Lydia’s Stillwater Homestead is a heartfelt, modern-day middle-grade series rooted in Christian values and inspired by the quiet strength of Little House on the Prairie and the charm of Anne of Green Gables. Set in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas, it follows Lydia, an eleven-year-old homeschooler raised on a homestead where faith is central, the outside world is filtered through Scripture, and life lessons are learned through service, suffering, and simple joys.

Though the tone is gentle and wholesome, Lydia’s story deals with real-world challenges: peer pressure, growing up in a culture that often conflicts with truth, and learning compassion by helping her mother in what Lydia calls the “Dying Home”, a free hospice for families who can’t afford end-of-life care.

Lydia’s Stillwater Homestead offers a fresh, relevant perspective for today’s Christian youth.

She’s got muddy boots, quiet mornings, and a cousin who doesn’t get any of it.

Lydia Fernsby lives a quiet, joyful life on her family’s Ozark Mountain homestead—planting seeds, gathering eggs, and learning timeless lessons from her faith-filled parents. But when her cousin from the city comes to visit, everything starts to feel different.

With a glowing phone in her hand and the latest trends on her tongue, Lydia’s cousin seems to come from another world—a louder, faster, flashier one. As the girls struggle to understand each other, Lydia begins to question her plans to attend public school.

But through weeding gardens, helping at Mama’s “Dying Home,” and sharing quiet talks under the stars, Lydia learns that some things—like truth, beauty, and love—never go out of style.

A heartwarming story about friendship, identity, and holding fast to what matters most.

Available now as an eBook and a paperback on:

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Google Play | Apple | Kobo | Smashwords | Everand | Tolino | Vivlio | Fable |

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The text in this article is copyright © 2025 Jessica Tacu.

Note: This article was originally posted on Sincerely, Jessie Ann. Since I’ve made a separate publication for my fiction works and all-things writing & publishing, I’ve moved it here where it’s more relevant.

Another note: I am not leaving Substack, and I will still post on Notes when necessary—I have only removed the Substack app from my phone, so I don’t feel compelled to scroll constantly.

Long before the internet, I loved writing and world-building—I loved being creative! It fueled me, never abused or abandoned me, and I felt a great sense of joy, purpose, and belonging even when I had zero audience.

I remember days when I’d spend countless hours lost in my fantasy worlds, or poring over old maps, art, and history books. I never had “writer’s block”—I didn’t even know what that was—or recall a single day when I couldn’t immerse myself in my creative passions, despite what might’ve been going on in my life.

Writing and creating were my escape from all of that.

Then, about thirty years ago, I found my way onto the internet like everybody else, and, at first, it was a fantastic creative outlet. I joined the world of freeform role-playing on MSN Groups/Communities and chat, and met a lot of like-minded, creative people who simply loved to create.

Back then, the only competition anyone had with each other was in-character fantasy battles or dramatic storylines. And when out of character, anticipation looked like wanting to get home from work or school to check and see if anyone had replied to your storyline thread.

Rarely did people feel the need to show real-life photos of themselves or post random comments out of boredom or a need for validation.

Nobody spent all of their time scrolling mindlessly, admiring other people’s art and lives and faces while being depressed by their own—because there wasn’t anything to scroll. People were too busy working on their creative projects and just wanted to share them with others. But hey, if there wasn’t anyone to share them with, that never stopped them from creating! 🤷‍♀️

This went on for nearly a decade before social media and then smartphones crept in and ruined everydamthing.

Sure, social media was technically a thing long before MySpace came onto the scene, but it wasn’t nearly as widespread as it is today, nor was it so in-your-face. There was instant messaging here, a chat room there, but nothing that made us walk hypnotized onto a conveyor belt that dropped us into a high-speed emotional grinder.

Personally, I think it was MySpace that killed creativity and kick-started a generation of social media zombies who feed only on their next digital fix and can never get enough.

On MySpace, we put up real photos of ourselves and our ASLs (age, sex, location); we pitted people against each other and played favorites by choosing our Top 8. Personal expression replaced the need to create so fast that we didn’t even notice it happening. We opened doors to allow anyone and everyone into our personal lives, and we essentially gave up human contact and connection for this drive-by, instant gratification sh*tshow that leaves us unfulfilled and begging for scraps of attention.

So, why am I picking on Substack, arguably the most respected social media platform that has ever existed?

Because of Notes.

Notes is a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

And most of you reading this have probably already realized that by now—but are still ignoring the obvious—the rest will fight me on it, and that’s OK, but don’t say I didn’t try to warn you.

No matter how positive the content or how kind the users are, Notes is still Twitter/X. It’s the same as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, YouTube, and whatever else there is out there. And it’s the same because it works in the same way. It feeds us bite-sized bits of information that shortens our attention spans and makes us too impatient to read anything longer than a paragraph. The Notes feature leads people to the same high-speed grinder; it makes us addicted to constantly checking it—we’d snort it through a straw if we could. We’ve replaced reading books and working on our creative projects with scrolling, posting, liking, restacking, and waving our figurative arms in front of everyone, trying to get them to notice us.

It’s the same because most of us are here for the same things: attention, relevance, and money.

(Note that I said “most”, so if you’re not here for that, then I’m not talking to you.)

It’s not about being creative anymore, no matter how you look at it.

We’re here for likes, followers, subscribers, PAID subscribers; we’re here for attention, relevance, and validation (wherever I say “we” I also mean “me”). We get upset when people UNfollow or UNsubscribe, express how sad we are that we worked so hard on writing an article that only two people showed up for. We lose motivation and inspiration if engagement is low, and some of us stop doing everything else, even outside of Substack, because we start questioning our talents and abilities.

We start feeling sorry for ourselves.

And do you know what this proves? It proves that the work we’re doing isn’t for us, or for God, no matter how hard we try to make ourselves believe it—it’s for everybody else; it’s for that attention and validation I mentioned.

And today, I’ve decided to do something about it. It’s not the first time I’ve ditched social media for my sanity. Back in the day, I deleted my Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram accounts with tens of thousands of followers—and I didn’t look back.

I still have a YouTube account, but I deleted the app from my phone when I realized I was spending hours out of my day scrolling through Shorts—and I never looked back.

Yesterday, I deleted the Substsack app from my phone and will not be looking back there, either. Why do I need it on my phone? Why do I need 24/7/365, anywhere-in-the-world access to any social media app, even the nicest one ever created?

I don’t.

I want to be able to read books again, not pick up my phone every second to check out what everybody else is doing.

I want to be able to write articles I’m passionate about because I’m passionate about them, not because I’m trying to prove myself to others.

I want to be able to feel the passion I once felt for creating, and I can’t do that with a creativity-sucking app taking up all of my time and attention.

I want to feel joy, purpose, and belonging in my work again, and that’ll never happen as long as I keep feeding the machine.

So, with all that said, I’m stepping away from Notes (not articles). I’ll pop on every once in a while to post something about new articles and whatnot; I’ll say hi to the dear friends I’ve met here, but for the most part, I’m done with Notes because I didn’t delete Twitter just to rejoin Twitter wearing an orange suit.

You might not even notice my absence because I didn’t post much on Notes and usually ❤️ed a lot of other Notes. But I will definitely notice, because, behind the scenes, I spent a great deal of time scrolling mindlessly while my life kept passing me by.

P.S. Check out another relevant article I wrote titled “The Gift of Creativity | A Superpower You Didn’t Know You Had”.

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The text in this article is copyright © 2025 Jessica Tacu.

Note: This article was originally posted on Sincerely, Jessie Ann. Since I’ve made a separate publication for my fiction works, I’ve moved it here where it’s more relevant.

God graciously stitched me together with the gift of creativity, and I feel so blessed. You should, too, because you have the same gift, even if you don’t realize it.

I don’t claim to be great at my creative efforts, but that’s the thing—we don’t need to be great to be creative. Because creativity in and of itself is an extraordinary power and titles like “great” or “professional” are just human labels used to pit us against each other, the same as viewing someone as “pretty”.

When God created us, did He say, “OK, this one I will make prettier than this one,” or “This one is the standard of beauty—those over there are just so-so.”

No, He made each of us in His image, and the gifts He blessed us with were tailored to us, and we are all equal in His eyes, gifts and physical appearance and all. He doesn’t love any one of us more than another; He doesn’t secretly admire one talent or skill over another, and He certainly isn’t judging the physical features that He crafted us with.

So, why do we do it to each other?

Why do we watch talent shows that pick creatives apart, elevate and praise the “best,” and tear down those who don’t fit into society’s definition of “talented”? Why does one person’s art evoke admiration and envy, while another’s makes us cringe? Why do we get goosebumps when we hear one person sing, but second-hand embarrassment when we hear another? Why do we look at one person’s craft and skill and then suddenly question our own?

