Into the Fire

Everyone who writes has an opinion about it. From a holy calling to a compelling desire to become a household name, writers come in a variety of sizes, shapes, colors, and cultures. From recluse to agoraphobic, writers can be an odd bunch. Serious writers talk about their characters as if they’re real because, you know, they are. Not in the flesh and blood way, but nevertheless: incredibly real. Providing we make them so.

And there’s the rub, the fly in the ointment, the crimp in the plans, the clichéd fact: we do our best to make our characters real and our stories vivid or humorous or life changing or fantastic or lovely or sweet or horrifying. Our motives might vary from start to finish and from beginning to end of our writing desires and careers, but we all have some things in common and probably just as many differences.

Narrowing the field a bit, let’s discuss writing novels as a Christian. We get those who specify they are simply Christians who write, others who find no shame in being tagged a Christian author who writes Christian fiction. Those who write seriously have studied the craft in order to make valiant efforts to create stories that will find homes in the hearts of many readers. Honing voices and developing styles, writers pour their lives into words on pages.

Very few writers achieve a universal appeal for their work. Most of us have specific audiences which can overlap either generously or slightly with other genre readers. Invariably, someone outside our particular genre will decide to read our work. This will often backfire for us because some readers are very unforgiving in their tastes. And vocal. With their word-of-mouth assaults or their keyboard attacks, those readers tear apart our stories with no mercy. Even when they were never intended to be our audience, there’s really no way to guard against them getting a copy and ripping it to shreds if they so desire.

What remains terribly disappointing is when a Christian reader of Christian fiction decides to question both the motives of the author and their very Christianity just because the reader decided to be offended by a story the reader should never have read. Recording their wrath on Amazon for all to see, readers leave the empty shells of their bullets and scoot away to another site to “express” themselves.

Some Christian readers set themselves up as judges and juries for all other readers and if they don’t condone a piece of literature, they’re noisy about it. They seem to think they have the corner on motivations and morality, and if an author slides outside their rigid boundaries, condemnation awaits them. Similar situations arise from Christians who determine they have the right to judge what is excellent and what is not.

As a Christian author, I know there are those who will not like my work. It’s a little too raw for some, too much romance for others, too many lost characters acting like lost characters. There’s always redemption even though not all choose it. Jesus is there. Still, my novels are not for your typical romance reader. What I need from a reader is not to have my love for the Lord questioned, my motivation criticized for including sensuality or bad behavior or anything else within the pages. My number one audience is God. He is my judge and jury, and I write for His pleasure and purpose. No one can tell me I don’t.

If we don’t like a novel, we need to determine why. Are we the intended audience? Do we not like the author’s voice or style? Did we simply read a story we didn’t like? These are all legitimate, and we can give fair reviews accordingly. Attacking the author is not an option.

Father, keep our hearts pure and our mouths guarded. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.