Challenges - Christian Writers of Secular Fiction

Roger: it's a challenge, I'll admit. But I think it can be done. Viz. the later works of Dean Koontz: One Door Away From Heaven, The Face, Life Expectancy, and others. Granted, we're talking the extraordinary talent level of Dean Koontz here (IMHO, no one does it better), but still.

Interesting topic.

J.R.R Tolkien's writing impacted me profoundly in that LOTR transcended labels. Secular/Christian/Religious forces would like to claim him as their own, and that's misleading in some cases. He was a spiritual man who wrote a book. If you want to look at Eru/Iluvatar, the God of his story, you will find spiritual food for thought.

I think a Christian can be led to presume that everything they write has to be an allegory about the Gospel Message, which is either outright or more veiled as with Chronicles of Naria. Why is it unspiritual to write the next LOTR, a book that touched so many people, including spiritual people, on a deep level?

The story of the Prodigal Son does not mention the words "God or prayer or Jesus or cross", and yet it is the most profoundly spiritual story. Obviously within the context it was given by Jesus, it was about God, but even as a template, a spiritual person writing about life doesn't have to be formulaic.

I actually asked something similar, but specific to my own WIP, I think It may have been wiped in the great june data wipe, though.

My WIP has two worlds. One is an earth colony, so I can work out their religion, (Which, not so coincidently will resemble my own beliefs.) But the other world has never come into contact with earth or even humans before. The religion in their world is intregal with the politics and culture. In my mind, they are worshipping the same God, the same Creator, we (I) do, but I haven't quite figured out yet how to convey that. They wouldn't know Jesus, per se, so I have to figure out how God has manifested himself to this world. Plus, I want it to be subtle and not preachy. One thing I've worked on some is writing some of their scripture. I thought if I could actually have something for my characters to quote/refer too, plus just knowing it, would make the story more believable. I didn't realize until I started how much of the bible I've absorbed. I've had to stop myself from 'quoting', especially Paul. I'm not one of those people who remembers exacts, I can't tell you the chapter and verse, but I remember a lot of the content and meaning.

EDIT/ADD Also, I will say, writing a creation story and prophecies has helped me to flesh out the entire world/ story. It is neat.

When I was a young Christian my biggest challenge was leaving profanity out of the dialogue. I was so used to hearing it and using it, it was hard coming up with ways to avoid it.

That's a real struggle....and hopefully this won't be an unpopular thing to say...but even as we write fiction, we (or I) feel called to replay life AS IT IS, with all the warts and unsightly nasal hairs (hmmm. Not sure of this analogy).

As Christian writers, we have the responsibility to conduct ourselves through our writing in way that honors and glorifies God. However...when an unsaved person/character walks into a room to discover a headless corpse (murder mystery), they aren't going to say the following, by and large, in the real world:

"Oh my stars and garters!"
"Oh heavens!"
"Oh goodness gracious!"

They'd probably swear and then puke. And there's only so many times I can substitute "Blast it!" for a swear word, or use, He cursed violently under his breath.... before I start wincing at the lameness.

I struggle with the swearing too, not because of a past sin life, but from a stylistic perspective. I want readers to think of a character, "Holy cow, he's so real....he's like the guy who lives down the road from me!" And honestly, the guy down the road from me swears quite a bit.

I've come to the point where I won't write the "swears" in, but I sometimes think if I get lucky enough to get published, I'll just write a straight novel under a pen name for kicks, and have a little linquistic fun.

If you write a romance aimed at the CBA, readers and editors expect a story without explicit love scenes or language.

When you are a Christian writing one for the ABA market, it gets a little tricky. Readers have certain expectations and unless you are good enough to satisfy the reader without being explicit, your book won't sell. Many publishers have found the steamiest stuff is the best selling.

I started in this business writing time travel romance for a secular (small) publisher, who has grown and now has their books in Waldens and Borders stores. They know what sells, and now publish only romance, mysteries and paranormals that are spicy, steamy, etc., all the way up to carnal.

My biggest frustration as a Christian writer is that I can no longer publish with this company, since they don't believe "sweet" or inspirational romance sells.

An author I found who can portray non-christian characters acurately and convincingly is Frank E Peretti. He wrote the This Present Darkness book and Piercing the Darkness awhile back. I don't recall exactly how he portrayed his characters, but I do remember that they were very gritty and probably right at the edge of what you can get away with.

Sassandgroove, if you're looking for some good ways to know and understand God (or rather you're looking for your characters to have a way to do so) check out C.S. Lewis's 'Mere Christianity'. In the first chapter of that book he determines that there are three ways to know God. Through his word (the Bible), his creation (the physical world) and through man (made in his image). Lewis then says (paraphrased) "some people don't believe the Bible is the inspired word of God. The other two should be enough, we'll proceed to prove the existence of God, his creation of the universe, and the necessity and even event of sacrifcing part of himself to save it."

Lewis actually pulls it off impressively and I often use that first chapter of Mere Christianity in discussions with people who discount the bible out of hand.

My challenges in writing secular fiction generally have to do with the subject matter of my works. I know many Christians who tell me that my writing in Fantasy is automatically against God, because I like to write about dragons and similar creatures.


