Writing Biblical Fiction
Posted: Sat Apr 02, 2016 8:16 am
Many Christian writers enjoy writing biblical fiction—the Bible stories are dear to us, after all, and we love the idea of presenting them in a fresh light, perhaps even for readers who are unfamiliar with them.
However, there are some issues to think about when considering biblical fiction. What I’m going to do for this lesson is to present a sort of continuum of biblical fiction, from that which is closest to the scriptural account to that which strays the furthest. When there are problems or issues with a particular approach, I’ll cover them there.
1. Paraphrasing a biblical story—remaining quite close to the scriptural account. In this approach, the writer presents a 3rd person narrative, keeping the same characters and the same order of events. This account varies very little from what one might read in the Bible. The chapters and verses are missing, and the writer may add a few details of the setting or a few bits of dialog, but generally, there’s not much in this kind of rewriting that couldn’t be found in one’s NIV.
Some people only feel comfortable writing this kind of biblical fiction; they may feel that straying farther from the biblical narrative goes against Revelation 22:18. I’ve mentioned often that I’m not a theologian, just a writing teacher—but it seems to me that writing fiction that is labeled fiction is far different from writing something in addition to scripture and claiming that it’s scripture. Nevertheless, people have to abide by their own consciences.
If, after reading through the rest of this lesson, this level of writing biblical fiction is the only one that you feel comfortable with, I’d suggest that this might not be the best for the Writing Challenge. One of the criteria for judging is “How creative, unique, and original is the entry?” and it’s difficult to give a paraphrased Bible story a high score on that criteria. In addition, you risk losing your readers’ interest if they’ve come to the Challenge to read something new and fresh.
If you’re a stick-to-the-scriptural-account person, I’d ask you to just consider the following options:
2. Re-writing the biblical story in the first person, from the POV of the main character in the story. So you’d write, for example, the story of Joseph and his brothers from Joseph’s POV, using “I” and “me” for Joseph as he tells his story.
When you do this, you help the readers to imagine what that character may have been going through, and you allow your readers to experience any revelations or lessons that the character experiences, right along with that character.
When using this approach, some people are uneasy about putting words in Jesus’ mouth, and I respect that. There are ways to get around that; a creative writer should be able to figure out how to do this without violating their convictions.
3. Re-writing the biblical story, but featuring a minor or secondary character. This could either be done in 1st person or 3rd person, but it would focus on a character who is in the biblical account, but about whom little is known. So if you were telling the story from 1 Kings 17, for example, you might choose to tell it by focusing on the character of the widow’s son.
This is a good approach to catch the interest of readers who may be very familiar with the biblical stories. Reading a story from the POV of a secondary character may allow them to appreciate it in a new light, and even to gain new revelations from that story. Again, in my opinion, this is not ‘adding to scripture’—it is using your God-given creativity. We are made in His image, and He is a creator. We are writers; it is no sin to write with all of our imagination.
4. Re-writing the biblical story, but from the POV of a totally made-up character. This character could be someone who might have been there, or one who may have observed the event, or a relative of someone who was there…the possibilities are numerous. Here are a few links to some of my stories that use this approach. I certainly don’t expect you to read them all, but you might want to click one or two of them to see what this kind of story looks like:
This one is narrated by a guy who’s watching Noah build his ark.
This one is written from the POV of the rocks on the road to Jerusalem.
This one is narrated by a boy who shares the sycamore tree with Zacchaeus.
This one is narrated by a leper who Jesus heals.
I had a few more, but those should give you the idea. By the way, those were all written in 1st person, but 3rd person would work well here, too.
5. Telling an extension of the biblical story. To do this, you might want to consider the events before the biblical story, or the events that happened afterward. You could use the actual characters, or secondary characters, or made-up characters with this approach. Ask yourself: what led up to this event? What were the possible consequences of this event? It could be very effective to write a story, for example, that ends just as Delilah is contemplating a pair of scissors, or just as a conscience-stricken Roman soldier builds a cross to be used later that week. Similarly, you could write about what Lazarus does after he walks out of his tomb.
6. Move the biblical story to a different setting. The most common way to do this would be to move the story into a modern time period, and usually to a different country (America, for example, or whatever country you’re comfortable with). Often, writers who do this will further fictionalize the characters by giving them modern equivalents of their names, having them speak in modern idioms and use modern items (cars, cell phones, and the like).
7. Write an allegory that alludes to the biblical story. You could do almost anything here—totally made-up characters, symbolic characters, animals, fantasy creatures—and there doesn’t have to be an exact correspondence there with the biblical account. The events that happen in an allegory can suggest the biblical story, or have the same lesson as the biblical story, arrived at in a totally different way, but a way that reminds readers of the scriptural account. An example of this can be seen here.
To summarize this lesson:
1. Biblical fiction that is merely a paraphrase of scripture may not be well-received by the judges or by readers who are already very familiar with the story.
2. There is a continuum of ways to approach fiction that references events and characters in scripture.
3. These different approaches get further and further from strict adherence to the biblical accounts, but such creativity is permissible and may be well-received by readers who appreciate a fresh approach to a familiar story.
4. If you’re a person who has stayed at or near #1 in this list, consider easing your way toward a higher number. Stretch yourself!