And why do so many of us suppress our desire to write, draw, paint, or sing because we’re afraid of humiliating ourselves, or because we don’t feel qualified enough?

Imagine if J.R.R. Tolkien hadn’t been confident enough to write The Lord of the Rings, or if Michelangelo hadn’t thought himself qualified enough to paint, sculpt, or draw. Or, if Beethoven, because he couldn’t hear his own music, didn’t trust his talent enough and chose never to play.

Here’s an eye-opening truth: If you’re inspired to be creative, you’re qualified! And no one is “better” than you because you’re unique with unique talents. Only when we start worrying about what others will think or comparing ourselves do we become unqualified.

I’ve always loved art, but I never thought I was very good at it—and by society’s standards, I’m not. Because of this, I never pursued it much, even in private, and even though I wanted to! I’ve ignored the inspiration to draw or paint something for as long as I can remember. Just the thought of trying has always brought me a little piece of joy, but I never thought about how I might feel if I’d actually tried.

Well, recently, I started trying. And you know what? I’m finding so much of that joy I spoke of. On the surface and deep down in my heart, I really don’t care an ounce about how it looks to other people, and that is absolutely the key to experiencing true childlike freedom! I’m writing, drawing, and painting now for me, not for anyone else, other than my Father in heaven, Who blessed me with such gifts.

How am I creating for Him, exactly, by creating for myself?

By doing what He created me to do! By using the gifts that He blessed me with and the Holy Spirit inspired me to pursue, and no longer trying to please the world.

When I was a little girl, I drew pictures, colored, and made things because I enjoyed the experience—they made me genuinely happy!

Children are unaffected by the world. They don’t care how cold it is outside; they’ll play in the snow without a coat if they can get away with it! They don’t think twice about falling out of trees; they’ll climb as high as they can and just enjoy the view! They’re not worried about failing at anything; they do their best, with their whole hearts, and never care about the results! Until, of course, adults who lost their childlike innocence a long time ago start pointing out their failures to them.

Children aren’t afraid of anything, except the occasional monster in the closet or under the bed, but that’s more of an adventurous fear than a literal one. And children, when they experience pain or disappointment, they don’t remember or hang onto it like we do.

Children are safe. They have not been manipulated by the world to be anyone other than who God created them to be. And I believe they go to heaven no matter what, because they are innocent.

But this is why the Enemy works so hard on children, by turning them into adults. And what superpower do all children have that keeps them safe from the evils of this world, only to be lost or twisted when they grow into adulthood?

Imagination. Creativity.

The Enemy doesn’t want us to use our creative gifts because he knows how powerful they are. And why wouldn’t they be—God gave them to us for a reason!

Now, the Enemy is using something new to distract us, and worse, to cause us to lose our gifts altogether. Yes, I’m going to say what you think I’m going to say—AI. But before I go any further, let me be clear: I’m not entirely against the use of AI; I’m only against its abuse. When writers use it to write for them, and artists use it to draw and paint their pieces, when musicians stop creating their own music and let AI create it instead—that’s abuse. When we stop trying to learn new things, but use AI as a shortcut, that is abuse.

And the abuse of AI is, honestly, making us stupid.

Sorry about the cruel word choice, but it’s necessary. Do a Google search for “Is AI making us stupid?” and you’ll find all you need to know that I don’t have time in this article to explain.

The point is, the Enemy is using everything in his arsenal to keep us from being creative and from being passionate about our God-given gifts. Since the beginning of time, he has utilized all the usual sins—pride, envy, jealousy, laziness, greed—to make us use our creative gifts for the wrong things, in the wrong way, or to abandon them altogether.

Now, with the abuse of AI, we’re freely giving up our gifts for the easy way out; we’re no longer trying, working hard, learning, or cultivating our creative passions; we’re no longer experiencing accomplishment or the victorious feeling of figuring out hard things. We’re no longer working through natural obstacles like loss of motivation, or writer’s block, and learning more about our craft—and ourselves—but are replacing our ability to grow and thrive with an artificial, soulless machine that can’t produce a true human emotion or experience.

We’ve become microwaves, producing mushy, rubbery food without effort or nourishment.

But enough about AI.

For almost as long as I’ve been alive, I’ve loved writing, art, and world-building, just like my Father in heaven.

Who better to emulate than God, the Creator of all things? Our God is the creative Master. He painted, sculpted, sketched, and even stitched into existence everything and everyone we see. And since we were made in His image, it’s no wonder that every single one of us is inspired to create in some way, and why our hobbies and creative passions are so ingrained within us from an early age.

Telling stories. Painting scenes. Photography. Cartography. Singing. Sketching. Sculpting. Playing instruments…

The gifts are endless, and if you think about it, almost everything we do is, in some way, a creative process.

Unfortunately, most of us, as we get older, stop creating for ourselves and use our God-given gifts to cater to the world instead. Now, we do things to impress others, to make money, to feel more important, to be seen, and to stay relevant. This is what the Enemy wants, and every time we feel inadequate, amateur, or less than someone else, he wins. Every time we look down on someone else’s creative journey, he applauds. Every time we pick up a pen or a paintbrush and view it as a job instead of a passion, he gets his way. Every time we feel overwhelmed or depressed by literally anything, and it causes us to be unable to create, he feels triumphant.

He doesn’t want us to create! He doesn’t want us to use the skills and talents God gifted us! He doesn’t want us to be childlike, BECAUSE HE CAN’T TOUCH US THERE!

There’s something special—supernatural—about getting lost in our gifts.

I remember vividly how happy I used to be when I wrote stories and created fantasy worlds solely for the love of it. I remember, as a little girl, how free I felt, in mind, body, and spirit, when I built forts in the woods with my brothers, pretending I was this or that character in an enchanted land that could only be conjured in my imagination. In those moments, the darkness and evils of this world couldn’t find me, much less touch me.

I aspire to get back to that.

I know I can never be a child again, and my innocence died a long time ago, but I can try my best. In the same way that I learned how to be prideful, envious, jealous, and lazy, I can learn to be delighted, humbled, appreciative, and motivated again.

And that starts with choosing to create because it brings me joy and delights my Father in heaven, and refusing to create for the pleasures and expectations of the world.

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The text in this article is copyright © 2025 Jessica Tacu.

I recently moved a few writing-related articles from my faith-based publication, Sincerely, Jessie Ann, to my author publication, as this one seems more fitting.

I didn’t want to bombard your inboxes with each one—especially if you’ve read them before as a subscriber to that publication—so, I’ve decided to list them here, all in a single email for those who are new to my page and might’ve missed them.

Thanks for reading!

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Sidra Anatola will soon die a human death and be reborn as one of the Myridian, beings destined to destroy the World of Aetheria. Determined to escape this fate, she abandons her home to seek the wisdom of an ancient entity. But hunters stalk her every step, and the greatest threat may be the love she left behind, a fellow Myridian fighting to hold on to his humanity.

Breseis Eriswen, expelled from the academy and branded a failure, refuses to follow her family’s legacy as a Myridian hunter—she never believed in Myridians, to begin with. Heartbroken yet ambitious, she ventures into the world determined to carve out her own destiny.

When their paths collide, a reluctant alliance is forged: a mouthy dreamer and a hardened fighter. Together they steal from temples, defy false gods, and escape death at every turn. Yet both carry secrets with the power to shatter their fragile bond and change the course of not only their lives, but the ages to come.

Everyone will be able to read the first book here, for free, in a serialized form, so subscribe now to be notified when chapters start releasing!

In this publication, “Author Jessica Redmerski”, I’ll be posting about the editing and writing process of each book (Book Two is already in the works!), cover design, formatting, publishing, storyline and character development, reader opportunities, free giveaways, and much more!

Glad to have you here!

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The text in this article is copyright © 2020 Jessica Tacu.

I’ve written and published books in many genres, including New Adult Contemporary Romance, Crime & Suspense, Dark Contemporary Fantasy, Young Adult Urban Fantasy, Dystopian, and even Historical. (Most of these books I have removed from sale.)

And although I have favorite books I’ve written, the genre I love more than any other has always been High Fantasy. Reading it, writing it, watching it, playing it—nothing beats the crackling of a fire in the hearth of an old tavern, the shiing! of swords colliding in battle, the creaking of carriage wheels moving over rough terrain, or horses’ hooves clopping over cobblestones.

Most of my fantasy writing was done between 1999-2006, when I joined like-minded fantasy lovers in MSN Communities/Groups and chat rooms where we created characters and empires and had loads of fun with turn-based freeform role-playing.

