Inspy Romance

Inspy Romance—Fall in Love With a Good Book

Why I Write Christian Romances with a Hardback Series Giveaway

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My well was dry this week. I finished writing Alexandra’s Appeal, and incredibly emotional, full-length novel on a Friday. Instead of taking my standard 2-weeks off to recharge my creative juices, I immediately started writing a Christmas novella, The Seven Year Glitch, because it’s due on September 1st. It’s been very hard to write that book, because — no recharge. I have to kind of force it out when all I want to do is go veg out on the couch and power-binge murder mysteries. Couple it with we started our homeschool year Monday. I’m a little tapped.

So, with a dry well, I turned to my street team and asked them what they would like to see this month’s blog post from me about, and the first reader who responded asked me, “Why Christian romances?”

When I started writing, I had no direction – no clear intent as to *why* I was writing in the first place.  It basically boiled down to: I had a story in my head and I wanted to get it out. When I finished that story, I was a little surprised that I had another story in my head and I wanted to get it out, too. Once I finished that second book, the ideas just kept coming.  I can barely keep up with the book ideas – they overwhelm me sometimes.

I used to be an avid reader of secular romances. I’d inhale five or six books a week. So, when I started writing, I started writing what I read. In two years, I wrote ten secular romances. A divorce happened and I shelved those books. I remarried, had two more babies, and when our youngest was potty trained and slept through the night, my husband encouraged me to pull out my books and seek publication. In the midst of this (because God’s timing is so very perfect), our family went through a deep spiritual renewal. We loved God and went to church, but He was a peripheral part of our lives, not the center.

Once we turned fully to Him and loved Him with all of our hearts, all of our souls, all of our minds, and all of our collective strength, we started cleaning out our entertainment — making sure that what we consumed either glorified God OR did not glorify sin. That was a lot of cleaning out the world we had brought into our home and into our minds.

Part of that cleaning out was my reading — and my writing. Under intense conviction, I cleaned up, or “redeemed” my books, for the Christian market.  But I could very easily have simply cleaned them up – made them PG-13, taken out the sex and most of the greed and just written clean romances.

So, why Christian fiction?  Why do I add a spiritual arc to my stories? Why is the faith of each one of my characters so important to me? Why do I write about Christians in real situations, about pain and forgiveness, about decisions – made in faith or not? Why am I choosing to be labeled a “Christian” author?

For me, it comes down to this:

Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. 1 Corinthians 10:31

I want my writing to glorify God. That is my intent, my mission, my ministry. And, in the end, what I’m doing is ministering to readers.  I have so many reviews and emails like this one that I got last week:

I just wanted to say ‘THANK YOU!”for the gift of your books. I so enjoy your writing. Your stories capture and hold my interest, and I especially love your biblical worldview that sets the tone among the characters..Again, I just wanted to say “thank you” for providing me with reading that is a positive use of my time and allowed for additional thought and reflection in my own spiritual life (through your characters).

I often feel inadequate as a writer. I have pretty serious imposter syndrome (read more about that in detail at this link) which I have discovered isn’t abnormal for authors. When the negative thoughts invade, I always get an email – almost in that instant – that encourages me and uplifts me and helps me push that fiery dart of an attack away.

I believe God gave me the gift of writing and storytelling so that I can minister to readers. My mission statement as a writer is: To create modern-day parables that uplift fellow believers and minister to seekers in our fallen world.

So, that’s why I write Christian romances.

Why do you enjoy reading them? I am SO looking forward to reading your responses! One commenter will win autographed hardcovers of the first four books of the Jewel Series. I will pick a winner on Friday afternoon at 5PM EST (international readers are welcome to enter – I ship anywhere).