Comments? Questions? I’d especially love to see links to stories you may have written that fit #2, 3, 5, or 6.
However, there are some issues to think about when considering biblical fiction. What I’m going to do for this lesson is to present a sort of continuum of biblical fiction, from that which is closest to the scriptural account to that which strays the furthest. When there are problems or issues with a particular approach, I’ll cover them there.
1. Paraphrasing a biblical story—remaining quite close to the scriptural account. In this approach, the writer presents a 3rd person narrative, keeping the same characters and the same order of events. This account varies very little from what one might read in the Bible. The chapters and verses are missing, and the writer may add a few details of the setting or a few bits of dialog, but generally, there’s not much in this kind of rewriting that couldn’t be found in one’s NIV.
Some people only feel comfortable writing this kind of biblical fiction; they may feel that straying farther from the biblical narrative goes against Revelation 22:18. I’ve mentioned often that I’m not a theologian, just a writing teacher—but it seems to me that writing fiction that is labeled fiction is far different from writing something in addition to scripture and claiming that it’s scripture. Nevertheless, people have to abide by their own consciences.
If, after reading through the rest of this lesson, this level of writing biblical fiction is the only one that you feel comfortable with, I’d suggest that this might not be the best for the Writing Challenge. One of the criteria for judging is “How creative, unique, and original is the entry?” and it’s difficult to give a paraphrased Bible story a high score on that criteria. In addition, you risk losing your readers’ interest if they’ve come to the Challenge to read something new and fresh.
If you’re a stick-to-the-scriptural-account person, I’d ask you to just consider the following options:
2. Re-writing the biblical story in the first person, from the POV of the main character in the story. So you’d write, for example, the story of Joseph and his brothers from Joseph’s POV, using “I” and “me” for Joseph as he tells his story.
When you do this, you help the readers to imagine what that character may have been going through, and you allow your readers to experience any revelations or lessons that the character experiences, right along with that character.
When using this approach, some people are uneasy about putting words in Jesus’ mouth, and I respect that. There are ways to get around that; a creative writer should be able to figure out how to do this without violating their convictions.
3. Re-writing the biblical story, but featuring a minor or secondary character. This could either be done in 1st person or 3rd person, but it would focus on a character who is in the biblical account, but about whom little is known. So if you were telling the story from 1 Kings 17, for example, you might choose to tell it by focusing on the character of the widow’s son.
This is a good approach to catch the interest of readers who may be very familiar with the biblical stories. Reading a story from the POV of a secondary character may allow them to appreciate it in a new light, and even to gain new revelations from that story. Again, in my opinion, this is not ‘adding to scripture’—it is using your God-given creativity. We are made in His image, and He is a creator. We are writers; it is no sin to write with all of our imagination.
4. Re-writing the biblical story, but from the POV of a totally made-up character. This character could be someone who might have been there, or one who may have observed the event, or a relative of someone who was there…the possibilities are numerous. Here are a few links to some of my stories that use this approach. I certainly don’t expect you to read them all, but you might want to click one or two of them to see what this kind of story looks like:
This one is narrated by a guy who’s watching Noah build his ark.
This one is written from the POV of the rocks on the road to Jerusalem.
This one is narrated by a boy who shares the sycamore tree with Zacchaeus.
This one is narrated by a leper who Jesus heals.
I had a few more, but those should give you the idea. By the way, those were all written in 1st person, but 3rd person would work well here, too.
5. Telling an extension of the biblical story. To do this, you might want to consider the events before the biblical story, or the events that happened afterward. You could use the actual characters, or secondary characters, or made-up characters with this approach. Ask yourself: what led up to this event? What were the possible consequences of this event? It could be very effective to write a story, for example, that ends just as Delilah is contemplating a pair of scissors, or just as a conscience-stricken Roman soldier builds a cross to be used later that week. Similarly, you could write about what Lazarus does after he walks out of his tomb.
6. Move the biblical story to a different setting. The most common way to do this would be to move the story into a modern time period, and usually to a different country (America, for example, or whatever country you’re comfortable with). Often, writers who do this will further fictionalize the characters by giving them modern equivalents of their names, having them speak in modern idioms and use modern items (cars, cell phones, and the like).
7. Write an allegory that alludes to the biblical story. You could do almost anything here—totally made-up characters, symbolic characters, animals, fantasy creatures—and there doesn’t have to be an exact correspondence there with the biblical account. The events that happen in an allegory can suggest the biblical story, or have the same lesson as the biblical story, arrived at in a totally different way, but a way that reminds readers of the scriptural account. An example of this can be seen here.
To summarize this lesson:
1. Biblical fiction that is merely a paraphrase of scripture may not be well-received by the judges or by readers who are already very familiar with the story.
2. There is a continuum of ways to approach fiction that references events and characters in scripture.
3. These different approaches get further and further from strict adherence to the biblical accounts, but such creativity is permissible and may be well-received by readers who appreciate a fresh approach to a familiar story.
4. If you’re a person who has stayed at or near #1 in this list, consider easing your way toward a higher number. Stretch yourself!
Comments? Questions? I’d especially love to see links to stories you may have written that fit #2, 3, 5, or 6.