My Struggle Learning to Write Faith into Fiction

Hoodwinked is my first attempt at writing a novel that fits into the Christian romance space. I’ll admit — weaving faith into the story was not easy for me at first. I carried a lot of insecurities and questions:

How do I walk the line between being too heavy-handed and not saying enough?

What if it doesn’t come across as sincere?

Should I force in references to God and faith where they don’t feel natural?

And, most of all: who am I to write about Christianity with any kind of authority?

After all, in the course of a story, characters naturally give each other advice about life and faith — and I wanted that advice to be the right advice. Advice that adheres to the parameters of my beliefs.

Have I mentioned that my characters are outlaws? Talk about a mine field of issues! There’s a lot of self-reflection going on here as they question their guilt and their morality. God’s law versus man’s law. Is it ever okay to steal, even to feed the starving? These are the struggles they wrestled with — and so I wrestled with them, too.

And then there’s Friar Tuck. While he’s been portrayed in many ways over the centuries, my Tuck is a man earnest in his vocation, steady and true. But I’m certainly no friar. I’m not a priest. My only formal training is a Catholic grade-school education and lessons I try to absorb every Sunday. Who am I to put words of spiritual counsel in his mouth?

Here’s where I’ve landed: I will never pretend to be an authority on faith. But I can promise this — I will always approach my novels with a heart open to God’s influence on my words.

And so far, that has been enough.

One scene in Hoodwinked especially weighed on me. I knew it was coming, and I prayed about it for weeks: a moment where Robin questions everything — his path, his choices, even himself. (Because who hasn’t had a moment like that?) In that scene, Friar Tuck offers him guidance.

When the time finally came to write it, again I prayed for wisdom. And God truly answered. The words came naturally, flowing from a place of peace rather than pressure. I finished the scene knowing it was right — not because of me, but because God had been present in the writing.

That’s how I want to continue: praying that God works through me, letting Him guide my words, and not overthinking whether it’s too much, too little, or too anything. I’ll pray. I’ll reflect. And then I’ll let God take the keyboard (aka, a writer’s steering wheel).