I vividly remember thinking that the cheesy animated gifs. of flickering candles and skulls with glowing eyes on Geocities websites were so awesome. I remember spending hours browsing fantasy artwork by Boris Vallejo, Luis Royo, Brom, Frank Frazetta, Julie Bell, and many others, hoping to find the perfect character image to build my character around or to set a scene in a post I was preparing.

Ah, those were the days! 😊

Oddly enough, as much as I loved high fantasy, it wasn’t until 2020 that I wrote my first high fantasy novel.

It was first published under the pseudonym “Sonja J. Breckon.” The name Sonja came from actress Rhona Mitra’s character in Underworld: Rise of the Lycans; the “J” stood for my real name, Jessica; and “Breckon”—well, I just liked the way it sounded. 🤷‍♀️

I did all of the work for every aspect of this series: the writing and world-building, the book cover design, the fantasy map, the interior design and formatting, and the publishing and promoting. And while it seems like a lot to take on, I loved every minute of it! I even started a dramatic audio version of Silver Dawn Afire, and, in doing so, found another passion for creativity!

You’ll learn all about that endeavor in an upcoming post.🙂

This post is just to introduce you to the World of Aetheria and my series-in-the-making, “The Seventh Age Saga”.

The first book, Silver Dawn Afire, is complete—it was originally published in December 2020. However, I took it off sale along with most of the other books I wrote because of my conviction of faith. Currently, the book is undergoing some minor changes so that the story better reflects my Christian worldview and doesn’t go against my convictions.

No, the series is not “Christian”, but it is “Christian-friendly”, like “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Chronicles of Narnia”. I will do a post soon on that topic as well.

On a dedicated Substack publication, readers of the series will be able to read the first book for free in a serialized form. Here, I’ll be posting about the editing process for book one, the writing process for future books (book two is already in the works!), cover design, formatting, publishing, storyline and character inspiration, opportunities, free stuff, and so much more!

So, be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss anything!

My next post will be the updated synopsis for Silver Dawn Afire and possibly a new cover design. I haven’t decided yet if I’m going to keep the original or work on something new.

Lastly, I will not be publishing the series under “Sonja J. Breckon” but under my maiden name instead, “Jessica Redmerski”.

I hope to have you along for the journey. 😊

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I’ve written many books, but Everything Under the Sun has to be my most layered and deeply developed—it’s certainly the longest book I’ve ever written, coming in at just under 600 pages.

It’s also probably my favorite story.

I took the book off sale for a long time so I could make the necessary edits so it would be Christian-friendly without compromising the story’s integrity. It was difficult, but I’m happy to say that it is done!

Read the disclaimer I added to the beginning of the book:

And here is a review and the blurb:

“The plot is gripping, and makes the reader feel like they are part of the journey.” and “... the moments between Thais and Atticus...will warm the audience’s heart.” —The Booklife Prize

If you’d like to read Everything Under the Sun, it is now available at most online eTailers, and is also available as a paperback.

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | GooglePlay | iBooks | Kobo

Thanks so much! May God bless you, your family, and your life.

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Note: This article was originally posted on Sincerely, Jessie Ann. Since I’ve made a separate publication for my fiction works, I’ve moved it here where it’s more relevant.

First, a brief—albeit awkwardly personal—tidbit about me:

I grew into adulthood with an aversion to sex. I hated anything sexual. I pretended to be unbothered by sex scenes in movies and books or by sexual talk among my peers. I even pretended to be interested in sex in real life to be like everybody else. But all the while, I was screaming inside, scrubbing my skin with a metaphorical wire brush to remove the filth and shame.

Now that I got that out of the way:

I’ve written and published twenty books to date, and of those twenty, more than a few contained sex scenes—some of them quite explicit. You might be asking: If you hated the sexual world so much, why include explicit sex scenes in your books?

The answer is simple: just as I had done throughout my young adult years, I thought I had to in order to get anywhere in the publishing world.

I’ve been writing books since I was barely thirteen. I started publishing around 2011 and released four books that didn’t go anywhere. I was desperate for people to read my stories. I wanted what all writers want: a successful career as an author.

So, I set aside my natural “clean” writing style and started paying more attention to what readers seemed to love. I noticed that in 2012, the hottest trend in publishing was the emerging New Adult genre. Readers were passionate about these books—so much so that a popular book blogger could single-handedly shoot an unknown author into literary stardom, as what happened with me—and one thing these books all had in common was explicit sex scenes.

That’s what people seemed to talk about the most:

“This book has a lot of steam!”
“Omigod, this book is so sexy!”

So, I took a deep breath, set aside my aversion for the sake of a writing career, and dove headfirst into uncharted territory. I’d never written a romance book before—I’d never even had any interest in reading romance novels, much less writing them. (Nothing wrong with them, it was just my preference at the time. Now, I enjoy reading them occasionally—clean, Christian ones, of course.)

But that’s what I did. And guess what happened?

I published a New Adult novel, made an instant success name for myself, and earned a boatload of money that year.

Naturally, I thought I had found the key to publishing success: sex sells. I thought, Okay, I can do this. I can fake it for a writing career. After all, I’d been faking it my entire life, and I had some experience in that matter.

So, in many books after that first bestseller, I forced myself to include sex scenes, some more explicit than others.

But writing those scenes became a chore, a burden, something I dreaded. And I was ashamed of them. But readers expected it. Some even said so, expressing disappointment in their reviews when a book didn’t have enough “sexy time.” I knew I’d lose more readers if I didn’t deliver.

And I did.

I was hemorrhaging readers because nearly every book I wrote after my bestseller didn’t feel natural, and readers knew it. They could feel it in my writing. The stories lacked passion because I was too stressed about the sex scenes that I felt pressured to include.

Then, one day, I threw my hands up in frustration and decided: No more.

I wasn’t going to write sex scenes anymore unless they were vague and, most importantly, an integral part of the storyline—not just thrown in for the sake of including one.

And when I stopped adding them?

I became a struggling writer again, barely selling a few books here and there. Go figure.

Don’t get me wrong; I’m not entirely against “suggestive” romance in books, movies, or television. But I firmly believe in a fade-to-black approach. Detailed sex scenes are not necessary to tell a good story. They’re vulgar, disrespectful, and frankly, unnecessary—no matter how important they may seem to the plot.

When I read or write about two characters in love, I prefer the “implicative” moments to unfold naturally, not included for the sole purpose of adding a sex scene—a reader can tell the difference, trust me—and certainly not written in a way that forces me to witness every detail.

Because here’s the thing: Is it normal for us to watch real-life couples engage in intimacy? No, it’s not. So why would I want to see it in a movie or read about it in a book?

And I’m sorry, but if someone finds entertainment in explicit content, it’s time to reflect on their values and seek God. I don’t say that with condemnation but with a heart of concern.

Any day of the week, you can look at the Top 100 books (particularly Kindle editions) on Amazon and find that many of them are filled with heavy sexual content. Some are so explicit, unconventional, and outright evil that they speak volumes about how disconnected society has become from God.

My books were once among them. They were littered with scenes I would never want my children to read—no matter how old they are.

It was my failure, my choice, to cave and conform to an oversexualized society. But by the grace of God, He opened my eyes. He gave me clarity and discernment. And I knew I could no longer contribute to the problem.

I have since removed all books from sale that were too explicit and written for secular audiences—even my 8-book crime and suspense series, which helped keep me afloat financially (not richly by any means) for the past decade.

And you know what? I would rather be penniless than continue to put out sinful content that furthers the Enemy’s agenda.

Because I have faith in my Lord.

He will provide. He will sustain me.

To my fellow Christian authors, I ask you: What are you putting out into the world?

If you write and publish books that include explicit sex scenes, please reconsider your actions. Even if your books are not explicitly Christian-themed, that does not mean a Christian should feel free to engage in this sinful practice, no matter the excuse.

We are called to be set apart:

If you’re struggling with this issue, I encourage you to pray and seek God’s guidance. Ask yourself:

• Am I honoring God with my writing?

• Am I conforming to the world instead of following Christ?

• Would I be comfortable showing my work to Jesus?

For more on this topic, I encourage you to read my article: “Christian Creatives Justifying Their Darkness.”

It’s time to stop compromising. It’s time to write for His glory, not the world’s approval.

May God bless you, your family, and your life.

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The text in this article is copyright © 2025 Jessica Tacu.

Note: This article was originally posted on Sincerely, Jessie Ann. Since I’ve made a separate publication for my fiction works, I’ve moved it here where it’s more relevant.

