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Christian
genre fiction covers a large arena. When I entered the market ten years
ago, it was vastly different from today. Before 1998, I had written
secular romance novels—fifty to be exact—for various publishers like
Dell, Random House, and Avon. If success is counted by the amount of
contracts one garners, I was vastly successful. But I wasn’t
comfortable writing secular material. Now, nearly a hundred published
books down the road, I’ve found my passion. To coin a new genre: I love
writing Contemp Istorials. I love to take the
modern man or woman and put them back on the farm in the 1800s, and I
adore writing today’s contemporary stories. I shamelessly refer you to
my latest Zondervan contemporary release, A Man’s Heart
(Oct. 2010), and make quick mention my newest historical, Walker’s
Wedding (Harvest House, July 2010). I have successfully
incorporated most of my secular readers into my Christian readership.
Genres abound in fiction and
more are springing to light every day in the Christian market. Because
of the books’ natures, Christian fiction will choose its
authors—authors will not particularly choose genres. It’s as hard or
harder to get published in the Christian market as it is in secular
publishing. If your reading, writing, and imaginative storytelling
lends to gratuitous violence, graphic love scenes, and strong language,
the Christian market is not for you. You might very well run away from
squeaky clean stories and Little House on the Prairie home folk scenes,
but you won’t run far if you aren’t comfortable writing secular
material. Christian fiction is not an alternative market.
Icons like Frank Peretti,
Jannette Oke, and Beverly Lewis have led the way in Christian
storytelling with spiritually rich novels. Today the genres address
hard-hitting topics like divorce, abortion, alternative lifestyle,
spousal abuse . . . the list is growing. Today, Amish fiction is
setting industry records. The Christian reader cannot get enough of the
subject, and publishers that formerly centered on Protestant beliefs
now focus on feeding the masses. Who would have dreamed that the
obscure little corner called “Fiction” in the mom-and-pop bookstores
would eventually reach out and grab the reader in a miraculous way?
How does “Christian” and
“fiction” coexist? The Bible is not fiction. Shop any book religious
fiction aisle and you will find Christian genre incorporating biblical
teachings in contemporary, historical, suspense, sci-fi, thrillers, and
more written from a Christian point of view, and the market is growing
rapidly because of readers seeking stories more in sync with their
personal, spiritual, and moral values. You want tears? We have it. You
want to laugh out loud and cry? It’s there. Cowboys, gum shoes, sassy
heroines, and strong-minded heroes are available for your reading
pleasure, but written for those who skip graphic love scenes and thumb
through salty language and gratuitous violence. Christian fiction
exists to feed the mind while entertaining.
Today’s
multitalented Christian genre authors deliver sterling entertainment
without any obscenity or graphic love scenes. More readers are turning
to Christian novels to enrich their lives.
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If
your reading tastes run
conservative or open, shop the fiction shelves, read the back copy, and
decide if the book is preachy or timely. Would it speak to your heart,
or would you talk back to its contents? My mail is filled with
thoughtful comments from readers who would have told my story
differently, but I tell the story the way it comes to me. The plot
might not always be proper, nice, or even socially acceptable, but God
invites, “Come to me all who are tired and weary, and I will give you
rest.”
Christian genres are a rich box
of decadent chocolates; some have chewy, thought-provoking centers,
some are squishy soft and sweet, some have nuts, and some sit you on
the edge of your seat, but always the delight satisfies the sweet tooth
for those wanting to read stories that uplift and enhance their
beliefs.
Like chocolates in a brightly
wrapped box with a red bow tied around it, authors are as different as
the subjects they choose to write about. Once Christian fiction was
thought to be preachy, staid, and boring. Today’s fiction couldn’t be
more diverse in subject and tone. I’m never sure if I’m writing
Christian stories or purely writing from the heart, because I write
about flawed people. My characters often veer onto the wrong path but
discover through God’s grace the easier road taken. They don’t pray
over every word or thought, but God is evident in their lives. They
know, yet often forget, that they do have a purpose in this journey.
They tell fibs and ask for forgiveness under their breaths. They’re
confident that nothing life holds can conquer them, but something
always does. In other words, I write about people like me. Flawed but
forgiven, for how else can you experience God’s full grace?
Best-selling author Karen Kingsbury says it best about writing
Christian genre: “As a Christian fiction writer, I can tell a story
about the complete person, the whole character. I think this resonates
with readers, and touches them in the deepest parts of their hearts and
souls.”
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