01
Catholic authors of the 20th century
Greene, Waugh, O'Connor, Undset, Mauriac, Percy, Endo and more: a short, careful map of who wrote what, and where to begin.
Read the guide
Independent guide / Catholic writing
Catholic writers, and the craft of writing about faith
A plain guide for people who write on faith themes: who the great Catholic authors were, how to write faith-based fiction, memoir and saints' lives well, and how books reach a publisher.
What this site covers
Catholic writing is a craft, a tradition and a trade
Catholic writers have a long shelf behind them. Newman and Chesterton, Greene and Waugh, Undset and O'Connor all wrote about faith without turning their books into sermons, and their example is still the best teacher for anyone writing today. This site collects that record and the practical craft that goes with it. It is an independent guide, so it does not speak for any church body or publisher, and it keeps to facts that are easy to check.
The guides begin with the reading: Catholic authors of the 20th century and the Catholic literary revival. They continue with craft, such as writing Christian fiction, writing a Catholic character, writing a spiritual memoir and writing about saints. They end with the trade: how submissions to Catholic publishers work.
One window, five stages
A writer's road, one pane of glass at a time
Scroll and the rose window fills with color, ring by ring. Each ring is a stage on the way from first reading to a finished book.
Read the masters
Start with the writers who showed how faith sits inside a story, from Newman and Chesterton to O'Connor and Greene.
Find the story
Story first, message second: how want, need and grace give a faith-based novel its shape.
Make the people
Cradle, convert or lapsed, parish and calendar: the details that turn a label into a person.
Tell true lives
Saints and your own story, handled with sources, care and honest doubt.
Send it out
Proposals, query letters and what nihil obstat means, with a patron to keep you company.
Writing about faith responsibly
Respect the reader, the sources and the people
Writing about faith and saints carries a duty to be accurate and kind. Separate what the early sources say from what tradition adds, give a miracle its attribution, and ask a reader who knows parish life to check your details. The guide to writing a saint biography sets out that method step by step.
Fiction has its own duty: to give believers real inner lives instead of labels. Start with the person, then add the rosary. The character guide covers the details writers most often get wrong.
Let the story carry the light.
All guides
Eight guides for Catholic writers
02
The Catholic literary revival
What the phrase means, who belongs to it, a plain timeline from 1845 and a short reading order for classic Catholic literature.
Read the guide03
How to write a Catholic character
Cradle, convert or lapsed: how to give a Catholic character a real inner life, plus the practical details writers often get wrong.
Read the guide04
How to write Christian fiction
Story before message, wants and needs, doubt and grace, genre choices and how to get honest feedback on a faith-based novel.
Read the guide05
Catholic book publishers
Proposals, agents and query letters, what nihil obstat and imprimatur mean, and why you should check each publisher's own page first.
Read the guide06
Patron saint of writers
Francis de Sales and why a bishop who wrote letters and pamphlets became the patron of writers, plus Jerome and a few others.
Read the guide07
How to write a saint biography
Choosing sources, the line between hagiography and history, wording miracles with care and a simple outline for a confirmation saint report.
Read the guide08
How to write a spiritual memoir
Finding the thread, writing scenes instead of sermons, handling doubt and other people's privacy, and classic models worth reading.
Read the guideQuick answers
Questions writers ask
- Who is the patron saint of writers?
- Francis de Sales, named patron of writers and journalists by Pope Pius XI in 1923. Jerome is the patron of translators. See the patron saint of writers.
- Who are some good Catholic authors to start with?
- Many readers begin with Flannery O'Connor's stories, Graham Greene's The Power and the Glory or Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited. The authors guide gives more.
- Do I need an imprimatur to publish a Catholic book?
- Church law asks for one only for certain categories, such as catechisms and some textbooks. Read how submissions usually work.