Into the Fire

At least twice a year the rounds of blogs tackle things like “What is Christian Fiction?” or “If you write evangelical fiction, you’re leaving out a slew of readers who will never touch a book with ‘Jesus’ in it.” Stuff like that. Once in a great while commentary gets a little cranky or competitive with strong opinions given in insulting language to one side or the other, but, honestly, those who are opposed to evangelical fiction tend toward using degrading terms while those who are opposed to less gospel-explicit writing tend toward scripture quoting and offer hints of judgment.

Most of you know I am one of the staunch defenders of Christian fiction because in recent years many of those authors who write “it” have proven their abilities to write at superior levels. Now here’s where the problem arises for some. They “need” a definition of Christian fiction for whatever reason. Maybe they’re highly organizational or they just desire to be street-savvy when it comes to accuracy in publishing/writing labels and terms. Good Christian authors organically mesh the gospel into their stories, but this doesn’t mean that those readers who resent any references to God will read them, regardless of how naturally the gospel weaves through and contributes to the story.

Now, let’s visit the other end of the spectrum: those quality writers who profess and demonstrate their Christianity in life but not so much in their writing. Tim Downs is my prime example with his exceptionally written Bug Man series. My friend Robert Liparulo can be another example, but I think he touched on faith issues in Comes A Horseman and Germ without focusing on them in the stories. Steven James’ series (The Pawn, The Rook, The Knight) develops a peripheral reference/character to Christianity, but it’s not in the forefront, and his protagonist’s resistance to faith is apparent.

My point—or opinion—is simply that it doesn’t matter much to me. I know who I am as a writer, so that’s who I need to be. There’s no question I’m an evangelical writer who includes and contrasts the worldly/secular characters and situations to those of either established or potential Christian characters and their responses to situations in the stories given to me to tell. Having been on both sides of this battle to choose heaven or hell, I think I’ve got a pretty good idea how to portray either side. I write redemption stories. That’s what God has assigned to me.

I see no point in arguing about fiction. From a publishing standpoint it’s reasonable to assume the different houses and their editors might look for specific types of writing and in order to make it clear either to them or to agents what they want, they tend to slap new labels on old ideas. They’re always looking for “the next best thing”.

I understand that some Christian writers feel excluded from the CBA houses because of the material they write. Many speculative fiction, fantasy, and science fiction writers have been waging an uphill battle forming blogs and websites to feature their preferences and draw attention to their plights after being told “it” doesn’t sell in regards to their “stuff”. Other writers have both subject matter and language issues with CBA fiction, but even some language makes it into print with some houses. Publishing anything is an uphill climb for most of us, so the criteria to be published in either the ABA or the CBA at any given time negates much of our efforts.

Finally there are old, and thoroughly worn out, misconceptions about CBA fiction. Those claims about no kissing, drinking, etcetera, still hold true for a minute number of imprints in certain houses, but they are no way in the majority. The more avant-garde houses or imprints such as Hachette Book Group’s FaithWords and Center Street divisions or occasionally Thomas Nelson have taken the lead in risks.

Anyway, just my opinion.

Father, thank you for stories to tell. Thank you for inspiration. Thank you for it all. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.