A few weeks, my publisher let me solicit input on a title for my novel releasing fall of next year.
I’m SUPER excited to make the following announcement:
It was a close “race” with The Engagement Ruse coming in just behind Plot. but between the votes here and the ones on my Facebook page, the winner was clear!
I thoroughly enjoyed reading everyone’s comments, and one question/thought that came up a few times between the two front-running titles was the idea of deception. Some LIKED Ruse because of that– and others expressed concern about a book centered around a lie.
It got me thinking of the idea of “sin” in books. I think almost all of us who read Christian books agree there are lines in fiction that shouldn’t be crossed when writing for the Christian market. There is a “trust” my readers have that they won’t read my book and be slammed with curse words or graphic sex–and that sin won’t be glorified.
But those are pretty clear things for me–I believe Jesus dwells inside me in the form of the Holy Spirit, and I’m not going to cuss or type out a graphic sex scene because that would be a sin for ME. Jesus had called me to NOT do those things in my writing, and this trumps the desire of readers and will every single time.
However… that doesn’t mean my characters won’t sin. They are humans (uh, in a fictional sense anyway) and aren’t perfect. If they were, there would be no conflict thus no book!
So going back to the title discussion, I’ll be very upfront.
My book indeed does involve one big, fat, very large deception (aka LIE) by none other than my hero and heroine.
But the decision to NOT use the word “ruse” has nothing to do wanting to steer away from the idea of the lie.
Because the lie is there and not going anywhere.
Lying is a sin. One of the ten commandments, even. Yet it’s a common struggle, isn’t it? It’s easy to let someone believe something and not correct them if it eases our situation. Or to twist a truth in our favor and justify the means with the end.
And sometimes, even as believers in Jesus, we wonder away from the path God has called us to, sometimes in a very slow meandering that catches us by surprise, and in turn, sin has a way of inching its way into our lives without our knowledge until we start to see the impact.
This is where my heroine is at. And the “lie” becomes another symptom of a much bigger issue in her life–a stagnant faith in God that she’s allowed to get dusty and dormant.
My hope and prayer is that, while you hopefully will have some giggles along the way and have a fun story that is a good respite from your day, you’ll also be encouraged to take a look at your own journey with Jesus and be encouraged and even challenged to dig deeper with Jesus.
Let’s Chat!
What are your thoughts on “sin” in fiction? Are you looking for fiction that doesn’t depict sin, or more realistic fiction that deals with topics of sin and redemption? And if you’re REALLY willing to share, has God ever used a book to point out an area in your life that you weren’t completely trusting God with, or pointed out a sin in your life that you’d been struggling with?
(Please note — if the idea of a lie being displayed in the plot of a fictional book is a huge bummer for you — IT IS OKAY!!! We are all in different spots in our faith and have different tastes in books. I totally respect your opinion and love you still!!)
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Krista Phillips writes inspirational romance with a dash of smiles. She believes a sprinkle of laughter (and a wee bit of chocolate) makes everything a little better! She blogs regularly about life as a wife, mother, follower of Jesus, and mother of a child with a rare congenital heart defect at www.kristaphillips.com. She is represented by Sarah Freese of WordServe Literary.
I’ve read some of the edgier Christian fiction, and I’ve determined, for myself anyway, that I don’t want sin graphically depicted when I’m reading. The hero can be a bad boy, but I don’t need to read what he said and how he said and what he did in explicit detail. Yes, I read books and God points out things I need to do better in, or need to trust him more. I love those books. They draw me closer to him. That’s when I know the author did a great job. Thanks for this post!
I think sin is part of our reality. If it is written in a book, to me it only makes it more realistic that even though these characters are fictional their story speaks some truth in what some people may be going through in the real world. I personally don’t like books with graphic sex scenes and curse words, but other people like that kind of stuff. Thankfully, as readers, we have a wide variety of genre to choose from.
