I'm just writing an authentic believer.

I don't know if my new FMC comes across as too preachy. I don't know if there's too much Bible in her dialogue. I just know that I live and breathe in a community of believers, and this is us. This is our daily conversation. This is how we talk and act.

Her MMC foil is just an authentic person who's not interested in that.

I was raised in the secular world. I lived and breathed it for almost 40 years. 

My goal in this story is to "steel man" them both. 

The great flaw of most Christian fiction is that the secular characters make pathetic arguments. They're easy to beat in arguments. As pleasurable as it was to watch "God's Not Dead," I spent the entire movie knowing that it would be easy--not even an intellectual exercise--to present the secular case more likably and pleasantly than the villain professor did. 

All I want is for both sides to be real. To be authentic. To put a believer and a person who's not interested in that together in life-threatening circumstances and see what happens. 

If secular readers can't stand to see a faithful person portrayed realistically, I guess this book won't have secular readers. 

And if Christians can't stand to see the world's point of view presented in its most likable, powerful form . . . well, I know a man who can help us with that.