Correction: Last Stop on the ECFL Summer Blog Tour is Tomorrow!

When I posted for the ECFL Blog Tour last Sunday I ended my post with a directive to visit Donna Fletcher Crow's blog on Wednesday for the final stop on the tour. But I had the date wrong!

My BAD! Sorry for any inconvenience this has caused.

Please stop by Donna Fletcher Crow's blog tomorrow (Sunday, August 29) to read about Spiritual Authenticity in Fiction. Really. It'll be there. I promise.

(here's a note: the post is already up, so this time, I know I've got it right!)

A special thanks to everyone who participated in the tour in any way! Have a great rest of your weekend--I'm off to spend the evening listening to an ABBA Tribute group at the park. (yes, the Swedish singers--and, no. Not the real ones. Now if only an Elvis impersonator would show up in Mepotown....)

The Intrusion of the Real World

Sometimes reality takes on a surreal quality. You're quietly going along about the comfortable predictability of your life and then... the phone rings.

This week we received word that a former colleague took his own life. He leaves behind a wife, two college-aged sons, a sixth grade daughter, and a ten year old son. Their lives will never be the same.

Suddenly all that seems mundane and ordinary is viewed through a clearer lens. Yesterday a moment in which we might have seen as little more than boredom's resting place has a serene and infinite beauty. Knowledge is powerful and one thing I know:

But for the grace of God, there go I.

Both my husband and I have seen some pretty dark times. We know what it feels like to have the flicker of a floundering faith be the only dim light of hope in our hearts. Depression. Anxiety. Worry. Defeat. Illness. Loss. They have touched us both at one time or another and we've let the darkness sink its claws into our hearts. We've wondered if our family would be better off without us, gladder for a life insurance settlement than having to deal with our depression for one day more. And we've been weak enough to admit (later) that our thoughts took that road.

But that flicker, as dim as it seems, has always been bright enough to let in just enough hope to get up and turn our face toward whatever warmth there may be.

I've found myself able to achieve a certain sort power in depression--in settling into the mud of my own wallow. The energy found there is entirely negative and self-propagating. When I am depressed I am selfish. Focused inward. Seeing every interaction through a lens of personal pronouns. My loss. My defeat. My illness. My anxiety. Nobody could possibly understand what I am going through. No one really knows me.

When I eventually come up for air--usually because somehow I've noticed and been called to attend the immediate need of someone else--there is a series of moments in which my spirit vacillates between cowering in shame... and lifting my countenance to praise the God of light and peace. I've entertained the darkness, but never have I reached a moment of finality in which it blocked out every discernible pinprick of light.

And, but for the grace of God, there go I.

I know only a little of the situation which may have precipitated this man's descent into the realms of hopelessness. It seems that many layers, over several months... years, even... piled up around the windows of his soul to the point that he no longer had a mechanism available to let in that thin sliver of light.

It is sobering to be reminded through another's tragedy that there is so much to be thankful for. I have my life. I have my husband. My children. My hope. My raggedy faith. Only when we cling to gratitude can we sustain our finger hold on the thickest curtains--and pull back the dim edge to reveal the sun.

If you are moved so today, please lift the Haught family in your prayers.

Cheese and the Lactose Intolerant Editor

When I was younger (much, much younger) I drank milk like a baby calf. (This is to say that I drank a lot of milk, not that I stuck my head under a cow's belly and pretended it was rush week at the tri-Delt's favorite tap.) When I was pregnant with my second child, however, dairy became my enemy. I became lactose intolerant. And I still am, as is Ellerie, the child who made me thus.

But I am an undisciplined sort of gal and dairy is freaking everywhere. Have you ever tried to make a decent casserole without cheese, milk, or cream-of-something soup? Have you given up ice cream, yogurt, and Culver's Chocolate Malts?

Me neither. At least not for long stretches at a time. But I am reminded today, after consuming a lunch of leftover tuna casserole (can you really call Velveeta cheese?--but oh, there was that cream of celery soup in it, too....) and topping it off with one Lactaid pill and an ice cream sandwich (okay, so it wasn't exactly a healthy meal. Sue me. I'm writing today and in a hurry to get back to a story!) I am reminded that cutting out dairy from my diet is so I don't have to cut the proverbial cheese quite so frequently.

Nothing like a little discussion of the bodily functions of the lactose intolerant to brighten up your day, eh?

Anyway.... So as I sit at my desk, my gut expanding with leaden bubbles, my innards gurgling, and my brain screaming, "You idiot!" I am reminded that there is, quite possibly, a lot of cheese biding its time within both my works in progress and my finished novels. It's the sort of purple prose and misdirected metaphor that fills the body of the work with air and lets off a sort of aroma which makes a publisher wary. And, one way or another, that useless gas has to come out. It's a metaphor turned upside down, because in the way of the editorial scalpel, you must cut the cheese to avoid making the book stink.

Aside from the soupy Harlequin-type romances (poor girl meets rich boy, overcomes obstacles and his mamma in order to marry rich boy and live happily ever after) I think professional editors are largely lactose intolerant. They want the good stuff, the clear, dairy-free writing that doesn't leave a film on your throat or a sick feeling in your stomach. They want to be filled with excessively digestible prose and tasty morsels which do not sour in the sun.

So that is the goal for the day: to cut the cheese.

I'll understand if you keep your distance.

"What is that smell?!" Creating CULTURALLY RELEVANT CHARACTERS IN CHRISTIAN FICTION

Please note: I’ve recommended authors and provided links to their websites. Just click on the author’s name (after you’ve read this post in its entirety, of course!) And, if you leave a comment at another author’s site, please mention that you got there by way of Fiction Mirrors Truth!

