The world is in crisis. When everything around us seems beset by violence and greed, we can turn for answers only to God's Word... but what happens when God's plan turns you into something you never expected?

Naked Souls is a story setting to help people find answers. In an imaginary world much like the one God has given us, we've set up some guidelines for a new breed of exciting Christian fiction, and now invite people to help us develop it. Our goal is to explore the Word of God by looking at it from the fresh perspective of a fictional world, where God is actively working to remind people that He works in mysterious ways. We also hope that through reading and writing stories in this setting, people will be able to learn more about their connection to God. Who knows? With God's help we might even be able to win souls for Christ by exposing the Transfigurations community to Naked Souls.

Around the world of Naked Souls, in the present day, people find themselves being transformed through God's power into something strange. The experience of transformation should remind readers of the temporary, imperfect nature of our temporal bodies, and evoke the wonder and mystery of God's power at work. The nature of the change can be anything. Some people find themselves transformed into another race, or sex, or species, or into the perfected anthropomorphic-animal forms that we all strive to earn. Others can even become something entirely different and wonderful: A living song? A church? A typeface? The possibilities are limited only by God's inspiration for you.

Stories in Naked Souls should be upbeat and exhilarating. God is at work, and people everywhere are waking up to the miracle of His divine and mysterious plan. So far very few people have been changed -- only a few thousand in the world, and your character can be one of the first. No mortal mind knows the reason any one person was chosen, nor how God chose what they would become, nor yet whether the change is reward, punishment, or simply a mystery to be revealed when God is ready.

The stories are meant to inspire people to look towards God's Word for guidance. That means that Biblical references are entirely appropriate whenever you, as a writer, feel a particular verse is relevant. When interrupting the story to cite Scripture, please remember to leave blank lines above and below the quote and give the full reference in parenthesis at the end. This format need not be strictly adhered to when Scripture is being quoted in dialogue -- i.e. when a character quotes the Bible in the course of a conversation -- but citations after the quote are still helpful. In general, don't muddy the waters by dealing directly with other faiths. Story content should be proper for all ages.

Many kinds of characters make good heroes for Naked Souls stories. The basic concept of the setting is the spiritual journey -- the awakening of faith that people can experience when they see God at work in their lives. When designing characters, think about whether they are one of the transformed or an observer, and consider how they would react to the miracle that's taking place around them.

Christian characters fall into one of two types. Some are true Christians, whose role in the story is to show readers how faith empowers them to take control over their lives while submitting to God's plan for them. These characters display the traditional Christian virtues of tolerance, open-mindedness, and physical and spiritual peace. Other Christians are "strayed sheep" who've fallen into temptation and doubt, and have thus become full of inner turmoil that should be reflected in their behavior.

Non-Christian characters are also easy to divide into two groups. Some people are total unbelievers, only appropriate for roles as villains and background characters. Sadly, these people have hardened their hearts against God and will do everything in their power to deny the miracle before their eyes and thwart God's plan, which makes them doomed to failure. They are examples of the worst side of humanity, full of anger and disappointment that lead them to lash out at Christians and at each other. Other gentiles are really "pre-Christians"; while such characters may have a long way to go in their spiritual journey, with God's help they will surely begin to discover their faith and goodness.

The spiritual journey told in Naked Souls is based around the transformations that are taking place. A good protagonist is most likely a "strayed sheep" who is struggling with their faith, or a "pre-Christian" who is just beginning the upward climb. The incident that sets off a story's action can be the hero being transformed themselves, or seeing it happen to someone else, or dealing with others who have been changed. These changes are not necessarily good or bad from a human perspective; while one person might like being transformed, another might hate it. Remember that God's plan isn't something as simple as catering to our needs and wants, and that He may cause even a true believer a great deal of pain for reasons known only to Him. Christian characters are most likely to get "good" transformations, but it could be interesting to tell the story of whether a Christian can keep his faith after suffering a harmful change.

Here are a few possible plot ideas to get writers started spreading the Good News:

• Gregor was a zookeeper who found himself changing into an animal while thinking about quitting his job and leaving his church. Would his transformation keep him on the right path, or drive him off of it?
• Teenaged Elliot woke up one morning as Ellen, a young woman. How could she reconcile her continued love for her girlfriend with her Christian faith?
• When the rabbi Phillip was transformed into a rabbit-man in front of his whole congregation, how could he continue to deny the truth of God's Word?
• Sarah, age five, was just starting Sunday school when God changed her into a seventy-year-old woman; should she curse God or thank Him?
• When an flash flood caused by global warming struck, killing thousands of people, God chose a seemingly unlikely person for the power to save a few worthy souls.
• A young, atheistic man who attended anthropomorphics conventions as a mouse character was changed into a humanoid vixen in public; was it a sign he should continue in his intolerant ways or look to a higher power for explanation?

Strictly speaking, there are no truly unanswered questions -- God is, after all, omniscient -- but at the same time, there are most certainly questions whose answers are not (yet?) known to any man. And, humans being what they are, it is only to be expected that some characters in the Naked Souls setting will attempt to find answers to the mysteries God has shown them. For instance:

• Why did God choose this time to begin changing people? What does this choice say about the character of this generation and its place in history and God's Plan?
• Is there truly such a thing as a 'bad' transformation? Are some changes meant as punishment for our sins, or are all of them meant to uplift the souls of the transformed or to serve the good for others?
• What pattern is there to when and where people are transformed? Are some parts of the world more affected than others? Are we meant to try to seek out or avoid situations where we will be changed -- or should we leave the decision completely in God's hands?
• Is it wrong to seek the Purpose behind the transformations, presuming it can be found at all?
• Et cetera ad infinitum.

These questions, directly related to God's plan as they are, have no answers fit for mortal minds; by the same token, they can serve as an indication of how strong any given character's faith truly is. To the extent a character is inclined towards answers that suggest God is malevolent or sadistic, so is that character an unbeliever; to the extent a character is inclined towards answers indicative of God's infinitely loving nature, so is that character a true Christian.

Praise Christ the Savior! Praise the Lord! Amen!