Sin is a part of life and if you want a realistic story to draw you in and you can see it in your imagination then sin is a given. None of us are perfect and even if it is just discussing past sins it is necessary otherwise I may as well be a children’s storybook. Many times books have pointed out my own sins in my life. Like right now I am having a very hard time letting go and letting God. I am trying so hard to fix everything myself because I can’t trust that it will turn out how I want it to without doing everything I can. I know I need to trust in Him but I can’t seem to let it go even though it is ripping me apart. I can see this so clearly because have seen it in the books I have read but I still can’t do what I need to. And to be honest I am angry with God and having a hard time praising and worshiping Him when He allowed this into my life, my daughter is suffering and I can’t accept that or justify Him letting her hurt like this. So yeah sin is a part of life, we are not Jesus, we are not perfect, so for a realistic story there has to be sin.
Congratulations on your title, Krista…I love it! I think in Christian fiction, some readers wants a light read that resolves itself at the end. They read for the escape, not to be brought down. For the writer, there could be a struggle with how they’d like to depict their characters and the publisher not wanting to publish something that’s “too real.” That said, I like real and a character who overcomes sin can give the reader hope in their own life.
I really appreciate Christian romance writers I can trust to write a clean story. However I don’t expect the characters to be perfect and realize we all have made mistakes, but we are redeemed! I usually do learn from the Christian stories. I’m currently working on trusting and not fearing. I have to remind myself that God is able!
I think the best characters are humans (in a fictional sense anyway like you said) and thus they can’t be perfect. Now, I know some conflict is important, but sometimes I am wary of authors who take it too far almost to the point we can’t reverse out feelings of dislike of such characters. There’s just a line between sins that generate conflict in romance and too much drama around sins. I know real life is full of drama, but I read to escape not be drawn into someone elses.
Agreed. Although I think for me, it depends on WHICH sin, which some may think is hypocritical because all sin is wrong. But there is a difference for ME personally of showing my character lying and showing my character cursing. (the difference being, I feel like putting cuss words into my book would be ME sinning… vs showing my character lying is not.)
And yes, I LOVE those books too!!! If I can walk away entertained and feeling like God has challenged me to grow deeper in my faith, then it is a great book indeed!!
Agreed!! We all come from different backgrounds and are at different spots in our journey with Jesus. A great reminder!!
I definitely like the characters in a book to be human. And some deep, heavy fiction can be really good. I think I probably read about 1 heavy book to about 5 lighter reads though (novella collections are great for that!).
Fiction can be super convicting for me. I have definitely had God use Christian fiction to point out problems in my own life.
*hugs* I understand so very, very much. Please know that I am praying for you!!
May I offer a wee bit of advice? From my own hard journey I’ve walked the past six years (I had a daughter born with half of a heart who spent 10 months in the hospital… she had a heart transplant and almost died more times than I could count. I know much about watching your child suffer unimaginable pain.)
Focusing on the letting go is HARD STUFF. But I found the biggest thing that helped me was focusing on something else. One time in the hospital, I was walking down the hall to Annabelle’s ICU room and there was a woman outside my door crying. I would kinda at a loss at to what to do. My own child was suffering, on a ventilator, and not doing well. I really wanted to stand there and sob myself. But I laid down my stuff and went over to her and hugged her. We talked for a bit. Her baby son, just a month younger than Annabelle, same heart defect, had taken a bad turn and doctors had run to the room and were trying to revive him. The baby’s daddy wasn’t there at the time, she was alone, and doctors of course were focusing on the baby, not realizing the mom was out there watching all this go on, scared out of her mind. I hugged her and stood with her and prayed silently until her boyfriend arrived.