Recently, I read an article written by Dylan Campbell @TWOCENTTHEOLOGY titled “We Need Christian Writers,” and he stated:

His article resonated with me deeply—and hit an eye-twitching kind of nerve—because I had been ruminating over this issue for the better part of two years. I have stared at many a wall trying to figure out how to help change this problem in the literary world and the entertainment industry. It’s true that most forms of entertainment start in writers’ minds: books to movies, lyrics to music, scripts to television and film. Without writers, there would be no “entertainment”.

I always pause to caution the use of the word “entertainment” when speaking of Christianity, as it seems to imply that some part of Christianity is, well, entertaining. It’s not. And while I don’t like the reference, the reality is that books, movies, television, art, and music are mostly all forms of entertainment, whether or not they are Christian. Is this a contradiction? Probably. But…moving on.

The thing is that entertainment has the world’s attention; it is more ingrained in people’s lives than almost anything else, and the Enemy loves to take advantage of that fact. He found the sweet spot, the key to the algorithm, so to speak, and has been riding an ever-ascending stats graph for so long that he has little to no competition anymore.

This is a tragedy, truly, because though we should never rely on entertainment to spread the Gospel and honor Jesus Christ, we shouldn’t ignore the tools we have at our disposal and use whatever we can to push back the darkness and shine Christ’s Light upon the world. God gifted us with talents and creativity; we should use them for His glory, however we can.

In essence, we, as Christians, are in fierce competition—well, we should be, anyway—with the Enemy. The entertainment industry is dominated by secular, “degenerate” content. It’s impossible to find genuinely great books and movies produced by secular writers that:

• convey Christian messages with more than just a fine dusting

• convey Christian messages as Christian and not the secular forms of goodness

• name “Jesus Christ” within their pages as our Lord and not a curse word

• are not filled with unnecessary vulgar language

• are not inundated with sex, violence, and other sinful, graphic material

• do not promote, glorify, and romanticize sin

• do not mock Christ or show hatred and hostility toward Christianity

• does not shine a bad light on Christianity

The entertainment industry, namely Hollywood, has essentially waged war on Christianity: musicians openly mock and blaspheme Christ, movies and books are not only inundated by excessive graphic violence, sexual content, vulgar language, and every other form of sin one can name, but there’s nary a whisper of Christianity, God, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, or the Bible unless it is to…openly mock and blaspheme. Where secular movies once at least portrayed deeply religious characters and Christian themes, today, that’s rare, and in many circles, it’s taboo.

As of 2025, Christian entertainment is limited, with one television series, “The Chosen,” taking most of the credit for spreading the Gospel (and the many controversies surrounding it). And while there are glimpses of several upcoming Christian films on the horizon, it’s not enough to make a dent in that chart. It’s a start, and that’s a great thing, but we, as Christian creatives, need to ramp up this operation.

Unfortunately, much of the artistic Christian content (movies and books in particular) is…OK, I apologize, but I must be truthful—much of it is predictable and unrealistic; the films are poorly made with bad writing and acting, which doesn’t help. Everybody knows this, even Christians, though most don’t like to admit it because it’s not a very nice thing to say. I am briefly stepping outside the if-nothing-nice-to-say-then-say-nothing-at-all circle because I have to, to get my point across. But I want to stress that despite being predictable and unrealistic, I still love reading and watching it, and it’s as valid as any other Christian content.

But the predictable and unrealistic stuff is why there is no competition.

That type of material is for people who are already in the Faith and have already accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior; people who have experienced the love of Christ and just cannot stomach the darker stuff—and that’s OK. But anyone outside the Faith would never, excuse the cliché, touch it with a ten-foot pole. And those are the people we need to reach.

Nearly everything that has come out in the last two decades has slowly, over time, omitted Jesus Christ and Christianity from their pages and scripts. Rarely will you find a secular book or movie today that has Christian themes (again, not merely secular “goodness”) or even mentions God or Jesus unless they’re used profanely or in an offhanded manner.

That wasn’t always the case. Some of the best movies, books, and television shows portrayed deeply religious characters, frequently recited Bible passages, and showed characters praying to God. (I won’t list those here, but I will write a separate article about them soon.) This has everything to do with the ever-evolving world of entertainment as it progresses over time. The further away we drift from the 1940s, the further away we drift from Christ. This is because we’ve moved from an era of respectful entertainment suitable for all audiences to the post-1940s period, which saw significant cultural shifts that gradually brought less respectful elements into popular entertainment. As rebellion, secularism, and profit-driven entertainment gained prominence, broadly wholesome themes began to decline.

I believe the last era in which creators were unafraid to write and produce wholesome Christian themes was the 1980s. A few can be found here and there today, but I find it interesting that they’re typically movies and books set in the pre-1940s.

So, what is the point of this article?

As Dylan Campbell said, we need Christian writers. (Please read his article as well because it differs from mine in subject matter and is better written.)

• We need Christian writers who are unafraid to write authentic, raw stories that show human life through a realistic lens. Few can relate to the sugar-coated, overly sanitized media on the market today.

• We need Christian writers who write with heart and passion, not with dollar signs in their eyes—think quality rather than quantity.

• We need Christian writers who have self-published secular fiction in the past and are willing to convert those books—if possible—into Christian-themed fiction. (I’ve recently done that with two previously published books.)

• We need Christian writers who can produce literary works in the style of Donna Tartt’s The Goldfinch, Anthony Doerr’s All the Light We Cannot See, Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, and Toni Morrison’s Beloved. These types of works tend to get the movie deals and the most respect.

• We need Christian writers who can produce romantic works with depth and literary excellence—stories that explore love, sacrifice, and redemption with rich prose, layered themes, and emotional complexity. Examples are The Bronze Horseman Trilogy by Paullina Simons (my favorite book series of all time, next to The Lord of the Rings), Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen, Outlander by Diana Gabaldon, and The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough.

• We need Christian writers who don’t use cookie-cutter story templates (this is especially prominent in Christian romance) and recycle the same themes over and over again. (Again, please don’t get offended by this—I like the wholesome, sanitized, predictable Christian stories, but there needs to be more writers who do not fall into this category. Right now, we need diversity in Christian literature; it seems dominated by Christian romances.)

• We need (more) Christian writers who do write cute Christian romances because their works are just as important as any other Christian content! Not all Christians want to read books that have not been sanitized or are not family-friendly. And we should never shame these writers for their craft—that’s what the secular world does.

• We need Christian writers who don’t skim over Christianity in their works because they’re afraid that if it’s too obvious, it’ll scare readers away.

• We need Christian writers who aren’t afraid to categorize their books within Christian categories on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, etc. If the book is Christian and has Christian themes, it should be labeled appropriately—shame or embarrassment should not be a factor. (This doesn’t mean all Christian-themed books must be categorized within Christian categories—often, we need them in secular categories as well. More on that later.)

And, you know what we really need? We need Christian writers who are brave enough to write Christian fiction. Period.

There are so many writers out there—successful and just getting started—who say they love Jesus and claim to be Christians, yet still write for the world. I used to be one of those writers. I made excuses to continue doing it, and you can read all about that here.

As a former secular author who made a name for myself in the publishing industry but chose to leave worldly success behind to write for Christ instead, I provide a unique perspective. Having navigated both self-publishing and traditional publishing, tasted success and the struggles of starting out, and written for both secular and Christian audiences, I’ve experienced it all.

Thank you so much for being here!

May God bless you, your family, and your life.

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The text in this article is copyright © 2025 Jessica Tacu.

Note: This article was originally posted on Sincerely, Jessie Ann. Since I’ve made a separate publication for my fiction works, I’ve moved it here where it’s more relevant.

Wholesomeness: Once Mocked, Now Missed

If you’re anything like I used to be, you’ve had difficulty relating to the sanitized Christian books, movies, and television. You might have even gone so far as to call it cheesy, predictable, and unrealistic. I know because I’m guilty of all three, plus a few more adjectives too impolite to state here. I’m not proud of it, and I no longer think of it negatively—I actually love the fresh air of a wholesome story.

Of course, some sanitized Christian fiction is, well, not so great. But we’re not going to talk about that today. Maybe never.

But if you’re guilty of this negative opinion of wholesome Christian media, don’t feel too bad; you can’t be blamed for your inability to relate. It doesn’t necessarily mean you’re unkind, rude, or unappreciative of the hardworking Christian creatives who produce this much-needed media. Because make no mistake, no matter what some think of it, it’s just as important as anything any other Christian creative produces—perhaps more so. In the same way that the raw, gritty stuff the other half produces is essential, even if some Christians can’t stomach the unsanitized, dark, and lifelike nature of the storytelling.

