See that gal ^^^ up there?
Yeah. Her. I’ve been her. I’ve scrolled through Amazon and found a great-looking book. The synopsis gripped me, the cover looked crisp and inviting, and the negative reviews (that’s where I start) said things like, “It didn’t download right” or “The author thinks people actually listen to disco today. What an idiot!”
So, I downloaded the book, started reading, and kicked back… Then, just as the story began to really ramp up, that sinking, sick feeling hit my stomach. I knew it was coming, and with the turn of a page or the swipe of a screen, there it was. My Christian fiction book just went from “on the edgy side” to “smut 101.”
Smut in fiction is a pet peeve of mine. I don’t care if it’s Christian or mainstream.
I don’t want to be intimately familiar with some fictional guy’s lips, body, or his girlfriend’s either. If the story has premarital sex, well, it better have a reason, and it better not be whitewashed or glossed-over as if it’s perfectly okay for Christians, even fictional ones in a novel, to ignore God’s explicit commands. In a word, I don’t want to paint my mind with smut.
Look, I get that Christians often read the same books of the Bible and get seemingly opposing ways to apply it. And, half the time, that makes sense. We’re given principles to follow but the methods (thank you Douglas Wilson for that differentiation) are often left to our discretion.
So, when Scripture forbids sexual immorality, forbids sex outside of marriage, forbids physical and emotional fornication and adultery, there’s not a whole lot of leeway for making these things acceptable. We can’t rewrite scripture to our purpose.
But what’s an author to do? I write Christian fiction. I write it to encourage the body of Christ as I stated in THIS post. And sexual immorality is rampant in the church today. People live together, unmarried, and the people they sit next to on Sunday treat it as absolutely normal–okay even. So to pretend this isn’t happening around us doesn’t do much to “stimulate” my readers to “love and good deeds” a la Hebrews.
Therein lies a quandary.
How does she keep her books clean enough–free of smut enough–to pass the “if a kid picks it up, it won’t give them an education they should only get from parents” test while still “keepin’ it real”?
I doubt you’ll like my answer. I know I don’t. But, I’ll tell you anyway. Because I think it’s important. So how am I supposed to keep that precarious balance?
I haven’t a clue.
I just keep going and praying the Lord will stop my fingers if I head the wrong way.
There is a clear, delineated line for me as I write. Sometimes, to keep things authentic, I deliberately move extremely close to it–well, in my opinion anyway. Most consider my ideas of what is risque to be pretty tame. However, I have to write within my comfort zone. After all, I’m going to be the one who answers for what words I put on a page. (James 4:17 fits here nicely).
If I’m always edging one toe closer… and another. If my little toe slides right onto it half the time, then when I stand solidly on it, you’ll hardly notice.
I try to think on Philippians 4:8 (after all, it says to, right?) I don’t discard truth (that people do ugly things) because it’s not lovely. I just want to make sure that I keep them balanced. I want to write books that, while authentic and show the frailty of humanity, never glorify when men or women wallow in the muck of sin. I want to show that muck for all it’s worth, but I never want to drag the reader through it.
So, 95% of my books I’d hand to any person of any age without a wince. But I do have two or three that I always offer a caveat for. Why? Well, because they include hard truths that aren’t always age appropriate. I considered not writing them, but there was a strong point to it each time–a reason. And, I guess that’s the point, isn’t it?
Thank you for this post! Just one of the reasons I love your writing, no smut. I think as Christians it’s important what we read, watch, listen to, etc. I appreciate that I never have to worry about your books.
Also, I was wondering if you came through Richmond, VA yet? Or did your plans change?
Keep writing your wonderful books!
Aw, thanks. I try hard to be both clean and authentic.
I did decide against the conference, so it was a couple of weeks ago and I missed all the fun.
And that’s why I enjoy your books.. One of the verses that guides my actions is that Philipians passage: whatever is true, Noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, praiseworthy… Think on such things. (my paraphrase) keep up the great work.
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I do try. Even when I have to deal with ugly truth, I try not to allow it to soil the reader.
Chautona, I have read almost all your books now. I love that I don’t feel a little “oogley” after reading them. I think you do a great balancing act with tough issues. Even issues as simple as Willow trying to understand a healthy relationship between a man and a woman. I liked that you kept it real and sometimes cute without being off color, like when poor Chad showed up and saw Willow in her summertime house cleaning clothes. And then after they were married, you kept the physical aspect sweet and cute, as Willow learned that the physical aspect was as important as all other parts of the relationship. I think you have done a great job and I can tell you pray your way through it all. Remember Gone With the Wind, when Rhett carried Scarlett up the big staircase and shut the door, the camera lingered, just long enough for people to know what that all meant, without being obscene and everyone having to see everything. It was romantic and even beautiful. There was great debate amongst the movie makers about whether they should even show that, because back then it was a little too risque. Keep up what you are doing, no compromise!!!!
