by Jason Joyner | Apr 22, 2010 | Blog, characters, CSFF, fiction, writing craft
Heya!
If you missed it or didn’t find it interesting, I encourage you to check out last week’s posts on the book Lost Mission. At least for those of us on the blog tour, there was a lot of deep discussion over themes brought up from the book.
A couple of posts got me thinking about our characters when writing fiction. One reviewer didn’t like the book because they thought some characters were promoting paganism. Now, this is more of a thematic issue they had with the book, but I commented on their post that the book wasn’t promoting paganism, but that the characters were acting according to who they were. The blogger didn’t agree with my assessment, and we agreed to disagree.
Another blogger wanted a character to turn to her Bible to get guidance and figure out what should be done. Certainly it would be ideal if everyone did that, and it would have made sense since the character was devout. I know I dive deeper into my Bible when in trouble, but it may not have served the story and the climiax that was building.
After these two comments came up, it got me thinking that perhaps in Christian fiction we subconsciously want the characters we read about to be “sanitized”. I’m not saying these two commenters wanted this specifically, but my impression was maybe we do want this a little more than we realize.
Of course the type of book is going to drive what type of characters populate it. Lost Mission focused on five characters, four of whom would be considered devout, so I wouldn’t expect rough behavior or language. Still, I think authors can struggle with making a character authentic due to a fear of offending a CBA reader.
There’s also been some blog discussion about the homogenized Christianity seen in a lot of Christian fiction. The believers tend to be from a Protestant, non-denominational “Bible” type church, without distinctive doctrines such as speaking in tongues, high liturgical services, or other significant identifiers (that don’t break the core orthodoxy of the Trinity, the Bible, salvation, etc.). Catholics or people who may be a little less mainstream don’t make it as the examples of a Christian character.
I think this goes back to market forces. The CBA market (it used to stand for Christian Booksellers Association, but now is a term for the specific niche fiction one typically finds in an Evangelical bookstore) is particular and doesn’t like certain feathers ruffled. We can have serial killers in CBA fiction, as long as they don’t cuss and sleep around. We also don’t want the Pew Wars extend into our fiction.
Now the clean-mouthed assassin is a blatant example, but I wonder if we expect too much from our CBA characters. Authors know they have a certain audience to please, and perhaps the edges are knocked off a bit. As I flail away at my work in progress, I did a character bio sheet to help me know my heroine better. One questioned asked about sexual experience. My first instinct is to say, “No, she has been chaste.” Unfortunately, in our modern world it would be unrealistic to have an attractive, secular college student be a virgin, so I have to concede that she has had premarital sex. It likely won’t come up in the story, so I get a dodge there, but I think my initial reaction is telling.
What say you?
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by Jason Joyner | Feb 24, 2010 | Blog, books, fiction, reading, Rene Gutteridge, reviews
Are you ready to Listen?
I don’t usually burn through a book in a day. I’m too busy, and I’m ADD enough to get tired of reading all day, unless it is really good.
Listen is one of those books.
This is the latest book from Rene Gutteridge, who writes both comedic and suspenseful novels. After finishing her Occupational Hazards series (hopefully not forever!) and releasing a humerous book with a co-author last year, she has turned her attention back to suspense. This is a good thing.
Marlo seems like the perfect little town. Nothing bad happens, and it is a picturesque example of what America should be. Until private conversations start ending up on an anonymous website entitled Listen to Yourself. Now people are finding out what is really said behind their backs, and it isn’t pretty.
As paranoid citizens start fighting each other, Damien Underwood and his wife Kay are dealing with the disconnect they feel from their teenage kids, Jenna and Hunter. As a newspaperman, Damien believes strongly in the power of words. He may be proved right, as life in Marlo unravels from the power of the tongue to hurt people. It may get very personal for the Underwoods before it is all over.
As I thought about this book, I realized comedy and suspense are not far apart. Both rely on setting the proper mood to be able to unleash a surprise. The difference is whether the surprise causes laughter and smiles, or goosebumps and shock. Rene has a wonderful gift in setting the mood and plot in such a way to unleash either effect. This book has humor interlaced with a twisting, suspenseful storyline that kept me hooked early on.
She sets sympathetic characters up throughout town, but they aren’t always clearly marked at first. One character may be disliked at first, only to turn out to be one of the “good guys” later on. The trouble with the Underwoods seems believable and drives the story. You care about them even as you see trouble coming, and you want to see how they will make it.