In that moment, God told me that this wasn’t all about me. That He had put me and Annabelle in that ICU for a reason. I started praying for all the other heart babies we were surrounded with. Every time I heard the wail of a mother, I hugged my own baby and prayed for that other child, the other momma. Sadly, a few months later, I stood in the room with that first momma friend I had hugged as they made the heart choice to let their child go. He was so very sick and so very tired. All the while my sweet daughter laid across the pod, struggling herself. The realization of the precious balance between life and death, and that each day is a gift, that we are NEVER promised tomorrow, was tangible and oh so real. But through it all, I grew SO MUCH closer to Jesus, and I learned to not look at my circumstances, to not even focus on trying to let go of them, and just to look at Jesus and focus on him. Period. It was a daily chore. I literally woke up each day and said, “Here Jesus. I don’t know if I’ll be able to do it tomorrow, but today… I’ll focus on you today and trust you today.” He always gave me just enough strength for the day I was in.
Not sure this was helpful, and so sorry this is long, but just wanted to let you know that I am storming Heaven’s gates on YOUR behalf today, and praying that you get some rest and peace today.
Yup, every reader is different, and that is okay! I think it’s different based on where we are at in life too. There are sometimes I want a deep read, but other times that I really just need something light and airy that doesn’t make me have to think too hard, LOL
Amen, God IS able!!!
Agreed. And I think that line is going to be different for each person, so I tend to give a lot of grace to authors who don’t put that line where I would like it to be!
I’ve also learned, when I REALLY REALLY don’t like a character and harbor true dislike for them, to examine my own heart. I know it is fiction. I KNOW that. But chances are, there are also real people like that out in the world and God has called me to love them. So it is super convicting to me as well when I come across these truly “unlikeable” characters.
Interesting, actually, because I put a really “unlikeable” character in my debut novel. She was the “villian” of the story, but I wanted to (and still might) make her the heroine of a future book. But SO many people noted how much they disliked her. And I agree, she’s a pretty awful lady. But what people don’t know is that in the original version of the book, I’d given her her own POV which showed a little bit of HER story, and what circumstances made her how she is. That got taken out in editing at the suggestion of my editor, and I complied, thinking that I could put that information in the sequel. But in the end, she just looked horrible and completely unredeemable.
But we are ALL redeemable through Jesus, right?!? Sinners saved by grace, every one of us!
Agreed! I honestly love to combine the two — It’s like a cupcake — light and fun on the outside, but at the core there is rich substance that make you fat–or sorry, make you grow spiritually! :-) :-)
My daughter is 13 and has undergone 8 eye surgeries so I know the fear of praying for your baby in the hospital. What I can’t take is her being so depressed she is suicidal and cutting herself. I had to commit her nearly a month ago and she is still in a partial hospitalization program. She is flashing out at me and hurting me and I don’t know why. I have been a single Mom since she was 3 months old, am all she has in this world. She is the light of my life but with my own depression and anxiety and ptsd it is hard being there for her when she keeps pushing me away. Watching her go through this and her pushing me away is making me angry with God and I don’t know how to trust in Him right now. I cried out for Him to help me yesterday when I sunk so low that I wished I myself was dead. Things don’t seen to be getting better and we had a bad family therapy session yesterday and it all just feels so very hopeless right now. But I thank you for sharing your story and for your prayers.
Very moving…thank you for sharing this, Krista.
*hugs* I wish I lived close to you and I would come and sit and cry with you!!! (in all seriousness, we’re in the Nashville area. If you’re at all close, let me know!) I promise that Jesus has a purpose for you and can meet you right where you are in your pain and IS even if you don’t feel and see it. This life is tough, there is no doubt about it. I just… I have no better words than to tell you that I’m beseeching God on your behalf today.
I am in southern MN, in a dinky nothing town. We just moved here in August and am currently trapped in my apt because the transmission in my car went out and I don’t have the money for a new one which just makes all this harder because I can’t get in to see my therapist. Not to mention the rain case of cabin fever as I have been stuck here for a week and a half now. Thank goodness for online ordering or we would be screwed right now.
LOL, I used to live in a dinky nothing town in Northern Minnesota… (like… we had a post office but not even a gas station… it was literally pretty much nothing!)
