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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People are amazing. In my last post, I referenced the truth that humans are made in God’s image. I marvel, too, at the diversity of people: cultures, ethnicities, personalities, interests, and so much more that make people so remarkable. Yet, though people are incredible, we also have the tendency to be the worst because of our sin: the ways we hurt each other, the ways we dishonor God, and the ways we are deeply flawed. It is a spectacular truth of the Gospel that God loves us so much that He died to save us from ourselves, from our sin, and redeem all of Creation. And it is through my characters in my stories that I am often reminded of this reality. My engagement with my characters reminds me of God’s love for His people and our need for a Redeemer.
As I’ve focused on mostly the same projects over the past decade-plus of my writing life, most of my characters with all their various personalities, problems, and quirks have existed in my subconscious and creative thoughts for a long time. That length of time has made me develop a strong fondness for them. They are real in my imagination. Sure, some of my characters are terrible humans (or, well, human-like beings). Others tend to be annoying; I would probably not get along with them if they were actual people I knew in the material world. Several have very different worldviews than me. Some are villains, some reluctant heroes, some goofy allies, some tragic anti-heroes, some charming love interests, some troublesome nuisances. But they’re all people I created. I’m aware of what shaped their early lives. I know the hard lessons they’ll learn in the course of their stories, the challenges they’ll face, who they are deep down, what they fear, and what they want. I laugh at their jokes. I imagine them in humorous, non-canon scenarios and know how they’d respond in each situation. I know them, more than anyone who ever reads my stories ever will.
This feeling of affection I have for my characters and this intimate knowledge of their inner workings and their lives, in the smallest, most miniscule sliver of insight, makes me consider how God views us, His beloved people who He created. He loves us. While I knowhow I feel about my characters is far, far from the same depth and the same ways that God loves us and knows us, thinking about my characters and how they’ve developed prompts me to reflect on the deep love God has for His people.
My deep knowledge and care for my characters also brings to mind the reality of sin and the purpose of God’s response to it. The Old Testament Kings and Prophets of Israel paint a clear picture: God warns the people of the consequences of sin, and yet they persist in sinning and rejecting Him. While God is patient, sending messengers with warnings or rescuers like the Judges, He eventually gives sinners over to the punishment they deserve. This is not without compassion, however: the Old Testament tells of God’s patience, of God sending deliverers and honoring the repentance of kings like Manasseh (2 Chronicles 33), and of how slow to anger He is. God’s patience is a mercy, for He “wants everyone to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4).
When it comes to characters, I want them to find redemption. Knowing their flaws, knowing their stories, I often want more for them, better for them. This makes me reflect on God’s posture towards us: hating our sin, wanting better for us, i.e. wanting us to come to Him and know the truth and peace of Christ. In the Gospels, Jesus grieved over the consequences of unbelief and longed for people to recognize the Truth of His ministry: “As He approached and saw the city [of Jerusalem], He wept for it, saying, ‘If you knew this day what would bring peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes…They will crush you and your children among you to the ground, and they will not leave one stone on another in your midst, because you did not recognize the time when God visited you’” (Luke 19:41-42, 44). Jesus’s posture here partially makes me reconsider how I’ve viewed my antagonistic characters in particular. Previously, when writing on villains, I’ve noted how tired I am of the sympathetic villain movement and how it tends to glorify evil rather than treat it correctly. I think it is a different matter to pity villains. Sympathetic or tragic backstories for villains are fine; they can add depth. But I do think there is a line: we should not excuse their evil, but we should pity it, and perhaps recognize how we can mirror that villain in ways that should rightfully cause us to reflect and repent of our sin. I think it is good and right for stories to show justice done through the overthrowing of a vile villain, as that reflects God’s justice, but I think it can be an equally good message for villains to find true redemption, given that God desires all to be saved. It is an interesting balance, one I’m still pondering in my writing, since several of the villains in The Myth-Keepers lean towards the sympathetic rather than truly evil.
Perhaps it seems odd to talk about the love in God in the same breath as talking about His wrath. But it makes perfect sense to me: because of God’s wrath towards our sin, we are able to see clearly the purpose of God’s love: to save and redeem us. I see this reality through real people in my life and real relationships, certainly, but I also am prompted to ponder these truths through my characters. How I feel about my fictional characters and what I know about them gives me the smallest fraction of insight into how God might view us, His beloved, fallen into sin. God loves us, not because of who we are, but because of who He is. What an amazing truth this is.
