Filters. Ever wonder why they’re important?

Basically, every filter I can think of has a main purpose: Keeping junk out.

Recently my husband and I experienced an “interesting” event with his coffee press. The system involves a cup with an attachment full of holes that screws on the bottom. You place the coffee grounds in the bottom of the cup, fill with hot water, then push down with a plunger so the rich brew pours through into a coffee cup. Sounds easy enough, right?

The only problem was, my husband forgot to place a paper filter in the attachment before he added the coffee. So instead of delicious brewed coffee, we had grounds and water pouring out everywhere. All because, the filter was not in place.

This early morning incident got me thinking about filters of all sorts. We change our furnace filter to keep dust and pet hair from clogging up the airflow to the heater and cooler. Our vacuum has a filter that, if left to turn black (don’t ask me how I know this …) provides an odor-rich aroma throughout the home.

Our cars have air filters that keep junk out of the engine that clogs the air flow and makes our auto run less efficiently. Photographers use transparent materials such as colored glass to change colors in their finished products. These are called color filters. Parents use filters on their computers to block access to certain websites.

Life is filled with filters of many kinds.

As writers, we are constantly using mental filters to weed out the junk and leave the good. We self-edit and search for the wrong choice of words or bad grammar or inconsistent characterization. Like smelling a vacuum filter that’s not been changed, we want the stink out.

For the Christian writer, there’s another filter less discussed yet perhaps more important; Filtering out scenarios that support sin.

Does that mean no one ever sins in my books? All anyone has to do is read my novels and it will become clear that is not the case. But what does a Christian writer do with situations involving sin, especially when committed by believers? It all depends on the aftermath. Were there consequences in the character’s lives? Or was the premarital sex treated as normal and OK? Was the murder never discovered? Did the adulterers go on with life as normal? Did everyone just live “happily ever after?” Was it just all part of “Romance?”

This is the difference between a secular story versus a Christian novel. You really can’t leave the commandments out of the plot in Christian fiction. You don’t need to become a preacher of fire and brimstone in your chapters, but be creative. Even King David in the Bible had terrible consequences to his sin with Bathsheba. (Read 2 Samuel 12: 7-17)

Back now to filters. The greatest filter to use in your writing is a simple one: The Bible. If you’re writing Christian books, sift and winnow out the stuff craved by the world. The Old and New Testaments are as old as time with untold value to guide us. Don’t stink up your story with “progressive” plots and characters. Go back to the Source. 

Carry on.

Elaine Marie Cooper has two historical fiction books that recently released: War’s Respite (Prequel novella) and Love’s Kindling. Love’s Kindling is available in both e-book and paperback. They are the first two books in the Dawn of America Series set in Revolutionary War Connecticut. Cooper is the award-winning author of Fields of the Fatherless and Bethany’s Calendar. Her 2016 release (Saratoga Letters) was finalist in Historical Romance in both the Selah Awards and Next Generation Indie Book Awards. She penned the three-book Deer Run Saga and has been published in numerous magazines and anthologies. You can visit her website/ blog at www.elainemariecooper.com