Open Mic Wednesday 6/30/10
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
It’s Open Mic Wednesday. What’s on your mind?
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Books by Kaye Dacus
Novel in Progress
Follow the Heart*
Book 1 of The Great Exhibition Series
Due May 1, 2012
first draft completion goal date: 01/31/12
*working title
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Middle Tennessee Christian Writers
I didn’t take a lot of pictures, nor were a lot taken of me that I know of, but here’s my ICRS 2010 set on Flickr. Of course, some folks who have promised to send me pictures probably aren’t home yet, or haven’t felt like sitting at the computer and uploading all of them. So, I’ll let you know if I update the set.
How are the reports of “Love Remains” on the store shelves? I’m heading to Paducah on Friday – I’ll check Lifeway and Books-a-Million and report back!
Lifeway doesn’t have LR on order yet.
Does Rachel know that it’s already shipping to individuals from the online retailers?
I don’t know…my guess is, if she met w/ Barbour at ICRS she knows now. Of course I’m not sure when she’s due back in the office…I think her vacation is coming up right after ICRS.
My copy from Amazon just arrived.
Okay, here are a couple of articles to get some discussion going. Read these and let’s discuss:
http://www.slate.com/id/2254983/?from=rss
http://blog.christianitytoday.com/women/2010/06/the_perils_of_christian_chick.html
Slate Article:
“In the newest books, old-fashioned values are embraced for newfangled reasons.”
I hope the authors of YA Christian fiction are stressing that “old-fashioned”–by which I hope they mean BIBLICAL–values should not be embraced merely for newfangled reasons such as “practicality” and “self-respect” as the article cites, but because they are commands given by God, and for that reason alone are to be obeyed.
“Make no mistake: Christian novels written for young people are still primarily developmental tools rather than literary efforts. They’re often didactic and formulaic,…”
This whole paragraph and the following one made me want to reach out and touch someone. The author. With a good slap.
The literary quality of Christian YA isn’t any better or worse than the literary quality of secular YA. In both genres you have some very good writers and some who would insult the intelligence of a 4 year old.
“…and a secular parent should think twice before buying them for his or her child.”
BE AFRAID! BE VERY AFRAID! The scary, scary, Christians might teach your kid horrible things like being pure, kind, ethical, loving, and altruistic. OH THE HUMANITY!!!
“Uptight”? “Bland wholesomeness”?
I’d better never, and I mean NEVER, catch this unfortunately named woman writing anything decrying the number of teen pregnancies, suicides, STDs, drug use, or anything else that could possibly be remedied by the uptight Christian teachings of bland wholesomeness.
Pardon me, but I have to go calm down before I read the other article :0)
Christianity Today Article:
Although I’m curious as to why the author thought the Slate article was so wonderful, I surprised myself (considering the stance CT has taken on so many issues over the last several years with which I have vehemently DISagreed) by agreeing with a CT writer.
Any Christian book that presents the Christian life and walk of faith as “just add prayer and everything will be a bed of roses” is in error. I probably havent read as much contemporary YA Christian fiction as the author, but I’m sure they don’t ALL come from that fallacious perspective.
Is there some way I can replace that little purple globby guy with a picture of me? It looks like bacteria.
Create an account at http://en.gravatar.com/ and upload a picture.
Just checking to see whether or not I still look like bacteria.
Actually, being an editor of YA fiction for one of the major Christian publishing houses, I could tell from this woman’s article that she hasn’t read much, if any, current Christian YA fiction (and what she’s writing about is definitely YA fiction, not Chick Lit, as she labels it).
Battle of the “Ruths?”
Hello, my name is Regina, and I like reading Christian Chick Lit. There. I said it. I also like reading Historical Fiction, Romance, and Suspense; shopping for shoes; the idea of living on Main Street in Disney World; and the movie based on the “Shopaholic” books. I’m a Chick, but I’m more than that. Just like most of what the world brands “chick lit” is probably a little more than the Christianity Today article alludes.
I have a teenage daughter who loves fantasy and can’t stand YA chick lit except for the “Uglies” series which are technically more fantasy than anything else. I’m trying to get her into more Christian YA stuff, and they’re just now coming out with books that I think she’d be interested in – and they’re not Elsie Dinsmore.
Some of it is definitely better than others. I remember reading an early “Christian Chick Lit” book that was really, in my opinion, very weakly portraying a girl trying to live her Christianity in a big city and in a new job. Except for a few prayers and little twinges of conscience, it could have been any chick-lit novel in the secular market. Not quite “Sex in the City,” but not what I really call Christian Fiction, either.
I have an older daughter who read all the “Twilight” books. She enjoyed them. They were nice, recreational, fast reads, for her. After she got through the series, she had one comment. “They really weren’t all that well-written.” Sometimes you just want a good read, and even if it’s not the best in the world, it might have merit on some level for someone. I guess what I’m trying to say (to the writers of these articles) is, don’t put down a segment of the publishing world based on personal preference. I’m not big on non-fiction or biographies, either, but I remember a great one I read once about Ingrid Bergman.
Here’s the response I just left on the CT article:
Of course when you look back on Young Adult fiction (which is what you’re writing about, not Chick Lit) as an adult it’s going to seem shallow and trite, especially in how it deals with conflicts. That’s because, as it’s already been pointed out, it’s been written for CHILDREN who are still trying to figure out right from wrong. They’re not ready for shades of gray.
At twenty-nine years old, I went back to college to finish my undergraduate degree. I remember being shocked time upon time in my Philosophy & Ethics class at the black-and-white way the eighteen- and nineteen-year-olds in the class saw things, how they couldn’t see more than one side of an issue, how they just wanted to know what the “right” answer was. And these were COLLEGE students—kids who had graduated from high school. With Young Adult fiction, we’re talking about stories written for kids whose view of the world is even less developed (YA fiction usually targets teens between ages thirteen and sixteen).
What I don’t see in either commentary (this one or the one on Slate) are the voices of those people for whom these books are written. Where are the quotes from teens who have read these books? I, too, read voraciously as a teen—everything from Madeleine L’Engle to Janette Oke to general-market YA romance novels to Laura Ingalls Wilder to Anne of Green Gables. Do I, as an adult, now consider them “great works of literature”? No, of course not. But not only was I learning the values that shaped me into the adult I’ve become—learning the precepts of right and wrong, the consequences that follow poor decision-making, and the importance of building healthy relationships with others—I was, most importantly, READING. Expanding my world by reading historical romances set during important events during American history (directly leading me to minor in history) and developing a desire to express my own creativity in writing (six published novels and counting).
By the way, Christy was not written as a Young Adult novel, nor as a “Christian fiction” novel. It was written as, and published as, a novel for the general market, targeted at adult readers. It was published by McGraw-Hill in 1967 and labeled “Historical Fiction.”