Hot Blog

It's summer and it's hot....which made me think of hot topics in Christian fiction. Yes, my mind really does work that way.

Basically there are three controversial bugaboos in Christian fiction: language, sensuality, and violence. 

Should there be any? How much is too much? Who gets to decide?

As a baseline when I'm writing, I first look to Jesus when I create my heroes. With that in mind...

• Jesus didn't use vulgar language even when nailed on the cross, though I suspect we all would've cut Him some slack for a few slipped curses. 
• Jesus loved with every pore in his body but not in an erotic way. 
• Jesus had violence committed against him but did not commit violence Himself. Yet. He will return astride a white horse someday and be armed for battle, though of what kind, I'm not sure.

That being said, as much as Jesus is my personal hero, He's not a fictional character in one of my books. So yes, my characters do sometimes let fly a naughty word (though I don't name it), they have physical reactions to the opposite sex, and they'll smack someone upside the head if they feel it's necessary. None of this, however, is overtly graphic or the primary focus of the story.

But that's just me. Who really gets to decide what goes into a piece of Christian fiction? The author, the publisher or the reader?

Ultimately, I'd say the reader and publisher are tied for first place. An author can write whatever he/she wants, but if a publisher or reader doesn't pick it up, it's kind of a moot point. A reader is only going to buy what they like to read, and a publisher is going to put out what a reader wants to read, so that's why I give them equal weight.

Great stories can be told without the use of F-bombs, literary porn, and guns galore. Sometimes those are merely crutches to prop up a weak plot.