Christian Speculative Fiction discussion

I'm getting ready to start a massive rewrite on my first book for publication, Librarian.

However, because my book isn't overtly Christian, and deals with magic, I have Christian friends telling me I shouldn't be doing it, that even writing about magic is bad, etc.

Also, I've told people that I'm deliberately planting some small Christian seeds that I hope God will cause to take root someday. Things like having one character wronged by another in the past, and having to struggle to forgive him. I'm told by my friends that such seeds will never sprout, much less grow.

How do you folks handle friends like that?

David, ask yourself what is your motivation for writing this novel? Is it birthed by God? Who are you trying to reach? Why do you want to include magic and why is it not overtly Christian? If you have the same solid conviction to the answers to those questions, it does not matter what others think. They are not writers, you are.

Your friends are not God so they cannot say the seeds you are planting will not sprout. Only God can do that. Again, if you are called by Him to write this novel the way you want or feel He is directing you to, then that is what you go with.

Do you belong to any Facebook readers/writers groups? If not, then I can suggest some where you can run this past them and get some further encouragement and support from either writers or readers who have been there and who read novels of this genre.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/41797...
https://www.facebook.com/groups/ECSFi...
https://www.facebook.com/groups/18836...

I recommend the first group I have listed there, which is Iron Sharpening Iron, some very talented, knowledgeable authors who are committed to what you are doing and have faced the plot challenges and negative feedback you have received.

As an avid reader and reviewer of Christian fiction, specifically, edgy speculative Christian fiction, including Christian fantasy and science fiction, supernatural and spiritual warfare, I don't have a problem with what you are doing.

I feel you need to have the support, encouragement and even mentorship of others like yourself who write similar.

Give those groups a go.

BTW, what is your book about? The title and what you have described so far, does not explain much to me about your book.

Don't give up, David. Let me know what happens.

Regards

Peter wrote: "BTW, what is your book about? The title and what you have described so far, does not explain much to me about your book. "

I'm not on Facebook at all... I don't trust them because of all the info leaks.

The book is about a librarian for the Guild of Mages who gets sent on what at first appears to be an easy assignment... but it turns into an adventure. The librarian in question is handicapped (crippled is the word I use in the book) by a childhood leg injury, so he has to rely on his wits rather than a sword.

Despite not being very physically strong, he shows a lot of mental toughness, continuing on with his quest even when he has a good excuse for heading home and letting someone else deal with it. :)

Write the book. Most of your friends have probably seen the Wizard of Oz. I doubt any of them would say that the movie shouldn't exist because it has magic or is not uniquely Christian. "Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him." Col 3:17 People criticize the Bible itself. Write the book.

Donovan wrote: "Write the book."

Thank you for the words of encouragement. That's what I need, not discouragement.

I wouldn't talk about my books with friends who are negative like that. It might even be a good practice not to discuss works in progress at all; it's easy to talk yourself out of writing a book by sharing too much info.

I don't think your friends really have the right to say how God will choose to work or not in your book, and if they have trouble with the idea of fictional magic, that's even worse. I'd make it a point not to discuss it with them, and find allies you can do so with who share your views on Christianity and spec fic.

D.M. wrote: "I wouldn't talk about my books with friends who are negative like that. It might even be a good practice not to discuss works in progress at all; it's easy to talk yourself out of writing a book by sharing too much info."

Normally I don't... but this friend happened to have a friend who is an artist, whom I wanted to see if I could commission to paint the cover art.

Never happened, alas. Now I gotta find another artist.

Plenty of good, reasonably priced artists out there. Look on Elance or DeviantArt. Sift portfolios, find several that suit your preferences, then contact them for rates and lead times. Takes some effort but simple enough if you're friendly and professional.

Oh, and write your book. Talking about it too much lets out the steam you need to get the job done. Strive to perform your calling and craft excellently before God. That is what brings him honor. A pious hack is still a hack.

Don't fret over allegory or elements required by your story's genre. Part of being true to God is being true to your craft. You can't have a symphony without minor notes, or paint a night sky without black. Keep praying and writing, and you'll do fine.

Best Wishes.
Patrick Todoroff

Patrick wrote: "Don't fret over allegory or elements required by your story's genre. Part of being true to God is being true to your craft. You can't have a symphony without minor notes, or paint a night sky without black. Keep praying and writing, and you'll do fine. "

Praying right now for God to bless you for those words of encouragement.

Thanks bro. I'll take all the prayer/blessing I can get.

best,
patrick t.

Sounds like you're only doing what Tolkien was doing. You might want to ask them what they think of LOTR.

(If they don't approve, then their good opinion is simply not worth having.)

Another good example of Christian fiction with magic, Chronicles of Narnia. I bet you anything C.S Lewis had some friends against his book. Also, can you imagine the controversy over the Screwtape Letters? But these are awesome books, and are still being read widely.
God tells us to spread seed everywhere and not worry about where it falls.

I've also found Isaiah 55:11 is a good verse to use... pointing out that God's Word will do whatever He desires. :)

Oh I like that one!

I think I need to put that verse on a plaque or something.

Couldn't find the intro page so I'll just say hello briefly. Phillip Fusaro pleasure to meet you all! Haha, to get in on this topic, I always describe my magic by using the struggle between the angels of God ans Satan as an explanation for the, unnatural (Or extraordinary) talents of mortal human individuals. I find it's a great link to including a fantastic (i.e. fantasy) element that is almost always entertaining, while still placing it within a sphere in which you can make references to Christianity.

