Novels have a tremendous impact upon the imagination of the reader. As Christians, we should be aware of what we force our readers to imagine. Reading for many people is meant to be an escape from their reality, to slip into someone else’s shoes, to be the hero, and to visit places they would never go otherwise.

This then becomes a great responsibility for Christian authors. We force our readers to imagine what we want them to imagine. The Bible has something to say about this:

Genesis 6:5 — And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

Zechariah 8:17 — And let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against his neighbour; and love no false oath: for all these are things that I hate, saith the LORD.

Romans 1:21 — Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

2 Corinthians 10:5 — Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

With those verses in mind, Christian authors should be aware of the power in their words. Let’s not create the wrong imaginations in the hearts of our readers.

Writing Graphic and Explicit Scenes

Authors want their readers to feel and experience the same emotions their characters do. They want it to be real. If a character has dirty thoughts about a woman, then authors tend to want to write about those thoughts. If someone gets stabbed, then the author may be inclined to graphically describe the bloody wound. But as Christians, we want to honor Christ and be a blessing to our readers. We don’t want to force them to imagine something unholy.

I edited a book where the author wrote of a teenage girl undressing for bed. She needlessly described the process, forcing her readers to imagine it. Mentally, it is a type of pornography, and Christians should avoid creating images in the minds of their readers that would not be honoring to Christ. All she simply needed to say was something like this: She quickly dressed for bed. Readers don’t need to imagine the other details.

Don’t fall into the trap that you must force a reader to think evilly to portray evil or that you must force them to imagine sexual perversity in order to drive the scene home emotionally. People read fiction to escape reality, to find hope, to laugh, or to go on an adventure they themselves will never experience. There is no need to drag your readers through perverse mud.

Writing Profanity

Christian authors justify adding profanity into their story because that’s the nature of the character they seek to portray. The character is evil, bad, or just profane, so the author attempts to be authentic, real, and honest. There are other ways to write without forcing the reader to cuss mentally when they read your book. Here are some examples:

Good: Charlie swore viciously. “I promise you, you’ll not get away with that.”

Good: The pain shot up his arm like a needle to the bone, driving him to utter a slew of profane words that caused Jane to blush to her hair roots. “Doug! Watch your mouth!” she hissed.

Good: Swearing like a sailor, Patrick unloosed a roundhouse punch that missed his target by a mile. Adding a few more cuss words for good measure, he tried again.

You can convey the uncouth, rebellious, evil, or profane aspects of a character’s nature without expressly using profanity in your dialogue. Let’s keep our writing G-rated. Ask yourself: would I want Jesus to read what I wrote? If not, then why would you want anyone else to read it?