According to The American Heritage College Dictionary, the word relevant is derived from the Latin, relevāre, which means: to relieve, raise up.

Although I’m not an artist, this makes me think of an art done in reliefwhere the images are lifted up off the surface to give clarity, dimension, and definition. So… cultural relevance could be interpreted as an accurate definition of a particular branch of society—or—a set of details which bring attention to dimension within a specific culture. It's like a 3-D image for the imagination, delivered in High Def resolution. So... to place that definition of "relief" upon fictional characters we could say:

A culturally relevant character is a character whose behavior, attitudes, and way of expression reflects (or contrasts against) the behaviors, attitudes, and expressions of the culture in which he/she lives.

That sounds simple enough, but when it comes to placing culturally relevant characters within marketable Christian fiction, the concept gets a little muddy.

It's important to note that when speaking of Christian Fiction, even Edgy Christian Fiction, we need to remember that our audience, by definition, is mainly filled with Christian people. I think we have a tendency to lose sight of this from time to time. The Christian culture is just that: its own culture; a unique people group with its own language, customs, mores, and behavioral expectations; a culture filled with numerous and diverse sub-cultures within the larger group (can you say "denomination"?) But, and this is very important, we also need to recognize that these Christians within our reading audience do not live in the bubble-like sanctuary of Christendom. (Hopefully.) They live, work, and interact within a larger cultural sphere; within a society that is often at war against the very mores, behaviors, and expectations they hold dear. Meanwhile, forces within the church could be fostering an "us against them" mentality in regards to the world we've been called to engage. (whew. insert deep breath here....) Therefore, to make characters culturally relevant to a Christian audience we have to respect and honestly relieve, or raise up, that juxtaposition with believable conflicts--and reactions to those conflicts--that clearly show both parts of our characters' (and our readers') worlds.

As an anthropologically astute author you have to study the applicable culture and subculture(s) of your fictional characters as well as the psychographic profile(s) of your intended audience. This means that, as writers of Christian fiction, we must step out of the safety of the church-bubble we so often find ourselves gravitating toward in our daily lives and open ourselves up to experience a friendship with The World and Its Inhabitants. A scary thought indeed. (note the sarcasm, please.) But a necessary step if we want to accurately write about those living apart from Christ, be they believers or unbelievers. Yes, I said believers. Characters living apart from Christ can even be—gasp!—Christians. Saved ain't perfect. You've seen the bumper sticker.

Just because a character is culturally relevant, however, doesn't mean they live within your readers' culture. Creating characters who are both relevant to their time in history as well as to your contemporary audience is, in my opinion, a daunting task; but one which can (and is being) done with excellence by many authors. In Historical and Biblical fiction some edgy authors, such as Jamie Carie (Wind Dancer, among others) and Tosca Lee (Havah: The Story of Eve), have masterfully overcome the challenges of historical accuracy and cultural relevance, creating beautifully wrought plots and characters who are timeless, but placed within a specific time. (Bravo!)

As a writer I must know to whom I write. But in all honesty sometimes I don't have a clue to whom I'm writing until I'm already deeply into the first (or fiftieth) draft. And I must admit that I write largely to... myself. Though it's often a bloody proposition, writing is cheaper than therapy, after all. But when it comes to putting the proposal together for a submission, I need a bigger book-buying audience than that face in the mirror. So... I must ask myself some pretty tough questions.

Will my story appeal to a conservative Christian audience, an evangelical Christian audience, or a post-modern reader who claims allegiance to Christ? And if only one of those, how can I change it to encompass them all--and do I want to? Does my story recognize the uglier aspects of the humanity within individuals within a body of faith? Am I willing to honestly show the traits and behaviors of Christians which are contrary to the Gospel? Am I willing to show SIN within CHRISTIANS--and juxtapose it against the morality within the unsaved?

If so, then I might be creating some culturally relevant characters.

Most writers (and publishers) of conventional Christian fiction would tell you that there are specific parameters which must be followed in order to avoid offending a Christian audience. The overall message of these traditional books, regardless of setting, is this: "Everything just falls into place when we come to Jesus, honey." Which, to me, is a little bit like greeting my fellow Christian with the shocking exclamation of, "Dude, what's wrong with you? You're still struggling with sin? Yeesh. Get it together, man!" In the end of those elder-board approved, traditional Christian stories everyone is happy and everyone gets saved. Just like in real life.

Right.

It amazes me that we can sell so much of this crap to Christians. Oh, I get it. Christians like to be comfortable in their faith and that sort of writing sells well to the well-churched masses. And don't get me wrong--I love to see people come to Christ. But why are we selling evangelistic messages to people who've already walked the aisle? While I can believe that readers can be entertained by such fiction, I can't believe it resonates within their hearts and lives--because it is not relevant to their situation. Even if the salvation message is well delivered I probably wouldn't loan a book like that to an unsaved friend because it's (often) written in such a goody-goody style that I have to scrape sugar off the cover just to avoid attracting ants to my bookshelf! Anyone who's been a Christian five-minutes past the "glow period" of salvation knows that the Christian life is fraught with temptation and pain which we can (and often do not) avoid. Propagating goody-goody happy-happy Christian fiction--irrelevant Christian fiction--only serves to insulate the reader from the possibility--and beautiful agony --of transformative revelation.

Kool-aid doesn't kill cancer cells, but chemo does. And you can't get chemo while admiring a bed of roses from the backseat of a buggy in Lancaster County.

