{"id":2271,"date":"2020-07-01T08:25:51","date_gmt":"2020-07-01T13:25:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/annswindell.com\/staging\/?p=2271"},"modified":"2020-08-05T08:54:27","modified_gmt":"2020-08-05T13:54:27","slug":"fiction-writing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/annswindell.com\/staging\/2020\/07\/01\/fiction-writing\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Fiction Writing Matters in the Kingdom of God"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s a\u00a0truth I come back to over and over again: God created the human heart to resonate with story.<\/em> We love to see a hero vanquish a villain, and we love to see a character reach her goal. Hallmark movies have off-the-charts\u00a0audiences\u00a0because we always know there’s a happy ending–and we want there to be one. Why? Because whether we realize it or not, we are all part of the epic story of the Kingdom of God\u2014one that started in a garden and will end in a heavenly city.<\/p>\n

It will end in victory for God\u2019s people, with joy in His presence.<\/p>\n

We long for happy endings because we were made for one.<\/strong> Thankfully, through Christ, we have the best ending we could ever dream of. It’s the best news we could ever imagine!<\/p>\n

\"Fiction<\/a><\/p>\n

And for\u00a0those of us who are writers, often we want to participate in telling the Truest Story through smaller stories–fiction stories. But how does writing fiction connect with the mission of God’s Kingdom on earth? It\u2019s an honest question and one worth answering:\u00a0why write fiction<\/em>? And why write\u00a0Christian<\/em>\u00a0fiction\u2014stories that point our readers back to ultimate Truth?<\/p>\n

Especially now, in a world that\u2019s riddled with pain and fear, what good can fiction do for people who are asking big questions and struggling to make it through the day?<\/p>\n

Fiction can do a world of good.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Think of the stories that have touched you deeply. These stories stay with us because they called us to something better\u2014to something hopeful.<\/p>\n

When we write fiction, we get to participate in this beautiful arc of narrative that is already written on the human heart and in the great epic of history.<\/em> We get to point our readers to hope, and love, and Truth.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why fiction matters\u2014perhaps now more than ever. When readers are struggling, good fiction points them to the things that are worth getting out of bed for\u2014it reminds them why life is valuable and treasured. It reminds them that there is a God who loves them, and that He has a plan and purpose for their lives. <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

That’s why, for\u00a0the first time, I’m teaching the\u00a0Writing with Grace: Fiction Writing Workshop<\/a>. Registration is open through July 30th, and you can save 10% on the cost of the course by using the code WORTHIT, just for being a blog reader.<\/p>\n

So even if you\u2019ve never written fiction before, maybe this is your nudge to try. What stories are in your heart? <\/em><\/p>\n

And if you\u2019ve been writing fiction for years, maybe this is your opportunity to take your story-writing to the next level and share what\u2019s been burning inside of you forever.<\/p>\n

I hope that\u00a0you’ll come and join me<\/a>\u00a0as we write stories with and for the Lord, aiming to point the hearts of our readers to Truth and hope and joy.<\/p>\n

This world needs your story.\u00a0<\/em>
\n<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s a\u00a0truth I come back to over and over again: God created the human heart to resonate with story. We love to see a hero vanquish a villain, and we love to see a character reach her goal. Hallmark movies have off-the-charts\u00a0audiences\u00a0because we always know there’s a happy ending–and we want there to be one. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2272,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1,23],"tags":[668,34,989,992,991,587,593,709,780,965,707,990],"class_list":["post-2271","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","category-writing","tag-ann-swindell","tag-faith","tag-fiction-writing","tag-how-do-i-write-a-fiction-story","tag-how-do-i-write-a-novel","tag-jesus-and-writing","tag-writing","tag-writing-class","tag-writing-for-christs-glory","tag-writing-for-christian-publications","tag-writing-with-grace","tag-writing-workshop","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/annswindell.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Fiction-Writing-Gods-Kingdom.2020.png?fit=800%2C1200&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/annswindell.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/annswindell.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/annswindell.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/annswindell.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/annswindell.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2271"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/annswindell.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2271\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2454,"href":"https:\/\/annswindell.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2271\/revisions\/2454"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/annswindell.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/annswindell.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/annswindell.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/annswindell.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}