(this isn’t a funny story, but it is… we moved there when I was 16… there was 3 ft of snow on the ground and we moved in to find out that the well was not working so we had NO running water. Were 45 minutes from town. There were 4 adults, 4 kids, and 2 dogs, living in a VERY small 1 bedroom A-frame, melting snow for baths and to flush the toilet. I slept in the hallway in front of the washer and dryer in a sleeping bag. It was not our finest moment!!)
So I guess at least you have running water???
Signed — always looking for a bright side, Krista!
Thanks for sharing your car situation — gives me something specific to pray about today!!!!
Yea I have running water but we nearly didn’t have toilet paper lol luckily the order I put in came yesterday with one roll left. Hoping to borrow a friend’s car this weekend to go pick up some much needed groceries. We are out of a lot of things.
I wish I lived closer! I’d gladly go get you some groceries!!!
Joining with Krista in prayers for you, Cassandra.
Agreed that we’re all (real and fiction) redeemable through Jesus (thank God!).
I’ve recently read a book about a character that I disliked in a previous book. It was really nice to see him change. I do feel that it was different because the author didn’t make me hate him over and over again and his changes were shown throughout the sequel. Recently this year however I’ve read a book in which the main character was just not likeable for 60% of the book (the author seemed to make a lot of effort to make us dislike her a lot over and over again) and although there was grace and we could see some changes, there was not enough time (or situations) to actually see her actions change. Plus, the hero just changed his feelings overnight.. too fast (and it was a long novel).
I think it was The Girl in the Limberlost I read as a child. I hated that girl. She was perfect. She was always sweet and did nothing wrong. Not even an unkind thought. I don’t remember, but she probably detoured around bugs on the sidewalk, because she definitely wouldn’t have wanted to cause any harm.
As a kid, I didn’t fully understand why I disliked the character so much. Now, I can see why. We don’t read to have someone else’s perfection held up as an example. We want to empathize with the character. Really really feel for her, struggle with her, and find the hope she finds alongside her.
I don’t mean that the struggles need to be laid out in graphic detail. I prefer not, thanks. But for the victory to feel sweet at the end, I need to feel “something” — not just hate the character for being unattainably perfect! Even Pollyanna got grumpy when her world feel apart!
Cassandra, I can feel your pain. I had a stepgrandaughter that was in so much emotional pain that she also cut herself. She later resorted to alcohol and drugs. Since the age of 14 she was in and out of the hospital 17 times. She was desparately hurting and reaching out. She lived several states away so all I could do was pray for her. I’ll be doing the same for you and your daughter. Hugs!
Krista, congratulations on your book releasing! Is this a novella or trade length size? I thought Barbour Publishing wasn’t publishing full length novels anymore. Just the novellas, non-fiction, and some fiction through Shiloh Run Press.
Congratulations on a wonderful title.
I like flawed characters with the same struggles as I have. Make them perfect and it just isn’t realistic! I especially love redemption stories. I like the author to portray characters who fight temptations and sin like I do, but rely on God to help them not to give in to it. Where they set boundaries and stick with them, even as hard as it is to sometimes. Those kind of characters not only earn my respect but help me along with my own walk with Christ.
Of course as a reader, I do have my own lines I don’t cross even in Christian fiction. I’ve put many a book down when they do cross lines. Not that the author is blatant in describing sin (language, sex or whatnot), it may be a topic I’m not all that comfortable with. I can’t really come up with an example, but I know when I read something and it doesn’t sit well with me, that maybe I shouldn’t be reading it. An automatic book put down is language no matter how “mild”. I just don’t think it needs to be in a book, period. That’s strictly my opinion and may not be everyone’s.
I love your book title and the fact that you stuck with your own convictions! That’s a good author right there, one who doesn’t compromise their own values and morals just to get readers to read their books. Kudos to you, Krista! You keep bringing us quality reads :-)
LOL. Pollyanna being grumpy… that makes me giggle!!
*love*
What a great post. I think its very real that as Christians we all struggle with something because after all we are not perfect…. It helps me relate to the book even more so when it contains a struggle that i am going through and helps me look at the situation through different eyes…