Welcome to the Fall Issue of Faith-Filled Fiction!

This has been a busy autumn for me. I sent the manuscript for Live and Let Fly: From the Case Files of DragonEye, PI, to the publisher. I'm very excited about this book! Of course, I'm already onto the next one--this one, a science fiction tale set in Rob's and my Rescue Sisters universe, where three nuns are part of a research team going to explore a crashed alien ship. It's also got a heavy almost-romance in it, as one of the nuns will have to choose between her love for God and her love for a man.

In the meantime, I'm also building up my marketing efforts for my DragonEye, PI, novels that come out next year. I have a terrific website (designed by Ann Lewis) which not only features my books and world, but has a blog by my dragon detective and a forum where folks can talk about the stories or ask my characters questions. I'm also posting some stories there--some free, some for sale--along with special offers. Finally, I'm starting a second newsletter, A Dragon's Eye View, which is all about the Faerie/Mundane world and Vern's unique take on things. If you like fantasy, mystery and satire, check it out and register on the site! www.dragoneyepi.net

I'd like to invite you to the FREE Catholic Writers Conference Online, Feb 2-9. While this online conference will naturally have a Catholic focus, we have some wonderful speakers teaching about writing, marketing and publishing. Everything is done via forums and live chats, so you can work according to your schedule. Go to www.catholicwritersconference.com to sign up.

If you write Christian Speculative Fiction and would like to meet and work with other like-minded writers, check out the Lost Genre Guild,  http://www.lostgenreguild.com/.  They also have an active forum (http://www.lostgenreguild.com/phpBB3/) and Yahoo group (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lost_genre_guild/).
If you have a group, let me know!

In the meantime, enjoy this quarter's issue. We have a testimony from a forum on Christian messagesin science fiction, tips on how to avoid pitfalls in portraying an alien faith, and Terri Main concludes her series on Pentecostalism. Great stuff! Have a blessed new year!

Guest Columnist

To Reach an Wider Audience, Tell the Story

By Karina Fabian et al

This month's editorial is actually an excerpt from a fascinating thread on the topic of Christian fiction, found on a premiere stage.
http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/007167.html

Q: As a reader, can you enjoy a story that is pushing an opposed viewpoint from one that you hold (religion/politics)? If the author is prone to holding, and writing about, views opposed to yours, can you enjoy their works or do you stop reading them?

In reply, author Cheryl Morgan wrote the following, which I think will likely resonate with those around here:

I think the first thing to say here is that science fiction has always been a conversation. And that doesn't mean just a conversation about methods of faster-than-light travel, or First Contact protocols; it also means a conversation about politics and religion. If you are not prepared to listen to other people, you can't have conversations with them. So yes, we ought to be reading books we disagree with.

But nothing is quite that simple.

This particular question was sparked by a reviewer complaining about "Christian propaganda" in a novel. Well, I'm not a Christian. However, I did very much enjoy Auralia's Colors by Jeffrey Overstreet, even though the author is a well-known Christian blogger. I am a huge fan of Gene Wolfe and Tim Powers, even though both authors' fiction is heavily influenced by their strong Catholic faith. And indeed I have a close friend who is a Catholic priest. I am pretty sure that I have read and enjoyed books by Muslims, Jews, Buddhists and Hindus as well. Not to mention Wiccans and various other less mainstream religions.

Does that mean that I am going to waste my time reading the Left Behind series? No, it doesn't. Because there is a difference between a book that is informed by a Christian sensibility, and a book that beats you over the head with its Christian message, and shows utter contempt for anyone who doesn't subscribe to the extreme version of Christianity that the author favors.

Regardless of your feelings about the Left Behind series, the point made is that to reach a wider audience, you need to tell the story rather than preach the message.

Writing Tips

Avoiding Pitfalls in Made-Up Religions

By Karina Fabian

Last issue, I talked about four pitfalls in made-up religions:  too superficial to be believable; carbon-copies of existing human religions; religion is a device for the moral and not really part of the story; and just tossed in for "color" but never impact characters or story.

Certainly, the most obvious way to avoid these pitfalls is to write solid, engaging stories with complex characters for whom faith is part of their experience. Here, however are some specifics to consider:

Is the faith logical to how your creatures experience the world? Think about their anatomy, their worldview, their philosophy. I know that sounds like you are creating God in your creature's image, but think of it this way: who your creatures are and how they relate to the world will have been influenced by their faith and their relationship to the Creator as they perceive it. Underwater starfish creatures will not imagine a bipedal air-breathing savior who was nailed to a tree--how could they possible identify with that?