Great post! I can’t really add much to the discussion. I, too, dislike descriptions of things that should be private. If you wouldn’t want someone watching you in this situation, why would you want to describe it for them?
About 9 or 10 years ago, I was disappointed to read a book by a particular favorite “Christian” author whose previous books were very captivating and educational. I don’t think the book described any … situations … but described the person’s desire for those situations. Ewww, no thank you!
I like that you are very consistent with your standards in your stories.
Bless you. This is an area that I feel strongly about. I too have been sabotaged by books. Details and dwelling have no casual place in books. They only man I want details about is my husband. Descression more than description.
I agree sometimes the story demands harsh reality, but seldom graphic details . They effect the characters, drive the story. But need not be glorified.
Sure L think it’s fine to let us know that kissing is happening, that it is causing yearning or temptation or trespass, but step by step description, no.
Casual treatment or attitudes that treat God’s standards caviraly or ignoring of Biblical principles in Christian fiction or reality is not only offensive and disappointing but destructive.
I am sure it is not always easy to know how much to tell abuse and adultery rape, incest are reality
Thank you. I, too, have deleted a number of books without finishing them. I have only read the Aggie books and Decluttering Junkie so far of yours, but I greatly appreciated what I saw in them–no kissing or physical intimacy before marriage in Aggie, and healthy romance in marriage without being explicit in Decluttering Junkie. My daughter has started a book review website (www.learningresourcedirectory.com), and in the reviews we post we give warnings about any even slightly “off” language or behavior, including kissing scenes. I have reviewed the books of yours that I have read and was happy to be able to say “No warnings needed.” Keep up the good work! I am looking forward to reading more of your books.
I need to get back to you on that too! I haven’t forgotten!
Meanwhile, yes. Most of the time, there won’t be much in the physical department. A lot of people MISSED the kiss in Past Forward because of how I wrote it. Then again, in Speak Now, I have an entire scene where there’s no touching, no explicit thought, but you almost think they’re going to blow it. And that was the point. That you can decide to toss your convictions to the wind and still change your mind–at any moment. The decision isn’t the action!
I like this post, Chautona, and it fits you as an author and as a writer.
I also like that you tie the line, yet don’t write beyond it. While I will read one of those novels you talk about above, I find more and more I really find it adds very little to a novel in most instances. The details are not what is important…the connection is.
But I also admire that you have stepped outside of the box with several of your books. While premarital sex and living together before marriage are now common place, avoiding them as if they weren’t would, I believe, make several of your books unauthentic to who you are as a person and a writer. I also like that you use your own experiences in some cases as a jumping board for several of your books. Your life has been an interesting and unique one, in many ways, yet also not too different from others. Yet you always seem to find a way to teach a lesson in each one of your books. You use your own experiences as a learning tool, as well. Something many authors shy away from. But again, they bring realism and authenticity to your books. For me, that is something that has always drawn me to each an every one: that there is some form of authenticity and realism and lesson learned in all your books, even the kids, paranormal, and fairy tales.
Thank you for that and for continually writing what is your truth, your comfort, and what best reflects your life, experiences and who the true essence of who you are and where you have been.
Oh! This blessed me. Thank you, Alicia! I love that you “get” me putting in people doing wrong without glorifying it. I’m always afraid that it will seem like I am (Susannah and Ramiro, for instance)
I love, love the fact that your books do not contain the smut! Keep up the good work!
I love that I can bless you that way!
I do not know how Amazon deals with reviews, I about a set of three supposedly Amish culture.
The books were about a dad and daughter relocating and got stranded by a remote Amish town.
The book was a total evil repeture of erape, evil, murder and other horrorfing things.
I tried to ask for a refund and was denied. And the truthful review I wrote was never published.
I do not want to be in anyone bedroom either
know that things can get hot and heavy pretty quickly if their are no expectations st.
I know the reality of unplanned pregnancies, going to far, and where to draw the line.
If a couple make an error and go to far, the world seems to thinkwell the bucket has been in the well, so what does it matter now
But God asks more than us. If we sin, he expects us to truly repent. Now and honestly, not well I will start to repent after my next Saturday ski trip away with my honey.