Yes, I'll admit that there is entertaiment value--yes VALUE--in irrelevant fiction. There can be a beautiful thing called escapism found in the entertaining fluff of a perfect world, and that will always keep "that sort of fiction" viable within the Christian marketplace. I will not deny that there is a time and place for insulation. (see previous post) But there is also a time to swan dive right off the steeple and spill some honest ink upon the page. That's why we need to create culturally relevant characters. And that's why edgy authors are emerging within the Christian culture as a force to be reckoned with.

Edgy authors realize that Christians have a lot of junk--and the power of a culturally relevant character's story can help to sort it out.

A few mainstream pubbers are getting the message, but so far the e-book industry is where we are more likely to come across these authors . E-book publishers and other small "presses" are more willing to take risks with "edgy" Christian authors than the big boys who earn their bread and butter among the bonnets and buggies and fluffy meringue. The authors who are taking risks--taking their writing to the edge (and sometimes past it!) of the line-in-the-sand drawn by traditional CBA expectations have discovered that culturally relevant characters can be found across time and setting and worldscape. A story can be sweet and light romance or sassy chic lit and still have culturally relevant characters (read Sandra Byrd’s French TwistTrilogy or the novels of Camy Tang.) The story can take place in another world (Jeffrey Overstreet’s Auralia’s Colors), another time (Liz Curtis Higgs’s Lowlands of Scotland series), or even another planet (Kathy Tyers’s Firebird Trilogy) and still have culturally relevant characters.

Cultural relevance is about honesty, transparency, vulnerability, and sometimes has a little stank on it--but it's a familiar aroma if it's relevant. Cultural relevance leaves a little bit of fat on the bone when it tosses the meat on the table because that's where the flavor's at. It doesn't necessarily have to be deep and life-changing (though I love when it is), it just has to be real... in a fictional sort of way.

Actions. Consequences. Sin. Mercy. Risks. Rewards.

Reality.

Sometimes my characters (both Christian and non-Christian) use “bad” language, behave in deplorable ways, break vows, break commandments, and live in denial about it all. And so do their friends. Does that sound familiar? Sometimes life stinks, and we stink, and our faith walk absolutely reeks with hypocrisy and disingenuiness. And it can be quite painfull--though sometimes pretty fun--to eek that stink out upon the page.

To make nicey-nice out of ugly issues or to insulate a Christian character within a Christians-only society is to portray a human creature in a way that denigrates their God-given free will (and the consequences of that free will) as well as the Great Commission. Some edgy authors I’ve found who portray morally conflicted characters honestly (and with excellence) in a contemporary setting are Kristen Heitzmann (The Michelli Family series is a favorite of mine),Tosca Lee (Demon: A Memoir), and Christa Parrish (Home Another Way.)

Regardless of the time period, sub-genre, or setting of a novel, an edgy author of Christian fiction will avoid allowing her characters to tip-toe around the pristine exterior edges of Christendom and, instead, make those characters stomp or crawl through the sanctuary with muddy and blood-soaked boots.

Or turn around and walk the other way.

Anyone who has approached the throne of mercy can tell you that the way to the altar is not a bright, smooth pathway paved in doilies with little birdies singing “Oh, How I Love Jesus” from the lofty rafters. No, the mercy path is a shadowy, rutted alleyway littered with shards of shattered stained glass--and the only music playing is the frantic rhythm of your own filthy heart.

Been there. Done that. Will do it again and again, I’m sure.

The author who strives to be culturally relevant in his/her writing of Christian fiction knows this and works to portray his/her characters in such a way that the reader identifies with the characters—cuz sometimes she smells the same stink on herself. And, also, the same perfume of hope. That is where fiction mirrors truth.

To state it simply, creating culturally relevant characters shows that Christians still need Christ.

Ba-da-bing.

By creating these characters within our fiction we can work together with the Holy Spirit to lessen the human-inflicted distance between those in need of mercy-- and the Cross where they can find it.

Thanks for stopping by this 2nd-to-last stop on the Edgy Christian Fiction Lovers Summer Blog Tour 2010. I welcome your comments!

Don't forget to stop by Donna Fletcher's blog on Wednesday for the final stop on the tour!

Now go read a book or something!

**an additional note: Sunday, Aug. 22, 2010: Just found a blogger fluke! I saved the first draft of this post on Wednesday and, for some reason when I posted it at 6:30 am this morning (Sunday), it posted for last Wednesday, with any number of odd posts in between, so my apologies to anyone who visited earlier today and did not find the post in the correct place! And my apologies to those of you who, in looking further down my blog, find it repeated under last Wednesday's date! It was posted for the first time this morning around 6:30a.m.

Boot to the Bahoinky

Chip MacGregor (I seem to be mentioning his blog a lot lately) shipped a great post to my inbox today. It's a well-thought out delineation of the Christian Market and the "secular" market and added to my conviction (thanks, Joyce Meyer) about all the complaining I've been doing about traditional CBA publishing. I guess my butt needed kicking. Again.

I'm probably going to need a softer chair soon.

Drop by Chip's blog and see what this experienced literary professional has to say. It might just open your mind a bit (as it did mine.)

Stay tuned, boys and girls: tomorrow YOURS TRULY is the featured author on the ECFL Summer Blog Tour. Come back and see us, won't ya?

2 Text or not 2 Text. That is the ?

Tonight was the all-school open house extravaganza. Okay, it was low on the "extravaganza"--but heavy on the "open." Tonight was the night we unpacked the bursting backpacks into the freshly sanitized (we hope) desks and lockers and greeted all those long-lost friends we hadn't seen since... well, since we'd gone to the pool earlier this afternoon.

