Taking the inspiration and romance out of inspirational romance
I have read a lot of inspirational romance in the past few years.
This post has been building for about three of those years.
Things that annoy me in Christian fiction
I really am not going to tolerate much more of these things:
- Stories in which the women are stronger in their faith than the men. GIVE ME SOME STRONG GUY LEADERS. Also? GIRL NO SAVE MAN'S SOUL. Does not work this way. Girl adds facets to man's person? Yes, totally. TOTALLY.
- Stories in which the crisis of faith is due to loss of family. At this point, I am just finding it whiny. WE ALL LOSE PEOPLE. Some more than others. Give me some theological or lifestyle dilemmas. ENGAGE MY BRAIN.
- Irresponsible, headstrong girls instead of really strong, capable women. I NEED ME SOME ROLE MODELS. Challenge me to be a strong woman for reals, not just flip my hair and get mad about the world "submit." Not cute, not funny, even if they do "come around" or the inevitable romance leads in a marriage which is a partnership.
- Being able to manage the ranch, ride, shoot? Makes the woman capable. Does not make her character strong.
- Women who don't want kids pre-marriage suddenly wanting kids for no apparent reason in the last three pages of the book. *FLAILS* YOU JUST MURDERED THE CHARACTER I SPENT TIME GETTING TO KNOW.
- Complete disregard of the term "character arc." See above.
That said, there are some writers who are knocking it out of the ballpark in this genre. SRSLY, there are some incredible Christian romantic books out there. Totally fulfilling reads.That post is pending.