Questions about personal manga

[Neko_Neko]

Hey,

My name is Neko, and I had some questions. I'm not a perfect artist, and am still working on my style, but I'm doing some of my own manga's right now. Not fan manga, but my own. I've been struggling lately, trying to figure out how to put my beliefs, convictions, and the truths of the bible into my stories without pushing people away and sounding fakey-preachy. Any ideas??

[uc pseudonym]

Well, a great many of us have ideas on the topic. You might want to lurk around the Projects and Ideas forum to see what other people are doing.

Personally, I favor an approach in which the characters are already Christian. They don't preach the message, because they've already accepted it. Furthermore, the manga should have its own plot that can hold its own. As this plot puts the character in different situations, it reveals things about their character, the things that make them Christian. You could have varying elements of this. Does that make sense?

[inkhana]

I agree with UC. In my own stories, I've found it's best to simply never say anything about it at all. Just let your Christian characters behave in a Christlike manner as much as their character will allow, and their behavior will be the best example. (You know, the law of show, not tell...LOL) Don't spend too much time worrying about whether it's "Christian" enough, just put it in God's hands and let Him work out the plot for you...He'll give you the inspiration to make it how He wants. It doesn't mean you can't have characters recite a bible verse occasionally, just don't have a secondary character preach a sermon to the reader or something similar...O.o LOL

[Neko_Neko]

That was very helpful, you guys, so thanks so much. ^_^ I'll do my best.

[uc pseudonym]

Feel free to ask. We're always happy to help other Christian artists (and I use the term quite loosely).

[shooraijin]

Which term: "help", "Christian" or "artist"?

[uc pseudonym]

No, silly. I was referring to the term "always."

Artists, of course. Had I been referring to the word Christian, I would have placed the parenthesis after it, not the word artists. What I meant was that in terms of drawing art, I have no talent, whereas if we refer to "the arts" I might be included.