Gina Holmes: Any advice for novelists or aspiring novelists?
Ted Dekker: Read a lot and write a lot. That’s really how you learn.
Tell yourself I may write five books before I see one published and hey if it’s your second one that gets picked up, consider yourself blessed.
With each new one you write, be very deliberate about the plots you choose. Write about something that fascinates you and that will also appeal to a broad market.
Gina: Parting words?
Ted: You know some people fear that if we talk about sin that we’re endorsing it and that’s not true. In the Old Testament, God spoke through prophets of evil. Sexuality is a big taboo but writers of the Old Testament used the grossest metaphors—not fact— metaphors, to compare sin to prostitutes, and to things worse than prostitutes.
We artists can use what the apostle Paul said. “I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.” (1 Cor. 9:22b)
We can adapt that motto to “I have become all things to all men to contextualize my words so I might save some.”
And May God grant me the strength and resolve to keep my identity through it all.
Ted invites us all to visit his site: http://www.teddekker.com/ and “The Circle”, a discussion board whose motto is “Out of the box and into the circle.”
LLLLLLLLLLLLL
I'd love to know your thoughts on this. If you're a Christian author, do you want to write the conversion story and lead others to Christ?
Do you want to minister to other Christians like Francine Rivers does so well?
Do you want to write a book that has an underlying faith message like Peretti or Dekker?
OR...
Do you want to simply tell an entertaining story that doesn't mock your God?
If the God of the universe can give us all unique fingerprints and DNA, then I think He is capable of giving us individual works and calls.
ReplyDeleteWe need to focus on our relationship with Christ and let Him work through us and accomplish what He wants to accomplish.
Thanks again for all the great interviews!
I know too many people with vast differences in their conversion stories to think that God works in a prescribed manner.
Of course there's room for all the stories He gives us. God doesn't let things go to waste. He may burn stuff up, but that's different than waste.
I agree Kelly. I think we're all parts with different fuctions of the same body. God will use it all.
ReplyDeleteI personally started writing much more overtly evangelical material and now I find myself going back and toning some down. Mainly because I myself tend to skim those parts in books I read. I think I'm finding my zone more in the Peretti/Dekker underlying faith element realm.
That doesn't mean I don't like to read novels that fall into all the categories I mentioned. I'm reading Mapes' Dark Star now, which is a conversion story, overtly Christian, and I'm really enjoying it.
I too, Gina, used to think that the message needed to be 'in your face' but God showed me that I could walk softly and still carry a big stick!
ReplyDeleteThis interview has been great!
You are so blessed to get to interact with such interesting people. And I feel equally blessed to have found you so that I can read it!
Great interview, Gina! And like Bonnie said, it's neat that you're interviewing such interesting people. I did the same thing in my First Novel Journey, though not as many, and not on a blog.
ReplyDeleteYou said:
If you're a Christian author...
1.Do you want to write the conversion story and lead others to Christ?
2. Do you want to minister to other Christians like Francine Rivers does so well?
3. Do you want to write a book that has an underlying faith message like Peretti or Dekker?
4.Do you want to simply tell an entertaining story that doesn't mock your God?
I'll bite.
"Why I Write Christian Fiction"
By Kristy Dykes
Some people say, "Christian fiction is preaching to the choir," and I say, "Well, the choir needs preaching to (interpretation: needs encouragement)." God's called me to write for a Christian audience (at this point, at least). For others, He's called them to write for a secular audience. What's important is to follow God's leading.
I rec'd. the following email from a woman in New York State. It best sums up why I write Christian fiction.
"Dear Kristy, If I were an author, I would want to know if something I did touched someone's life.
So, I wanted to tell you that your novella touched my life--"Orange Blossom Christmas" in Room At the Inn (Barbour 2-in-1). I just broke off a relationship with a man I liked a great deal. I've had a pretty rough week, and felt like your lead character Lois. I'm 27, single, and, living in a small town, that makes me a minority. Couple that with the fact that I am a teacher, and go to a small church--the prospects of meeting someone who is a Christian and shares my values, and is interesting, seem pretty bleak at times. Your novella spoke straight to my heart. Lois's constant faith, and yet frank acknowledgement of her fears and frustrations, echoed my own heart.
I posted Psalm 37:4-6 (your theme verse) on my computer. I don't generally identify so strongly with stories, nor do they usually cause me to change the way I do things or think--but YOURS DID. Your writing, and you in turn are a blessing to me today, and I wanted you to know your work did some good. Thank you for making a difficult time easier for me.
May God bless you, your writing, your family, and your work, and thanks for brightening up a single, saved, and searching woman's day!
Great feedback all. It was a pleasure giving this interview.
ReplyDeleteOne comment to Becky who wrote:
Gina, a very nice interview.
I have to admit I have a hard time with Ted talking about an artist creating art in the same breath as talking about turning in a rough draft to his editor. Would it hurt to work on the craft a little more, to see if real art might not emerge?
(Just wanted to put a little fly in the ointment).
Becky
Not quite sure what REAL ART is, Becky. Some judges, like ET and the New York Times trash pretty much all fiction written by Christians or so labeled. Are they a good judge of REAL ART?
Other's like Publishers Weekly and Library Journal, both who've been very kind to me as of late, only trash SOME of it, but constantly talk about the low standard of excellence in Christian fiction. They seem to love my style of writing, but that's really quite subjective, I think.
ART is in the eye of the beholder. I've learned not to trash the ART of any writer who's spent months labouring to deliver thier work to the world.
Ted Dekker
Ted, I'm not real sure what Becky meant by her comment. Or maybe she misunderstood, thinking maybe you turn in rough drafts? Having talked to you, I know that's not what you were saying. Your books are great. Black was awesome, (I've got Red and White but haven't gotten to read them yet.) The way you showed God's love through the emerging into the water was awesome. Truly beautiful and inspiring.
