Are you a Christian Writer?
Trust the Lord with all your heart, in all your ways acknowledge him, and He will direct your paths. ~ Proverbs 3:5-6
Hello Everyone,
Well, this week was our fifth podcast. Can you believe it? I hope that you have been enjoying these podcasts as much as we have enjoyed doing them. Please, if you have any comments, questions, or ideas for future topics, drop us a line and let us know. We would love to hear from you.
This week we tackled the subject “What does it mean to be a Christian Writer?
Are you simply a Christian who is writing, or are you writing Christian fiction? What is the difference? In our conversation we discovered that two of us on the podcast (Jen and I) are specifically writing in the Christian fiction genre, and two of us are not (Rhonda and Jamie).
I think the difference goes back to the age-old question any writer must ask themselves. Who is my audience? Whether you’re writing a novel, a poem, a screenplay, an essay, or anything in between you need to know who your audience is.
Are you writing your story specifically for a Christian audience? Then the answer to the above question is, yes, you are most likely writing Christian fiction. Knowing that helps you to know that your story must meet certain criteria, which can often be found in the submission requirements of Christian publishing houses. However, ultimately it is the expectations of your readers you are catering to.
Are you writing your story for a general audience; children; young adults; or women but not necessarily Christians? Then you are probably just a Christian who is writing. This gives you a certain amount of freedom compared to the Christian fiction genre, but, no matter what genre you write in, there are certain reader expectations, or ‘tropes’, that should be included if you want to make your readers happy.
Regardless of whether a story I’m writing is being written as a Christian story, or whether I’m just a Christian writing a story, my relationship with my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ informs everything I do, and hopefully a little of Him will seep out onto the pages.
Join us next week for our second episode in the ‘Faith and Writing’ series “Faith, Family and Career; fitting it all in”. Jamie, Jen, Rhonda and I will discuss how busy all our lives are and how you can fit the decision to become a writer into it.
Until then, God Bless and see you next time.
