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This podcast and other resources from Lorehaven focus on readers. That’s why, when aspiring writers post questions like, Where can I find an agent? or Will you look at my unpublished manuscript?, we don’t have much to share in that department. Until now. We’re journeying into new lands. This month we’re launching the Lorehaven Authorship within the Lorehaven Guild on Discord. Let’s explore how these new digital channels with pro livestreams and a fan-focused Book Festival will help writers cultivate their God-given imaginations.

Episode sponsors

1. Audio-Epic.com: “1232” podcast
2. The Case of the Heart Stone by Tulli Cole
3. Above the Circle of Earth by E. Stephen Burnett

Mission update

• Discern the Top Three Negative Evangelical Myths about Popular Culture by E. Stephen Burnett
• Gabriel’s Song, new review by Sierra Simopoulos
• Subscribe free to get updates and join the Lorehaven Guild

How to join the Lorehaven Authorship

Hosted in the Lorehaven Guild, the Authorship offers three member levels:

1. Creative ($3.99/month). Fight for your calling. Enjoy livestreams with the pros. Discover why God created us to make stories for His glory and our joy.
2. Pro Novelist ($9.99/month). All benefits for Creative members, plus your own “booth” to seek new readers in our virtual fan-centered Book Festival!
3. Terraformer ($29.99/month). Get all above benefits plus more perks. Help invest in the future of fantastical fiction and expand the Lorehaven mission.

How to join? Subscribe free to Lorehaven. (Or in January 2026, just click here.) We’ll send you the Guild invitation. Once you’ve entered the Guild, look for the LOREHAVEN AUTHORSHIP channels. Then click one to see your options.

Pro tip: to avoid excess mobile charges, avoid using Discord for this on your Apple or Android devices. Instead, use the desktop app or browser version.

1. Why our Author gives us imaginations

How can writers sometimes fall into ‘writicism’ traps?

• For a while, many Christian fantasy writers seemed hyperfocused.
• Blogs and conferences focused mainly on the craft of writing.
• And some complained about publishers not being interested.
• Some did try these books. Only a few succeeded. How come?
• My take for 20-ish years: not enough writer focus on our
• Only in the last decade-ish have we gotten better at fan outreach.
• We’ve also seen more writers get serious about their faith in Jesus.
• They’ve earned trust with more readers and therefore succeed.

Do fantasy fans like writing more than other fans?

• Still, we’ve found that unlike other genres like biography, mystery, and historical romance, fantastical fans enjoy the craft of writing.
• Some write fanfiction or other stories just for fun.
• Others share their stories with friends or family.
• Still others have aspirations for indie or traditional publication.
• But writers must not hope publishers or fans will make them happy.
• The best authors are already happy, or joyous, for other reasons.
• Maybe they’re simply really ambitious or gifted, as non-Christians.
• Or maybe they’re Christians and find their joy/happiness in Christ.

How does fantastical creation give us joy in Jesus?

• In any case, if you’re a Christian, create stories for Christ’s glory!
• God has called you to worship Him. Only in this can we be happy.
• Worship includes biblical practice of His gift of imagination.
• That’s why we make things for His glory and for our happiness.
• This joy can begins today, yet is also practice for eternal joy.
• And this pursuit is our “chief end”—before all the challenges of plotting vs. pantsing, or whether to seek agents vs. indie-publish.

How will the Lorehaven Authorship help you find joy?

In the Authorship, published pros will train creatives in the craft of writing. However, we’ll also help you discover your purpose for your imagination. Why did God create you? And why do we feel this drive to create other stuff? If you sense the need to know this greater godly mission, welcome aboard!

2. How we grow His gifts into writing skills

How has this biblical joy kept us going over decades?

• To repeat: God gives us creative imagination to glorify Him.
• So His divine purpose empowers us for creative challenges.
• Personally, Stephen can testify that I’ve been renewed by this biblical mission for over 25 writing years of minor wins and major losses.
• Even when the day job boss says, “We need to lay you off”?
• Even when the editor says, “This project isn’t right for us?
• Often Stephen has asked himself, “If I never got published as a ‘pro novelist,’ could I still write, if only for my joy in Christ?”

How will the Authorship help writers grow their craft?

I’ll put my 25+ years of creative struggles to work here. So will other pro novelists. This reflects our shared need for training. After all, you can’t go directly from “Let’s write!” to “Let’s change the world with our stories.” Don’t skip that big step in between—the step of Christians helping one another grow our creative gifts.

For example, later this month I’m hosting a fully public livestream:

How to Sell a Sci-Fi Novel in Just Twenty-Five Easy Years

Saturday, Jan. 31
6 p.m. Eastern (3 p.m. Pacific)
exclusively in the Guild

Future livestreams will be available for all Authorship members.

Apart from livestreams, we’ll share this training in every room of the Authorship—from C.S. Lewis’s three-stage view of story-making, to creative challenges like the “Christian” label, to the thorny issue of whether fictional characters can curse.

How will authors reach fans at the Book Festival?

Lorehaven has spent years connecting authors not just with other authors, but with faithful readers. So the Authorship will also feature the Lorehaven Book Festival.

Anyone in the free Guild can visit the Book Festival to browse virtual booths. Yet only members at the Pro Novelist level can host their own booth spaces. They can recruit readers, share links, or host Q&As—for any length of time.

3. How ‘terraformers’ can change this world

What’s the state of the Christian fantastical world?

• We’d love to see more Christian-made novels in sci-fi and horror.
• As reality-observant persons, however, we must admit the truth.
• Teen/YA women’s fantasy continues to rule these worlds.
• A day may come when all subgenres live in harmony and success.
• But it is not this day. Bad publishers? No. Limited/quiet readership.

Why do we need not just writers, but “terraformers”?

• To fulfill this future, we need spaces to help these genres grow.
• Lorehaven is generational. That’s why we call for terraforming.
• Maybe the Lord has blessed you with success you’d like to share.
• Or maybe you’re not a writer, but you want to support writers.
• You can become an Authorship Terraformer, sponsoring this work.
• (Only after supporting family, local church, and faithful groups!)

How will the Authorship grow fantastical fiction?

• Our ultimate purpose: offer even more resources from Lorehaven.
• More library titles. More reviews. Digitally published book quests.
• Perhaps even more episodes of this very podcast, shared to all.
• Right now our main limitation is not willingness or skills, but time.
• Thank the Lord, Lorehaven is a sponsor-supported digital mission!
• Still, if He brought other supporters our way, we’d be glad to grow.

Com station

Top question for listeners

• If you write, which groups and mentors have helped you grow?

Comment from @‌johnfollis2357 about episode 219:

I am forever grateful to these people for putting this wonderful drama together. I won’t spoil it much here, but there is a part in Glorious Appearing that had me convicted of my sin and my need for a savior several years ago. And as a result, I was converted to Christianity. A follower of Jesus Christ. God saved me. And I did not do anything to earn it. It is all his doing.

Next on Fantastical Truth

Imagine, if you will, that Christian Author X creates a futuristic tale in which cyborg detectives explore the boundaries of good and evil. That seems cool. But how does that compare with, say, Christian Author Y’s fantasy story in which verses and prayer are like magic, people and place names are anagrams for virtues, and the king represents Jesus Christ? Many fine Christians get confused by Author X’s story but get impressed by Author Y’s story—because, after all, it’s allegory! Is this kind of allegory, however, really a more “Christian” kind of story?