While some are over here saying, “Wow, this is so predictable and formulaic,” others are over there saying, “I can’t handle this—it’s way too dark for my tastes.”

And that’s OK. As Christians, we can disagree and are certainly not all bound to the same tastes, but we must support one another in our creative endeavors, especially when honoring God in our work because that’s what it’s all about—at least it should be. All works are needed; every effort must be respected and lifted up, never torn down.

I’ve already written some articles advocating for bolder, grittier, and more realistic Christian-friendly storytelling here and here, but I’ll be the first to admit that I’m also growing tired of writing and reading it myself. While there is a dire need for storytelling that engages with today’s reality, I believe there is also a dire need for Christian creatives to bring back the old-school, wholesome stuff and refuse to adapt to the darkness that society has become.

But it’s an even greater challenge. Let me tell you why.

The Great Divide in Christian Storytelling

The sanitized stuff has its audience—mostly Christians—and there’s nothing wrong with writing for one audience. But the issue here is that the secular world is where the Gospel needs to be shared the most and where those of us who write the dark and gritty stuff have the opportunity to connect with unbelievers. And it’s less common that an unbeliever will ever read a book or watch a film that is, in their worldview, preachy, clichéd, and sugarcoated. This is where those impolite adjectives I mentioned at the beginning of this article come in. I wasn’t living for Christ then, and I was very much a part of that secular audience who wouldn’t touch Christian, or even just wholesome fiction, with somebody else’s hand.

There are so few dark, gritty, and raw stories that honor God. And I think the main reason for this is that a bunch of well-intentioned Christians got together one day and deemed all media that isn’t sanitized as secular and ungodly, no matter how strong its Christian message—and they were wrong to do that.

The only other thing I will say on that topic in this article is that the Bible is rated R, respectively, and that God never shied away from telling the truth about life or sugarcoating its sin and brutalities. I’ll also have another article on this soon, so be on the lookout for that.

When the World Forgot God

But another reason—and probably the most impactful—there are so few dark, gritty, and raw stories that honor God is how society has evolved and changed and how much darker the world has gotten. It has forgotten Him, shoved Him aside for the father of lies, and now, sin is how the world fixes its problems, not faith in God.

To understand how and when this happened, let’s go back to the last, mostly wholesome era: the 1980s.

Little House on the Prairie was wholesome and realistic in the same breath and captured both Christian and secular audiences alike from 1974 to 1983. The Ingalls Family was deeply Christian. They revealed their faith in numerous episodes depicting prayer, Bible reading, church attendance, Bible references related to character actions, and in how they lived. Although light, the show tackled difficult and sensitive topics gracefully and respectfully without using overly detailed or graphic scenes, vulgar language, or sexual content.

A few other good television examples are Full House, The Wonder Years, The Cosby Show, Family Ties, Growing Pains, Boy Meets World, Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman, Touched by An Angel, 7^th Heaven, Saved by the Bell, and Home Improvement, among others. Most may not have been Christian, but they were safe for Christians to enjoy, and they never romanticized sin or showed blatant disrespect toward Christianity. There was nothing unrealistic, predictable, or sanitized about these shows because all audiences loved them, no matter their religious affiliation. However, these shows aired when wholesomeness was still accepted in society as normal and conventional and when many families still held Christian values—even non-Christians had more respect for others in the 1980s than they do today.

Like television, look at most movies made before the 90s. I won’t list those because there are so many, but you will find that respectful language, civility, modesty, and regard for elders and Christians were the norm. Sure, some movies during that time weren’t so wholesome and showed a little nudity every now and then, but those were not the norm. It was during the 80s and 90s that sinful, objectionable content started to take root.

By the early 2000s, it had grown out of control, and by 2010, wholesomeness had completely lost its foothold, and wickedness had taken over. As the decades passed, audiences’ expectations changed. The same wholesomeness that once resonated with both Christian and secular viewers began to feel foreign, even naïve, to a culture increasingly shaped by pain, broken families, and shifting moral values.

Today, in 2025, wholesomeness is shunned and rejected; Christianity is treated with blatant and visceral hatred, and it’s getting worse.

And we, as Christians, need to keep up.

The Challenge for Today’s Christian Creative

It’s true that we can’t reach secular audiences like we once could and must ride the wave to stay on top of it, but it’s equally true that we need to stand our ground. We can’t just stop producing wholesome fiction altogether because we’re afraid few will read it; we can’t just “ride the wave to stay on top of it,” but we need to create our own waves in defiance of theirs because, eventually, some will get swept up by it and that’s what we want. We want to fight darkness with light, not more darkness.

Audiences—even Christian audiences—have moved away from purely wholesome themes and have embraced a more realistic expectation in entertainment because they cannot relate to the old-school stuff. This is partly because as society has drifted further away from Christian living and a biblical worldview, it has allowed itself to be essentially abused by the nature of the world. People today face more trauma, pain, and heartbreak from addictions, abuse, promiscuity, and other sinful lifestyles that to relate to a story, they need to experience the darkness in the story the same way they do in real, everyday life. And they can’t get that from a sweet, moralistic Christian romance with characters who believe in a God they don’t believe in, or who live this Ingalls Family old-fashioned apple-pie life where everything is always wrapped with a shiny bow and has a happy ending.

Real life is no longer like it was in the time of Little House on the Prairie or the 70s and 80s when it aired—and yes, I’m fully aware of how brutal and difficult life was in the 1800s, but families clung to God and loved Him and were better able to face that darkness than most families are today.

Today, few families and individuals turn to God in times of tragedy but blame Him for the tragedy; few attend church nowadays, and many who are churchgoers don’t live Christian lives outside of church; marriage today is treated with condemnation, disrespect, and is in statistical competition with divorce; virginity is no longer sacred and is given away freely; women no longer respect themselves and their bodies, and modern feminism has all but ruined what God intended for women to be. Men have become more like women, and women have become more like men. Children are no longer loved and cherished like they once were, and now often never make it out of the womb; those that are born often face rejection and abandonment, and many who grow up with their families are ignored and left to fend for themselves in society, never taught discipline, much less morals.

No wonder people today can’t relate to wholesomeness—they don’t even know what it is!

Other reasons for the shift include:

• The rise of media that glorifies sin (not just reflecting reality, but encouraging it.)

• The growing distrust of institutions, including the Church, leading people to reject “preachy” content.

• A shift in how we define “authentic” storytelling—where people now see anything idealistic as fake or forced.

These and more are the realities we live in today and why this reality is so different from the pre-1990s. Writing “realistic” Christian fiction today is the same as “back in the day”; the only difference is that the world has changed, and we all change with it.

But what has not changed and will remain the same forever is the Bible and the truths played out before us upon its pages. How we are supposed to live has not changed; the choices we are expected to make in difficult times have not changed; how we are to forgive and show grace and kindness towards those who don’t show it to us has not changed. And although we change with the world to a degree, we cannot change so much that we forfeit all of these things to keep up with everything else.

Here’s the thing: people are craving Jesus again, but they’re not craving a biblical life or wholesomeness because that’s not the reality they lived or grew up in. They don’t want rules; they don’t want to be condemned for their beliefs and lifestyles; they don’t want to be told what to do; they want Jesus to fix all their problems, but they don’t want to change how they live. They want Jesus to pick them up and carry them, but they don’t want to pick up their cross and carry it.

For many, their love for Jesus dims five minutes after they turn off The Chosen. While waiting for the next episode, they’ll return to their secular TV shows and movies. They won’t watch anything wholesome unless it lives up to The Chosen, and, let’s be honest—that show doesn’t have any competition right now.

Little House on the Prairie was truly the last great wholesome Christian era in entertainment—and the last wholesome era period. While some good content may be produced today, the damage has been done.

While that’s a devastating loss, its departure from the stage allows Christian creatives the opportunity to tackle this generation in a way that people today can understand and relate to, just as they did with Little House on the Prairie when wholesomeness was accepted as the norm.

While I lament the wholesome Prairie days, I believe that Christian writers and filmmakers must rise to the occasion. Not all of us can retreat into nostalgia or try to resurrect a past that no longer exists, but some of us can and should! Yes, others must craft stories that reach people where they are, showing the rawness of their struggles while pointing them toward the unchanging hope of Christ. If we don’t, the world will continue to fill the void with stories that lead them further away from Him.

But the rest of us, those who want to bring wholesomeness back, we’ve really got our work cut out for us. And we start by resisting what the world wants and giving them what they need.

The Chosen television series has reached millions around the world and become a powerful tool for evangelism. While we may not know the exact number, countless testimonies have emerged of unbelievers moved to seek Jesus, their hearts stirred and their eyes opened in ways they never expected. Despite the controversies and criticisms—even from within the Church—there’s no denying the impact: God has used this show to peel back the Enemy’s mask and draw many toward His truth.

