AN ODE TO POISON

AN ODE TO POISON
Friday, December 6, 2024 by Lisa Betz

Categories: Friday's Fiction / GUEST AUTHORS

PLEASE WELCOME

LISA E. BETZ

FICTION FRIDAY

Christian Fiction: More Than a Good Story

A good story can powerfully shift perspective and change lives—as any ad exec knows. And yet, many people see fiction as mere entertainment, a pleasant diversion. And Christian fiction can be seen merely as stories without the content Christians find objectionable (such as foul language or graphic violence).

We Christian fiction writers know that our books are so much more! Well-written fiction can influence readers for good in many ways. Here are just a few:

Stories provide role models. Christian fiction portrays characters striving to live godly lives. We can show our heroes and heroines struggling with attitudes, making mistakes, learning from them, and growing.

I was pleased when a review of my novels praised the fact my main character wasn’t a “goody two shoes.” I intentionally allow my sleuth Livia to sometimes struggle to make the right choices or overcome un-Christlike attitudes. (She has a particular problem with patience.)

Stories portray Christians in a positive light. Plenty of secular fiction portrays Christians as judgmental, old-fashioned, stupid, or inept. When we offer a good story with likable, complex, believable characters who happen to be Christians, we counter that image and portray a Christian lifestyle as relevant and worthy of respect.

Jan Karon did this well in her Mitford books. Father Tim delighted readers while being unapologetically Christian. He prayed, lived out Christian morals, and was a likable protagonist whom thousands of readers admired, respected, and cheered on.

Stories tackle real issues. Fiction is an excellent medium for exploring an issue. The characters in a story can ponder why God allows suffering as they face tragedy (Jeanette Windle’s Congo Dawn is a great example). Or they might wrestle with the command to love your enemies, a theme explored in one of my childhood favorites, The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare.

In my newest mystery, An Ode to Poison, I tackled the issue of mercy vs. retribution. I forced my sleuth’s husband Avitus into a corner where he must decide whether or not to act with mercy towards a character who is his long-time enemy and who has been threatening to ruin him.

But Avitus is not yet a Christian. So why would he ever choose to extend mercy to the enemy he’s been dreaming of defeating for years?

This is the underlying inner challenge of the story. Can my sleuth (with God’s help) convince Avitus to view mercy as an honorable choice instead of a weak and foolish one? All without sounding contrived or trite.

I think I’ve accomplished it.

Stories present God’s truth in an approachable way. Fiction can reach readers who would never read a Christian non-fiction book. Novelists can weave biblical truth into their stories in organic ways that aren’t preachy. As our characters turn to God’s truth to help them in their fictional dilemmas, readers are exposed to those ideas and see how they play out.

Take my husband’s prior boss for example. She is a proclaimed atheist. She has no interest in non-fiction books about God, the Bible, or Christian Living. But she enjoys a good mystery, so she read my first two books. And loved them!

For readers like this, fiction writers have an opportunity to sow seeds of truth into the hearts of people who are not yet ready to seek God directly.

This is one reason I’m allowing Avitus to move slowly on his faith journey. In An Ode to Poison, he’s become curious about Livia’s new faith, but he is a cautious and logical man raised with traditional Roman values. He isn’t going to accept the strange teachings of Jesus without a lot of pondering and testing.

His reticence to accept Christianity allows me to explore biblical truths and gospel concepts from the point of view of a non-believer. Who knows how God will use Avitus and his skeptical questions to draw people to faith?

ABOUT LISA E. BETZ

Lisa E. Betz is an engineer-turned-mystery-writer, entertaining speaker, and speaking coach. She inspires others to become their best selves, living with authenticity, and purpose, and she infuses her novels with quirky characters who thrive on solving tricky problems. Her Livia Aemilia Mysteries, set in first-century Rome, have won several awards, including the Golden Scroll Novel of the Year (2021).

ABOUT AN ODE TO POISON Book 3 of the Livia Aemilia Mysteries

When Senator Gracchus’s wife is poisoned, Livia and her husband Avitus believe Gracchus is the killer. They are sure this is their chance to bring their enemy to justice until another victim is poisoned and everything they think they know is turned upside down.

An Ode to Poison, book three in the Livia Aemilia Mysteries, is a witty, clever, and inspiring tale of vengeance vs. mercy set in the Roman world of the early church.

The Livia Aemilia Mysteries

Death and a Crocodile
Fountains and Secrets
An Ode to Poison

Lisa’s website: https://lisaebetz.com/

Lisa’s author page: https://www.facebook.com/LisaEBetzWriter

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