Ah, back to school. It's a sacred time. A beautiful time when the notebooks are doodle and problem free, the pencils are sharp and unchewed, the erasers haven't yet shaled off those pesky rubber hairs that you just can't wipe off your desk, and the gym smells....

Well, the gym smells. But that's a gym for you.

There's a certain excitement which accompanies back-to-school shopping for a writer. I'm not kidding you when I say my heartbeat quickens when I see notebooks on sale for 15 cents a piece and highlighters in fun new colors. I imagine most of my fellow shoppers at Wal-mart assumed I had about twelve other kids at home by the sheer volume of notebooks I stacked into my cart. I let my kids pick out the colors they liked and then just started grabbing handfuls of them. Sure, I reasoned that they would run out of paper before Halloween and need new notebooks, but they knew the truth. Those extra notebooks are for me.

I have notebooks in the car, beside my bed, near the TV, in the kitchen.... I've got a whole box of filled notebooks sitting in the closet of my writing cave. Sometimes I just pull one out at random to see what kind of ideas were so very immediate that they had to be written down in the dark (the penmanship could rival that of a kindergartner on crack), on the sly while I was teaching The Odyssey to a group of high school freshmen (so much fodder for fantasy writing found within Greek mythology!), and, since we're all about honesty here, while, gulp, driving.

Texting while driving is illegal in Iowa. I can live with that. Literally. But if they take away my shiny new notebook....

Yes, it's terrible. I know. But the actual penning of the idea isn't nearly so bad as when I can't find the notebook. Look out! I'm driving with one hand and scouring my purse for a receipt, a napkin, anything on which to place the glittering pixie dust of the vehicular muse, with the other.

And where's the blooming pen????

I've written ideas, lines, snarkisms, and such in lipstick and eyeliner. I've used the backs of receipts, old grocery lists, deposit slips, used napkins, and questionable kleenexes. Gross. Sorry. Writing's a messy business.

But rarely do I abbreviate. I don't do symbols in place of words. I love words. I live for words. I breathe words. That's why it's called inspiration.

and that's why I grimace every time I text.

Oh, I appreciate the convenience of texting. I do. It's like email on speed. It's Dragnet gone techno. "Just the facts, ma'am." Without the inconvenience or pressure of having to make small talk. I can arrange a sleepover for my daughter in about 2.5 seconds, reply included. Yeah, I can text pretty fast. I've got the querty keyboard and everything on my razzley-dazzly smart phone. But just because I can doesn't mean it doesn't bother me on some deep, traditionalist and philosophical level.

You see, I've got a little bit of a hang-up, no pun intended, with text lingo. I get a primo gut-sink every time I replace the word "to" with the number 2. And if I need to use "too" in a sentence? Well, doggone it, I'm typing that sucker out. It's cringe-worthy enough when I see that usage screwed up in daily life writing--I will not allow myself to use the number when a second "o" is needed for clarity of meaning. I won't I won't I won't.

Okay, I might.

And don't get me started on the evolution of the letter "b." Two years ago, when substitute teaching an English class, I received a worksheet to check with a sentence--yes, a sentence--where the answer was correct... except that it was written in TEXT! I let the red-pen of justice take care of that one for me.

My thirteen-year-old daughter is saving up for her own texting plan. Am I wrong for wanting to put specific grammatical requirements on her airtime usage?

IDK

And that's a bmr, 2. I mean, too. Call me old fashioned, but there's this little grammar teacher rapping my thumb knuckles with a ruler every time I abbreviate with what is coming to be known as proper texting vernacular.

And the past tense verb form of text? Texted. As in, "I texted him."

That just makes me shudder.

My friend Cristy lives in Alabama. Every once in a while, Cristy sends me a handwritten letter. She writes out all the words and everything. I love Cristy's letters. And I love that she's my age and still appreciates the art of communication. That girl was raised up right.

Maybe I'll text her later and tell her how much I appreciate her friendship. Now how would that go?

UR GR8. THX 4 UR LTRS.

On second thought, maybe I ought to pull one of those shiny new notebooks....

Until L8R, folks. GdNt!

Everyone needs a gut-snort now and then

So I'm flipping through my emails in an effort to procrastinate myself away from THE LOOMING BLANK PAGE and I come across one from Chip MacGregor, literary agent. Now, before we get all excited about me receiving a message from the famous Chipster, you need to know that I only received it because I'm on his mailing list. I subscribed. Via some magical auto-subscribe button that you lucky 18 have also pushed on my blog. So, really, Mr. MacGregor doesn't know I'm alive.

So there it is.

But still, it came in my mailbox. From Chip MacGregor. And I always read his emails. He teaches me stuff about the pubbing biz, writing, and submitting and, more importantly, he makes me laugh. Today I needed a laugh and Chip, in his wisdom, must have known that when he sent out this latest message and at its end (I was already wearing the sly smirk of sarcasm appreciation) he left a link to author Jenny B. Jones's blog and the added note that she makes him snort coffee out of his nose (or something like that.)

Well, that is a call I cannot resist. While I prefer to drink my coffee while it's hot, I am not at all opposed to snorting it out my nose if random humor should bring it to pass. And, besides, with a name like Jenny B. Jones, I was already intrigued. I mean, a gal of a similar name, Junie B. Jones, spoke my all-time-favorite life motto:

"A little bit of glitter can turn your whole day around."

Actually, the line was from Barbara Park, in one of her Junie B. Jones, First Grader books that I love to read aloud to my girls, but still. Words to live by. Glitter rocks. But I digress. Again.

