How Edgy Are You? Do You Ever Feel Weird About It?

[Ruth Ann Nordin]

I thought I would introduce myself since I just signed up tonight, but I also wanted to ask some questions to other Christian writers out there. (My name is Ruth Ann Nordin and I'm a stay-at-home mom who reads and writes--in case anyone wondered who in the world I am.)

I am intrigued by this discussion group because I thought I was the only Christian out there who wanted to write "edgier" stuff than is accepted by CBA. It's a relief to find this place, by the way.

Anyway, I like to write romance. Up to now my stories have had sensual scenes but left the actual sex behind closed doors. My stuff would never be approved by CBA, and whenever I try to write a CBA novel, my mind goes blank and I'm bored. Anyway, after much prayer and conversations with other Christians (most of who disagree with where I am going in my writing), I've decided to write sex into my stories. The sex is only between a husband and wife (if it's good) but I am working on a manuscript that ties in how sex outside of marriage can be hurtful. My aim is to write the sacredness of sex because I am sick of picking up romances that glorify sex outside of marriage.

I would like to know what other people write that CBA wouldn't accept. I have tried to get into the CBA romances and have to skim through most of them because I get bored. I do like authors like Ted Dekker and Frank Perreti for horror/thrillers in the Christian market but have yet to read a Christian romance writer (except for Carolyn Davidson who writes for Harlequin in their secular books) who actually puts sex into her stories.

I have to be honest, sometimes I think there's something wrong with me for even being that interested in the subject that I'd want to read and write about it. So that brings me to two questions:

1. What do you write that is considered edgy?
2. Do you ever feel like something is wrong with you or had you faced opposition by other Christians?

[Michelle Sutton]

Well, I hit on all of the taboo subjects and so far everyone loves it and says it's about time someone wrote what young people really deal with. In fact, here is a partial quote from a review I received today for my debut novel It's Not About Me from the Christian Fiction Review site.

"This book actually has a "mature content warning" on it, and I suppose it's justified. It is refreshing to see real issues and emotions being dealt with like this, issues that don't often get discussed very much in Christian fiction in general. Sure, there are scenes of a boy pressuring a girl to have sex in other books, but how many of them actually show what she's thinking as it's happening? How she feels, why she doesn't stop him right away, etc.?"

Here is another partial quote from my website on the endorsements page that talks about how edgy my latest story is...

"Temptation, premarital sexual relations, alcohol, an unplanned pregnancy, and several other “edgy” topics will find a place in It’s Not About Him, but in scenes tastefully handled and again, true-to-life. Readers will flip through the pages of this novel and hardly realize the ticking of the clock, so fast-paced is its plot and intriguing and multi-leveled its characters. This is a riveting story that points the reader to a God of forgiveness and cleansing through Christ’s blood. Yes, many of the scenes and topics will take you to the very brink of Christian fiction, but Christ Himself lived on “that edge”—not afraid to mingle with the dregs of society, His hand and heart always reaching out to their lost and seemingly unredeemable souls. These are the kinds of people Sutton writes about, the ‘throwaways’ who’ve known rejection, emotional heartache, and loss—and yet have managed to find their way back to a loving Savior. It is a story of restoration and healing."

So what do you think? Impressed that so far people are liking the edge? Oh, and there is a book coming out in 2009 that has sex in it between married people. I endorsed that book. So did some other "big name" authors.

[Ruth Ann Nordin]

I just read the partial you posted. I liked it. Yes, I am very glad that people are liking the edge. It makes me feel less of an oddity. I'll have to check out your website. Do you know the name of the book that's coming out in 2009?

[Michelle Sutton]

The book is by my publisher and it's called Wind of the Spirit. Very exciting stuff. :) She's on this loop. In fact there are a bunch of agents and editors for publishing houses on this loop so you never know who will read what you post. :)

[Karina Fabian]

Sometimes my stories want to get very edgy, and I have to hold off writing them until the characters or scenes calm down. Isn't that funny?

My comedy stuff tends to have a lot of innunedo, yet is usually safe enough to read to my kids with the older ones saying, "Mom!" and the younger ones being told they'll understand when they're older. :)

[Ruth Ann Nordin]

I think that as long as you're comfortable with what you write, that's the key. I have also toned stuff down from time to time. :)

LOL on the kids' reactions.

[Kat Heckenbach]

What I write that is considered edgy is magic--which I know is not considered edgy by all Christians, but there are still many out there who lump Harry Potter type magic in with Ouija boards and summoning spirits. The magic in my books is very scientific, though--no Latin spells or wand-waving. My background is in Biology, so I can't help but add that science-geek element to my work :).

