I attended a writers conference this year, and the most common question I get at such a conference is, “What is your book about?” When I reply that it’s about a teen soldier and a young ambassador who must reconcile their opposing cultures before the war destroys their planet, 90% of the time, people just respond with “Wow.” After hearing this about six times in one day, I finally asked the last person why she said that. Her answer? That’s really high stakes—saving the whole world.
Most of the people I talked to don’t write sci-fi or fantasy—which means that they may not realize that a need to save the world is actually quite common in this genre. In fact, I’m standing there thinking, “You mean the world isn’t at stake in your story? What are your characters doing?”
Whereas saving the world was a given need to me, it wasn’t on the radar for these writers of other genres. This made me realize that the same difference probably exists in our outlook on real life. We tend to go about our day to day business and perhaps every once in a while think about the overarching trend of history. We recognize there are some issues in the world that need to be addressed, but not in terms of a global storyline. We’re caught up the smaller plots of our own lives such that we don’t think about the bigger plot involving the whole of humanity.
The fact is, our world needs to be saved. A conflict has raged for millennia over the fate of our world and every person in it. The overall plot mirrors many of the classic fantasy tropes: a once-pure and prosperous land has fallen under threat or rule of darkness and desperately needs the Chosen One to defeat evil and restore the reign of goodness again.
Here on Earth, we’ve lost the perfect relationship we had with God, others, and creation to the temptation of the evil one. His curse of sin and death has brought division and despair—and we see the repercussions in all the brokenness and tragedy of our world.
Fortunately, our Chosen One has already come on the scene. Jesus has defeated the enemy and death itself. He’s the key to reconciliation with God, others, and the physical realm. We can join the battle on his side—and one day we’ll see the total picture of his victory in a new reign without evil or mourning.
The stories of our lives actually fit within this greater story, the story of a whole world that needs saving. Like the young hero venturing out from his village in chapter one, we can each join in the high-stakes adventure of saving the world, one person and battle at a time.
Have you thought about the world needing to be saved? What part are you called to play in this story?
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10 Ways Famtasy Improves Reality
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Seeing that these posts lack comments, I’m going to go ahead and say, keep it up! Your “Ways Fantasy Improves Reality” posts are great to read; concise but with powerful messages.
I’m glad you pointed out that our Chosen One has already come. The final victory is won, and it is ours if we simply take hold of the saving grace offered to us. It’s an encouraging realization that makes the stresses of mundane life seem so . . . silly.
Thank you so much for reading and for your encouraging comment! I am definitely preaching to myself on this one. It’s hard to hold onto our ultimate victory in the day-to-day frustrations. I’m so glad you are enjoying these posts!