This got me excited. The keynote speaker, Lauren Winner, is one of my favorite authors, not to mention the subject of her speech is one that I have been contemplating for a while.
In case you haven’t noticed, my tastes are a bit eclectic. I read a little of everything from non-fiction to chic-lit, to mysteries to- you name it, I’ll read it. However, I do read Christian Fiction a lot more than anything else and I wanted to explain this and a difference I noticed recently.
I started reading African American Christian Fiction at a time when the world of contemporary African American literature was filled with trash. I would buy books filled with bad grammar, misspelling and other horrific acts of torture against the English language- in addition to bad writing and stupid stories. So I stumbled upon Victoria Christopher Murray, Jaquelin Thomas and a few other authors who wrote good books. Hands down- these books were great. Yeah there was God in them, but it was subtle. I consider myself a person with morals who lives by the golden rule and the characters in these stories did that, unlike some of the more popular novels that were taking front and center shelf position at Barnes & Noble. I’m not a prude and I like sex just as much as the next person, but that is not what I am about and I don’t want to read entire books about sex and nothing else( or with loose stories based on sex). Like I said, I’m not perfect but I try, and so books like this, were not cutting it. I’m not from the “hood”, but I do know what it is about and I got tired of reading books that glorified this life. All the people I knew from that life, worked hard to escape it and fought even harder to keep from going back.
In my early days of reading ( African American) Christian fiction, the books were simple. The premise was about God, but not evangelism. There were not too preachy, just good stories , written by good authors with legitimate plots, correct spellings, few run-ons and real characters.
Then I noticed that these books were becoming more and more popular. I no longer had to scour amazon.com for HOURS to find titles and recommendations. By 2005/6 there were publishers devoted to this- Walk Worthy Press, KNB Publications, to name a few. I could walk into Barnes and Noble and between Street Dreams Volume 12 and Diary of a Ho, there was a Christian fiction book.
I also noticed the fiction evolving. Some books are pure preaching, other like to keep the drama of contempary African American literature ( Eric Jerome Dickey, Carl Weber, et.al) and add a Christian theme- I loved them all. Unfortunately, they were not producing enough books a month for my reading fancy so I gravitated from the AA section to Christian Fiction. There I found Christian chic-lit i.e. Kristin Billerbeck series and Emily Ever After. What ? Christian chic-lit. So I ventured out even further. I should also note that I also began exploring my “faith” and so read tons of other religious fare during this time ( including the aforementioned Lauren Winner books) and I loved it.
Reading Christian lit does not keep me from reading other genres. I still read and enjoy Stephanie Plum novels, Gossip Girl, Eric Jerome Dickey and the like. I just enjoy Christian Fiction a little bit more. Usually because I always know what I am going to get, especially in the African American arena. The second reason it because I genuinely like Christian Fiction. I would love to say that I am a Christian and yada yada yada, but the truth is I enjoy Christian fiction and more if when I don’t or am struggling to believe. It is when my faith is it its lowest point, when I’m tired of reading the Bible ( sorry) that I turn to Life, Libby & The Pursuit of Happiness or Further than I Meant to Go, Longer Than I Meant to Stay, for pick-me up for reassurance. It is precisely because I can partake in one of my favorite activities ( reading) but yet somehow be spoken to by God at a time when I am ready to give up, that resonates how important Christian Fiction is in my life. I look for the word of God, for the words he has given the authors, for the author’s testimony and for the novel’s testimony. Although fiction, it is a hope based on what I myself believe in .
Don’t get me wrong, not all CF is good or worth reading. I’ve read some un-proof read CF and some crazy stuff, I just generally find it to me closer to me- my morals, belief and my experiences than some other stuff out there today. I read Christian fiction because it is good, there are several sub-genres ( chick-lit, historical-romance) that I can get my fix met with out stepping out and being disappointed as I had been in the past. Christian Fiction has also mature a lot in the past few years ( as I hope at had). Once considered fairytell-ish and condescending and preachy, the stories today resonate on a different level. There are more sublte. Of course you still run into preachy novels today- they are usually few and far between.
So that’s how I got to Christian Fiction and why I was first attracted to it. Later I’ll discuss why I still am and my personal views on the CF Market.
Link to Check out:
A Few Thoughts- Interesting Site with resources and quotes.
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