Naomi Dawn Musch

Art Edwards in his essay This is (Not) My Beautiful Life (The Writer/ Sept.'11) said, "No matter the form, readers are voyeurs. We always want what's on the page to generate subtext, implication, rumor. We want to know what the author doesn't want us to know."

The responsibility to generate such subtext couldn't be more important for Christian writers, not only in regard to writing of spiritual matters without sounding "preachy"or "heavy-handed", but as to writing realism without offending our own and others' sensibilities.

Lack of realism has been the complaint of readers for ages in regard to "Christian" fiction. While this is changing, writing from a Christian world view still remains a challenge because we Christian writers don't want to write graphic depictions of sex and gore peppered by foul language. We long to tell stories about life's harsh realities while at the same time being able to pass them off to our grannies and grand-children to read. We've even invented our own brand for some of our fiction to say, "Hey, we're not avoiding the gritty stuff" and labeled it "edgy". But edgy is hard to define and to some is quickly becoming cliché.

Thus it remains true that much of our writing is done in subtext. And to be honest -- much of any good writing should be done that way. It is our responsibility to craft scenes that allow our readers imaginations boundless freedom to roam and create. A job well done, in my humble opinion, doesn't need to spell out the hideous details of a rape, murder, or adulterous affair. It doesn't need to revel in the titillating highlights of a romantic or sexual moment. But these scenes can be created to arouse intense emotion and clear implication without any of the graphic images being relayed on the page in minute detail.

Two examples that quickly come to mind are Amanda Cabot's Scattered Petals, wherein she tells the story of a woman raped by stagecoach bandits -- a shocking thing to read about in Christian fiction, yet done with extreme taste while allowing the reader absolute understanding -- and April Gardner's Wounded Spirits, wherein she tells the brutal story of an Indian raid on a fort with only enough graphic picture to establish what such a horror would have been like, and yet did not offend, but allowed a canvas for readers' imagination to paint the full picture.

In my own series, I've written about spousal abuse, an adulterous affair, and even a woman facing the possible horrors of life spent in a brothel. But while these topics may have been taboo in past days of Christian fiction, I am finding ways of writing their details in subtext. With subtext less is more. Telling is wiped away. Scenes are centered more on the characters' emotional state rather than on all the physical details. We rely on writing with senses besides the visual to create an impactful moment.

The same applies to spiritual truths. We learn to think and view our characters' situations through the eyes of unbelievers or fallen individuals, writing their thinking onto the page instead of our own. We sift our telling to make sure it doesn't ring of Christianese.

As you write, try this. Forget about writing "Christian" literature, and just write literature -- as a Christian. Allow your characters freedom to express their hearts and morals without your omniscient POV overpowering the scene. Capitalize on those specific moments to craft subtext that peeks through the story without painting a broad stroke of telling detail.Therein lies art.

Write on!

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