I got in some good writing and research time last night. I've been working on one of my many story ideas, this one a horror story set in the area of my hometown in the 1920s. I have a couple of books on local history which have both provided some interesting locations I want to include.

As with most of my stories, I have my influences I can point to; it's my hope that the setting I'm using and some of the twists in the story I've chosen to write will make it very different from these influences. "Good artists borrow," and all that; still, I really want to make sure it's as much of an original piece as I can make it. I'm putting a lot of myself into it, and I'm pleased to find how easily some of it is coming to me. On the other hand, the plot itself has only the barest of bones. That's okay - that will come. In the horror genre, setting and atmosphere are at least as important as plot...

This led to a couple of interesting conversations today with some of the folks at work. I'm fortunate to be working with a girl who is an English major and does some writing of her own, and a guy who is a seminary graduate. We've had some entertaining talks. Today we were discussing what Christian bookstores will and won't carry. Perhaps it's simply due to an ignorance of the industry, but Northwestern only carries about two or three comic titles, at least one of which is long out of print. Megazeen has mentioned (perhaps in joking, but I doubt it) that they've been turned down by Family Christian Bookstores, presumably due to content concerns (they do feature the occasional fart joke, which, of course, is ever so un-Christian). My seminary friend commented that most stores won't carry fringey musical groups, or those independent of the big labels (having said that, Northwestern does have a local artists section - but you have to know where to look for it).

I went on to speak with my English major co-worker about content in books. The questionable quality of most Christian-written fiction is a matter of common knowledge, and I asked her if perhaps one of the problems is an unwillingness to deal frankly with unpleasant issues. For example, one of my stories involves a scene in which a girl is drugged and raped. The rape itself isn't shown, but the sequence of events that will be shown on-panel inform the reader that this is what happens. After speaking with different women on the subject (and reading a small amount on the topic as well), I want to be absolutely sure that I deal with this in an appropriate manner. As one person has told me, "I think I would probably rather be killed than raped." I think it's difficult for a male to fully comprehend the gravity of this crime. Yet I want to include it in my story because in the incident I'm presenting, the rape is a matter of historical record. I want to be true to history in this respect because I want readers to see beneath what is usually presented as a romantic vision of a pagan culture.

Now, by including this scene, I daresay I'm ensuring that this book - whenever I actually finish it - will not be carried by Christian bookstores, even though the act is presented for what it is: an awful violation of another human being, and not glorified in any way (and hopefully not trivialized). This probability, in and of itself, doesn't bother me overmuch; I intend to address this book to the secular public. Yet, it made me consider what role the Christian bookstore really plays. I would love to see such stores assisting artists in the Church body, performing the same kind of role that head shops in the '60s did for underground music and comic artists. However, I think it may be fairly said that the Christian buying public is notoriously fickle, and thus the average Christian bookstore must be doubly careful about what they stock their shelves with. It's not as though Northwestern Books is on the same financial level as Barnes & Noble; any loss of customers is significant.

My co-worker pointed out that many people want a Christian bookstore to be a safe haven; facing a virtual assault of products that are offensive in a bad way, they want to have somewhere they can come and know that they will be edified, where they will find some kind of psychological "rest." I can't argue with that, I suppose. Additionally, when the secular world still tends to think of comic books as being a children's medium, how much more so does the Church think?

[...Sorry about the structure of that last sentence; I retyped it about five different ways, and the version you read is the best I could do.]

In the last month or two, the need for comics which are all-ages appropriate has been impressed upon me. Another thirsty audience for comics is in prisons, where people are less likely to read a Bible or another book than a comic book. This makes for two arenas where I can direct my efforts; two audiences I can minister to in some way. However, half of my planned stories are not all-ages appropriate, and what seems to be needed in prisons is a bit more evangelistically-oriented than many of the stories I have planned.

As a matter of service/stewardship toward Christ, I wonder if I may need to put aside some projects to address these two audiences with works specifically oriented toward them. The need is obviously there, and I'm certainly capable of creating something fitting for either of these categories...