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My Novel ‘The Mermaid’s Sister’ Arose from True Depths of Mourning
Articles | Carrie Anne Noble on Mar 1, 2021

The Icarus Aftermath
Reviews | Lorehaven Review Team on Feb 26, 2021

My Screenwriter Mom Introduced Me to Fantastic Sci-Fi in the 1960s
Articles | Jason William Karpf on Feb 25, 2021

52. Do Christians Really Need Science Fiction? | Fiction’s Chief End, part 3
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The Hourglass and the Darkness
Reviews | Lorehaven Review Team on Feb 19, 2021

Venus is More Than Just a Love Goddess
Articles | Shannon Stewart on Feb 18, 2021

Introducing Fantasy Enthusiast and New Lorehaven Writer Shannon Stewart
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Stories with Bad Ideas Can Still Help Us Grow
Articles | L.G. McCary on Feb 15, 2021

Gretchen and the Bear
Reviews | Lorehaven Review Team on Feb 12, 2021

The Mandalorian is a Religious Fundamentalist, and Here’s Why That’s Awesome
Articles | Josiah DeGraaf on Feb 11, 2021

Introducing Fantasy Creator and New Lorehaven Writer Josiah DeGraaf
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51. Do Christians Really Need Fantasy? | Fiction’s Chief End, part 2
Podcast | Fantastical Truth on Feb 9, 2021

The Death and Rebirth of Magic in Children’s Fantasy
Articles | R. J. Anderson on Feb 8, 2021

Torch
Reviews | Lorehaven Review Team on Feb 5, 2021

Fictional Magic Systems Can Go Beyond Rules and Reveal Deeper Characters
Articles | Elijah David on Feb 4, 2021

How God Uses Story Villains for Our Good
Articles | Zackary Russell on Feb 3, 2021

Introducing Sci-Fi Creator and New Lorehaven Writer Zackary Russell
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50. Do Christians Really Need Fiction? | Fiction’s Chief End, part 1
Podcast | Fantastical Truth on Feb 2, 2021

Frank E. Peretti to Give Keynote Address at Realm Makers Writers Conference This July
News | E. Stephen Burnett on Feb 1, 2021

Fugue for the Sacred Songbook: In Eb Minor
Reviews | Lorehaven Review Team on Jan 29, 2021

How A Year Without Superhero Films Rebooted Our Universe
Articles | Jason Joyner on Jan 28, 2021

New Book ‘Reading Evangelicals’ Will Focus on Famous Christian Fiction
News | E. Stephen Burnett on Jan 27, 2021

Introducing Superhero Novelist and New Lorehaven Writer Jason C. Joyner
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49. How Can We ‘Terraform’ the Church to Enjoy Fantastic Fiction?
Podcast | Fantastical Truth on Jan 26, 2021

Militant Secularism Could Force Christians to Create New Subcultures
Articles | Mike Duran on Jan 25, 2021

Flight of the Raven
Reviews | Lorehaven Review Team on Jan 22, 2021

‘One Piece’ Manga Reaches Chapter 1000: How Did This Pirate Become King?
Articles | L. Jagi Lamplighter on Jan 20, 2021

48. What Were the Top Seven Issues for Lorehaven Readers in 2020?
Podcast | Fantastical Truth on Jan 19, 2021

To Shape a Story is to Shape a Soul
Articles | L.G. McCary on Jan 18, 2021

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Etania's Worth, M. H. Elrich
Cinderella Spell, Laurie Lee
When Desperate Measures Are All You Have Left, J. C. Morrows
Fractures, James C. Joyner
Torch, R. J. Anderson
The Terran Summit, Anna Zogg
The Xerxes Factor, Anna Zogg
The Paradise Protocol, Anna Zogg
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The Ascension, Richard Spillman
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Unbroken Spirit, Kelsey Norman
Seed: Judgment, Joshua David
The Rooster and the Raven King, John Paul Tucker
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The Icarus Aftermath
“Arielle M. Bailey’s The Icarus Aftermath spins a golden yarn of vivid characters and gripping emotion, set in a world ripe for exploration.”
—Lorehaven on Feb 26, 2021

The Hourglass and the Darkness
“Kyle L. Elliott’s novel The Hourglass and the Darkness posits a world before the great Flood, starting a promising series.”
—Lorehaven on Feb 19, 2021

Gretchen and the Bear
“Carrie Anne Noble’s delightful fantasy/sci-fi mashup Gretchen and the Bear defies every expectation.”
—Lorehaven on Feb 12, 2021

Torch
“Torch blazes a solid conclusion to the series’ themes of just leadership and racial reconciliation among fairy folk.”
—Lorehaven on Feb 5, 2021

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52. Do Christians Really Need Science Fiction? | Fiction’s Chief End, part 3
Fantastical Truth, Feb 23, 2021

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Fantastical Truth, Feb 9, 2021

50. Do Christians Really Need Fiction? | Fiction’s Chief End, part 1
Fantastical Truth, Feb 2, 2021

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Settling the Solar System in Science Fiction, part 3: the Moon
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Settling the Solar System in Science Fiction, part 2: Venus
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To Shape a Story is to Shape a Soul

Truthful arguments can persuade people, but the stories we share have the greatest life-changing power of all.
L.G. McCary on Jan 18, 2021 | 2 comments

I’m a naturally argumentative gal and can go to absurd lengths to make a point. Once I wrote a paper about Eugene O’Neill’s play, Desire Under the Elms, without mentioning Sigmund Freud or the Oedipus Complex. The professor was visibly annoyed to give me an A because the entire play is about the Oedipus complex. He still remembers me as “the psychology major who refused to write about Freud.”

Absurd lengths, folks.

