Is there really no place for this kind of writing?

Chandelle · Sep 14, 2016

I'm working through the first draft of my novel, which is probably best described as Christian speculative fiction at this point. The problem is, I've been writing the kind of book I'd like to read, and since I typically can't stand the typical eschatology kind of Christian sci fi or the historical fiction (or Amish) romances, I've gone the other direction. I went out of my way to tell a story where the characters' worldview is "Christian", but there's no preaching, overt conversions, or mention of Christ (although there is plenty of mention of God as He exists in their galaxy). In short: my evangelical Christian beta reader says it's not Christian because I don't mention the Gospel and my agnostic beta reader is uncomfortable with the references to faith.

I'm not really interested in publishing, although I might self publish for friends and family only, so I don't really care it won't ever get picked up, but this is really bothering me. Does a novel have to be blatantly Christian or blatantly secular to work? Why can't a novel just be..."Christians" doing what they do?

draosz · Sep 14, 2016

Simply: because market.

Market is saturated just as the world is saturated with information. Information flies all around us in all directions and there is so much of it that it could bury the world ten times over. In such a place, wisdom, knowledge and subtlety don't stand a chance because what we need is spectacle.

Under such circumstances, it is necessary to simplify it all in order to maybe begin to understand it. That's why we dumb it down into categories: heroes and villains, good vs. evil. But even that is no longer sufficient. We need war and blood which makes your subwoofers shake the room. Only that will stand out amid the white noise.

I would personally prefer a book which touches on the beginning of the Gospel of John than to one about the epics of Genesis or Revelation. But odds are that the latter will sell while the former will not.

I'll quote Stephen King at the beginning of his novella, "The Body".

The most important things are the hardest to say. They are the things you get ashamed of, because words diminish them -- words shrink things that seemed limitless when they were in your head to no more than living size when they're brought out. But it's more than that, isn't it? The most important things lie too close to wherever your secret heart is buried, like landmarks to a treasure your enemies would love to steal away. And you may make revelations that cost you dearly only to have people look at you in a funny way, not understanding what you've said at all, or why you thought it was so important that you almost cried while you were saying it. That's the worst, I think. When the secret stays locked within not for want of a teller but for want of an understanding ear.

I run into this problem often. What I try to do is conform to market's expectations while attempting to sneak in what I really wanted to say.

Myrealana · Sep 14, 2016

You couldn't market the book as Christian Fiction, but I wouldn't take a single agnostic reader's reaction as some kind of overall market confirmation that you can't have Christian characters in a SciFi setting. Even if there's not a market today, that doesn't mean the wheel won't turn.

In my church book club, we've read a number of books marketed as Women's Fiction, Historical, or just Literature that had Christian central characters, or explored Christian themes. They weren't SciFi, but they're out there.

Chandelle · Sep 14, 2016

It's funny you mention good vs. evil, because I avoided that on purpose. My antagonists aren't nice people, but evil is so...unrealistic. And perhaps it's an odd choice for what is basically space opera, I don't know, but it felt right. Does making bad decisions make us evil?

Anyway. I've never read a lot of Christian science fiction, and what little I have is the good vs. evil Revelation type, so I'm really just trying to figure out what I'm doing. My themes are faith and forgiveness, and somehow they just seem...out there.

Is there really no place for this kind of writing?

Chandelle

draosz

Myrealana

I aim to misbehave

Chandelle