There is reality. I don’t need to know the exact moment her knickers came down. I need to know that they saw shame in their hearts and how they worked at repentance.
Thank you for writing something enjoy.
I like other types of written word too. Cowboys, mysteries. historical novels and sign…… manuals.
I do not believe I am a prude. I believe I am a selective reader.
I’m a prude. I know it. I’m okay with that. I’m not a prude where it counts–where I shouldn’t be. But only one person needs to um… “benefit” from that. If you will.
Chautona it was like you took the words right off my mind. I get so disappointed when i find sex scenes in christian novels. The amazing thing is that some of the author seem to have a perfectly correct view of the christian faith. And then i begin to wonder how they manage to smother their consciences enough to be able to sneek in sex scenes into “acclaimed” christian books. It totally beats me!
I really think people often do it to be “authentic” and to try to combat the idea that sex is only for the world–that it’s dirty and shameful. In that sense, I agree. I just disagree that what someone in my childhood called “sex on the sidewalk” (where everyone is exposed to what should be private and beautiful) is the answer.
Thanks so much, Chautona, for this post and for your stories. I do get very disappointed when a book that’s supposed to be Christian crosses into smut! I appreciate the realness of your characters. I have some similarities to Susanna in Hearthland. It is very real and I appreciate the way your handle the sexual temptations and sin in your writing. It’s good to see the true inner wrestling that goes with crossing the sin line as a believer. Also that wrestling that Christian brothers and sisters deal with in whether or not to confront, how to do that in love.
Thank you for keeping it real, but tasteful and truth-filled!
YES! That’s what I’m going for. I almost didn’t do Susannah’s story,b ut I see it playing out so many times that I felt like I HAD to. I wanted to show the progression from temptation to guilt to justification. But if I leave it there–just let it roll and have no one say or DO anything, then am I really any more “spiritually correct” than the person living it? I have to “give her over to Satan” in her sin or have her repent. Those are my options to be true to Scripture.
At least one of your books that come close to the edge is one of my favorites. And I agree wholeheartedly with your blog. I recently read a “Christian” western romance in which the storyline was good but the language was awful. I skipped to the end and discovered an affair and at the end the rancher died. And then in heaven he was reunited with the lover rather the unloved wife from his marriage. Deleted. And my review of the book was not favorable. I am so glad that I can count on your books to be positive. And the fact is that several of your books have definitely helped my own spiritual growth. Thank you so much for the kind of books you write.
Oh my! That sounds horrible! UGH! I wonder what the author does with the “no marriage or giving in marriage” in heaven bit… Thanks for sharing your encouragement. It blesses me to know I succeed sometimes!
I LOVE your books! I’ve never had any problem with them and would recommend them to anyone. I’ve never felt like you crossed a line.
There are 2 things that will make be abandon a book. The first is language. I understand that some of the characters are rough and use rough language. I am perfectly fine with the words “he swore viciously” (or something like that). I’m pretty sure I have a good idea what those words could be. I don’t need to “hear” the words. I don’t feel that they add anything to a good story.
The 2nd is smut. I agree…I don’t want to be dragged into anyone’s bedroom. There is just way too much of that in the real world as it is. I have no problem with it being implied between married characters that they enjoy each other in the bedroom. I just don’t need to be a part of it.
I hate downloading a book that is labeled “Christian” and finding either of those things in it. I think that is why I only purchase books from authors I am familiar with. I discover new authors through free downloads. I think that is how I discovered you 🙂
I’ve even worked hard to avoid using phrases like that too often “A stream of epithets” or whatever. I cut a TON of those in Effective Immediately because it still felt like I was dousing my readers with sewage. Even without using the words!
I know without a doubt, when I have a Havig book, my grandchildren could pick it up and read it. I know that my interest will be piqued without bad language or inappropriate situations. It’s interesting, sad, really, to check out books listed under the “Christian” category…..especially those offered by various free e-book lists. Learned pretty quickly that just because it’s listed as Christian, doesn’t mean it has a single redeeming quality. And those get deleted rapidly.
Thank you for great literature, for staying true to your convictions, for inspiring me to be, well, a better ME!
That’s my goal. I would never recommend Not a Word to younger teens. However, I wrote it so that if a ten year old picked it up, they wouldn’t get an education I believe should come from parents.
Thank you for not shying away from the hard subjects- in your books and in this post. Many authors act like there is no struggle once you’ve decided to be a Jesus follower. Others write as if there’s no difference. Thank you for the balance. It keeps me a faithful reader and above all, it honors our Father.
YES! This! This is what I strive for! Thank you!