A Question For You
Ok, well, I'm still fairly new to this whole blogging thing! Particularly as I've just changed sites and practically have had to create an entire new website! (The old site, over at Wix, had great design but the comments feature was terrible...) So here I am over a Blogger instead! *waves* Anyway, I just had a quick question for my
So, what godly attribute do you most appreciate in a book? What is it that particularly excites you in a good story, biography or novel? For me it would be two things.
1) The characters have a deep love of God, not just a superficial knowledge. In many "Christian" novels spiritual life is reduced to just praying to God in trials or a brief realising that God loves them whatever they do. Not that these things are bad; as we know they are essential parts of Christian life. But I think there is a lot more to it, and possibly there is a danger of oversimplifying the gospel into "Jesus loves me and I can pray to him when I'm in danger". What about praying to Him just because?! So it really excites me when the characters and storyline in a book are saturated with a true desire to glorify God, not just the bare essentials... and then, great, we can get on with our story.
2) The book is godly and well written. There are lots of godly books (well, maybe) and even more well-written ones... but not many of both! How many times have I waded through a godly biography that sadly lacks interest or poetic detail. And how many times have I been fascinated by a well-written and engaging novel but had to put it down in disgust at the immoral or ungodly themes?! In the end, it's godliness that really matters more, but I think it also gives God more glory (and excites readers) when the book is also a delight to read.
So, that's my question for you guys! I would love to hear your thoughts!
~ Jemima
P.S. Just in case anyone is wondering, I didn't draw the handlettering in the photo! No, I just downloaded a photo from unsplash.com (a great site for free pics btw), and then put text over the top. I know, it looks convincing!
Hey Jemima! Nice blog! And I can comment!!!! I like it when characters have a deep love for God. Can't wait to see what you post!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much Lilly! Yes, that's the reason I moved over to Blogger: it's nice to be able to hear other's thoughts! :D
DeleteBlessings,
~ Jemima
I like books where the character(s) has a love for the Lord and strives to be a light in this dark world. I also like what you mentioned too! Those are all good things too look for in a book and make them really good and God glorifying!
ReplyDeleteThanks Brooklyn. I think we definitely all agree so far on what makes a godly book. I will try to look out for books where the characters strive to be a light in the world - that is really important. Biographies are pretty good for that, so maybe you'll see more of them in the future!
Delete~ Jemima
That is such a great point! Why aren't more Christian novels like you said? I'll have to keep that in mind when I'm writing mine. :)
ReplyDelete~Elate
p.s. You probably don't recognize my name, but I follow Brooklyn's blog Five Shekels, which is how I found you. :) A bit of an FYI is I comment anonymously because I don't have a Google account and Elate isn't my real name [though you probably guessed.] I just use "Elate" for privacy reasons.
Thanks so much for commenting, Elate! It honestly just about made my day when I saw all these new comments popping up in my inbox! Yes, I have seen you around quite a lot. And that's cool that you are writing a novel! May I ask what it's about?
Delete~ Jemima
In my novel, Adrianna Colin's dying grandmother talks of how Jesus saved her. Curious, Adrianna goes on a search for the truth about Him. I plan to have Adrianna ask many of the questions and have the doubts many unbelievers have about Jesus. Adrianna will gather the facts and ask herself the ultimate question: will she accept Jesus? Hopefully, the facts that I state in my book will bring people to Jesus, encourage believers, and just provide a good Christian novel. :)
Delete(Sorry about how poor my summary was; I didn't have much time to write it.)
~Elate
I love that Elate! It's wonderful that your novel is really godly and focused on sharing Jesus. I would love to review it here if you ever decide to publish.
Delete1 The characters are really godly and not just fake.
ReplyDelete2 Well written.
3 If they talk about the body or have images of women they are real woman (inside and out) and not just 'perfect' =)
God bless,
SawyerMarie
Sundropgirls.blogspot.com
Thanks for your thoughts SawyerMarie! I totally agree with all of them. #3 particularly is interesting! I too find that some of the Christian books these days have stereotype characters with not much depth to them. So it's nice, like you said, to find an authentic person who also loves Jesus authentically!
DeleteGod bless you too!
~ Jemima
Hi Jemima! I'm new to your blog site, but I love it already! I would definitely say I love when a godly book can not only be well written, but also relatable. Finding books that take a situation that most people have been in and show how we can learn and grow from it in a realistic way is such a rare blessing!
ReplyDeleteThankyou so much for stopping over, Luna! I love your thought. I just was reading a book today that I felt the main character had a really relatable problem and it was great how she handled it (or rather how the author decided things would go ;D). It's great when you find an author who handles situations better and differently than 99% of ordinary mortals/writers. ;D So I can definitely agree.
Delete~ Jemima