Sooo.... I clicked on the link to Jenny B. Jones's website. (Fun & Quirky) read about her books (which also seem Fun & Quirky) and then, glory of glories, clicked on her blog.

My coffee was cold by then, but when I read her picture captions I was hooked. I mean, this chiclette is funny. Make sure you read the picture captions from her trip to Kansas City--especially the armless statue and the chair from Restoration Hardware. Seriously. Or not so seriously. Jenny has a gift for observational humor! And she is spot on hysterical. Love it!

So if you, like me, need a good dose of coffee-snorting laughter today, please go visit Jenny's Blog--and tell her you got there by way of Fiction Mirrors Truth.

Now I'm off to Amazon to order one of her novels. She seems to be a girl after my own sarcastic heart.

Foiled Again! Plus a top-ten list

Every year I say I'm going to the ACFW Conference. And every year something comes up right before I make my registration form out. (pulling hair and screaming low in my throat.)

This year was no different. The conference is being held in Indianapolis in one month and my plans have disintegrated. First, the bill from U of I Hospitals came. We've been frequent fliers this year and until we have some sort of "come to Jesus" meeting with our insurance company, it looks like we're going to be stuck with a $1200 bill. Which is more than the conference and hotel would have cost. Oh, and then, the insurance strikes again... after the fact. My daughter had to have 2 teeth pulled and, guess what? A month after the fact the DDS office calls and says, "Um, your dental insurance won't pay for this." Well, okay, so why are we buying dental again???????? It barely pays for anything!!!

And then, the final nail in the proverbial Writers Conference Coffin: I have been summoned to Jury Duty for the month of, you guessed it, September.

Oy!

Well, I guess there are a lot of ways to look at this to put a positive spin on it. and I do know spin, cuz I used to work in the music business--and--I've been involved in ministry! Did that sound, uh, negative? Well, think about it. How many times have you been roped into doing "service" that didn't really line up with your gifts or calling because someone put a "spin" on it. (In church situations the spin I speak of often comes in a form passed down from mother to daughter, it's called "guilting you into it.") But I digress.

Shawna's list of positive reasons she doesn't get to go to the ACFW Conference (again.)

1. There could be a plane crash. Thank goodness, I won't be on that plane.

2. Perhaps the hotel will miss one batch of the egg recall and--PRAISE BE!--I've avoided getting salmonella.

3. PMS. Need I say more? Well, okay. I'll just say that perhaps the dates of the ACFW conference are not the best time for me to be presenting my best self to potential publishers! When building a platform it behooves oneself to avoid appearing as a Big Ben-sized pendulum on the Mood Swing-o-Meter! Maybe next year the date will fit in better with my personal hormonal fluctuations.

4. I couldn't find a roommate, so I'm saving sooo much money by staying home.

5. My dog would miss me.

6. Delaney will be cheering football this year (she hopes) and I might miss one of her games if I go to the conference.

7. Orthodontia is very important and Dave has a dental phobia. Delaney is due for her impressions during that week and, well, things might go better if Mom takes her!

8. I didn't get my manuscripts to the point I wanted to by the deadline I had set for myself, so I wouldn't be as confident in shopping them as I would be otherwise.

9. Look at all the laundry I'll be able to keep up with by staying home!

and number 10. Isn't "jury duty" just another way of saying "research" ? There could be some primo people-watching possibilities down at the county courthouse!

"What is that smell?!" Creating CULTURALLY RELEVANT CHARACTERS IN CHRISTIAN FICTION

Please note: I’ve recommended authors and provided links to their websites. Just click on the author’s name (after you’ve read this post in its entirety, of course!) And, if you leave a comment at another author’s site, please mention that you got there by way of Fiction Mirrors Truth!

According to The American Heritage College Dictionary, the word relevant is derived from the Latin, relevāre, which means: to relieve, raise up.

Although I’m not an artist, this makes me think of an art done in relief where the images are lifted up off the surface to give clarity, dimension, and definition. So… cultural relevance could be interpreted as an accurate definition of a particular branch of society—or—a set of details which bring attention to dimension within a specific culture. It's like a 3-D image for the imagination, delivered in High Def resolution. So... to place that definition of "relief" upon fictional characters we could say:

A culturally relevant character is a character whose behavior, attitudes, and way of expression reflects (or contrasts against) the behaviors, attitudes, and expressions of the culture in which he/she lives.

That sounds simple enough, but when it comes to placing culturally relevant characters within marketable Christian fiction, the concept gets a little muddy.

It's important to note that when speaking of Christian Fiction, even Edgy Christian Fiction, we need to remember that our audience, by definition, is mainly filled with Christian people. I think we have a tendency to lose sight of this from time to time. The Christian culture is just that: its own culture; a unique people group with its own language, customs, mores, and behavioral expectations as well as its own sub-cultures within the larger group (can you say "denomination"?) But, and this is very important, we also need to recognize that these Christians within our reading audience do not live in the bubble-like sanctuary of Christendom. (Hopefully.) They live, work, and interact within a larger cultural sphere; within a society that wars against those very mores, behaviors, and expectations they hold dear. Therefore, to make characters culturally relevant to a Christian audience we have to respect and honestly relieve, or raise up, that juxtaposition with believable conflicts--and reactions to those conflicts--that clearly show both parts of our characters' (and our readers') worlds.

As an anthropologically astute author you have to study the applicable subculture(s) of your fictional characters as well as the psychographic profile(s) of your intended audience. This means that, as writers of Christian fiction, we must step out of the safety of the church-bubble we so often find ourselves gravitating toward in our daily lives and open ourselves up to experience a friendship with The World and Its Inhabitants. A scary thought indeed. (note the sarcasm, please.) But a necessary step if we want to accurately write about those living apart from Christ, be they believers or unbelievers. Yes, I said believers. Characters living apart from Christ can even be—gasp!—Christians. Saved ain't perfect. You've seen the bumper sticker.