ReplyDeleteGina, you asked: If you're a Christian author, do you want to write the conversion story and lead others to Christ? My answer: No one story ever leads anyone to Christ. The apostle Paul said, "One plants, another waters, but God gives the increase." Salvation is constantly viewed as a process in Scripture. And Christians are gifted in ways to accomodate that process. Some Christians plant seeds, others water -- but no one book or author can make seeds grow! That's God's job.
ReplyDeleteEvery Christian should have the desire to see people saved. That's obvious. But the fact is, there's different steps and events along the way. Some stories are just designed to plant "seeds" -- concepts or paradigms that worm into peoples' brains and start bothering them. Other stories build upon and refine those concepts, like the gestation of a seed. Some stories even lay a specific framework or model for the conversion process. But without God, none of these steps / stories are worth a rat's... uh, you know what I mean. I think it's time that we stop worrying about which brothers / sisters are planting, which ones are watering, and which ones are harvesting, and get to the business at hand -- letting God grow 'em.
As a little toe in the Body of Christ, I write the stories He gives me - where our feet hit the sidewalk in life. My stories are a bit edgy, as one agent told me - too edgy for CBA and too spiritual for ABA. I'm hoping the CBA follow the publishers, who have said they want edgy fiction.
ReplyDeleteMike, maybe it's all in the way you're viewing "leading someone to Christ". I lead children to Christ all the time through lessons I teach. But what I mean by leading them, is kinda like, "Hey, follow me, I want to show you someone awesome." And sometimes they follow and sometimes they make a decision. And sometimes they don't and it has nothing to do with me when they do or don't.
ReplyDeleteThat's what I meant, not that we ourselves can save. So, my idea of leading is planting seeds.
Just so you don't think I've got a strange, grandiose, view of my evangalistic abilities or anything.
What type of story do I write?
ReplyDeleteI'm more the 'minister to other Christians' at present. But that is likely to change. :-) I believe in writing the story God places on your heart. It that is a conversion story, so be it. A ministering story, so be it. Go as God leads you. My motto.
Thanks Gina for interviewing Ted.
Ted, great seeing some more insight from you!
The mere words "Christian fiction" invariably invite debate, don't they? My faith and worldview will probably always be integral parts of my stories, because they're integral parts of my individual story.
ReplyDeleteHowever you feel about emergent fiction (or whatever label you prefer), there's no denying it's been successful and helped the industry expand; the mere fact that we can have debates such as this shows how vibrant the market is. Other fiction categories...not so much.
I'm thankful for writers such as Ted Dekker because their success is opening new doors and new opportunities (without, it must be said, shutting other doors). I don't think I'd have a publishing contract in a world without Ted Dekker, to be brutally honest.
To piggy-back on Mike's comment, someone once said to me: "We're just in sales; let God worry about the management." I've always liked that.
Hmm, excellent questions, Gina. I have to say, I want to do it all. Maybe I'm nuts, but I think when we write the stories God gives us, we have the potential to do all these things.
ReplyDeleteJesus brought people to him in a number of ways, but he always saw the person first, saw their need, raw and painful.
I don't see how He could have gotten on the cross otherwise. That's the love God calls us to share, whichever way He leads us.
As a ps: I got my copy of Showdown today. Can't wait to read it. Ted, I love the messages you bring to the reader and how you do it through story. Thanks so much for sharing your time with us.
ReplyDeleteThanks for a great interview, Ted and Gina!
ReplyDeleteThat last question is something I'm passionate about. The kids in my church youth group hate being preached at. They want a very light hand on the Christianity in the things they read.
I think that's why I try to minister in my writing, but at the same time I aim more to stir up questions than give answers. My characters don't always find the answer to their problems or reach healing. But I try to convey a subtle hope.
I want to encourage my reader to seek God and find their own answers, with the encouragement that there is hope.
Camy
Ted,
ReplyDeleteI appreciate the comment. From what you said, I see where we depart in our thinking: "ART is in the eye of the beholder. I've learned not to trash the ART of any writer who's spent months labouring to deliver thier work to the world."
(BTW, I hope you did not interpret what I said as "trashing" your writing).
A minority of us believes there is an objective standard for art. (One scholar even says the "beauty in the eye of the beholder" line in our culture is part of the undermining of Truth--an interesting concept I'd like to explore in more depth).
I see a lot of Christian writers turning out what I term "serviceable prose." It gets the job done with no attempt at Being More.
Is that wrong? Absolutely not, but I object to that being called art. Not all writing is art.
"Real art," when it comes to prose, when it comes to fiction, demands more than a fast-paced plot, though I have no problem with page-turners. There should be something beyond "serviceable prose," which, I guess, means lyrical writing, memorable phrases (oft quoted, as are some of C. S. Lewis's lines), unique word usages that open a reader's eyes a little wider. There should be metaphor and simile. Symbols and allusion. Not to mention a careful crafting of the story that creates characters a reader connects with and remembers for days or years. I could go on. The point is, to do all that well--at the level of art--takes time.
If someone does not aspire to art in his writing, that's fine, but I think we (Christians) really have lost the meaning of that word. Some people think it is word play that strips meaning from their stories (and who cares if "the masses" don't get it). Others label all writing as art without any attempt at making their words Beautiful, in sound and meaning. I think the truth is something other than either position.
In fact I just posted on this topic at Faith in Fiction, (http://p220.ezboard.com/ffaithinfictionfrm10.showMessage?topicID=144.topic) should you care to read more.
And far from trashing your writing, Ted, I pray blessings on your work.
Becky