So, I once had a friend read one of my unedited novels and he asked me a questions something like "do you think people might believe this stuff actually happened on the ark?". In truth, I cannot remember the exact conversation, but that was pretty much what he asked. This is a good point, I think. There are many people in the world that have never heard many of the Bible stories that we hear every week in church. Might reading a fictional account cause a little bit of confusion? I suppose it could, but we could ask that about any book or movie that is "based" on a true story. There are many scenes in these books and movies that probably didn't happen anything like the movie or book portrays. Yes, it could cause a little confusion, but most people who read or watch movies tend to understand that they are fiction...even if they are based on true events.
On one hand, some might say that it is a bad thing to allow people to become confused on such an important book as the Bible, but if you look around many are already confused. Just look at all of the inaccurate teachings we have based on scripture. On the other hand, however, I might venture an argument that it can be a good thing to allow someone to become just a bit confused as to what actually happened in these Bible stories. I say this because it may open up the possibility for them to start looking up the stories in question, which could lead to salvation, spiritual growth, etc.
Now, really, for me, all that stuff in the above paragraph on it being okay or not, good or bad, helpful or detrimental is irrelevant, mostly because I don't really think it is an issue at all. If you think about it, how many times watching a movie or reading fiction have we become confused about some idea - religious or not - and cared enough about it to research it, or even remember the next day. I don't remember one time that has happened for me, so I really don't think it is an issue at all.
I LOVE to re-write biblical stories in a more fantastical/fictional form for a couple of reasons.
First - at the risk of sounding sacrilegious - the stories in the Bible are so bland and dry. They are kind of boring. All we ever get is "someone did this" and "she did that" or "he did this" and that "caused this". We never, ever, really get the emotions of the characters in the moment. This is okay, after all the Bible is not for entertainment, but it is a history book of sorts - the Israelite history. I want to make the stories a little more interesting and more than as if we were simply reading a history book.
Second - I want to bring the characters alive Like I said above, all we get is a historical account with no real personalization to the characters. We can't really connect all that well with the Biblical figures very well. We don't often get to "feel" with them. Now, I get that the psalms can be considered emotion, so I'm not talking about that. What I'm talking about is when Abraham was in Egypt and allowed his wife to be taken by pharaoh, what was he thinking? Was he distraught that his wife was...well...about to do the down right dirty with another man? Was he relieved that he was still alive? What about Moses at the burning bush or Balaam's donkey? The Bible doesn't go into any detail as to how they felt. It seems, in fact, that they acted almost as if what they experienced were an every day occurrence. Were they terrified, were they excited, did they REALLY know what was going on at first?
Really getting "into the characters" is what makes something enjoyable, and though I realize that the Bible is meant to grow us as believers, not to necessarily be "enjoyable" in the sense that a fiction book does, but can't we have both? My first biblical novel (that I finished - as I have a few more that I am working on) is Noah's ark. Yes it has been done before, and to such a terrible degree, it sickens me! In fact when I saw this last Noah's ark movie with Russel Crow, I was furious because I had been working on my book for a while. Then, I saw the movie and was furious for a different reason. Of course Hollywood would corrupt that story. My "version" is far more biblically accurate, though I do take some writer's liberty with a few concepts, for example not taking as long to build the ark. In my book I focus a lot on the interactions between the family members, and add some action in there as well. The first half of the book is about the creation of the ark and the second half is about the adventure on the ark. I won't tell you anymore, just in case you decide to read it, but I hope to be able to publish my Noah's ark book in 2018. I hope to be able to write a lot more Bible story related novels as well. I already have a few that I think will bring the New Testament and Old Testament to life.
Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it.