Also, what specifically makes my book edgy is the gruesomeness of the villian's actions. I can't state them specifically, or I'll give away the ending of the book, but it hits on a couple of issues that are rather hot these days, controversial among both Christians and non-Christians.

I do feel weird about it sometimes. I state on my profile page that my books seem too Christian for the secular market, but they don't fit the CBA mold either. Add to that the fact that they're YA fantasy, which seems to be a genre everyone is shying from these days. So, I feel weird in the sense that my book doesn't have a place where it fits.

[Ruth Ann Nordin]

Is there a downward trend in YA fantasy? I wonder why. One of my goals for this upcoming year is to do a rewrite YA fantasy with magic in it. I held off on the magic before because of the whole Harry Potter thing, but now I've decided that if C.S. Lewis can do it, then it can't be wrong all together.

I understand what you're saying by feeling in the middle (between the secular market and the CBA market). It's a hard place to be. It seems I hear that editors and agents want something different but they are afraid to go "too different". And I think that's where the in-between needs to come into play. Not that my opinion helps with a book contract or anything. :)

I can relate to what you're saying. Thanks for responding.

[Michelle Sutton]

You know, CBA is funny like that. They don't do Time Travel, but I expect that will change soon (I know my publisher bought a time travel novel) but they are starting to accept vampire stories. Strange, eh?

[Karina Fabian]

I can get pretty scary in my stuff, too. In fact, there are special assassins of Satan who have a "signature" method--the Crucis iugolis ("Butcher's Cross"). They bespell the person helpless or restrain them, then stab them in each shoulder, gut them and stab them in the forehead. I did not plan this--my characters just uncovered the body. Frankly, its even more freaky than my heroine getting tortured (which I covered very lightly.)

Are you a member of the Lost Genre Guild. We're usually too edgy for ECPA/CBA and too Christian for secular. CSFF just toured them. www.virtualbooktourdenet.blogspot.com has a lot of details.

Blessings,
Karina Fabian
www.dragoneyepi.net

[Ruth Ann Nordin]

I didn't know about that website. Thanks for telling me about it. I'll definitely check it, and your website, out. :)

[Kat Heckenbach]

Your characters just uncovered the body...oh, my...it took two reads before that comment hit! (It's been a long day). Loved it!

My book is not that scary, but there is a touch of the gruesome in there. With Finding Angel being YA, I didn't want to describe the gore in detail. It's more the who and why the villian is killing that makes it so awful.

But I did just write a short story that a friend described as "different and rather disturbing...in a good way." It's for adults, so I did describe the gore in detail--down to the sucking sound the glass made as he pulled it out of his flesh. Quite fun, I'm afraid :).

I just saw a post about the Lost Genre Guild on the CF2 Yahoo loop and checked it out--looks pretty cool. I'm just now getting really familiar with all the e-zines and online anthologies. I never followed stuff like that before and had no idea how much of it there is out there. And I'm amazed by all the Christian Sci-fi/Fantasy in them.

Something hit me when I read your post about the Star Trek parody, too. I suddenly remembered being--oh, gosh, lost the word--disparaged will work, for being into sci-fi and fantasy as a kid, and being a Trekkie. Not because Trekkies were thought of as freaks (I mean we were, but that was not why I was being disparaged), but because a "good Christian" didn't watch stuff like that. I couldn't figure out why, though. But I remember when I discovered that my new stepmom (this was in highschool) liked Star Trek, and she was a Christian (is a Christian, was my stepmom). I was so ecstatic to finally meet a Christian who thought it's ok to want to explore the universe, and that God hadn't sentenced us to an eternity on one planet when He put so much work into Infiinite Space (like how I worked that in, Karina?--hee, hee.)

[Karina Fabian]

LOL@Infinite Space.

Rob got into an accident and had glass embedded in his arm. He was pulling it out days afterward. No sucking sound, though. How big was this piece of glass? Ulp!

I'll bet they were upset because some episodes of Star Trek talked about humans "outgrowing" worship and religion. Yet Uhura was delighted to hear radio broadcasts about the Son of God in one episode, and in another, they had a girl praying in the chapel after her husband was killed. (Should have known better than to marry a red shirt.) Just like the writers could never remember what the hardest substance known to man was, they could never remember their common religious beliefs.

Then there are those who just thought anything that wasn't Biblical was just evil. And sicne God didn't see a need to explain starships and aliens and relativity theory to Ancient Man, it kind of got left out.