If a single television show can accomplish such a feat, imagine what the rest of us could do if we all started creating for God.

As C.S. Lewis once wrote:

“No book is really worth reading at the age of ten which is not equally – and often far more – worth reading at the age of fifty and beyond.”

Let’s write those stories. Let’s build that legacy. Let’s fight darkness with light—and keep the light burning long enough for others to find it.

May God bless you, your family, and your life.

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The text in this article is copyright © 2025 Jessica Tacu.

Bible verse credits:

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.comThe “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Note: This article was originally posted on Sincerely, Jessie Ann. Since I’ve made a separate publication for my fiction works, I’ve moved it here where it’s more relevant.

Before I dive into this topic, I want to acknowledge and honor those writers who choose not to include sensitive scenes in their work—God bless you! You’re doing something truly admirable. I love it when I come across a book, movie, or TV series that is both realistic and captivating, yet completely free of sensitive content.

That said, unless a story is entirely lighthearted in nature—like Anne of Green Gables—such works are often hard to find. That’s why I want to focus on helping writers who do include sensitive content in their stories, whether you’re a Christian author or writing for secular audiences. My goal is to guide them in doing so effectively—without going overboard, compromising the scene’s integrity or the storyline, and, most importantly, keeping their work “Christian-friendly.”

Of course, many writers can pull off writing sensitive scenes without adding graphic detail, and I’m not implying otherwise. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr is a good example. It deals with heavy and sensitive themes, such as war, trauma, and loss, but handles them with restraint and elegance, avoiding graphic or gratuitous content.

If you can do this, always do this.

However, sometimes a story may require the writer to push the boundaries a little for the sake of the scene, to convey the emotion to the reader in a particular way, and for specific story growth that can only occur effectively within that scene.

This article covers that very aspect.

While it’s important for some Christian creatives to write realistic fiction that doesn’t shy away from the brutal and dark truths of real life, that doesn’t give everyone free rein, either. There must be a balance, and sometimes, that can be challenging for writers who may not know how to do this properly.

When they’re part of the story, sensitive topics must be addressed, not glossed over, for many stories to feel realistic. Of course, some stories successfully gloss over the sensitive content in a way that graphic detail isn’t necessary. But other times, detail is necessary, and omitting it to avoid offending or triggering anyone might do your story a disservice.

The writer must find the balance between what is necessary for a scene or character’s development and what is too extreme for Christian-friendly fiction. They should know when and where to draw the line with sensitive content and when to push the boundaries a little.

For example, it’s not always necessary to omit a r*pe scene if it reveals something important about a character or within the scene that will later be used in the storyline. In my historical novel, The Waltz of Devil’s Creek, I chose to include the moment when the main character is r*ped because other elements within and surrounding the scene are essential to the storyline as a whole and to her character.

I will list those moments here, but if you haven’t read the book and plan to, please do not click on the link below.

SPOILER ALERT - Click here.

Those elements were weaved into the r*pe scene in a way that made the scene important despite being sensitive and potentially triggering.

However, I still respected the necessary balance. Despite being a r*pe scene, it was not done explicitly or in a manner that was too extreme (like in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson). I chose to use flashbacks while it was happening to soften the blow, so to speak. I never mentioned “private parts” or got overly detailed about the vicious act itself, but I described just enough that the reader can draw a picture without an excessively detailed description.

I did the opposite in my Dystopian novel, Everything Under the Sun, with the suicide of one character. I did not show the moment when a character takes her own life, but the moments immediately afterward are vital, even if they are hard to read about.

Again, those moments are listed here, but if you haven’t read the book and plan to, please do not click on the link below.

SPOILER ALERT - Click here.

The reader needs to see the emotion in the scene to fully grasp it. While the suicide itself was unnecessary to show, every moment after was vital for the reader to capture the whole barrage of emotions the main character felt and to justify, or at the very least understand, the actions she took in response to the traumatic event.

Depending on how your story unfolds, some sensitive scenes may or may not be needed in detail—as the writer, you have to learn how to figure out what you should and should not include. This can be difficult. But while writing your story and you get to that point, ask yourself this question: Will the scene itself reveal anything new or important by showing it? If yes, then ask yourself: Can I effectively convey that important information in another way without compromising the storyline? “Yes” or “No” will indicate whether the scene is needed.

In Everything Under the Sun, two sex scenes were included, but neither were too graphic. In one, many elements within the scene were essential to the story. I never write sex scenes anymore for the sole purpose of adding sex—I’ll only include it for the vital information that can only unfold within the scene. And I still make it as suggestive as possible without risking how the essential information is conveyed.

If you have not read the book and plan to, do not click on the link below.

SPOILER ALERT - Click here.

Another sex scene in EUTS was more suggestive. Although it’s clearly happening, there is very little detail about the act itself and more detail about the emotions the two people engaging in the act are feeling at the time. This scene is also necessary for the storyline because it ties in with other scenes and reveals an essential aspect of the male main character.

But regarding sex scenes in general in any Christian-friendly fiction, it’s important to remember that detailing the sex itself in graphic ways is always unnecessary and never Christian-friendly.

This is where the line between “sex” and “story” becomes blurred—and the line that some authors are unable to differentiate.

This is how I look at it:

“Sex” is a private act between a man and a woman and should be seen by no one else. It’s pretty straightforward, and the detail is unnecessary.

“Story” is what else happens behind closed doors that, sometimes, others need to be made aware of, making the scene necessary.

A good example is a man and a woman are being intimate, and while it’s happening, the woman is:

• Seeing another man’s face in place of the man she’s being intimate with

• Pulling a knife from beneath the pillow

• Crying softly so the man doesn’t notice because the act is causing her some distress

While there is sex in the scene, the story aspect is what’s important and becomes the focus—not the sex itself.

Here’s an analogy:

You’re writing a scene with your main character cooking in the kitchen while talking to a friend. You will probably say something brief about her cooking to set the scene, and you might even remind the reader that she’s cooking by later in the conversation mentioning something about the bubbling sound of boiling water, but you’re not going to go into heavy detail about the entire cooking process. Cooking is relatively straightforward, and the reader doesn’t need an overly detailed description to understand what’s happening.

However, if the act of cooking itself reveals something vital to the storyline:

• She cracks an egg and watches the yolk break; a simple thing, but it reminds her of something painful, making her pause mid-sentence.

• The way she chops the vegetables is tense and aggressive, her frustration simmering under the surface as she speaks.

…then that might necessitate a more detailed description. This is when “cooking” becomes “story.”

There are many reasons why “story” is necessary, but there is seldom a reason or justification to detail a sexual act too much. And in fiction that you want to be Christian-friendly, I would never include it.

I love historical books, movies, and television, but I love them even more when Christianity is incorporated into the storyline—thankfully, it often is. So, I was hopeful when I came across the historical drama “Gunpowder,” starring Kit Harington.

Here is a summary (borrowed from Google): Robert Catesby, a young Catholic nobleman, plots to assassinate King James I and blow up Parliament, seeking to defend his faith and avenge perceived injustices.

As anyone who has ever read any of my books knows, I don’t shy away from sensitive topics, but I have limits. “Gunpowder” crossed the line of my limits in the first thirty minutes of the first episode with a scene so gory that it ruined the rest of the mini-series for me.

From a writer’s perspective, the gore was absolutely unnecessary—it could’ve easily been left out or suggested rather than shown in such graphic detail, and the viewer still would’ve gotten the intended effect.

Now, how do we know where to draw the line? Like with r*pe and suicide scenes, it can be tricky, but here’s a simplified way of looking at it.

If, while writing a graphic violent scene, you say to yourself something like: “OK, I need to make this bloody,” or “This scene should make the reader uncomfortable,” that’s a good sign you’re not writing for dramatic or emotional effect but for shock value, and your readers will absolutely be turned off by it.

Another way to decide whether graphic violence should be included is to ask yourself the same questions I presented earlier: Will the graphic detail reveal anything new or important by showing it? If yes, then ask yourself: Can I effectively convey that important information in another way without compromising the storyline? “Yes” or “No” will indicate whether the scene is needed.

I believe there are two types of gore: offensive and regretful.

Offensive gore is screaming into your face: “Hey! Look how bloody I’m being!” while laughing manically at you. While regretful gore is saying politely, “I know I’m being a bit bloody, and I apologize, but it’ll be over soon.”

You can spot the difference by looking at or reading the shadows—let me explain. I’ll give you a spoiler alert here, too, but I won’t hide it because I disapprove of the film for the unnecessary graphic violence and feel a duty to warn against it. If you want to avoid the spoiler, skip to the “END OF SPOILER ALERT” section now.

