First, the Christian romance writer should be a Christian. My walk with Christ is what helped me write my first romance novel. Let me say this, it did not start off as a Christian romance, but was transformed into one as I began to write the character’s stories. I began scripting it more as a Christian romance novel when I realized number one, that that was what I was being called to do. I have a relationship with God first and therefore hearing His voice was pivotal as I crafted each character. He gave me what it was I should show in their walk as Christian characters, especially the characters that were not really walking in Christian faith.
The walk of faith is probably the easiest way to get a message across in writing this type of genre. From redemption to salvation, there are so many ways to encompass a Christian lifestyle for your characters. They cannot be flat and not evolved. For my first novel I concentrated on introducing Christ back into two of the character’s lives while the third had to endure many tribulations which strengthened her faith. Each character had a full life though and yes there was sin in their life too. That is what kept the book interesting.
One thing that one of these types of books cannot be is too preachy. If the writing comes off as a lecture of fire and brimstone you are going to lose your readers quickly. Their lifestyles must be believable and realistic. I don’t know how many times I’ve read a Christian romance novel that was just too unrealistic for me to finish. I smelled a rat on the first page and by the time I got into the just of the story, it was just that a bunch of nonsense that nobody would believe. Still though, some stories are just that: unbelievable. Yet you want to make your reader feel like the story is a believable.
This is just a start to the next couple of blogs about this subject. I will tell you more as I go in depth about the calling to do this type of writing. I really do believe that this type of writing is a calling because let me tell you I was ready to write an in depth tantalizing tale full of sexual innuendos and flesh filled propaganda when God tapped me on the shoulder and said, not so. I hope this helps somewhat as you figure out exactly what type of writing you want to do. Christian romance writing is an art and not for the faint of heart because our stories have an underlying job to do: To introduce nonbelievers and backsliders to Christ.
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