Just because a character is culturally relevant, however, doesn't mean they live within your readers' culture. Creating characters who are both relevant to their time in history as well as to your contemporary audience is, in my opinion, a daunting task; but one which can (and is being) done with excellence by many authors. In Historical and Biblical fiction some edgy authors, such as Jamie Carie (Wind Dancer, among others) and Tosca Lee (Havah: The Story of Eve), have masterfully overcome the challenges of historical accuracy and cultural relevance, creating beautifully wrought plots and characters who are timeless, but placed within a specific time. (Bravo!)

As a writer I must know to whom I write. But in all honesty sometimes I don't have a clue to whom I'm writing until I'm already deeply into the first (or fiftieth) draft. And I must admit that I write largely to... myself. Though it's often a bloody proposition, writing is cheaper than therapy, after all. But when it comes to putting the proposal together for a submission, I need a bigger book-buying audience than that face in the mirror. So... I must ask myself some pretty tough questions.

Will my story appeal to a conservative Christian audience, an evangelical Christian audience, or a post-modern reader who claims allegiance to Christ? And if only one of those, how can I change it to encompass them all--and do I want to? Does my story recognize the uglier aspects of the humanity within individuals within a body of faith? Am I willing to honestly show the traits and behaviors of Christians which are contrary to the Gospel? Am I willing to show SIN within CHRISTIANS--and juxtapose it against the morality within the unsaved?

If so, then I might be creating some culturally relevant characters.

Most writers (and publishers) of conventional Christian fiction would tell you that there are specific parameters which must be followed in order to avoid offending a Christian audience. The overall message of these traditional books, regardless of setting, is this: "Everything just falls into place when we come to Jesus, honey." Which, to me, is a little bit like greeting my fellow Christian with the shocking exclamation of, "Dude, what's wrong with you? You're still struggling with sin? Yeesh. Get it together, man!" In the end of those elder-board approved, traditional Christian stories everyone is happy and everyone gets saved. Just like in real life.

Right.

It amazes me that we can sell so much of this crap to Christians. Oh, I get it. Christians like to be comfortable in their faith and that sort of writing sells well to the well-churched masses. And don't get me wrong--I love to see people come to Christ. But why are we selling evangelistic messages to people who've already walked the aisle? While I can believe that readers can be entertained by such fiction, I can't believe it resonates within their hearts and lives--because it is not relevant to their situation. Even if the salvation message is well delivered I probably wouldn't loan a book like that to an unsaved friend because it's (often) written in such a goody-goody style that I have to scrape sugar off the cover just to avoid attracting ants to my bookshelf! Anyone who's been a Christian five-minutes past the "glow period" of salvation knows that the Christian life is fraught with temptation and pain which we can (and often do not) avoid. Propagating goody-goody happy-happy Christian fiction--irrelevant Christian fiction--only serves to insulate the reader from the possibility--and beautiful agony --of transformative revelation.

Kool-aid doesn't kill cancer cells, but chemo does. And you can't get chemo while admiring a bed of roses from the backseat of a buggy in Lancaster County.

Yes, I'll admit that there is entertaiment value--yes VALUE--in irrelevant fiction. There can be a beautiful thing called escapism found in the entertaining fluff of a perfect world, and that will always keep "that sort of fiction" viable within the Christian marketplace. I will not deny that there is a time and place for insulation. (see previous post) But there is also a time to swan dive right off the steeple and spill some honest ink upon the page. That's why we need to create culturally relevant characters. And that's why edgy authors are emerging within the Christian culture as a force to be reckoned with.

Edgy authors realize that Christians have a lot of junk--and the power of a culturally relevant character's story can help to sort it out.

A few mainstream pubbers are getting the message, but so far the e-book industry is where we are more likely to come across these authors . E-book publishers and other small "presses" are more willing to take risks with "edgy" Christian authors than the big boys who earn their bread and butter among the bonnets and buggies and fluffy meringue. The authors who are taking risks--taking their writing to the edge (and sometimes past it!) of the line-in-the-sand drawn by traditional CBA expectations have discovered that culturally relevant characters can be found across time and setting and worldscape. A story can be sweet and light romance or sassy chic lit and still have culturally relevant characters (read Sandra Byrd’s French Twist Trilogy or the novels of Camy Tang.) The story can take place in another world (Jeffrey Overstreet’s Auralia’s Colors), another time (Liz Curtis Higgs’s Lowlands of Scotland series), or even another planet (Kathy Tyers’s Firebird Trilogy) and still have culturally relevant characters.

Cultural relevance is about honesty, transparency, vulnerability, and sometimes has a little stank on it--but it's a familiar aroma if it's relevant. Cultural relevance leaves a little bit of fat on the bone when it tosses the meat on the table because that's where the flavor's at. It doesn't necessarily have to be deep and life-changing (though I love when it is), it just has to be real... in a fictional sort of way.

Actions. Consequences. Sin. Mercy. Risks. Rewards.

Reality.

Sometimes my characters (both Christian and non-Christian) use “bad” language, behave in deplorable ways, break vows, break commandments, and live in denial about it all. And so do their friends. Does that sound familiar? Sometimes life stinks, and we stink, and our faith walk absolutely reeks with hypocrisy and disingenuiness. And it can be quite painfull--though sometimes pretty fun--to eek that stink out upon the page.

