Christian fiction

[moredetails.livejournal.com]

Hi, community.

Someone just joined this community which made me feel that I should contribute to making it a bit more active.

So here's something....I often hear Christians (me included) complaining about Christian fiction. I know what my own complaints are - often it's cheesy, portraying Christianity in a shallow way, and it seems there is a required ministry message that is almost always poorly written. Still, I read it. I like knowing the character is probably going to approach things from a Christian perspective.

I guess what I'm wondering is what would be the "right" way to write Christian fiction for those of you who don't like it? I often wonder how I would incorporate faith if I wrote a book. Sure, I can write a character who isn't Christian at all, but as a Christian it would be tempting to write from a perspective that I know and live. But how do I do that in a way that doesn't just seem silly? How does one write that in a way that can be appreciated by Christians and nonChristians alike? Does it always have to be allegory?

I suppose I'm also wondering if you have read any Christian fiction that you think was well done. If so, why do you say that?

Comments

[sheeri.livejournal.com]

I'm very interested reading the comments to this post. I do appreciate Christian fiction for its cleanliness...but haven't read that much of it, especially since fantasy isn't my favorite genre. So yeah, eavesdropping here! :)

[augustine.livejournal.com]

Well, here's some Christian fiction books that I liked that are not fantasy, just in case you're interested (some famous, others not so much):

Ben-Hur by Lew Wallace
Quo Vadis by Henryk Sienkiewicz
The Robe by Lloyd Douglas
The Miracle of the Bells by Russell Janney
Pontius Pilate and The Flames of Rome, both by Paul Maier
The Spear, The Restless Flame, and The Living Wood, all by Louis de Wohl

...and I'm sure there's more that I cannot remember at the moment. :-)

The first four of those books were later turned into movies (though I had only known about the first two being made into movies before reading them; the other two I didn't find out they were made into movies until afterwards).

but haven't read that much of it, especially since fantasy isn't my favorite genre

OK, back to being GKC's agent again (Heh):

By any chance do you like detective stories? If so, there's always G.K. Chesterton's Father Brown stories, which are a classic of the genre.

And I also noticed that your profile says you like Charles Dickens. While not fiction, have you read Chesterton's biography Charles Dickens? It has been considered by many people the best book ever written on Dickens (including by President Theodore Roosevelt, George Bernard Shaw, T.S. Eliot, William James, etc.). And, while I don't know if she considered it the best book on Dickens or not, one person who certainly liked the book in any case was a daughter of Dickens.

OK, I'm done now. :-)

[sheeri.livejournal.com]

Ah, excellent suggestions! I have read 'The Robe' and enjoyed it very much, so I might like the others too. (Oo...especially that Dickens biography....) Thank you! :D

[augustine.livejournal.com]

You're welcome. :-)

BTW, you can read the Dickens biography online here:

Charles Dickens (http://www.classicliterature.net/g.k.-chesterton/charles-dickens-(1906))

[moredetails.livejournal.com]

Yeah I'm not into fantasy either!

[bellawilfer.livejournal.com]

There's actually a lot of Christian fic. out there that isn't fantasy. Historical fiction suggestions: Brock and Bodie Thoene, Lynn Austin. Older fiction? George MacDonald's adult novels, none of which are fantasy. I would recommend Sir Gibbie (republished and edited as "The Baronet's Song") and the sequel, Donal Grant (republished and edited as "The Shepherd's Castle"). Judith Pella and Michael Phillips wrote a fairly decent series together, the Stonewycke books.

But I do NOT recommend Gilbert Morris who appears to think that writing a 30+ long series of books beginning with the Mayflower Pilgrims up until fairly recent time periods, but with the same consistant plotline - Guy likes Girl, Girl not worthy of him, some sort of love triange, Guy gets Worthy Girl in the End and it turns out that they were each other's match as made in heaven...

Honestly. The seven books by Gilbert Morris that I've read were ALL like that. Consistently the same story-line, just with different characters. Blech.

If you want Christian children's fic, I highly recommend Robert Elmer's Young Underground series and Promise of Zion series. I love those books, even now that I'm grown up. :-) Young Underground takes place during and slightly post-WWII. Promise of Zion takes place in Israel as it became a state. I personally found them fairly well-written and not overly preachy. The characters felt real to me. Robert Elmer also wrote a series that takes place in Australia, "Adventures Down Under," but it felt less believable to me than YU & PoZ. His most recent trilogy that takes place in Communist Germany wasn't as well-written in my opinon, but I think they were intended for a slightly younger reader than the Young Underground.