Into the Fire

Authors want readers. Otherwise, why write? Other than journal, diary, or note-taking, why go to the trouble, angst, effort, and decision to write a novel? And having written one, why not want others to share in your story?

There is much that goes into writing a book. It's understood that non-fiction requires research, but fiction requires as much, if not more, research. If writing period pieces, much must be documented to make the story authentic. If writing contemporary, the particulars of society, whether it be small-town life or big-city strife, there must be a knowledge that permeates the pages. In other words, the research takes place in life experiences and the desire to portray characters as real people from the inside out. Physically, emotionally, and spiritually. We are three-dimensional after all. 

But the real resarch for contemporary fiction isn't just cell phones and Starbucks. It's a study of the same part of human existence that drives people to do what they've always done. Whether or not the issues are current, the heart condition of humanity remains the same since The Fall. Now unbelievers will dispute the fall of man, atheists will insist on the integrity of the evolutionary process to bring some kind of utopia, but by sticking to their theories which supposedly date back to billions of years ago, human beings haven't made much progress from the muderous, envious, pious, critical, and argumentative tendencies in their characters. And they never will if left to their own intentions and devices to attain what they want.

So for those of us who write primarily character studies, we seek readers who can relate to our created characters. We attempt to write characters with whom different kinds of people can indeed find empathy, sympathy, either like-minded or opposite reactions to them. We want a relationship between the reader and the characters in the stories.

Now I've said dozens of times before today that my work is not for the "sweet little romance" crowd. My novels are romantic, redemptive, and a little bit raw, but I know some readers who comprise the major demographic of CBA literature would be offended at the content of my books. Although I honestly can't understand it given the nature of the stories – and even the characters – I realize the probablility of offense is a fact.

I need the atypical CBA reader to take a chance on my contemporary novels – those who don't view real portrayals of the world without Jesus as offensive and heretical to real Christian fiction.  

Father, thank you for these stories and the ones still on my computer. One day . . . Apart from you, I can do nothing. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.