To make nicey-nice out of ugly issues or to insulate a Christian character within a Christians-only society is to portray a human creature in a way that denigrates their God-given free will (and the consequences of that free will) as well as the Great Commission. Some edgy authors I’ve found who portray morally conflicted characters honestly (and with excellence) in a contemporary setting are Kristen Heitzmann (The Michelli Family series is a favorite of mine), Tosca Lee (Demon: A Memoir), and Christa Parrish (Home Another Way.)

Regardless of the time period, sub-genre, or setting of a novel, an edgy author of Christian fiction will avoid allowing her characters to tip-toe around the pristine exterior edges of Christendom and, instead, make those characters stomp or crawl through the sanctuary with muddy and blood-soaked boots.

Or turn around and walk the other way.

Anyone who has approached the throne of mercy can tell you that the way to the altar is not a bright, smooth pathway paved in doilies with little birdies singing “Oh, How I Love Jesus” from the lofty rafters. No, the mercy path is a shadowy, rutted alleyway littered with shards of shattered stained glass--and the only music playing is the frantic rhythm of your own filthy heart.

Been there. Done that. Will do it again and again, I’m sure.

The author who strives to be culturally relevant in his/her writing of Christian fiction knows this and works to portray his/her characters in such a way that the reader identifies with the characters—cuz sometimes she smells the same stink on herself. And, also, the same perfume of hope. That is where fiction mirrors truth.

To state it simply, creating culturally relevant characters shows that Christians still need Christ.

Ba-da-bing.

By creating these characters within our fiction we can work together with the Holy Spirit to lessen the human-inflicted distance between those in need of mercy-- and the Cross where they can find it.

Thanks for stopping by this 2nd-to-last stop on the Edgy Christian Fiction Lovers Summer Blog Tour 2010. I welcome your comments!

Don't forget to stop by Donna Fletcher's blog on Wednesday for the final stop on the tour!

Now go read a book or something!

Anesthesia For the Christian Heart

I stopped by Shawna Williams's blog today and read her excellent and thoughtful post. One short but pointed comment, left by Keith Madsen, really made me think.

To paraphrase what "the other" Shawna and Keith wrote (with a little Shawna V twist, of course):

Fiction that isn't honest is nothing more than reality's anesthesia. And as Christians we shouldn't seek to be anesthetized by what we take in to our imaginations, but rather, transformed.

(Kudos to Keith for those two words "anesthetized" and "transformed.")

As Shawna Williams so kindly and eloquently pointed out, reader expectation is key when it comes to acceptable realism in content. If a reader picks up a book with the expectation to receive the sort of ministration that keeps them "safe" from the influences of the world, then it's available.

Oh, yeah. It's available. Readily available. Abundantly freaking available. So, when we need to be anesthetized, we need have no fear of being able to find a book in which to stick our noses. The CBA Powers That Be crank out TONS of tie-a-pretty-bow-on-it Christian fiction for those times and those readers. Positive messages and pristine characters. I guess some people like that. And there was a time when I liked it, too. Sometimes I'll still read one, just so I'll be "safe"--not convicted of sin nor challenged to be transformed.

But not very often. I like being made to squirm a little. It makes me grow and keeps me hungry.

I guess sometimes the surgery needed in our hearts is so very major that we need a little anesthesia just to make it through the day. We need to be "the bubble boy" for a while until we get back on our feet. So we immerse ourselves within the Christian Culture and see the world through stained-glass colored glasses. There is The World and there is Us. And it's Us against Them. And we are pure and shall not be soiled by Them.

Ew.

Maybe that's why there is such a demand for Christian Fiction which serves as anesthesia--to put us in a place where we can escape conscious thoughts of our bad condition and feel no pain. Where we can identify with characters based on saccharin characteristics and flaky fakiness.

Or maybe the demand is simply there because so little else is offered.

If you watch shows like Dateline, 20/20, 60 Minutes (is that even still on? I'm not big into that kind of TV, but I used to have grandparents who were, so I've seen them. LOL) or even Grey's Anatomy or ER, you may have seen a story or two that made you scared to have surgery. Every once in a while that rare person comes along who, while appearing to be unconscious during surgery, is actually fully aware of all the pain and sounds and processes being done to them, but simply unable to react or respond. Or, you hear of that person who doesn't get quite enough anesthesia and wakes up mid-procedure.

That must totally suck.

I've had that happen while reading mainstream Christian Fiction. (Metaphorically speaking, of course.) I'll be happily floating along in a squeaky clean story where everyone is fluent in Christianese and... BAM! I realize I've been drugged.

When I awaken from my stupor, I usually make some sort of snorting sound, followed by the sound of a book slamming shut and words such as, "Really?" and "Yeah, right." coming out of my mouth with that tell-tale sarcastic tone you know so well.

But, luckily, there are some edgy authors out there and some risk-taking small and e-publishers who are willing to be real. Authors like Tosca Lee and Kristen Heitzmann (who got mainstream pubbers, KUDOS!), and Shawna Williams and others on the ECFL Summer Blog Tour, who've had it with selling pink frilly drugs and are ready to give their readers a shot of adrenaline-laced Truth.

So, while I cannot cry out against the benefits of anesthesia when necessary, I do like waking up with the stitches pulling at me a little bit uncomfortably toward that place where fiction more accurately mirrors truth.

