Stephen McGarvey Christian Blog and Commentary

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New Direction for Christian Publishing?

Do you find "Christian" novels boring and formulaic? In recent years, there seems to be a scarcity of excellent fiction written from a Christian worldview, though common sense would say that Christian authors should have deeper, more compelling literature to offer--not less.

In my latest feature for byFaith magazine, I take a look at the trends in Christian fiction in recent years, and what some publishers are doing to raise the bar.

Allen Arnold, publisher of WestBow Press, offered these thoughts on what a Christian worldview approach to novels should look like:

Seeing life [as a Christian] gives authors a much richer palette to paint from. There's more to the story than meets the eye. Not just temporal conflicts--but choices and actions that ripple into eternity. Love is deeper. Death is more than just turning to dust. Sin is real. The themes are often richer, the characters often deeper...

[T]he overwhelming majority of great literary novels from past centuries were by authors writing from their Christian worldview. Somehow, that largely got put on hold over the last 30 years or so, when authors began focusing more on how to write to a 'Christian fiction' model rather than a literary model. When that happened we lost many serious fiction readers, as great storytelling craft gave way to preaching a sermon disguised thinly as fiction.

 

Fortunatly we are seeing a trend among Christian publishers to turn things around.

 

Read the complete article:  New Direction for Christian Publishing?