STORIES THAT EXPLORE WHAT SHAPES US.

Fiction. Ideas. Formation.

R.J. Wilson is an author and essayist who uses writing to explore concepts of faith, power, institutions, purpose, identity, relationships, and who we become on the other side of our choices.

While holding a BA in Criminal Justice and completing graduate coursework in theology, his lived experiences as a student, in the areas like the Army, policing, education, and in ministry converge at the point of his pen.

His work ranges from the supernatural world of The Wayman’s Code to nonfiction essays which plunge beneath the surface of those concepts.

WHY I WRITE

I believe stories do more than entertain us. They are vehicles through which the author and reader sit in the same car and take a journey together as they wrestle with life’s most profound questions and with concerns that we may not be allowed to talk about.

I’m specifically drawn to these questions about identity and power that have no easy answer: what is the cost of doing the right thing? How does power shape and change its wielder? What causes institutions to become corrupt? And, personally, how do our faith, relationships, suffering, experiences, and responsibilities shape the people we become?

IN FICTION: In The Wayman’s Code, I explore those questions through story. It is through characters confronting supernatural powers, navigating complicated relationships, wrestling with impossible choices, an existing in a world where good and evil are not simple, that my questions find expression.

IN ESSAYS: When I get the bug for a more direct approach, I explore many of those same questions via the avenue of the essay. In this format, I still explore faith, formation, culture, vocation, identity, and leadership, I just do so without as much of the fictional flourish.

The format is different. The pursuit is the same…

To write material to strike the heart. Yet also material that stimulates the mind.

If this approach captures your interest, make your next step below.