Be careful not to allow the characters to take over. You must know what they are going to do. That is why you write the ending—or at least a brief summary of what will happen— after you write the beginning. Don’t manipulate the characters into implausible actions or conflicts. They must be believable, or you will lose your credibility with your readers.
The main character must solve his own problem. He should get a just reward, whether good or bad, but in the Christian market, you usually find a happy ending. Don’t leave the ending up to the reader or leave any loose ends. The reader should have a sense of completion and feel comfortable after finishing your story. A “problem solution story” is much more powerful than a “come to realize” ending.
Let’s help our readers to identify with our main character to solve their problems. We can’t tell them though, we must show them. Then by reading, they will see for themselves. If you preach at your readers, you will lose them. Please keep this in mind.
Include lots of dialogue, using words that are simple and relevant today. Keep your sentence structure simple. Vary the word length of both sentences and paragraphs. But sentences should seldom exceed 25 words. Keep the story in one viewpoint, that of the main character, and make the story about that individual. Third person is usually the most effective writing tense, although first person can be powerful too.