What's the Point?

Ever since I was thirteen (and before then, just not noticeable by output :P), writing has been in my blood. I've tried *not* writing and I just can't do it. It's part of me. But what, I've often wondered, is the point of writing?

The questions that have been bothering me for years and years of novel-ing are these:

Why am I writing?

Who am I writing for?

and what am I writing for?

The first one is easy to answer: I write because I have to. I can't not write. So there. But the other two questions are much harder to answer.

The who and the what.

I always tell myself "well, yeah. I'm writing for God!" But writing for God entails so much more than just occasionally slipping in a conversion or a dull, washed-out, overused repetition of what thousands of other Christian authors write. Someone always has the answers, someone always gets saved, Christian characters turn the conversations to Christ whether it fits or not.

But that's not reality.

Many times we don't have the answers and we chicken out and avoid telling others about God and the sinner doesn't always get saved.

But taking that sort of realistic approach is not going to cut it either. There's a fine line between perfection, reality and chickening out yourself.

Because it's hard to steep your writing in Christianity without coming off as very Christian and annoyingly preachy or less Christian and limply cliche. I've read both and I can honestly say that neither one is the way to go.

So what is a writer to do?

One of my (many :D) writing heroes is Francine Rivers. I have never read a book by another Christian author that rivets and challenges me like hers do. When I finish reading her books, I don't put it away and say "what a good book!". Heavens no. I put it down and I want to change.

And it occurred to me last night why her books are so powerful.

For me, I focus on telling a "good story" (making sure that my dialogue isn't boring and that my characters are realistic and that my drama isn't over the top {something my dear editor is an enormous help with!}). In fact, I focus so much on that that I lose sight of the real reason I'm even writing at all.

The way to write is not to tell a "good story", but THE story. When I take my eyes off of the fact that Jesus Christ is the center of the story and forget that challenging faith is why I should even be putting pen to paper in the first place, I lose the entire reason for writing anything at all.

I let myself get so caught up in creating the story that I forget who I'm creating the story for. Jesus gets tossed in and yanked out and shuffled around until I have to remind myself "this is supposed to be Christian fiction, my dear; so quick toss something about God in". Haha, I'm sure God appreciates that.

Christian fiction should not be a fluffy romance where the book is considered "Christian" because some cliche Bible passages are tossed in, someone gets saved, there are a few prayers and church services and the characters live upright lives and abstain from an intimate relationship until they're married.

That's what I find so sad about today's Christian fiction market. So many authors who could write powerfully have settled for books that don't challenge or preach but instead spin out a silly, worn-out romance with brainless characters who fill their pages with pathetic attempts at real drama and real life so that we can settle down with something "clean" and "mindless".

And that is exactly why I'm worried about these questions.

Because I don't want my writing to turn into something like that. If the purpose of writing Christian fiction is to allow someone a few hours of fluffy enjoyment, then I don't want to write it. I want my writing to glorify God, to challenge and engross the reader and to give them a new perspective on things they might not have given much thought to before. I don't want my books to be read once and then tossed into the Goodwill box for resale. But in order to write books that challenge and engross and give glory to the One who gave me this desire means that I must put Him before my writing and steep myself in Him first.

And that's another struggle. I get impatient and it's hard to focus on God with all the distractions of life. But, when I get down to the nitty-gritty, what is life really about?

God gave us life and it's really unfair of us to say that we want to live it our way.

So this is my resolve: to write for HIS glory and not for anything else. And if it falls sub-par, then it is sub-par and not worth anyone's time. If I don't write for God, then I won't write for anyone else.

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men - Colossians 3:23

'Till next time,