Hallee Bridgeman (56 Posts)

With over half a million sales, Hallee Bridgeman is a best-selling Christian author who writes action-packed romantic suspense focusing on realistic characters who face real-world problems. Her work has been described as everything from refreshing to heart-stopping exciting and edgy. Hallee loves coffee, campy action movies, and regular date nights with her husband. Above all else, she loves God with all of her heart, soul, mind, and strength; has been redeemed by the blood of Christ; and relies on the presence of the Holy Spirit to guide her. Subscribers to Hallee's newsletter get her bestselling contemporary romance COURTING CALLA for free! Sign up by clicking the newsletter icon below or going here: http://www.halleebridgeman.com/newsletter


Comments

  1. Christian romances are uplifting. They tend to be thoughtful and thought provoking.

  3. I read them because they make me feel good and they give me hope. I also enjoy how they make me feel about my life and how I might improve it.

  7. Welcome today. Thank you for being willing to be vulnerable in front of all of us. It sounds like God was leading you along a path and you and your family have decided to let Him lead the way. Blessings will abound because of this obedience. I love reading christian romance because I read the other before I got married and into it. By the time both kids were in grade school I realized that I was unconsciously expecting my husband to live up to those male characters. Ugghh so not God honoring. So I switched to Christian romance at the guidance of a christian friend. I fell in love with the characters and just loved that I could get so much out of it for myself in my own life. To see that so many characters come to God in different ways with different situations, yet end up the same: obeying God. And then some of them went on to bring others into this very beautiful circle. And the best part is that I was able to see my husband the way God sees him and to pray for him and be a true help mate. I was able to get my mom to read clean, sweet christian romances also. God is so so good.

  9. I read Christian fiction because I don’t have to worry about what’s in the book and because the stories almost always end on a positive, encouraging note and I can learn things from the characters along the way.

  10. Hi Hallee, I love to read Christian romance and sometimes even suspense, though I am a scaredy cat . I was involved in a Christian drama company for 5 years (many years ago) and experienced that people could relate to the characters on the stage. Instead of being preached at, they listened in on someone else getting God advice. In that way it was easier for them to accept the message. I feel the same thing applies to reading fiction. I love your mission statement and am so grateful you take it seriously and to heart. Thank you for your heart.

  11. I read Christian fiction basically because I can!! I made a conscious decision years ago not to go to movies or watch tv shows that I wouldn’t want Jesus to watch with me, cause He would be. It took a bit longer with books, as I had to get what was available in our public library, as our church library was small. I’ve always loved reading, and when I started earning my own money, I started buying CF, back in the early ’80s, when Zondervan’s was in our local mall, and we had an independent Christian bookstore, too. I can read these books and not have foul language or sex scenes, I can find out how others would handle difficult situations, and I can learn that God will see us through many different and difficult situations. Now, I buy and our church library is much larger.

  12. Why do I read Christian romance? That’s a question I have asked myself many times, and what I have come understand is that it reminds me of the relationship between Jesus and the church. He is always romancing us and showing us that His love is perfect and unconditional.

  19. I like to read (and write) Christian romance because I can identify with the mindset of the characters. I have a Christian worldview, and it colors everything in my life, just like the characters in the books I read. They’re not perfect, they sin, they drift away, they make terrible mistakes – but like our Christian life, ultimately, there IS a happy ending!

  20. Thanks for sharing. Your message is very powerful. (and your writing is great, btw).
    I love reading CCR because they feel true to me, as if I had friends, because our life goals and expectations are the same.

  21. I read Christian fiction because I do not like to instill worldly views into my brain. After I finish a book, I relive the book over in my thoughts. I do not like to have those thoughts replaying in my mind. I also read out loud to my 82 year old Mom and husband.

  24. Hallee, thank you for glorifying God with your writing!
    I can answer with the same verse :)
    “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”
    I don’t want to waste my time on reading books that wouldn’t bring me closer to HIM or make my relationship stronger!

  26. I love to read Christian fiction because they are good clean inspirational stories that anybody can read. Thank you so much for writing these stories. God Bless you.

  27. I enjoy reading Christian romances because they help me to grow in my faith and learn from the situations the characters are placed in and go through. When I read a Christian romance I know that it will have God at the center, He is the reason for the characters growing and changing, and it helps me to learn from what those characters go through because so often their experiences mirror my own. Christian romance offers hope and romance with a purpose rather than secular romance which is more about lust than depth of relationship.