The same example about the details in a sex scene can be used. Is the gore full-on graphic detail, or is most of it suggestive? In “Gunpowder,” it might not have shown the executioner hacking off all of the limbs and severing the head, but it showed enough (one limb being severed, bloody limbs being held up and tossed about, a close-up of the severed head dripping with blood, etc.) that it was enough to offend viewers. It was like writing a sex scene that might not have detailed the whole act from beginning to end, but it did show a closeup of the penetration, other naked body parts, and about ten seconds of action—all unnecessary details. A better way of doing it would have been what other films have done: show the executioner’s axe being raised, the sound effects, and, at most, the severed head is shown at a distance instead of as if being plopped down onto a plate in front of you.

END OF SPOILER ALERT

Now, in films like “The Book of Eli” and “The Road,” the gore is so brief and shadowed (appearing in the distance instead of close-up, partially hidden by darkness, etc.) that its intent is not to force the viewer to be uncomfortable, but rather to evoke remorse and an understanding of the gravity of the scene.

The best—and probably the only—example of a film that doesn’t spare an ounce of gore, and where every second of it is, in my opinion, 100% necessary, is “The Passion of the Christ.”

Remember when I said to ask yourself these questions: Will the graphic detail reveal anything new or important by showing it? And: Can I effectively convey that important information in another way without compromising the storyline?

Yes, in this instance, the detail will convey one of the most important details in human history. And no, it cannot be effectively conveyed any other way because hearing about a brutal crime on the news and watching it happen in front of you will evoke two very different experiences.

I think most Christians would agree that showing people everything Jesus Christ endured and not glossing over how brutally He suffered is so very important. Leaving out the graphic violence sugarcoats His pain and suffering; it casts a shadow on the Truth, which can lead people to believe He did not suffer and die for them in the way that He did.

Graphic detail is important when it comes to Christ’s crucifixion and unnecessary when it comes to the rest of us because our suffering, no matter how brutal, does not carry the weight of salvation. Christ’s suffering was unique—it was the ultimate sacrifice, the price paid for the sins of the world. To soften or diminish that reality would be to dilute the gravity of what He endured for us.

For anyone else, excessive gore is often exploitative, serving as entertainment rather than enlightenment. But in the case of Christ, the unflinching portrayal of His suffering serves a higher purpose; it compels us to confront the depth of His love, the weight of our sin, and the magnitude of His sacrifice.

That’s the difference.

Some graphic violence is, in my opinion, warranted and necessary to show. Another spoiler alert here, too. If you want to avoid it, skip to the “Disclaimers & Warnings” section.

SPOILER ALERT

In “Gunpowder,” when Robert Catesby’s aunt is being martyred, that is a powerful and difficult scene—but not too overly graphic. (Two more examples of this style are William Wallace in “Braveheart” and “Anne Boleyn” in “The Other Boleyn Girl”.) But the creators went too far when hacking the next martyr to pieces and beheading him. To me, the shift felt unnatural and jarring: one moment, I was watching a powerful scene, and the next, I was watching a Rob Zombie film.

This leads me to the last point I need to make.

I’ve noticed that not many writers or publishers do it, but if you’re writing a book that you want Christian readers to enjoy that contains sensitive content, it’s courteous to include a disclaimer at the beginning of your novel. If you’re self-publishing, I would recommend adding a small warning label to your book’s information page. Think of it as a TV show rating that pops up at the top of the screen when the episode starts.

Unfortunately, we can’t always depend on disclaimers, either. We might miss out on some fantastic, real-life storytelling because a disclaimer might scare us away. Or, we might think we can handle the graphic violence we’re forewarned about, only to be appalled by it because it wasn’t done properly.

By including disclaimers and warnings, you’re respecting the reader by giving them a choice about whether they want to be exposed to specific content. Many people, Christian or not, don’t want to be blindsided by a r*pe scene because they are battling with sexual trauma of their own. The same goes for suicide scenes, graphic violence, heavy drug use, or any other sensitive content—respect them enough to let them know beforehand and give them a choice.

May God bless you, your family, and your life.

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The text in this article is copyright © 2025 Jessica Tacu.

Note: This article was originally posted on Sincerely, Jessie Ann. Since I’ve made a separate publication for my fiction works, I’ve moved it here where it’s more relevant.

A couple of years ago, I recorded an episode for my YouTube channel titled “Spiritually Drained.” In that video, I spoke about what I referred to as my “dark spirituality” as a Christian. I futilely attempted to justify my need to continue writing dark fiction novels that featured and even romanticized demons and other supernatural beings. I claimed that this creative gift had been given to me by God, and despite it being unconventional by Christian standards, He wanted me to use it. I convinced myself that I just had a darker personality than other Christians and that God wanted me to utilize that darkness to connect with others who could only be reached through a similar mindset.

Not surprisingly, I got several unwanted comments on that video. People told me that I was wrong and that, as a Christian, I shouldn’t have that conviction; they said I “had a demon” and that they would pray for me. “How dare they!” I thought quietly to myself. But, in my subconscious, I was also thinking, “They’re right…” I deleted the episode days after uploading it because I listened to the Holy Spirit and recognized that truth rather than ignoring Him and looking for excuses to justify the lie.

I think most of us do this, particularly if we come to Christ well into adulthood. Because by that time, we are so much a part of the world and all the Enemy’s lies that to part with it—especially the things we love the most and the things we’re good at—seems impossible, unbearable. This is all we know, all we’ve ever known! How can we just give it up? In my case, it was: “I’ve been writing this kind of stuff since before I was a teenager! I made a career out of it—I can’t just stop doing it!”

Well, I knew, just like most people know but refuse to admit, that I could stop and needed to. What I didn’t know, however, was how easy it would be and that I would be sitting here now telling you that since then, I’ve never regretted the decision nor once looked back.

It’s one of the biggest ways the Enemy lies to us to keep us bound to him: by making us believe we love our worldly lives so much, to the point they define who we are, that the thought of giving any of it up to follow Jesus is absurd and offensive.

It’s similar to the man in Matthew 19:21-22 who wouldn’t give up his wealth to follow Jesus. The wealth concept can be applied to anything in our lives that we are attached to. By hanging onto my darkness and making excuses for it, I was the same as that man who walked away from following Jesus because he had a lot of wealth and possessions. Too many of us are unwilling to let go of our worldly lives. We let go of some of it, thinking it’s enough, but we just can’t fathom giving everything up. That’s when the excuses come because we want to feel like we aren’t doing anything wrong by continuing to do what we know, deep down, we shouldn’t do. The excuses and rationalizations ground us and trick us into thinking it’s OK. But here’s the thing: I realized that if I had to make excuses in the first place, it was a good sign that it wasn’t something I should’ve been doing.

Do any of the following excuses or rationalizations sound familiar to you?

These excuses often stem from fear, pride, or misunderstanding. Christ calls His followers to deny themselves, take up their cross, and trust in His provision and grace (Luke 9:23). True discipleship requires surrender, leading to a more profound joy and freedom than the temporary pleasures of worldly attachments.

Since fully coming to Christ in 2023, I’ve learned a lot about myself, who I am, and who the Enemy made me believe I was for nearly four decades. Like many Christian creatives, I justified my sinful writing and dark personality in a few key ways:

1. Artistic Separation

I viewed my fictional characters—demons and other creatures of darkness—as tools I thought I was using to prove a point for God. The dark books I wrote were not me, after all; I wasn’t the clever demon child with a vulgar tongue (Dirty Eden) or Death himself playing the role of a heartless psychiatrist (Allister Boone). They were just characters, and I was the puppet pulling the strings, thinking I was teaching readers a lesson wrapped in some kind of biblical message.

That’s what I tried to tell myself. Because I didn’t want to stop writing dark fiction—I loved it. I was good at it (at least, I believed I was). It made me feel unstoppable and filled a void in my life. Or, so I thought. The truth, however, was that no matter how I worded or twisted it, those books in no way glorified God.

Many Christian creatives do this—they make excuses to justify their darkness.

For anything creative, whether music, movies, books, or other forms of entertainment of a dark nature, to glorify God, the art or performance must touch the audience’s heart and speak with a biblical perspective. A great example is the movie “The Book of Eli.” After all the death and evil throughout, the ending made that movie—it made me cry. It had a strong Christian message that didn’t gloss over Christianity or the Bible but used it masterfully to make me think of God, love God, and want to know more about God. I can honestly say that even though my dark books were written with God in mind and had some biblical messages sprinkled throughout, nothing within their pages might make someone want to worship God.