Have you given enough information to make us understand if not identify with the alien faith without overwhelming the story?  Gone are the days when readers will put up with five pages describing a sunset; so too, readers want the information that relates. If all you need is for your elf to say a prayer for strength in battle, you may not need to get into the pantheon of Elvish gods and goddesses, etc.  However, if you are chronicling the life of a monk-turned-king, you need more detail. Further, if you are going to do something outside the reader's experience of faith--like Rose's example last issue of the priestess who "found peace" after brutally murdering her attacker--then you need to provide enough background as far as information and attitude to make the action plausible.

Do you show more than one facet of the faith?  Think of religion as a character: like characters, faiths have attitudes, histories, codes of honor and conduct, things it will and will not tolerate. Quirks. Are you showing some of those facets, or have you fallen into the one- or two-dimensional character portrayal?

Is the religion needed for your story? Not all stories need a faith-based aspect or a portrayal of religion. If you have doubts about how the faith aspect is playing out, remove it and see if the story still flows. Where are the holes and why? If you have none, reconsider why you incorporated the religion and what you might do instead. I had one story submitted to ISIG II. It was a good story covering a serious issue, important to the writer and valuable to readers, but the religious aspect was shoehorned in to qualify for the anthology. The impact of the message was actually lost because the faith simply did not fit.

Do the faith and the character fit?  Let your character talk to you about the faith--outside of the story. Imagine a typical worship day for them. See what parts fit and what he, she, or it can't act out or believe in and why.

Hey! Rob's and my latest anthology is out! Leaps of Faith features terrific Christian Sci-Fi. An EPPIE finalist in 2002, it's coming out in trade paperback from The Writers' Cafe Press. Learn more at www.leapsoffaithsf.com.

Religion Research

The Pentecostal Experience: Something Supernatural

By Terri Main

One of the defining characteristics of the Pentecostal experience is a belief that the great works of power found in the ministry of the Apostles are available to believers today. While some churches have taught that spiritual gifts such as healing, working of miracles, speaking in tongues and interpretation of tongues, prophecy, words of knowledge and wisdom and discerning of spirits ended with the Apostolic Era, Pentecostals teach that such spiritual gifts and supernatural works of power continue to this day.
As a writer of speculative fiction, I am amazed that more writers of supernatural thrillers feel they must step outside the Bible to find source material. While most Pentecostals would be uncomfortable being referred to as having "superpowers" since any power would be of God and not themselves, the telling of true stories of miracles, healings, and fulfilled prophecies are more amazing than those found in any superhero comic.

One book that makes a credible effort to work spiritual gifts into a work of fiction is The Begotten by Lisa Bergren. In this book a wealthy Renaissance lady gathers around her a group of people with different spiritual gifts who eventually take on a heretical teacher while still trying to stay one step ahead of the inquisition.  Her book underplays the function of speaking in tongues but otherwise does a reasonable job of working the spiritual gifts into the storyline.

Spiritual gifts are given for a purpose and are not to be misused or ever considered to be something that makes one superior to another. I Corinthians 12-14 warns against this type of attitude. Also, they are not for the "entertainment" of the church. Frequently, they function in secret. A person might be given a revelation that another may be in need so they may fulfill that need anonymously. In fact, that might make an interesting story idea. A church "plagued" with not so random acts of kindness done anonymously. Revealing the "culprit" as the least likely individual providing the climax.

Miracles are part of the Pentecostal experience as well. Healings, miracles of provision, money appearing in an empty wallet, storms held at bay until a farmer can get his crops in, cars running on empty, these and more are part of the conversation when Pentecostals begin to reminisce about their spiritual heritage.

However, miracles have consequences. When God puts gas in my car, I'd better be careful where I drive. If I have been brought back to life or health, how I use that life or health is important.  God healed the lame beggar. That's wonderful, but what does the beggar do tomorrow? His job is that of lame beggar. He's happy to be walking, but where will his legs take him.

Looking for material for an exciting supernatural story? Check out the Pentecostal Experience. Many of us can echo Walt Whitman's Words, "Why who makes much of a miracle? As to me I know of nothing else but miracles"

Terri Main teaches communication studies at Reedley College, Reedley, California. She has degrees in speech, English and psychology. She edits WayfarersJournal.com a science fiction e-zine, and recently published Creative Calisthenics. She attends Fullgospel Assembly of God, Caruthers, California. Her mother, maternal grandmother and paternal grandfather were all Assembly of God ministers. Her spiritual heritage goes back to the Azusa Street Revival on one side of the family and the founding of the Assemblies of God on the other side.