Should Your Christian Novel’s Hero be Perfect?

When writing a Christian romance novel, should your hero be perfect?

I entered a writing contest a few years ago that required me to submit part of my WIP. My entry didn’t make it past the first round judges because one of the judges scored low due to being highly offended that my hero told a lie. The notes from this judge stated that I would never find a Christian publisher willing to publish my book if my hero wasn’t perfect.

As a writer who studies the writing craft, is very involved in the writing world, and reads a lot of Christian romance and Christian historical romance novels, I believe this judge was sadly mistaken. In the novels I read, the heroes are not perfect, and neither are any of us in real life. That’s why we need a Savior. The fact that a story’s hero is not perfect allows the reader to identify and sympathize with the hero. It makes the hero believable and realistic to the reader. If a reader cannot connect with our hero, they may put the book down, never to pick it up again. We certainly don’t want that!

Our hero’s imperfections also serve another purpose—the purpose of creating conflict in the story, a necessary ingredient in our writing recipe. The hero may struggle with his or her imperfections, creating internal conflict. The imperfections could also create tension and conflict between the hero and his or her love interest or with his or her environment, creating external conflict. If you like, you can use the imperfections to create both internal conflict within the hero and external conflict with a love interest or the environment. Of course, your hero’s imperfections shouldn’t be the only source of conflict.

You also need to choose your hero’s imperfections carefully. For instance, you wouldn’t want your hero to struggle with cussing in a Christian novel. However, remember that as you write, your hero should change from the beginning of the story to the end, and every story needs to have conflict that will be resolved by the end of the book. If your hero is perfect from the very beginning of the story, how will he or she grow and change? Remember, you want your readers to like your hero, to find your hero believable, and to journey with your hero as he or she grows and changes throughout the story. Readers want to be able to root for your hero.

My name is Kelly F. Barr and I am a new columnist here at Almost an Author. I am so excited to be part of this team. I am a historical romance writer, and I will be writing four posts a year here on the romance page and four posts a year on the historical page.

Kelly F. Barr lives in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. She is married and has three sons. She writes historical romance. She has also been a blogger for ten years, and every Friday, you can find her Flash Fiction stories posted for your reading pleasure. She loves her family, including the family dog, books, walks, and chai lattes.

You can find her online at:

Website: kellyfbarr.com

Twitter: kellyb_26

Facebook: Kelly F. Barr, Writer