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Now stop and think for a minute. A Christian thriller? That alone is an interesting concept. So how do I create a Christian thriller? It took me quite a bit to figure the ins and outs of ensuring the entire story would match Christian themes. 

Yet, I did not want the standard feel good Christian story. I have nothing against such stories. They simply aren’t me. Nor have they anything to do with my experiences in both life and Christianity. For me, Christianity has many roads and several of them are not pleasant.

Take those who bear the marks of the stigmata. These people are blessed to be so close to Christ that they bear his wounds. And like all such blessings, it is also a curse. They suffer incredible pain. They are attacked by demons. They suffer until they die. Their deaths are often from blood loss due to the wounds. 

The stigmata are a great testimony to the faith of those who bear them. They also showed me there are other paths of the Christian. These are true believers . And yet God and Jesus both let those who bear his wounds suffer. Let them be attacked by demons who constantly test their faith. Only the faithful can bear the wounds of Christ. Yet they suffer. They are allowed to suffer. Neither God nor His Son step in to stop the attacks. 

This of course leads me down several paths when it comes to creating a Christian based thriller. See, Christianity is based in the supernatural. I know, that sounds like blasphemy, but it does. In fact, you must have faith, must believe in the unseen, must trust in that which you can not define for Christianity to work. 

I have heard all the arguments. The pros and cons of Christianity and other faiths. The stories of the atheists and the agnostics. What it comes down to for anyone is a choice. You must choose what you believe. Not when everything is alright and sunshiny. What you choose to believe in when you have nothing, and everything is aligned against you. The old saying is true – there are no atheists in foxholes.

 I chose Christ. He accepted me. Done deal.  

Which leads me back to Ronnie’s Revenge and the evolution of a story. I wanted to create a thriller based on Christian themes. I came up with the idea to lead off each chapter with a Bible quote to demonstrate what the chapter was about. I furiously wrote out an outline and then bam – I hit a brick wall. 

My fingers couldn’t put a single sentence together. My mind went completely blank. All I had were some notes and an idea. I had to do something. So, I farmed the story idea out to several authors. This was a learning experience. 

Several of these authors expressed great interest in such a story yet their ideas and mine often differed greatly. One of those lessons you learn when you want to create a story is you often have to play nice with others. The word I am trying to say is compromise. I had to compromise if I wanted another person to run with the story.

Only I found I couldn’t. I hold no enmity against these authors. I still work with many of them. It all came down to what they believed and how it affected the story. 

So, I took the story back. One morning I sat down and pounded out the story. It came to me after sitting on the back burner for over a year. The back burners of our minds produce so much great work it is often best to leave them on the small burner until they bubble over.

And bubble over it did. Ronnie’s Revenge flew together. Thirty-seven chapters later I had a finished book. One filled with graphic depictions of rape and murder, of torture both physical and psychological. Of a young girl’s lust for revenge and her ultimate need for redemption.

I was so proud. I loved the story. Loved all the graphic depictions. The intimate details so many leave out of such stories. I hate being censored. Hate not hearing the small details about what happens to a person. These intimate details are what drives a person’s story. 

I sent it out to beta readers. Some liked the story; others couldn’t get past the graphic depictions. Others didn’t like the way I handled the Christian themes and some simply hated the story itself. 

I shelved it. I knew I would publish it one day but right then was not the time. I was too close to it. 

Now, this is an important part of story development. Some stories come right from the brain of a writer un-needing of anything else. They whip a novel out in three days, and it becomes an instant classic. Ronnie’s Revenge was never going to be one of those. It needed me to put it back on that back burner to simmer once again.

Over the years I pulled it out and worked on it. It was a monster of writing. Over a hundred thousand words. As the years went by, I solidified the characters and removed several bad plot points but left the monster size alone. Left all the explicit scenes intact.  

I liked the explicitness of the scenes of rape and torture. I felt they played the most important part in the story. I refused to cut them. 

What is it I always say? I repeat what Stephen King has said – you must be willing to “kill your babies” when you write.

We needed a book for February. I volunteered Ronnie’s Revenge. It is Valentines’ month and Mardi Gras and Ash Wednesday and all those Christian rituals such as Lent. Seemed like a good time to release a Christian based thriller. One steeped in the supernatural.

 

Only it wasn’t done. Not even close. Once again, I was forced to complete a book on nothing more than it needed to be done. Deadlines – God I hate them. However, they motivate a person to get something done.

I reevaluated the story. Looked at each character and their part in the story. Looked at each chapter, each scene, each sentence, each paragraph, each word. Asked myself the same question I always ask when I edit something – is this necessary to the story?

It is a horrible question. It forces you to evaluate each thing as it pertains to that in front of it and that which follows. If it can be eliminated, and doesn’t change the story, then you remove it. You “kill your babies.”

I did a lot of “killing.” I took a book I had written at thirty-seven chapters and over a hundred thousand words and trimmed it down to just over forty thousand and seventeen chapters.

  

Along the way I lost most of the explicit scenes. In the end, as much as I loved them, they didn’t add to the story. In some ways they took away from Ronnie’s plight. From her vengeance. From her ultimate need to be forgiven. 

I imagine the old time editors sitting in a stuffy office without any air conditioning with a manuscript like Ronnie’s Revenge and tearing it apart. Littering their office floor with papers they have rearranged and sorted and marked up with red everywhere. This is when a story really begins to evolve.

It took a little over five years to complete Ronnie’s Revenge. Took a lot of time on the back burner simmering. Took some honest reflection about what enhances a story and what doesn’t. Ronnie’s Revenge is a testament about how time is often the best way for a story to evolve. Sometimes it takes three days for a story to evolve and sometimes it takes years. 

I’m Ross, The Editor-in-Chief at The Pyrateheart Press, and I’m out.