Hello all. I’ve had a crazy few weeks filled with coffee and large tomes of John Calvin and deep conversations on sunny porches and mind-bending philosophy. They have been good, and in the midst of them I’ve been snagging time to work on my book, even if it’s just praying for scene ideas or thinking about my writing. In the midst of the acrobatics my brain has been doing (and after a conversation with my editor), I’ve been thinking about what kind of books I want to write. I know why I write; it’s to add beauty to the world and point people toward Christ. But I still wondered, are there things that I want each one of my books to include?
After some thought and prayer, I have decided on three characteristics, at least for the time being, which will define the books of Ella Em. 🙂 I want my books to be beautiful, theological, and accessible.
Firstly, I want my books to be beautiful. If you’ve read or talked to me about books at any point, you probably know that. Beauty is extremely important to me. A beautiful book communicates more than just the story. A beautiful book tells the reader that the author is willing to spend time perfecting their words and serving the reader because they are worth that. A beautiful book is a labor of love.
I’ll be honest, beautiful writing is not easy. It takes much longer to write something that is lovely than something that gets the message across but contains no aesthetic value. But it reads better. And it gives the reader a better experience.
When I read a beautiful book, it makes me long for heaven. Beautiful books are like a place where homes converge, where I am reminded of my true home even as I am living in this temporary one. Writing something beautiful is a reflection of Beauty Himself. I want my readers to long for heaven. That brings me to my second point.
I want my books to be theological! What does that mean, you ask? Perhaps you’re even raising your eyebrows a bit. “I mean, good for her but I guess I won’t be reading her stuff.” If so, I will refer you to my next point. Let me explain this one first.
The more I study theology, the more aware I become that it is one of my favorite things in the entire world. I LOVE talking about God and how He relates to Himself and to the world. At the beginning of the year in my Systematic Theology class, we discussed why we study theology. The answer is because it teaches us more about God which leads to worship. When I learn some new and amazing truth about God, it causes me to look on Him with more awe and wonder than before. To praise Him more. To love Him more.
Obviously, my fiction will not contain a bunch of dialogue in which characters postulate on the nature of God. Rather, I want the themes of my book to convey deep theological concepts which will lead the reader to worshipping the Creator.
Not only do I want my books to be beautiful and theological, I want them to be accessible. Because I can see how those first two attributes might make my books too hard for a normal audience. And I don’t want that.
Beautiful words and deep themes do not make a book hard to read. Can we agree on that? They make it more edifying. I mean, look at Narnia! There are some pretty tough theological themes in some of those books, but we don’t think about that. We see instead the story. And that’s what I want to give people. I want to help them understand God more deeply whilst refreshing them with a beautiful story. And I don’t want it to be obvious. Let them enjoy the book because it’s a good book, then realize what they’ve read only after they’ve had time to think about it.
I love writing, y’all. I am so excited to see the stories that God gives me to pour forth into the world. It is my hope that He will equip me to make them beautiful, theological, and accessible, that people may know Him better through the words they read.
So. What kind of books will you write? Let me know in the comments!
Image credit: WallpaperCave
I want to write a lot of the same stuff as you. But I also want to write my testimony into my fiction. Write parts of my life. I write because I think it might be God’s calling for me. You are such an awesome inspiration to me, Ella!
Thanks so much!
Thank you, friend! That is so encouraging! That is an awesome idea. My current WIP is essentially an allegory I wrote about how Christ makes me feel when I am broken. Keep pursuing God’s calling for your life, and thank YOU!