Your opinion on Edgy christian fiction

[sicarii67]

seems there is a small burgeoning market for more realistic christian fiction that breaks the CBA guidlines. Issues that might involve language, sex and violence as a means to deal with a subject in ficiton.

Im no lover of dirty humor, gratuitious sex scenes or random uncontextualized violence but I dont think that Christian writers will Ever get any serious treatment or recognition until we crossover to the mainstream. Meaning that to spread christianity in literature, we must be able to tell stories that embrace reality and lead the reader to have something invested in the story. I dont ever intend to try to submit to CBA but I do intend to include insprirational themes and a christian message to realistic books. It seems now that a person must be a top seller to even make writing financially feasable to make it in CBA. Young writers have to market themselves even in the major publishing houses. Whats the difference except distribution.

Whats your opinion on this

 

[liesje]

I don't mind edgy fiction, as long as it deals with its subject in a discerning way - as you said, I'm not fond of gratuitous sex, violence or whatever. Often less is more, and if these things are subtly referred to rather than plonked on the page it is often more efffective. Will there be mainstream publishers willing to publish Christian fiction?

 

[Katarinea]

I don't think we need to "cross over into the mainstream" in order to have good stories. I think we need stories that are true to life, unlike many novels that are published today. Life is not always pretty, and I think some people are turned off by the way that many Christian writers (especially romance writers) ignore the uglier bits of life.

 

[Colleen1]

Boy, do I agree with you Katarinea and liesje. Christians need to be real. I truly believe God calls us to do this. We need to 'be real' and aware in order to truly help people. The world has a lot of problems and "God so loved the world..." not just the people in my church or the people I like. Thank you for this discussion and your post. Not meaning to preach at any one. Just very glad I can be a part of an open honest discussion of this issue. I became a christian at a very young age and left the church for a while in my 20's. Making mistakes I have regretted but learning a lot and being able to establish my relationship with God because of what I believed instead of being pressured to live a way of life simply because that's what I was told to do. Both before and after I left the church it felt like the church was disconnected from some real life issues. So where do we go for help or support within the church if the church doesn't understand or doesn't want to talk about those issues. I think you comments are insightful because having christian resources that address real life issues would help some one like myself and others grow stronger in our christian walk. Thanks very much for your comments.

 

[Quoth]

seems there is a small burgeoning market for more realistic christian fiction that breaks the CBA guidlines. Issues that might involve language, sex and violence as a means to deal with a subject in ficiton.

Im no lover of dirty humor, gratuitious sex scenes or random uncontextualized violence but I dont think that Christian writers will Ever get any serious treatment or recognition until we crossover to the mainstream. Meaning that to spread christianity in literature, we must be able to tell stories that embrace reality and lead the reader to have something invested in the story. I dont ever intend to try to submit to CBA but I do intend to include insprirational themes and a christian message to realistic books. It seems now that a person must be a top seller to even make writing financially feasable to make it in CBA. Young writers have to market themselves even in the major publishing houses. Whats the difference except distribution.

Whats your opinion on this

I am a Christian, but when it comes to fiction, I doubt I'll ever be a Christian author. I intend to write books from a non-fiction standpoint about Christian topics from a Christian perspective, but as for non-fiction, there's a distinction for me as a Christian and as an author.

For me, when I read a Christian author's "Christian book" that is "based on reality", it hits about as close to reality as any given reality TV show. Many Christian authors seem fearful of crossing the line in accurately describing a non-Christian character.

That is the reason I'm not big on societies and associations that limit their authors by saying that their characters can't swear, can't do drugs, and can't kill someone. In real life, people swear, people do drugs, and people kill. Of course, I don't want to read about the placement of each individual blood drop from a murder, but as a Christian, I can write a realistic scene without defying any of God's standards.

In short, I think CBA and associations like it contribute to bad, unrealistic writing.

 

[LadyNRA]

To be honest, I read a mixture of fiction. Some of it is Christian, some of it is secular. I dislike, as most of you do, the gratuitous sex and violence but feel that both Christian writers and secular ones can get the point across without taking it too far. I do think that with sexual issues, less is more. I can do without explicit scenes in my romance fiction. I'm long since accustomed to reading about violence or seeing it on News programs so it's not out of place to find it in Christian fiction if it is important to the story. Most of my fiction has moments of violence because I write action/adventure/fantasy. I like to read about the struggles people have and how they overcome them and I write that way too. My romances are 'clean'. I don't feel I know scripture well enough to write Christian material but I till tend to hold cussing and violence to a minimum anyway.

That said, I see no reason for a crossover of Christian authors to secular publishers. I give credit to most folks for being smart enough to figure that if they want clean fiction they'll go for Christian authors and can find a Christian bookstore or Christian section in their towns.