I started writing Justification in Feb 2022. It began as a creative outlet after I conceded defeat to other creative arts. The only experience I had with fiction writing was two brief attempts at novels in high school. Those didn’t get far because they didn’t capture one of the most important aspects of my life, my faith in God. Justification is the culmination of my search for an artistic expression that worships God. The question is, is it any good?

Here’s what I’ll say. When writing my story, I committed to a target audience, God and His Church. Much of modern storytelling lacks depth because it tries to reach as many people as possible. When you have a culture that is very divided, you have to appeal to very shallow morals, sacrificing depth. Justification is meant for men and women who love God and His Word. But does that mean it falls into similar pitfalls of other Christian media?

Christian storytelling has a reputation, not a good one. Cringey, cheesy, preachy, you name it. And when I say Christian storytelling, I’m referring to overt Christian film/books, not stories that allude to Biblical themes. I knew this going into Justification. I needed to determine what the issues were and how to prevent them in my own writing. Here are the shortcomings I targeted:

• Christian characters without significant character flaws
• Non-Christians portrayed as maniacal villains
• Gospel misrepresentation
• Art misconstrued as evangelism

I’ve tried my best to circumvent these tired problems in my book. But as I’ve learned, execution is extremely challenging. My first draft of Justification required a total rewrite after my editor came back to me. The manuscript was rife with boring scenes, writing disorder, and half-baked worldbuilding. What can I say? This was my first attempt to finish a novel. A big mistake I made was neglecting to read fantasy books. So I got to reading.

I studied what worked and what didn’t. I examined myself not as an author, but as an audience. What was boring? What excited? What sang and what agitated? Fiction must move our emotions. It must incite the heart, and in Justification‘s case, the Christian’s heart. I also watched dozens of youtube videos on writing craft. Many of them helped tremendously reshape my work.