However, the book is more than an entertaining read. The theme of the power of words is well-crafted, and it invites anyone to take a thoughtful look at their own use of language to hurt or heal. Some books try to beat you over the head with a message – this story takes you along for the ride but leaves you pondering it afterwards. It is not preachy, but it is a valuable part of the whole message.
No book is perfect, and to me the ending was so twisty-turvy that I got a little lost at the end. There were also some consequences that seemed a little too convenient as well. Still, it was like an exciting amusement park ride with a little bumpy landing at the last.
Rene Gutteridge is one of CBA’s best authors, and I encourage any fan of suspense or clever writing to check out her work. You can also find out more at her website for the book, Listen to Yourself. Also, at her blog she’s doing a video blog explaining the process of writing the book, for those who have already read it – interesting!
Do yourself a favor, and Listen…
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by Jason Joyner | Feb 24, 2010 | Blog, books, fiction, reading, Rene Gutteridge, reviews
Are you ready to Listen?
I don’t usually burn through a book in a day. I’m too busy, and I’m ADD enough to get tired of reading all day, unless it is really good.
Listen is one of those books.
This is the latest book from Rene Gutteridge, who writes both comedic and suspenseful novels. After finishing her Occupational Hazards series (hopefully not forever!) and releasing a humerous book with a co-author last year, she has turned her attention back to suspense. This is a good thing.
Marlo seems like the perfect little town. Nothing bad happens, and it is a picturesque example of what America should be. Until private conversations start ending up on an anonymous website entitled Listen to Yourself. Now people are finding out what is really said behind their backs, and it isn’t pretty.
As paranoid citizens start fighting each other, Damien Underwood and his wife Kay are dealing with the disconnect they feel from their teenage kids, Jenna and Hunter. As a newspaperman, Damien believes strongly in the power of words. He may be proved right, as life in Marlo unravels from the power of the tongue to hurt people. It may get very personal for the Underwoods before it is all over.
As I thought about this book, I realized comedy and suspense are not far apart. Both rely on setting the proper mood to be able to unleash a surprise. The difference is whether the surprise causes laughter and smiles, or goosebumps and shock. Rene has a wonderful gift in setting the mood and plot in such a way to unleash either effect. This book has humor interlaced with a twisting, suspenseful storyline that kept me hooked early on.
She sets sympathetic characters up throughout town, but they aren’t always clearly marked at first. One character may be disliked at first, only to turn out to be one of the “good guys” later on. The trouble with the Underwoods seems believable and drives the story. You care about them even as you see trouble coming, and you want to see how they will make it.
However, the book is more than an entertaining read. The theme of the power of words is well-crafted, and it invites anyone to take a thoughtful look at their own use of language to hurt or heal. Some books try to beat you over the head with a message – this story takes you along for the ride but leaves you pondering it afterwards. It is not preachy, but it is a valuable part of the whole message.
No book is perfect, and to me the ending was so twisty-turvy that I got a little lost at the end. There were also some consequences that seemed a little too convenient as well. Still, it was like an exciting amusement park ride with a little bumpy landing at the last.
Rene Gutteridge is one of CBA’s best authors, and I encourage any fan of suspense or clever writing to check out her work. You can also find out more at her website for the book, Listen to Yourself. Also, at her blog she’s doing a video blog explaining the process of writing the book, for those who have already read it – interesting!
Do yourself a favor, and Listen…
—
by Jason Joyner | Feb 9, 2010 | Blog, books, CFBA, fiction
This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Allianceis introducing
Hunter’s Moon
Bethany House (February 1, 2010)byDon Hoesel
Jason says: I’m reading this book. It is much slower paced than his first novel, so I didn’t have time to finish. I’m pushing through and hope to have a fuller review later. Until then, check this out:
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Don Hoesel was born and raised in Buffalo, NY but calls Spring Hill, TN home. He works as a Communications Department supervisor for a Medicare carrier in Nashville, TN. He has a BA in Mass Communication from Taylor University and has published short fiction in Relief Journal.
Don and hopes to one day sell enough books to just say that he’s a writer. You can help with that by buying whatever his newest novel happens to be.
He lives in Spring Hill with his wife and two children.