The passionate pursuit of the perfect argument integrating ethos, logos, and pathos led to an early love of apologetics. From the first chapter of Don’t Check Your Brains at the Door by Josh McDowell and Bob Hostetler, middle-school me was hooked. Apologetics blended my interests in theology, history, and philosophy.

And it gave me an excuse to argue with people.

When I first lost an argument

But something changed when my husband left church ministry. I trace it back to that point because it was the first time I lost an argument and felt it. Until the day my husband was asked to resign, none of my debates had material consequences. I offended a friend or two, but never enough to break fellowship. I made mistakes and felt foolish sometimes, but the fallout was minimal. This time, his resignation meant that I had surely failed to convince people that he was a good pastor. My losing the argument resulted in us being jobless and essentially homeless with a newborn and toddler.

Obviously, none of that is true. I wasn’t responsible for those painful circumstances or the ultimate outcome. Churches are filled with broken people, and all pastors have wounds. But it still felt true, and my drive toward apologetics intensified.

Notes from the Tilt-a-Whirl, N. D. WilsonDuring that same year, I read a book called Notes from the Tilt-A-Whirl. The book brought me much comfort and reassurance, and I became curious about the author, N. D. Wilson. In an interview in World magazine, I discovered a quote that I have kept pinned to my desk ever since:

“Stories are like catechisms, but they’re catechisms for your impulses. They’re catechisms with flesh on.”1

That’s when I realized that story is the sneakiest form of apologetics.

We are made of stories, not just truth claims

From both a psychological and theological standpoint, we are made of stories. God spoke the world into being, and He gave us, His image-bearers, the same ability to create with words. We process the world through stories, we explain ourselves to others through stories, and as we read, listen, and watch media, we integrate the narratives into our own. This is part of why reading Scripture daily can change our character. It’s also why deconstruction stories can be compelling but damaging.

We are the stories we tell ourselves, especially during our formative years. All the weeks in lockdown last year gave me time to consider just how much story has shaped my moral imagination.

The moral-shaping power of imagination

I honestly don’t remember when I first read C. S. Lewis’s myth retelling, Till We Have Faces, but I felt a deep connection to the main character and her struggle to find her purpose and worth. Her anger at the unfairness of the gods and her lack of insight into her jealousy of her sister cut me to the quick. Her Job-like brokenness near the end of the book still resonates with me: “The complaint was the answer. To have heard myself making it was to be answered.”2

When I finished The Lord of the Rings in high school, I realized I’d absorbed a deep love of forests and green places and admiration for loyalty and courage. I was determined to never let my warrior heart wither behind a cage. When I discovered Michael Crichton in college, I developed a deep suspicion of scientific advancements, especially human subject experiments as illustrated in The Terminal Man. Crichton wasn’t a Christian, but he believed science needed ethical limits. I’m still drawn to tech-gone-awry stories (and have written a few myself) because they illustrate the need for a Judeo-Christian ethic in the sciences.

And now as a mom, I see how read-alouds and favorite movies shape my children and teach truth (or lies) almost subconsciously. C. S. Lewis recognized this sneaky power of story when he discussed his Narnia series:

On that side (as Author) I wrote fairy tales because the Fairy Tale seemed the ideal Form for the stuff I had to say. Then of course the Man in me began to have his turn. I thought I saw how stories of this kind could steal past a certain inhibition which had paralysed much of my own religion in childhood.3

We are made of stories, and those stories come from somewhere. They shape how we see the world, where we travel in it, and what we love. They reflect good or evil, truth or lies, beauty or ugliness. That’s why Christian fiction matters so much. It allows us to win the argument without arguing.

To shape a story is to shape a soul.

So tell me: what story are you telling yourself and where did it come from? Can you see ways it is shaping your soul?

  1. From “Catechisms with Flesh On”, interview of N. D. Wilson by Marvin Olasky in WORLD magazine, February 27, 2012. Wilson “fleshes out” more ideas like this in Notes from the Tilt-A-Whirl and Death by Living, if you’re looking for books to add to your Goodreads. ↩
  2. Till We Have Faces was C. S. Lewis’s only myth retelling. He and J. R. R. Tolkien both considered it to be his best fiction work, and I heartily agree. ↩
  3. From “Sometimes Fairy Stories May Say Best What’s to be Said,” C.S. Lewis, The New York Times, Nov. 18, 1956. Accessed online at A Pilgrim in Narnia blog. ↩
L.G. McCary
L. G. McCary is an old-school Whovian and a lifelong Trekkie. She has a bachelor's in psychology which means she knows enough to mess with readers' heads but not enough to diagnose their problems. She is the wife of an Army chaplain and the homeschooling mom of four rambunctious kids. She writes supernatural and dark science fiction on topics as diverse as artificial intelligence, ghosts, sentient snowmen, and space hotels. Her first novel, That Pale Host, releases October 2021 from Monster Ivy Publishing. Her short story, "Rendering," appears in Havok's Rebirth anthology.
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  1. Daniel says:
    January 19, 2021 at 7:28 pm

    This is such a great article. I agree with the author’s takes wholeheartedly. And I’m glad someone else recognizes the absolute brilliance that is Notes from the Tilt-a-Whirl, by N.D. Wilson. Honestly believe more people should read this book over how-to-argue-for-your-faith stuff, and it’s a great read even for nonbelievers who are interested in the big moral/spiritual themes of the world.

    Reply
    • L.G. McCary says:
      January 19, 2021 at 10:56 pm

      Thanks, Daniel! I absolutely agree that Notes from the Tilt-A-Whirl is better than many apologetics books. Death by Living is similar. I think they should be considered extended prose poems with theological and philosophical themes. Wilson has such a lyrical writing style in both! I hope to develop some of the ideas in this article a little further, specifically regarding psychology and personal narratives, but we’ll see how the research goes in that direction.

      Reply

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