What do I write? The short answer is Inspirational Fiction. Or to get a little more specific, Inspirational Romance. Christian Romance. But a genre label can only tell you so much as a reader. So, here’s a quick and hopefully memorable soundbite on more specifically what I’m hoping to achieve as an author.
Stories Engaging the Heart, Mind, & Soul
That’s what I’m aiming to deliver. Sounds like a tall order, doesn’t it? But I love the sound of it as well as the meaning behind it. Here’s what I have in mind.
Engaging the Heart
Heart. Emotions. Feelings. I want you as reader to care about the characters I’ve created. To feel what they’re going through. To empathize with them. That’s one of the reasons we read fiction, to live vicariously through the characters in the stories we read. To feel what they feel, whether it’s love, anger, hope, or heartbreak. When emotion is rendered believably, a story can come alive.
Engaging the Mind
You know those books that really make you stop and think? Not the ones that try to tell you what to think, so much as the ones that raise challenging questions. And do it within the context of an entertaining story. Whether the reader agrees with the answers the characters come up with or not, these books can stimulate discussion going way beyond “I loved that book!” or “I couldn’t stand it.” That’s the kind of book I want to write. The kind that makes the reader question preconceived notions and consider possibilities that may have seemed impossible. The kind that prompts in depth thought and discussion.
Engaging the Soul
That’d be the Christian element. Truth. Forgiveness. Love. Redemption. The big themes of Christianity. Not dogmatic, condescending, or preachy. Not driven home with all the finesse of a sledgehammer. But arising naturally from the characters, their beliefs, and the situations they face. My faith is important to me, and it impacts my writing. I make no apologies on that front. That said, I’m not some kind of holier-than-thou goodie-two-shoes kind of person who wants to lord it over everybody else. It’s just that I took advantage of the greatest deal in history, and who wouldn’t want to share that?