I'm starting to wonder if I should even label myself a Christian Fantasy or Christian Sci-Fi author. The label is going to keep anyone not Christian from reading it, and if I'm going to be so watered down to keep from preaching to the point where I just have clean (no swearing or nudity) content with a message that coincides with Christianity, but not overtly, then wouldn't it be better to just say I write Fantasy and Science Fiction?
This came to mind as I think about my blog, website, and networking with other authors. When I say I write Christian...people stop listening. Wouldn't it be better to go in through the back door by saying here, I write Fantasy, and when they like it I can talk to them about the message and how it pertains to my life and how God has helped me. Yeah, I want to write for God, and I think I still am, I just want to be tactful in how I use my writing for Him. In other words, I don't go up to random strangers and say, "Hey, do you want to be a Christian?" and that is what I feel I'm doing if I label myself a Christian F/SF writer.
2 comments:
Let me remind you of the unofficial Holy Worlds stance: http://www.holyworlds.org/blog/?page_id=283
A person I once knew said this: "I felt like I had to decide between being an author who happens to be Christian, or a Christian who happens to be an author."
The importance is in the order of the words.
I appreciated your thoughts on the holy worlds blog (whoever wrote it). Actually, I don't think I found a point of disagreement, but are you saying that I'm bringing less glory to Christ by not labeling myself a Christian Fantasy author?
(I ask myself: Are we bringing less glory to Christ by not telling everyone we meet that we are a Christian? No, we're just being tactful and patient for the time when they are open to hearing what we believe.)
However, I'm not sure that this is an accurate analogy, because if someone talked with me long enough about my deepest thoughts (revealed in our writing), they would quickly conclude that I am a Christian, so whether or not I tell them that at the beginning, or they wait a few minutes, they'll eventually find out. In fact, not labeling myself as a Christian Fantasy author could be considered bait and switch, and I've seen that do more harm than good when trying to reach someone for Christ.
I cannot write a story that does not coincide with what I believe regarding sin, salvation and Creation, so in the end I might be labeled by other people as a Christian F/SF author anyways.
Right now, I feel like it's unavoidable to not label myself a Christian F/SF author because, as you can tell from my blog, the specific audience and interests I have in writing are how to do so as a Christian. I'm leaning towards accepting that label because of that, but this post was just a thought process in, as you say, bringing the most glory to Christ in my writing. It is painful to see rejection, but sometimes we must, and I'm starting to see that trying to hide behind a generic label is dishonest and pointless.
Thanks for your thoughts on that, I am definitely a Christian who happens to be an author, and I plan to act like it. :)
Post a Comment