Mike Duran's written a good post on Novel Journey about Being Bleak.
He says:
Sadly, this “‘precious moments’ or G-rated worldview” is fairly prevalent in the subculture of Christian art. Like a twisted rendition of Groundhog's Day, we reincarnate happy endings ad nauseam, unable to break the cycle, no matter how disconnected from reality they are.
I agree. Like Job's friends, we often want to give overly-simplistic answers. How can we show the true hope (resurrection) without also revealing the true despair (evil and death)?
i couldn't agree more. i get accused of being a little dark sometimes, but i don't know how to write true without that. "Toto, I've got a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore." You got that right dorothy.
I like what Edward Knippers said about this idea. "Goodness needs to be attached to the real world because if you separate it from reality what you are left with is Disney World."
With all due respect to Disney World of course. It's a fun place. But it isn't reality.
this was a major topic of discussion amongst fiction writers (in particular) at the Christian writer's conference i just attended. SO MANY people were writing endings that were tied up all neatly in their redemptive-ness & most of the time, it just felt so forced & unreal. this topic opens a whole larger can of worms (which i can see from mike's post that there's a lot there) being an artist and a Christian in the world. oy vey!!
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