Now, before those who claim that dark books, movies, or music helped them find God show up and yell at me, let me say first—I believe you. People find God in many ways and through many people, even the last person one might expect, but I don’t think God endorses or needs darkness to bring people to Him. God is light, and in Him, there is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5). While God can use any situation, even the darkest of circumstances, to reach people and bring about His purposes, it doesn’t mean that those dark elements are inherently good or necessary for spreading His message.

The example of “The Book of Eli” is powerful because it demonstrates how even a story filled with hardship and evil can ultimately point toward hope, redemption, and God’s truth. The difference lies in intent and impact. A creative work that uses darkness to contrast light can be a tool for God when it clearly uplifts and glorifies Him, making His love and truth evident. But when the focus remains on darkness, despair, or rebellion without a clear bridge to God’s grace, it risks leading people away from Him.

I believe this is where discernment becomes crucial. Christians who engage with or create art in these genres should ask themselves: Does this point people toward God? Does it encourage hope, faith, or a desire to seek Him? If not, then it might serve only as entertainment—or worse, as a distraction from what’s truly important.

God’s ability to use anything for His glory doesn’t mean we are free to produce work that glorifies darkness. Instead, as creators, we are called to steward our talents in ways that align with His character and bring others closer to Him. That doesn’t mean every story or performance has to be overtly Christian or sanitized, but it should leave an undeniable sense of His truth, love, and presence.

Ultimately, the challenge for Christian creators—whether musicians, artists, writers, or filmmakers—is to ensure that the fruit of their work aligns with God’s purpose. It’s worth reflecting on whether our creative efforts sow seeds of faith or confusion, of hope or despair, and whether they serve the One we aim to glorify.

2. Moral Messages

I tried to make myself believe that my dark fiction contained moral lessons. While the themes appeared dark, they often highlighted the consequences of sin and poor choices. I liked to write about how demons manipulate and influence us, and I used that explanation to justify my continuing to do it because I thought it somehow warned people—even though that wasn’t my intent when I wrote it. It became my excuse later when trying to justify it, when deciding whether or not to remove the books from sale—I did remove them, ultimately. But I ignored everything else: the glamorizing of demons, depicting them as crafty and likable; worst of all, the morals of my stories never included Jesus Christ or Christian worldview themes. There was a reason for this: the moment you present Jesus in a positive, Gospel-centered light—like we’re supposed to—is the moment the content becomes “uncool,” “taboo,” “cheesy,” and “religious” in the eyes of secular audiences. It’s the moment when mainstream becomes niche and when the audience and sales are cut exponentially. I didn’t want to scare anyone away, so I caved. By conforming to cater to secular audiences, we are essentially tolerating secular beliefs.

As an author who had a lot of success writing secular fiction, it was difficult for me to grasp writing only Christian fiction to reflect my faith because then I would no longer have a writing career. I would have to start over. And anyone in the publishing world knows that making it the first time, like I did, is rare in and of itself, so completely reinventing myself as a Christian author, of all things, would be an uphill battle. Things like that just don’t happen twice. It took nearly a year to realize that it wasn’t honoring God to continue writing dark-themed material with some Christianity sprinkled in there and that if I loved Him, then I would honor Him and stop catering to the world, even if it meant giving up everything I knew and learned within that world.

Note: Not all “dark” Christian-themed material is un-Christian. I will be posting another article on this topic soon.

Another Note: I will be editing my novels “Dirty Eden” and “Allister Boone” so that they honor God and can rightfully be part of the Christian literature sphere.

3. Transformation Through Faith

I used my dark writing as a testament to the power of Christianity. By continuing to write for secular audiences, I thought I was showing that Christians can exist and share messages in unconventional spaces. I didn’t realize until later that it all sounded like something Progressive Christians and some other Protestant denominations use to justify their unbiblical beliefs and practices. This line of thought is the gateway drug to accepting and making excuses for sinful behaviors rather than calling out sin and putting darkness in its place.

4. Faith Over Fear

I thought Christians shouldn’t shy away from confronting the darker aspects of the world. Instead, they should shine a light on them. We should confront the darkness all around us; we should never pretend it doesn’t exist and act like the world is this beautiful place where nothing terrible ever happens behind the scenes—check out my article titled “The Life Is Beautiful Mindset” for more on that topic—but confronting darkness and blending in with it are two different things. That is what I was doing by continuing to write dark, secular fiction that did not openly glorify God.

Contrary to what Hollywood has made us believe, we must confront the darkness with light, not with more darkness. All those movies where evil is fighting evil because “an evil this dark can only be fought by a bigger, badder evil” are missing the point entirely. God is Light, and His Light doesn’t just push back the darkness—it obliterates it. Our role is to reflect that Light, exposing and overcoming evil, not by mimicking it but by revealing the power of truth, grace, and redemption.

5. Personal Conduct

Despite the books I wrote, I tried to live a life consistent with Christian principles—except when I didn’t. Clinging to something I knew I shouldn’t while making excuses for it only enabled me to continue sinning. This is especially true for those of us who once thrived in and embodied dark passions and lifestyles before coming to Christ.

Think about it: a Heavy Metal musician, before turning to Christ, might have written and performed songs that were loud, dark, secular, angry, rebellious, and glamorized sin or the supernatural. After becoming a Christian, they might still cling to that same music—the very thing that fueled their sin and shaped who they are. But it only makes sense that someone recovering from alcohol or drug abuse leaves those substances behind rather than bringing them into their new life.

In many ways, Christians who refuse to let go of their old ways are like addicts—they struggle to let go and instead make excuses to hold on.

6. God’s Gifts

Finally, the biggest way I justified my darkness was by thinking that because God gave me the gift of writing and I made a career out of it, God wants me to write. God wants me to write, yes, but He wants me to glorify Him in my work, not the world and the Enemy.

For years, I told myself, “God wouldn’t have answered my prayer and made me a bestseller with a secular book if He disapproved of me writing secular stories.” What I failed to realize until recently is that my success was a test in which I failed miserably. But for it to work for God’s purpose in my life, it was also a valuable lesson, which was why God allowed it.

God isn’t going to let anything happen to us—good or bad—that doesn’t align with His plan for our lives. He gives us opportunities to make the right choice when He blesses us with talent, wealth, or material things. Or, He stands back and doesn’t interfere when Satan tempts us with how we use our success. Unfortunately, too many of us take the gift or opportunity and use it to fulfill the Enemy’s agenda. Like me, it’s not until years later we wake up and realize we made the wrong choice and, hopefully, try to rectify it.

Satan wanted me to make excuses for my darkness, and that’s what I did for years.

Here are some biblical truths to keep in mind:

• Every Christian’s public life should reflect their beliefs in a way that glorifies God and serves as a testimony to their faith. (1 Corinthians 10:31: “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”)

• The Bible provides clear guidance on how believers are to live, act, and use their talents to honor God and show His love and truth to others. (Colossians 3:17: “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.”

• As creative Christians, no matter our talents, we should reflect our faith by being consistent with God’s character—uplifting, truthful, and pointing people to God rather than glorifying darkness or sin. (Matthew 5:16: “Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”)

• Any Christian creative with a public voice can let their faith shine through their actions and words onstage, in movies, television, music, words, and art. This doesn’t mean their content must be explicitly Christian and sanitized, but they should reflect hope, redemption, and the ultimate triumph of good over evil. Ephesians 5:1-2: “Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

• Any creative Christian’s life should avoid behaviors or imagery that contradict Christian values, such as glorifying sin, violence, or immorality. Instead, it could creatively illustrate the consequences of sin and the hope found in God’s grace. 1 Peter 4:10-11: “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms... so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ.”

A talent for music and storytelling is a gift from God. By using them to share messages that align with biblical truths, we can inspire others to seek God or think more deeply about spiritual matters.

Even as a metaphor, we should avoid any dark content that normalizes or glorifies themes incompatible with Christianity. These things tend to lead others who might admire our work to explore darker or immoral lifestyles, potentially glamorizing rebellion or sin. We should never separate our personal and public lives for the sake of our art because promoting dark themes in our public lives while professing Christian values behind the scenes is a contradiction. A true Christian witness should avoid even the appearance of promoting evil.

I hope this helps any Christian creatives who might be struggling with this. It feels difficult, unbearable even—believe me, I’ve been there. But once you let go of that darkness, no matter what it is, and give your heart fully to Christ, you’ll find that not only is it easier than you could have ever imagined, but you’ll wonder why you waited so long.

May God bless you, your family, and your life.

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The text in this article is copyright © 2023 Jessica Tacu.

Bible verse credits:

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.comThe “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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