ABOUT THE BOOK
Every family has secrets. Few will go as far as the Baxters to keep them. Bestselling novelist CJ Baxter has made a career out of writing hard-hitting stories ripped from his own life. Still there’s one story from his past he’s never told. One secret that’s remained buried for decades. Now, seventeen years after swearing he’d never return, CJ is headed back to Adelia, NY. His life in Tennessee has fallen to pieces, his grandfather is dying, and CJ can no longer run from the past. With Graham Baxter, CJ’s brother, running for Senate, a black sheep digging up old family secrets is the last thing the family and campaign can afford. CJ soon discovers that blood may be thicker than water, but it’s no match for power and money. There are wounds even time cannot heal.
If you would like to read the first chapter of Hunter’s Moon, go HERE
by Jason Joyner | Feb 9, 2010 | Blog, books, CFBA, fiction
This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Allianceis introducing
Hunter’s Moon
Bethany House (February 1, 2010)byDon Hoesel
Jason says: I’m reading this book. It is much slower paced than his first novel, so I didn’t have time to finish. I’m pushing through and hope to have a fuller review later. Until then, check this out:
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Don Hoesel was born and raised in Buffalo, NY but calls Spring Hill, TN home. He works as a Communications Department supervisor for a Medicare carrier in Nashville, TN. He has a BA in Mass Communication from Taylor University and has published short fiction in Relief Journal.
Don and hopes to one day sell enough books to just say that he’s a writer. You can help with that by buying whatever his newest novel happens to be.
He lives in Spring Hill with his wife and two children.
ABOUT THE BOOK
Every family has secrets. Few will go as far as the Baxters to keep them. Bestselling novelist CJ Baxter has made a career out of writing hard-hitting stories ripped from his own life. Still there’s one story from his past he’s never told. One secret that’s remained buried for decades. Now, seventeen years after swearing he’d never return, CJ is headed back to Adelia, NY. His life in Tennessee has fallen to pieces, his grandfather is dying, and CJ can no longer run from the past. With Graham Baxter, CJ’s brother, running for Senate, a black sheep digging up old family secrets is the last thing the family and campaign can afford. CJ soon discovers that blood may be thicker than water, but it’s no match for power and money. There are wounds even time cannot heal.
If you would like to read the first chapter of Hunter’s Moon, go HERE
by Jason Joyner | Feb 3, 2010 | Blog, books, CFBA, fiction, reviews
My wife was “Beguiled,” will you be?
In the shadows of Charleston, someone is watching her…
Rylee Monroe, a dogwalker in Charleston’s wealthiest neighborhood, never feared the streets at night. But now a thief is terrorizing the area and worse, someone seems to be targeting her.
Reporter Logan Woods is covering the break-ins with the hope of publishing them as a true-crime book. The more he digs, the more he realizes this beguiling dogwalker seems to be at the center of everything.
As danger draws ever closer, Logan must choose: Chase the girl, the story, or plunge into the shadows after the villain who threatens everything?
—
I have Deeanne Gist and J. Mark Bertrand to thank for taking my wife away for a day. I “met” both of these authors when the faith*in*fiction blog and forums were active. Deeanne was the first acquistion from that eclectic group, and Mark was the philosophical heart.
When Deeanne’s first books came out, I bought them for my wife (I’ve actually ALWAYS wanted to read them too, but I forget to grab them in my large stack of to-be-read books). She became an instant fan. When I saw that she teamed up with Mr. Bertrand, I knew I couldn’t resist.
I wondered how my wife would like this blending of the styles (since Mark fancies crime/mystery novels).
She loved it.
She finished it in one day. I have to get up quite early to get to work, but she wouldn’t come to be with me (“I only have 30 pages left!”). And before I could get my hands on it, she lent it out to a friend.
Thus, I don’t have my own opinions on the book yet, but she shared her thoughts. She loved the characterization, feeling that she really knew the characters in the pages. The suspense really drove her to stay up late and finish, as the twists and turns had her hooked. She especially enjoyed the hook at the end. Her final words to Deeanne and Mark: write another one!
Deeanne Gist, the bestselling author of A Bride Most Begrudging and The Measure of a Lady, has a background in education and journalism. Her credits include People magazine, Parents, and Parenting. With a line of parenting products called “I Did It!® Productions” and a degree from Texas A&M, she continues her writing and speaking. She and her family live in Houston, Texas.
J. Mark Bertrand has an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Houston. After one hurricane too many, he left Houston and relocated with his wife Laurie to the plains of South Dakota.
If you’d like to read the first chapter of Beguiled, go HERE
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