Another thing I have to deal with constantly, is writing realistic scenes into my work, and at the same time being right with God....or other Christians. I'm not so much worried about what God thinks of certain things, because I know what His Word says. I am more worried about what Christians will think, because there are so many different ideas of what is decent and what is profane.

For example, I was raised to use substitute words for common oaths. I became very used to saying, "Darn it" when I got angry. Then, when I was a teenager, I learned that such words were called 'Minced Oaths', after having been rebuked for something I'd always done that had been considered harmless. To one person, a character saying "Gosh Darn it," is fine, whereas another will think that character is taking God's Name in vain. Trying to write something realistic that is not also offensive to many people, is one of the major challenges I face in my writing.


Finally, there is the occasional sex scene in my work. How to make it passionate and decent at the same time, can be a frightening challenge to me, because most modern sex scenes fly in the face of how I was raised.


Those are the basic challenges I have to deal with in my writing of secular fiction.

I struggle with the swear words and the sexual scenes too. I do use a few swear words though, because it is portraying people as they are at that point in their life. Nature isn't just roses and sunsets. It's swamp muck and mosquitoes too.

Sex was covered pretty extensively in Song of Soloman, so I figure if I'm not more explicit than that, I'm in safe territory.

I do find 'wise people', be it priests, ministers or old people, showing up in my writing. They say a lot for me in a way that doesn't come across out of context or jarring.

The bottom line is the story. What will the reader come away with. There's a lot of steamy storylines in the Bible. Murder, incest, adultry etc and etc.... because that is life. If I write of life, but with a purpose beyond titillation, then I think I've done my job.

Christian ideals can be found in the strangest of places. I found the movie Tombstone to have a scene that was very moving for me in a Christian sense. When Doc Holliday stepped out in the river to fight along side of Wyatt, for no other reason than he was his friend, it was a touching visual of 'greater love hath no man than he be willing to lay down his life for a friend'.

Secular fiction has the ability to reach millions who wouldn't pick up a Christian book. The way to do that, I suppose, goes back the writing adage of - show don't tell. If Doc Holiday had come up spouting scripture it would have been ridiculous and the impact would have been lost. His actions showed what was in his heart.

Sean - two writers I'd recommend to study re: sex scenes w/o sex
1)Nicholas Sparks
2)Elizabeth Hunter

Because both of them build the tension - you know what's going to happen - but they don't go on to describe in detail what happens.

.....and then they did. I've found nothing lacking in the way they portray their characters' needs and motivations. Any adult with any experience can use their imagination. (Or just keep on with the story)

As a reader, I appreciate not having to wade through the details.

The way I see it, good writing, pure storytelling, compelling characters all come from the same starting point. The truth. There must be the element of truth (even if it is, in a sense the truth of fiction - true for that story, true to that character not an actual event or person) and you must bring your own truth to everything you write.

You will not likely see long lasting success trying to write in conflict with who you are, your world view and beliefs. Who you are will come out and as long as you are rooted in the truth I don't think it matters that you write "Christian" or secular. You are the same writer, it comes from the same well.

Example: I started out writing secular romances, sweet, but not "Christian". Many years ago I was awakened by a phone call -- a woman was deperate, she had met me at a booksigning a year before and I had given her my number as a contact for our RWA chptr (was an officer back then). Her mother had been rushed to the hospital in my town for emergency surgery. The women knew no one there. While packing to come to the hosp, rushing around her house she caught a glimpse of a slip of paper behind her couch. My number.
Now, here's where you realize that no matter what you write, YOU as an author are in the pages - she said, I went and got you book and looked at it and just knew you were a Christian and that you would know a prayer group to pray for my mom.

I was and did.

My secular writing has taken me places that Christian authorship will never see. It enables me to take a stand, to be an example (I shudder to imagine that!!) of Christ's love or to merely shine a light in dim places.

annie jones (The Sisterhood of the Queen Mamas - Dec 06)
Luanne Jones (Heathen Girls -out now, MMP out Jan 07)

I struggle with preachy too.

Great thread.

I too encountered judging-kind of responses from fellow believers, when I'd say my book is a fantasy. It's because so much of that genre is sorcery, darkness and Godless-weirdness. Well, I say let's redeem it but write excellently!

It helped me to read the Firebird series by Kathy Tyers, which is EXCELLENT. She shows a pre-Messianic galactic empire that is just fascinating. I grew up on Tolkien and Lewis, my role-models. They showed me that it is all right to use the imagination God gave you...

Romance/sex is an issue for me, too, because I do portray "both sides" of it; not too graphically - but I don't mince around, either. This is a real hang-up in Christian writing, which is why I don't plan to market the CBA.

However, at our writers' conference someone said the CBA is looking for "steamier stuff" so go figure.

But spiritually, it took me a while to have an "Ah Ha!" moment with my first book. I realized I didn't have to give the "whole gospel" -- that this one book's purpose was to present a small section of very important spiritual truths. (This was to show one pagan person's journey to finding the One God he could have a relationship with.) Man, when I realized that it was that a relief to me!

Sorry if I'm bouncing all over the place here.

