Faith In Fiction

I am very excited about this contest. Write a short story about a conversion. After all it is THE single most important event in a person's physical life, right? If a person misses that boat then there is no next life.

There are some people that are upset about it. Read the comments to see what some established Christian authors are saying.

What is all the flap about? From B.J. Hoff to other Christian writers and several blogger pages later, I still do not know why so many are all in a snit over Christian books. Okay, perhaps I do know why.

Some people are affronted because Christian lit has been called fluff and all of it has the same plot: someone needs Jesus and then in the end gets Jesus. Well... that's true, for the most part. And, frankly, I didn't dare just pick a book off the shelf just because it was Christian. I did that several times before I knew better and they turned out to be better than sleeping pills. Yawn. Then, evidently, Christian started being "in" and publishers started taking notice that Christian sells. Great! Except, I think it was really that authors started writing their hearts rather than their bank accounts. Can that be possible? Ask Francine Rivers. She got saved and started writing her heart. Great reads (except for the Sineater, it was rather transparent and wordy) .

On the other hand, apparently, there are quite few CBA that do not want to face the fact that life is sloppy and can be gritty. We are told in creative writing to "write what you know". Well, nobody wants to hear about a humdrum life and a small town. There must be conflict and resolution! (No, I'm not talking about how Betsy's husband stepped out on her or how old man Charles grabs a peashooter every time he sees a cat on his property -- drama but no resolution.)

So... There are a few Christian book publishers that are slowly but surely changing the face of Chrisitian literature. But, even though life is sloppy, I'll bet they won't accept sloppy writing. That brings you up to date on my research concerning CBA so far.

Gina: Was there conflict in that piece?
Pub: Yawn... scratch... sure, you brought that out.
Gina: But, were you on the edge of your seat needing to know what I found out?
Pub: hmmm. no.
Gina: sigh... the next piece will be better. I promise. Don't forget the contest! It'll be fun!