preferring to show how gods are imperfect, flawed, and able to be overcome by mortals. While not all of this treatment of gods is meant to be taken as a critique of the One True God, and much of that approach stems from pagan mythologies, I do find it an interesting trend. Parallel with this take on gods, the other trend I notice in fantasy and sci-fi is one that avoids the question of deity altogether, removing any reference to religion or gods at all. To be fair, for the longest time, my stories were also guilty of that, as I did not have any overt religious references in my stories. I’m correcting that by incorporating faith into The Myth-Keepers through revisions.
The shift in the speculative fiction genre away from religiosity, I think, reflects that of broader pop culture. Which is why I want lore in my stories to be theologically rich and grounded in my own beliefs. On the most basic level, this means I credit the Lord as the Creator of all, including the “magical” beings and their powers. Since my stories are set on Earth, Humans are also the dominant species (Genesis 1:26-28) over all others, including Elves, Gnomes, etc., and the Fall of Man impacts some of the interspecies relations between Humans and said fantasy beings. While these details do not always appear explicitly on the pages of the narratives I’m writing, that theology undergirds a lot of the larger plot. As I continue to write The Myth-Keepers, I find it becoming a more integral part of the conflict driving the main storyline. I don’t consider my books Christian fiction in the typical understanding of that term, but Christianity is apparent in the worldview of the world lore of my fantasy systems and kingdoms. My world-building largely stems from the question: How would Christianity inform our understanding if there were Elves and Gnomes and Fairies living among us? And sure, some of my own answers to that question are messy, in part because I’m imagining a reality not fully congruent with actual reality, but nonetheless, it is a fun question to explore and build a world from. My world-building, then, becomes a way to worship and explore theological inquiry.
Considering God’s Creation and established Order also brings to mind the hidden, unseen spiritual realities beyond our sight, which is another fascinating aspect to consider when writing and creating fantasy worlds. The Bible points towards these spiritual realities in books of prophecy, like Isaiah, Revelation, and Ezekiel. Recently, I studied Ezekiel, and one of the most confusing images I came across was that of the cherubim, which are described as “like the appearance of blazing coals of fire or like torches. Fire was moving back and forth between the creatures; it was bright, with lightning coming out of it” (Ezekiel 1:13 CSB), among other depictions of their many faces, wings, wheels, and jeweled appearance. The cherubim in Ezekiel moves around, symbolizing the passing of God’s glory and the movement of the temple. Job, too, gives us an interesting glimpse into God’s court and how heavenly and spiritual beings interact with each other (Job 1-2), with one of the primary messages of Job emphasizing that God’s ways are beyond our understanding (Job 38-41). What do these details about spiritual beings and interactions have to do with world-building? It sparks my imagination, gives me permission as a fantasy author to not have all of the questions or explanations of my world fully answered, and has reinvigorated some of my own world-building, particularly related to magic systems. Inspired by all of the images connecting fire to the Spirit in Scripture, my Phoenixes in The Myth-Keepers are not wielders of mere fire, but have an entire slate of abilities linked to spirit and fostering deep spiritual connections. This shift in the Phoenixes’ powerset, in turn, has led to many other ideas, which would be spoilers to spell out here, on how they and their magic will impact the larger story of The Myth-Keepers.
Much of popular media doesn’t explicitly world-build from the Christ-centric perspective, though there are few stories that incidentally reflect Christian truths. As a writer, I like having the freedom to create a world and magic systems based upon my personal convictions and beliefs. World-building is a delight and act of worship because it reminds me to consider the awesome work of my Creator. When I’m creating a world, creatures, and cultures, I’m more in awe of God’s creation: the intricate details of nature, the way the physics of our universe works, and the numerous ways God is at work throughout human history, both in ways we can see and in ways we cannot fully recognize in the here and now. World-building draws me closer to God in this way and gives me time to reflect on His glory and creativity. It’s so incredible that He’s given me (and all of us!) the ability to be unique creators like Him.