  38. Ooo, wonderful question and discussion! I have been an avid consumer of stories in many media ever since I was a young person. My mom loved mystery stories so I picked up Encyclopedia Brown and later, Sherlock Holmes. I watched the crime shows on TV (anybody remember Mannix and Cannon and Barnaby Jones?). I also enjoyed science fiction in my later teens. That was about the time that Star Wars came out and we were off to the races. In the 90s, when mysteries and supernatural stories with a Christian world view started coming out, I was an avid consumer. Fast forward to the present. I had been reading Christian-themed mysteries and suspense for some time and they started including a romance arc. I am definitely a romantic at heart and the relationship happy ending was very appealing. It wasn’t too far of a step to start reading CCR. I still enjoy the occasional romantic suspense, but my main reading of late has stayed the same.

    I enjoy reading CCR for several reasons. I like stories where the protagonists (male and female) have a growing relationship. It speaks to the part of my soul that knows that God made humankind not to be alone. The joy that I experience in my marriage is the kind of thing that I like to see told in a story. It reinforces the truth that God is fundamentally relational. Even the Godhead is triune. The cost of our salvation was the tearing apart of that perfect unity followed by a joyful reunion with the added joy of a family built by redemption. Parables that remind us of that kind of love, build us up in very good ways.

    I also enjoy CCR for the simple reason of wanting a happy ending. So much in life can be a trial. So much can involve heart-breaking pain. In some way, either big or small, CCR can be a salve to those wounds. And, of course, I have learned some new ways to show love to my own precious one as an added special benefit.

    No doubt, we could argue the merits of just how much struggle and failure a CCR story should contain, but as a parable of God’s relentless, pursuing, perfect, sacrificial love, it is worth the monumental effort to create such stories and the monumental joy of reading and sharing them.

    Thank you, Hallee, for taking all that God has poured into your life, both difficult and joyful, and pouring it back out for His glory and the good of His creation.

  42. I enjoyed reading how you came to be a Christian author. I also used to read secular romance, but felt convicted of o clean up my reading material. I want to fill my mind and thoughts with positive, Christ-like messages.

  43. Firstly Don’t enter me I prefer to read an ebook to a hard back because the kindle is easier for me to hold.

    I read Christian fiction because its a clean read without the sex scenes and clean language. As I don’t work in a workplace where you have to deal with bad language I don’t want to read it. I also like the christian aspect even if subtle they are uplifting. I run the church library and many who borrow are non christians. They say they love the books because they are a clean read. I have asked if they find them to preachy (After a church member was complaining some were too preachy). They responded they are Christian Fiction you would expect some Christian element but they hadn’t found them too preachy and were so thankful for a clean, wholesome read. Similarly I donated lots to the Town Library and the Librarian thanked me and said similar that there were readers who couldn’t get enough of them cos they are over the sexual content in so many of the novels these days.

  44. I read Christian fiction for the same reasons you write them Hallie….because I want to glorify God in what I put in my mind when I read. I can’t express how much I SO appreciate authors who aren’t ashamed to place the gospel message in their stories and have their characters live out their lives in a Godly manner. Not perfect characters, because nobody can be perfect, it’s why we need Jesus’s saving grace to help us with that…but characters who struggle like I do sometimes, who feel all the human emotions I do at times, and who stumble and must ask forgiveness like I do sometimes. I need to see how they rely on God and place Him in the center of their lives…it encourages me in my own walk.

    I not only want to read for entertainment, but to feed my soul too!! Hallee, keep on writing for His glory and for readers like me who need stories like yours. You have no idea how you touch a readers life or how God can minister to hearts through them. More than one story has helped me through a time in my life when I desperately needed to hear from God or just be reminded of His working in my life. Thank you!! :-)

  45. I think my reason why I read CF is similar to your why you started writing it, since I felt convicted by God to start taking a serious look at what I was consuming for entertainment. And yes, God is good. He has used these books to bless me, speak to me, convict me when necessary, and even encourage me :) It’s funny how the Lord works, since even though I’ll read one of those sweet romances (but not CF), or “PG-13” as you described them, from time to time (mainly to try a new-to-me author), I find that I no longer find them quite so satisfying, since they make normal some patterns or behaviors that I’m not so comfortable with (drinking, etc).

