Amy's Question this Week:
Today's Question: Christian fiction is growing as a market, but there are still many unexplored storylines and under-represented genres. What issues or ideas would you like to see tackled from a Christian worldview? Or, what setting would you like to see? Which genres would you like to see more books?
My Answer:
I don't read Christian fiction because it is Christian; I read it because the story line interests me or because I liked other books written by the author. I like historical fiction, chic lit, and romances and the nice thing about the Christain version is that they don't spend pages describing in infinite detail who does what to whom in the bedroom.
Also, I am Catholic; not Evangelical Protestant. What I'd like to see is more books like those marketed as Christian fiction written from the Catholic POV. Unfortunately when I search Amazon for Catholic fiction I get a lot of books dedicated to showing how wrong the Church is, rather than how right. The few I've found that support the Church are either old, written for an audience of English majors, or badly done.
Check out Amy's answer and follow the links to other's posts.
I am what you would call Evangelical Protestant, but I don't recognize my church in the books I read. I think that most Christian Fiction is written in a generic fashion rather than a specific religion. If an author put in many references to a specific church, it'd leave out so many readers.
ReplyDeleteI appreciated your answer and point of view very much. My answer is up at Free Spirit also-
ReplyDeletehttp://tinyurl.com/cgvu7s
Interesting. I've read some Protestant fiction that subtly points out what's wrong with certain denominations. Like Frank Peretti's The Visitation. He wasn't too kind to Pentecostals.
ReplyDeleteMy post
This is a problem, and why I started Idylls Press five years ago. But it is getting better. There are a few Catholic presses doing fiction now, and more coming.
ReplyDeleteCheck out our "Catholic fiction reading list" at CatholicFiction.net. We're trying to be as comprehensive as we can.
I like your answer the best. You read because it's quality and not because it's got a Christian stamp of approval. Like you, I do prefer to leave things to the imagination. You don't have to have a graphic picture to know what's going on.
ReplyDeleteI would agree that this is not the best time for Catholic fiction...unlike say the 50's. Why is an interesting question that I have seen discussed elsewhere.
ReplyDeleteBut there is some, although maybe it tends to be rather serious. And there are lot of classics from those earlier day that I think hold up to the test of time and don't really seem dated.
But now I am off to check out Idylls Press web page...lol
There was a big discussion about this some time ago and I blogged about it. Check out this post and the conversation it links to. http://rannthisthat.blogspot.com/2008/05/why-i-read.html
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