Into the Fire

Writers need editors. Fact of life. Writers like me who dread facing one have lots of questions. So I posed these four questions to Waterbrook’s Mick Silva, and he was generous enough to answer them with his usual thoughtfulness and insight and signature humor.

1.What do you find the most difficult part of your job as an acquisitions editor?

I’d guess most editors would say finding the time to do it. There are a lot of pressing matters to attend to, toes to step on, souls to crush, interviews to supply. And all that stuff comes in the spare moments after keeping up on blog-reading. Many publishing houses have responded to the problem, but the chain attached to my ankle doesn’t really work because the stuff still finds me.
I should say that plain old market forces will probably be the cause of my early retirement and eventual death. For instance, right now I have a hundred pieces to get ready for a sales conference coming up in 2 weeks for books that don’t release until next fall. Which means I’ll have to wait on all the books that have recently come out, are coming out soon, and even 6 months from now, which are all demanding immediate attention as well. There is no escape.

2.What kind of writing do you prefer to read?

Hmm. This sounds like a clever ploy to get me to define “quality”. I prefer to read widely, deeply, cursorily, and flagrantly. I enjoy writing that gets to the point and doesn’t goof around. But then, I love books that buck that rule, too, ones with no discernable plot or likable characters that still somehow work. I guess that means I’m always hoping to be surprised out of my frustrated stupor.

3.If you could change any one thing about Christian fiction, what would it be?

The word Christian. That one word has modified the term fiction for so long that it’s created its own standards and deviated from what would otherwise simply be called fiction. And now there’s little room for anything truly novel in a Christian novel because we’ve placed too high a priority on the modifier and not on the work. There is a growing spectrum of work covering the range of readers who want an entertaining escape, to those who want an engaging challenge. But there is very little call for works of fiction that don’t deviate from the larger market’s fiction standards in some way, whether to be more conservative, safer, cleaner, or whatever. Christian fiction is a neutered fiction and it will always remain so until publishers find ways to reach the moderate audience in the middle.
I think we should call it “fiction for God” just to eliminate any misunderstanding of who it’s really for.

4.What is the most important piece of advice you would like to give unpublished writers?

Actually, I’m glad you asked. I’ve been wanting to say this for a while, but no one had asked. I think that if Christian writers (e.g. “Writers for God”) really had faith in God’s call, they would get day jobs and stop writing what’s easy to sell. Seriously, it mocks God’s authority to write much of what sells in Christian stores today. No one’s saying it–or at least not loudly enough–and our silence only undermines our disobedience. We need writers willing to submit to the yoke of poverty in order to say what needs to be said. We need to turn from the idea that we can have it all, and that God wants us happy, and that it’s okay to compromise and make excuses about being good stewards and the greater good of having wealth. Commit to your calling, study God’s true nature and his work in the world, and craft works that don’t give readers the easy solutions, easy ways out, formula faith. Too many books offer a warped (modified) version of reality and it’s time to stop selling out.
Honestly, if your job is a crutch, an excuse not to commit to your call, give it up. There’s very little time to catch what’s happening in the kingdom right now and the longer you wait, the less opportunity you’ll have to get on board. Yes, it takes many years to learn to write and you need to survive in the meantime. But you need to commit to getting ready and abandon the dangerous idea that you can do it all and still please God. That is just not true. Your second-guessing of your highest call may be the biggest sin holding you back. Yes, it’s easy for me to say from behind my office door, but I won’t edit forever . . . So buckle down and submit.

Thanks, Mick. Read and learn, writers.

Heavenly Father, thank you for Mick, his skills and talents, his honesty, his willingness to teach in the midst of a heavy schedule day in and day out. Thank you most of all for his heart after you and his commitment to his passion. Please give him what he needs this day, and may he sense your nearness. Please continue to bless his life, draw him ever closer to yourself, protect him and his loved ones from all harm, and bring a smile to his face today. May the joy of the Lord be his strength. May the fear of the Lord be his wisdom. May his delight in you produce for him the desires of his heart. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.