You are in good company. C.S.Lewis faced some of that with Narnia and his Perelandra series.

I talked to Grace Bridges and Chila Woychik about the marketability of Christian Speculative fiction, specifically Fantasy, and they said the market was growing, but Traditional Christian publishers would not print many of them, because the market they catered to considered any mention of magic, demons, witches, or dragons, to be objectionable out of hand.

Small Christian presses will publish them, but it's a hard sell for the bigger houses like Zondervan. I shopped my book series to an agent for one of the bigger houses, who actually said that if Narnia was submitted today, it wouldn't make it to the Editor's desk.

Names like Dekker, Peretti, and Lewis were safe enough, and Donita K Paul has done ok.

I think the market is a bit better than it was in 2010-2012 when I received that statement.

See the following ChristianityToday article:
http://www.christiantoday.com/article...

Honestly, when you look at the whole idea of "magic" and "supernatural" issues, there's really nothing "magical" about it.
If you were able to see the spirit world then seeing something "appear out of nothing" would be as ordinary as turning on the tap is here in 3D land.
Didn't Christ explain that if we had faith we could move mountains? If that's not "magical" I don't know what would be...;-)
God tells us in His word that we (Christians) are "seated with Christ in the heavenlies." Ephesians 2:6. So in reality we're both here in the physical and also in the spirit realm with Christ. Think about that for a minute...
Would you say that the miracles Christ and His followers does is "magic"?
I suppose if you had a 3D perspective it would be "magical"...
But your friends should try looking at the whole topic from a metaphysical viewpoint. As long as you're not giving glory to "magic" that's from an unholy source then you're fine, IMHO.

Chris wrote: "Traditional Christian publishers would not print many of them, because the market they catered to considered any mention of magic, demons, witches, or dragons, to be objectionable out of hand."

IMHO I believe it's more than past time for Christian speculative authors to engage in spiritual warfare to fight all of the glorification of witchcraft, etc. through providing compelling alternatives to some of the junk from non-Christian sources.

Traditional publishers don't have the flexibility that indies do, which is a fantastic opportunity to spread the reality of God's Kingdom every chance we get. ;-)

Just had to chime in here. I read most of the posts over the last year and agree that traditional Christian publishing is self-limiting in what it will accept, and the corporate Christian stores have a review process that is definitely slanted on the traditional publisher's side. I shopped Sudden Mission around to a number of Christian publishers and editors for a couple of years. So many new Christian fiction, speculative fiction and SF&F were basically kids chapter books that were derivative and cartoony. I came to the conclusion I would need to go the self-publishing route.

Fortunately, I was directed by a writer friend to my publisher. Since my publisher is a hybrid, I do a lot of the legwork myself. But, getting media, independent bookstore, and online attention is part of the rewarding struggle. Oh, yeah, Christian-run coffee shops. I love reading events at these.

Thanks to Peter (see above post) and other reviewers out there, we've managed to make some inroads into the market. Maybe some success for Sudden Mission and Nasty Leftovers and similar work involving spiritual warfare and faith will help bring the players in the market around and we'll see more bookshelves stocked with strong Christian stories that aren't cheesy kid stuff.

Be strong. Be faithful. Keep writing.

Thank you all for your words of encouragement.

As an update, the friend mentioned and myself have kinda gone our separate ways, because of the attitude mentioned and several other things.

I've been kind of in a dry spell with writing, but God has given me a new idea -- a superhero story in a world something like Wearing the Cape: A Superhero Story (which is a heck of a story, BTW). I'm not sure exactly how Christianity will weave into it, but I'm sure that the Holy Spirit will tell me how as I write it... once I actually start writing it, that is.

Sorry to hear about your friendship...perhaps after time you'll be able to be friends again.

Glad to see you're back at it. Are you going to finish the book you referenced earlier or have you discarded it altogether?

AC, I'm thinking about a different project... the story of an assassin who turns to good. It's meant to show that anyone can be redeemed. :)

It sounds like you are having trouble focusing on one project. That is not necessarily bad. I have about ten projects "in the works", but I usually only have one at a time that I focus on. It takes a certain mood and mindset, sometimes even a completely different method of writing it down, for each project.

Writing for the Spirit is different than writing to make money. You have to pace yourself and give yourself time for the Spirit to move through you. Sometimes I only get one chapter done a week. Other times, I try to do two (because I have a pretty good idea what should happen in the next chapter)...but when I go back and look at it later, I hate it. There's no Spirit in it. It's better to just let God work through you in His time.

And if things happen to you in real life that totally jar your momentum, don't force yourself to write. Just take one day at a time and try to think of the events as experiences that you can use later for more writing. Don't try to write in the hospital waiting room or while you're waiting for the biopsy results to come back. Maybe journalize; ask yourself what the Spirit is trying to show you through it all, and come back to it later when you can reflect on the way you felt more objectively.

I had some bad breakups while I was writing, too. My whole church fell apart and my family was caught in the middle. I used the unfolding disaster as inspiration for a writing project that became my newest book. It took me a little longer to put it all together, but it might be the best of them so far because it was based on real, fresh experiences.