Heat Wave

The thing about central air conditioning is that it is supposed to make your whole house the same temperature. Yet here it is 2:51 a.m. and I am waking up for the second night in a row because I am just too blooming hot to sleep any more. So I exit my bedroom in search of a cold glass of water, thinking I'm losing my mind or, worse--gasp!--wondering if I'm going to be one of those unlucky women who hits menopause before she hits 40. "Is this what a hot flash feels like?" I wonder. So I go out of my bedroom and... relief. Even the hallway is cooler than my room. And weirder still, just across the hall my daughter's room is almost cold.

Explain this to me. Please.

Though the inconsistent temperature variant hasn't always been in the master bedroom, every ranch-styled home I've lived in has had the same problem. And every ranch-styled home I've lived in has had Central Air Conditioning.

Oh, sure, blame the exterior temperature. But the 104 heat index we experienced today was all around my house, not just slamming against my bedroom; and, by definition, the unit is supposed to be centralized in order to keep the whole house cool.

There should be a law about this or something.

Or maybe there should be a law against posting blogs at 3am.

Urban Fantasy and a Little Sass

I like Urban Fantasy. Sue me. Sometimes I need to be entertained and opening a novel of Urban Fantasy is a bit like finding an action flick on paper.

Don't confuse Urban Fantasy with Urban Fiction--they are not the same thing. For more information on URBAN FICTION, please visit Sherryle Jackson's excellent post about URBAN FICTION on the ECFL Summer blog tour.

Now back to the topic at hand: Urban Fantasy

I like that a lot of the characters within this subgenre talk like me. I mean, if I possessed a magical weapon/ability or could sense/destroy otherworldly creatures of evil intent, we could totally hang out and bond.

It might be fun, except I don't look so good in leather pants, and that seems to be a requirement.

But wardrobe aside, I like the pace of Urban Fantasy. Within most of the Urban Fantasy novels I’ve read, I’ve found dialogue (and internal monologue) that drips (sometimes literally—there’s no shortage of gore in Urban Fantasy) with sarcasm, irony, and a certain GILMORE GIRLS-go-hunting-for-vampires sensibility. Often using the First Person Point of View, the Urban Fantasy authors I most enjoy craft their prose to be funny and fast-paced—the books read like a movie with the bonus of seeing the protagonist’s innermost, and often hilariously self-deprecating thoughts.

Hang up the disco ball, baby, cuz I can groove on that. Self-deprecation is my life.

Authors like Seanan McGuire (a new fave in the genre for her October Daye series—with an added bonus: she doesn’t pander into gratuitous sex scenes), Ilona Andrews (On the Edge Chronicles and the Kate Daniels series. *beware of the latest title in the series for reasons of aforementioned gratuity*), and Michelle Sagara West (Cast in Shadow and other titles) have built believable, yet frightening worlds of imagination within this female-protagonist-heavy sub-genre. It's way too much fun.

As a sub-genre, Urban Fantasy ROCKS at portraying straight-up GIRL POWER.

Maybe that’s why I like Urban Fantasy. While there are authors (like Jim Butcher) who write great (and funny, though not necessarily Christian-friendly) male protagonists within this sub-genre, most of the Urban Fantasy books hitting the new release table at my library sport leather-bound, dagger-wielding females on their covers. And, even though these evil-slaying women are sometimes scantily clad (and I must mention this in case any Urban Fantasy book jacket artists should happen by: Cup size is not necessarily an indicator of one’s ability to vanquish evil. At least not the last time I checked. And the idea of cleavage as a selling tool for a book about a woman who literally kicks butt sort of denigrates the whole idea of “girl power”-- but, whatever.) they do look tough and, beyond Urban Fantasy I find there is a shortage of believable GIRL POWER protagonists in the overarching genre of Fantasy literature.

Does fiction mirror truth in urban fantasy? Yeah, it often does--most often by showing the layers of darkness within a soul or a culture—but sometimes the reality is found as simplistically as by tapping into a disguised comment on our culture, our language, or just our… sarcastic sensibilities. Yes, I enjoy Urban Fantasy, but I don’t read it with the intent of taking anything away from it. I don’t expect to be “moved” by Urban Fantasy. I expect to be entertained.

And that’s okay.

A steady diet of salt-laden movie-theater popcorn, however, will leave one thirsty. So I don’t read it all the time. (I believe I've mentioned my genre-hopping habits before.)

In my need to entertain my own sarcastic muse during a “dry period” of writing "my real stuff", I have dabbled in creating Urban Fantasy characters. It's way fun, but I haven’t (yet) let their stories come to life. Dabbling isn’t where passion lives. And I want to go to that address when I write.

While it’s fun to bring sassy, strong women to life, I don’t want to relegate them within the boundaries of a dark, urban environment. I would rather take them out of the city and place them in the fresher, brighter world of EPIC FANTASY. Who says strong, brainy, tough, and verbally sharp women can’t transfer their sarcastic commentary onto this brighter plane? (Well, CBA publishers seem to shout that from the hilltops, but that’s another story….) I don’t want to write popcorn to be mindlessly consumed, I want to fill my prose with the aroma of a rare-cooked steak, garlic smashed potatoes, and a bowl of fresh, tropical fruit. And when the nutritious content of the meal has been consumed, I want to polish the story with the rich and tart sweetness found within a thin slice of Key Lime Cheesecake. I want to create fiction which doesn’t leave the reader hungry for a sequel, but leaves the reader so satisfied --gorged, even--on story that she wants to go to sleep and dream of it—before she wakes up refreshed--and ravenous--and ready to break her fast on the soon-to-be-published sequel.

But, alas, Book One must first make the grade before the dream of Book Two is set upon the table.

That said, I guess I should post this puppy and get back to work. My well-spoken heroine could benefit from a little sass and I know just the well from which to draw it.