If you’re reading this post, you probably know what “gritty” Christian fiction is. You might even write it yourself. In fact, there’s a good chance you consider yourself a gritty Christian author.
We all know the story. None of us were satisfied with Christian fiction growing up. No variety. Cookie-cutter stories about cookie-cutter people with cookie-cutter problems. In the end, there was always a cookie-cutter solution. Boring.
Then we grew up and became authors. Now we take matters into our own hands and write the books we needed when we were younger. As a result—with the help of the explosion of indie and small press publishing—we now are living in a world with rapidly diversifying Christian fiction. Fresh tropes, rare genres, unique characters—there’s literally a whole press dedicated to Christian speculative fiction, which was once a rarity. Horizons expand every day.
One particular horizon is the world of “gritty” Christian fiction. These new books don’t shy away from the tough issues. They’re not afraid to show evil as it truly is or address the ugliest problems society has to offer.
But there are some myths circulating in the gritty Christian fiction community. I’d like to tackle them first off.
Myth #1 Gritty Christian Fiction is More Realistic
Actually it isn’t. If you think about it, all fiction has things it cuts out and things the author chooses to focus on. That selective focus is a major part of writing a cohesive story. Real life is overloaded with elements you could be paying attention to—and yet you only look at so many things at one time. Otherwise, you start to go crazy and will probably end up in a coma from overstimulation.
What an author chooses to focus on and how much detail they decide to portray it in is entirely up to them. In the end, it doesn’t have anything to do with the realism of the story.
What actually makes a story feel believable or unbelievable are things like chains of cause and effect, character actions and motivations, and pacing. A reader can forgive the omission of certain details as long as the author has a good grip on those things. Unfortunately, I’ve read too much fiction by Christian writers claiming they added grit to be realistic, but bombed out pretty badly on actually writing a realistic story.
Myth #2 Gritty Content is Deeper and More Meaningful
This one gets implied a lot, and it bothers me. Just because a story includes depictions of alcoholism, abuse, eating disorders, mental illness, or sexual assault doesn’t make it meaningful.
“But it’s raising awareness.” Most of us are already aware, so it has to do a little more than that. I’m sure the definition of “deep” and “meaningful” is relative and subjective, but factually a book with all the gritty issues covered could be a total farce if it’s executed badly. The grit isn’t going to save it.
Whereas a book that was “squeaky-clean” by most people’s standards and had no content warnings could actually be an intensely moving, life-changing, world-shaking story. The argument that a story has to be dark to be deep is usually a strawman that relies on claiming anything else is “fluffy” and “watered-down.” And we’ll get around to how handy this rhetoric is later.
Myth #3 Gritty Christian Fiction is Daring and Unique
This is my favorite myth. Most authors I have noticed branding themselves as “gritty” seem to think they’re a rarity. The truth is, they’re really not. It’s kind of like the “not like other girls” complex. Everyone has it.
Quite possibly every work of Christian fiction I have ever read includes some dark, serious or unsettling element. But then again, I haven’t read a lot of those feel-good clean romances off the mainstream Christian market. But that’s for the Hallmark audience. They have the right to exist, too. Still, it’s simply not true that grit doesn’t come up in Christian fiction quite frequently.
In fact, I’d say including big issues like the ones mentioned above is almost a trend right now. I see a lot of authors use hashtags like #mentalhealthrep #disabilitiesrep and #enddomesticabuse in posts promoting their books. It’s a quick way to draw attention to the themes of your book. (And I’m not knocking it. It’s a good shortcut to getting people to care about your story when they’re too lazy to read a blurb.) What I’m saying is, these authors are not outliers. There’s quite a community.
The Problem with Branding Yourself as a Gritty Christian Author
In spite of the apparent advantages of branding your work as “gritty,” there are actually some major problems with leaning too heavily on that image as a brand-identity.
First of all, it’s too subjective. How gritty are you, really? Everyone is going to come in with different expectations when they start reading a gritty piece of fiction. (This goes for “clean” Christian authors too. No one is going to have the same standards.)
The second issue is it can actually start a little drama within your would-be community. Being particularly vocal about your opinions of “clean” vs.. “gritty” fiction can wind up with you, intentionally or unintentionally putting other Christian authors and readers down. That’s something you probably should avoid if you want any friends.
Lastly, and I’ll repeat myself here, no, it really isn’t that unique. You have to find what truly gives you your own inimitable flair when it comes to branding. If you put all your emphasis on something too many others in your community are emphasizing, you’re going to blend in.
Putting in the work of finding your true brand-identity as an artist is very important, and actually a lot of fun. I’d recommend you check out this post to get started.
If You Want to Write Gritty Content
So, am I against writing about tough issues and including gritty content in Christian fiction? No. Definitely not.
By all means, tackle the tough issues. Hey, some people might even consider my work gritty. It’s entirely up to you what you write about, and God definitely wants Christians to address the hard things in life. But I do have a few quick words of advice if you’re going to write gritty fiction.
Respect your reader’s right to object to your content. Some people are going to be uncomfortable with some of what you write. They might give you bad reviews or DNF you. Never lash out at readers. You’re not a politician. You don’t need to argue, explain or publicly defend yourself. You’re an artist. It’s okay if you’re not universally liked or understood. You’re not here to win people over to your side and score points. Your real readers will find you.
Here’s one more thing to consider: You may or may not want to brand yourself as an “issue writer.” I’ll do a whole post on this sometime. But You might have to decide if you’d rather be an artist or an activist. If the issues you’re trying to bring to light become the point over and above creating great fiction, it might end up hurting your development as a creative. This is happening in a lot of western mainstream entertainment right now.
I guess what I’m saying here is, don’t become a propaganda machine. This is the real reason a lot of Christian media crashes and burns. Not because they’re not talking about real-world problems, but because they’re preaching about them instead of telling stories.
“Clean” or “gritty” it has to be about the story.