Into the Fire

As you know I'm an author. A writer. I'm a Christian author who writes Christian Fiction who doesn't need to do all the finagling of trying to describe myself with any other "spiritually correct" terms for me or my work.

So let's talk Christian fiction once again. I'm going to start by saying I have read more general market/secular fiction in the last two years than I have since before I was saved/redeemed/became a Christian. I had to ask myself why that was. More than once.

Here's what I determined. There are some fantastic Christian authors writing in the Christian Fiction genre. If you've read any of my reviews, you know I have high praise for many Christian authors (regardless of whatever they choose to call themselves). There is no shortage of talent in the Christian writing realm. None. Now here comes the "however" or the "but" part of my last statements. Traditional Christian publishers often subdue that talent by appealing to their core buyers. I've said it before multiple times and I'm reiterating it here: it's their privilege, decision, choice to demand certain "qualifications" from those writers in their stables in order to not offend that core group of readers because that core group are vociferous readers and they bark loudly when a word, a statement, an inference, or any other manner of "offense" riles their rather self-righteous tastes in Christian fiction.

Some authors have no trouble meeting these demands, but I can tell you this from the multitude of reading I've done in Christian fiction, some of those demands degrade the quality of the literature. It makes the prose basic, the conflicts predictably described, the results sometimes mundane, and always formulaic. Some of those authors are capable of far greater writing in the larger scope of storytelling.

There are publishing houses that allow exceptions to the "rules" and a reader can find some of those novels from their bestselling authors. Because of their appeal and notoriety, they might be allowed to cross that invisible but recognizable line and take freedom in portraying a sometimes starker, sometimes more real, and sometimes just plain exercise their writing prowess in less structured and/or rigid characters, storylines, and language.

Authors such as myself do not meet the criteria for many of the traditional publishers. This facilitates the boon in indie (independent/self/vanity) publishing because there aren't any other real options for stubborn writers like me. Compromising to the degree often asked, suggested, or required won't work with our manner of storytelling, and because some of us write faith-based storylines, general market publishers aren't interested.

So. Getting back to why I've read a lot of general market/secular literature in the last couple of years . . . The reason for this has been to familiarize myself with what's out there in that realm, the quality of the writing and stories, and to assess the philosophical approach of various authors. It's been an interesting journey. I've found a couple of authors whose work I've enjoyed but not enough to read all of it – just a certain series. The bad language is often annoying in the quantity used, any graphic sexual scenes are definitely unnecessary and get skipped, and a few of the novels were abandoned after a few pages. Some characters have been atheists, some exhibit foxhole religion, and some don't seem to ever address anything spiritual. Which leads to a missing link in the fullness of character development and storyline – a vacancy in depth that is clearly either ignored by the author or assumed to be irrelevant.

I don't want to waste my time when I read. I want a good story with good writing. Ideally, there is a truthful spiritual element which is usually absent in general market fiction. My favorite novels are definitely in Christian fiction by some amazingly talented authors who dare to include spiritual truth in their work. Those are the authors and novels I want to read, but the supply hasn't reached the demand in my reading world because most of my favorites can't produce them as fast as I want to read them. So I fill in with the occasional secular novel by the authors I've discovered who've written some entertaining stories with quality characters and decent skills.

That's it.

Father, thank you for your writers. Thank you for those who honor you with their work. Thank you for every word, story, inspiration. We're all desperate for you whether we know it or not. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.