Amen.

While I did not attend the Faithful Writer’s conference this year and I have not read the book spoken of I agree with Tony’s view that the story is much more important than the journey. I’m a published Christian author. My new book “The Flame of Heaven” will be published soon. What I discovered while writing Christian ‘fiction’ is that it can only ever be ‘fictionalized’ reality. While scenes and characters may be fantastical there is an element of timlessness, changelessness and eternity in what Christians write into their stories. Having said that, there is also a sense in which the logic or momentum of a story is its very own. Just because our world view is timeless at heart it doesn’t mean our stories become static or banal. On the contrary because of the gospels relevance to every person in every age, it remains relevant, though the ‘voice’ and narrative that drives the story might change and the new social arrangments that Chrisitans face might be different from before,the essential message does not change and neither does our faithfulness to that message and this is what makes Christian fiction exciting. it is not just a rehashing of the psiirt of the age, but a working in of the truth into sometimes very perverted realities.

Hi everyone,

I find myself not really wanting to write this; partially wondering whether I should but actually more afraid of what might happen if I don’t.

I went to the Faithful Writer’s Conference on Saturday. I enjoyed much of it and got a lot out of it in some ways.

But I must admit to being deeply troubled at the format of the conference. The Keynote speaker was not a Christian (recall, it was called ‘The Faithful Writer’). His worldview was profoundly unChristian and was not critiqued at the conference, nor in any material given before it as far as I’m aware.

I suspect many at the conference have heard a great deal about writing from the world’s perspective, and if they hadn’t, they would know where to go to get it. But its much harder to find a Christian perspective on writing creatively. I personally would have found it more helpful to have had a keynote speaker who was a Christian who had been to one of Mark’s masterclasses and passed on the gold and critiqued the approach.

I think the biggest concern I had was with what was assumed - a Christian worldview. Although I can’t recall the exact quote, it reminds me of the maxim that says the gospel is preached in the first generation, assumed in the second and denied in the third.

For that reason I couldn’t help but be troubled by the approach taken at ‘The Faithful Writer’s conference.

Sincrely

Peter

PS - I think having a Christian master writer would have been more helpful too in the ‘pratical’ section in the afternoon where Mark was eager to challenge any cliche, but not being part of the Christian scene, did not challenge the Christian cliches that he read because he wasn’t used to them. The end result was to make all the other bits of writing sound terrific, and the theological parts sound tired and boring.

Hi Pete

Thanks for the thoughtful comments, and don’t even feel slightly bad about making them.

A few comments:

1. One of the main bits of feedback we received from last year’s FW conference was that the Christian reflections on writing were really useful, but that more practical help on the craft of writing would have been beneficial. This year, we decided to tilt the balance more towards the practical. (When I say ‘we’, I should clarify that I’m on the FW organizing committee.)

2. Theologically, I think this was a good thing to do. In terms of how writing itself works—the mechanics of the craft—I don’t think there is ‘Christian’ writing any more than there is Christian woodwork or Christian mathematics. In God’s creation, things work a certain way, and you don’t always have to be a Christian to get very good at working them.  So getting some input from someone who is not a Christian, but is a very good teacher of the craft of writing, was (I think) not only a right thing to do, but a smart thing to do. We really wanted to stretch the FW delegates to work hard at the craft, at the nuts and bolts of written communication. Mark was an excellent person to lead us in this.

3. Of course, Christians will bring certain purposes and moral norms to their writing (hence my post on the difference a Christian worldview makes). There may not be ‘Christian writing’ but there will ‘Christians writing’. Most of the 2007 conference was taken up with thinking about what it means for Christians to be writing. This year, we focused more on the writing.

4. Given the time constraints of the day, our hope was that the practical elements of the day (led by Mark) would be framed by Trevor’s brief opening address on Christians and writing, and the afternoon seminars (which focused more on the different genres or uses of writing that Christians engage in). Looking back over the day, I think we could have had something more substantial upfront about the theology of Christians and writing, including an explanation of why we had asked a non-Christian writing teacher to lead much of the day. A closing reflection/summation that brought us back to the Bible, and reflected on the content of the day, would also have been useful I think.

Hope that helps to explain where we were coming, and what we were trying to achieve.

TP