    So, why do I read CF? Because I know that at least one of the main characters will usually be a solid Christian (not perfect, but firmly rooted in Christ, sharing my same values). Because, even though they may have a past, the story as an overall will still honor God. And because I know that through their story the characters will grow in many areas, but especially in their knowledge of the Lord, and I wanna follow that journey with them. So, really, thank you for writing them.

  47. When I first started to read Christian romance, I was younger and my mom wanted me to be careful. I loved how you could still be in love with the story and the romance while protecting your mind. Christian romance always leaves me feeling hopeful

  50. I love reading christian romance for the faith insights and the journey of the characters.
    Knowing that the books are “safe” from sex, language and other things the don’t glorify God is why I gravitate to them.

    I haven’t read any of you books so will have to see what our library has.

  51. I read them because they offer a place to escape and to enjoy, but they still honor the principles of the Bible. I love it when I finish a book and I’ve been encouraged!

  52. I like to read Christian romance because Christian stories give a visual depiction of how Christianity should be experienced. Deep characters with insightful moments, with moments of humbleness, honesty, and truth, with God’s undeniable presence in their lives are also the reasons I enjoy this genre. Romance is not based on physical appearance or beauty standard and lust. A good Christian story teaches and edifies through example, it gives reader someone to relate to (all are sinners seeking God and His grace, mindful of humbleness and obedience), and someone who grows in God as the story unfolds.

  55. Wow! What a powerful testimony. Thanks for sharing your journey of why you write CF. I read it because it’s what was available to me when I was younger and the early authors got me hooked on it. CF has come a long way in the past 20 years! I also read it because as a young mom, I could leave my books lying around anywhere and not have to worry about my kids picking them up and reading trash. I enjoy uplifting stories with deeper meaning.

  56. Wow, your testimony is wonderful… I’ve read your books (and had them recommended to me) because of the uplifting messages, I’m so glad you published when God wanted you too! <3 I'm looking forward to reading this series since I haven't already.

  57. I read it because it’s fun =) but also because it’s a form of iron sharpening iron. Many times I’ve been reading and having a similar struggle to the character and been convicted it encouraged along with him or her. I also appreciate being able to point my sister to books that she’ll enjoy that are not only clean but also edifying.

  59. I love it when reading a book helps me to feel uplifted and enlightened! There is so much that is crass and vulgar in the world; I love finding things that are praiseworthy to fill my life with.

  60. I only read books that are Christian rated because I like to relax when reading and not worry about a word or scene that I would not be comfortable reading to any of my friends.

  61. I enjoy Christian romance because I know there will be no bad language or sex scenes in them

  62. I like hearing your story of how you saw God at work in your life. Do you see one thing in particular that caused your “spiritual awakening”?

    I enjoy Christian romances because they are more relatable to my life and the way I would like it to be versus the way the world presents romance which seems so inappropriate and out of touch for me. This post made me want to look into your books. Thanks!

  63. I love Christian Romance because it is clean romance and there is a spiritual message in. I love your story about your writing career and how you turned writin from secular to christian romance! Thank you!

  64. It’s cool if I’m too late for the giveaway – no worries. Thanks for sharing all this. So, so well put.
    I’ve felt called to write as well by God, and in the beginning over 10 years back when i began writing my first novel (which turned into a series) I knew I didn’t want to write from a secular worldview. As I began reading more christian romance, I began to really consider the idea of writing it too and then researched publishing and the rest is history.

    I love reading Christian romance because it is clean, uplifting, and often thought-provoking. I don’t mind books for entertainment, but sex and vulgar language are so prevalent now, even in YA books, it’s downright annoying. The same principle applies to what you watch on TV. I do not wish to fill my mind with sex and vulgarity. While there is a push for ‘clean’ and ‘sweet’ romance, I also really enjoy the spiritual arcs within a Christian romance and find that they’ve helped me process through different situations in my life in a positive way.

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