My favorite Christian writer (Shusaku Endo, dead now) filled his stories with the sinners, failures, traitors, and apostates. I suppose he did it because people who aren't perfect were more interesting to write with, but also because he needed to write stories about faith in trouble. As a Japanese Catholic, he was a fish out of water in his culture. His novels are unique, really amazing, and some of them are also rated R or worse, because that's just the story he had to tell.

I guess you just shouldn't be afraid of the story you have to tell. If it's too dark and dirty and steamy and graphic and gritty and violent and disturbing, maybe it doesn't belong in the Christian bookstores anyway.

If reading/writing fantasy is a sin, then my parents, who happen to be ministers, and are avid fantasy readers (and my dad a writer) are going to hell in a handbasket. Not to mention me and my hubby. I really dislike judgmental people.

Thanks to Soyarma for the suggestion. I have Mere Christianity, I just haven't read it yet. I will look at it.

The whole sex thing. That is an issue with me, too. In my story, the girls start out seeking. They seek in the wrong places and aren't exactly chaste. It is part of their story. I have to tell it, or I would be lying, but i worry about those jusdgemental people in the back of my head. I guess I should just tell them to shut up.

I'm a christian writer, but write secular work also. I grew up both christian and around "normal, troublesome kids." My father, who is atheist, taught me way too many disgusting jokes, which I'll never repeat.

When I write, my limitations are on what I feel inappropriate for ME to write about. For example, I would not feel I'm doing right by the Lord if I wrote pornography, glorified murder, or encouraged satanic cults and the like. In my autobiography, however, I have touched briefly on an abusive sexual relationship out of wedlock because I wanted to show teens that having sex isn't the best thing in the world -- unless you truly love the person. Sex can be mechanical unless the feelings are there. This I will always stick to because I believe sex should be the icing on the cake, not the cake alone.

My lead characters will always follow christian values. However, it doesn't mean supporting roles won't be sinners trying to coax the lead role into trouble. Everyone has the devil on their shoulder begging them to follow. The difference is if you choose to follow or not.

Edgarallenwannabe said:

That's a real struggle....and hopefully this won't be an unpopular thing to say...but even as we write fiction, we (or I) feel called to replay life AS IT IS, with all the warts and unsightly nasal hairs (hmmm. Not sure of this analogy).

As Christian writers, we have the responsibility to conduct ourselves through our writing in way that honors and glorifies God. However...when an unsaved person/character walks into a room to discover a headless corpse (murder mystery), they aren't going to say the following, by and large, in the real world:

"Oh my stars and garters!"
"Oh heavens!"
"Oh goodness gracious!"

They'd probably swear and then puke. And there's only so many times I can substitute "Blast it!" for a swear word, or use, He cursed violently under his breath.... before I start wincing at the lameness.

I struggle with the swearing too, not because of a past sin life, but from a stylistic perspective. I want readers to think of a character, "Holy cow, he's so real....he's like the guy who lives down the road from me!" And honestly, the guy down the road from me swears quite a bit.
.

Click to expand...

Try reading writers who know how to handle this. It isn't necessary to use the swear words OR the substitutes for them. Substitutes just don't do the job. Dean Koontz is very good at this.

Or try reading all those wonderful writers who wrote novels before strong swear words were allowed to be published. Funny how no one reads them and calls the characters unrealistic.

There are many realistic ways of handling this "problem," and if you read enough writers who have used these ways masterfully, it soon gets to be second nature.

I agree. Look at it from a movie point of view, say White Heat, with Jimmy Cagney. Nary a swear word or uncovered boob in the thing, yet frame-for-frame, one would be hard-pressed to find an edgier, more intense film. So yeah, it can be done (I'm under somewhat of the same contraints with my own works). It ain't easy, but it can be done.

I guess my biggest challenge as a Christian writing secular works is the "preachy" thing, too. I want everyone to be a Christian. Now, I don't have a problem making my Christian characters do sinful things (get drunk, have sex, curse) because even some Christians do those things. It's life. My biggest problem is keeping the characters from praying and talking about Jesus all the time.

A beta reader told me that it was too unbelieveable that a group of friends (there were 10 main and sub characters) would all the the same religion and hold the same beliefs. I didn't think it was unbelievable at all. The couples my husband and I aren friends with are all Christians, too, but I guess someone who is not wouldn't understand that.

Yeah, when I was in college, I attended the college bible study at a large church. On a bad day we had 20, usually more like 40. A lot of those people had grown up together. (I was the new kid on the block...) I'd say most of them are still friends even now that they are out of school. I dont' mean all 40 get together, I mean subgroups, some certainly 10 in size. People who haven't been in that environment don't get it. The college I went to had people from all over the world, with all different beliefs. A couple good firends I've had are athiest (I think they're agnostic) and were always asking me questions ranging me from what did the college bible study do (for fun and in the study) to what I believed. Kept me on my toes!

ETA: I sorta rambled there a bit....

What about stories which you write and think are Christain, but which other people don't classify as Christian because they have a different morality? So is it the morality within and forming the story which makes a story Christian, or is it the story's message of faith, hope or charity?