This is a cross-post with Australasian Christian Writers. Click here to add to the discussion.
I have an ulterior motive in asking this question.
I’m presenting at the 2017 Romance Writers of New Zealand conference later this month. My topic is Christian Romance: the biggest romance genre you’ve never heard of.
I’ve been to two previous Romance Writers of New Zealand conferences, and met many authors writing all kinds of romance, from sweet to erotica. Some of these writers are Christians, who confess their worry at breaking in to the writing world when they don’t want to include sex scenes in their novels. They’ve barely heard of “clean” or sweet romance, let alone Christian romance.
That’s what prompted me to pitch the topic to the RWNZ Conference organisers last year (among others). And I guess it intrigued them as well, because this is the topic they asked me to speak on.
Here’s what I pitched to RWNZ:
Romance is one of the most popular genres in the US-driven Christian fiction market, but many New Zealand authors—even Christian authors—don’t know it exists. This session will:
- Introduce authors to the Christian fiction genre and the CBA market.
- Highlight the main Christian fiction imprints and publishers.
- Consider how Christian fiction (and especially Christian romance) differs from general market fiction.
- Discuss Christian vs. inspirational vs. crossover fiction, and the emerging trends for ‘clean reads’ and ‘edgy Christian fiction.’
Parts of the presentation will be easy. Who publishes Christian fiction? Easy—check the free download available from my website, www.christianediting.co.nz.
Which agents represent Christian authors? Also easy, thanks to a free download compiled by Michael Hyatt, the ex-CEO of Thomas Nelson.
And where can you buy Christian books? At Christian book stores—like Koorong.com in Australia, or Manna Christian Books and Sonshine Books here in New Zealand. And at Amazon. Of course.
But this leaves one big question. How do we define Christian fiction?
It sounds easy, but it isn’t. I’ve written several blog posts on defining Christian fiction and Christian romance. There is no easy answer.
Okay, too many words coming… What a great question, and very hard. To me, Christian Fiction is not just fiction written by a Christian just like my grocery list isn’t Christian because I wrote it. I think of it as an actual sub-genre which then means there have to be some rules and conventions. A cosy mystery that plays out like CSI in every grizzly detail isn’t “cosy.” And, Christian Fiction that includes certain things (or excludes) them may be good fiction, but it’s not “Christian Fiction.” For me it’s less about what a book includes (there are some absolute no no’s of course), but more about the foundation of the book and the underlying assumptions that can be presented as subtly or as blatantly as the author wants. Put another way, often even at secular events, Christians somehow identify themselves to one another. In conversations about our life patterns, habits, values, even hobbies, at some point we often get that “ah-ha” moment when we realize we are resonating with someone because they are fellow travelers on “the way.” When I read a piece of Christian Fiction (or Christian Romance) I want that resonance. Every character doesn’t have to be “there” and the story doesn’t have to be about Sunday School and missions. But, I want to come away with the feeing that if I were magically plopped down into the center of the action I would figure out who the believer is, or where the Church is working in the story (even off camera), or where the author intends me to see God’s hand moving. I want to come away with the feeing that “this is how God’s operates and how He works all things according to His good pleasure in the lives of the people He created.” I will never forget watching the last of the Lord of the Rings trilogy and the forces of evil were winning the battle. All seemed lost, then over the hill dressed in white on a white horse came hope and completely defeated evil. I was ugly-crying in my seat. I completely saw the spiritual picture without one mention of anything churchy. That’s what Christian Fiction is to me. It paints a picture of some aspect of the Universal Truth which is clearly identifiable to those who know what to look for. With Christian Romance it is the same, a Christian would
say “yes, I can see how God would work this way in the romantic journey of a couple.”
Thanks for commenting, Jayna! Lots of great ideas in there. I like your point about how we can often pick out new acquaintances as Christians from what they say and how they act.
The same should hold true for Christian fiction – we want to see God’s hand moving in the lives of the characters.
Hi Iola – I don’t think I could come up with any pearls you haven’t already thought of, but I guess even highlighting the difficulties in defining it would be good for your audience. I guess when I see it specially labelled as ‘Christian fiction’, I’m expecting that there will be a specific Christian message in there somewhere (hopefully not too preachy). So there’ll be a Christian character faced with issues that confront their faith or there’ll be a non-believer who is challenged to consider Christianity. But as you know of course, the sacred/secular divide is a bit arbitrary. Fiction can be written from a Christian worldview without specifically mentioning Christianity. For example, a couple who decide to wait til the wedding night, or someone who chooses to forgive someone, or a storyline that shows how each life is valuable etc. Good luck with it.
Just another thought – Just thinking about how some novels that are too preachy can turn off readers, even Christians. So maybe you could also mention that there is a range within the Christian genre (which it sounds like you’re already doing). There may be some in the audience who have been turned off Christian novels before because they’ve been too preachy or poorly written and you can show how the area has improved. That it can just be about real people dealing with real issues, but with that extra faith dimension. I suspect even erotica readers would want to read about characters who truly value and care for each other rather than just using each other for pleasure. What do we all really want? To love and be loved?
The divide between the sacred and the secular can be arbitrary. I do believe some (many?) Christians are called to write for the general market, but that shouldn’t make their work any less sacred. It’s just a different target market, who need to be wooed to Jesus in a different way.