To Romance or Not to Romance with Dina Sleiman

So glad to welcome my friend and author, Dina Sleiman with us today. Dina and I have a tendency to cause trouble...er...draw attention to ourselves when we're together at the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference. It's my pleasure to have her here today.

Last year there was quite a kerfuffle in the Christian writing industry over romance. It started with a well-known minister writing a lengthy blog post about how romance harmed Christian women, going so far as to relate Christian romance to emotional porn. Of course that was followed by tons of response in the writing community, some in support of his article, much opposing it.

The truth is, I’ve had my questions about Christian romance as well. Especially about the popularity of it to the exclusion of other genres and the overriding demand for escapism in fiction. While I enjoy romance, I also have great respect for novels with depth, realism, and literary value. But all that aside, there are a few things I know for sure.

-Many sincere Christian women feel called to write Christian romance.

      - Lives are touched through Christian romance.

Anyone who tries to deny those facts, simply has not done their research. God gives each of us different callings and gifts, and none of us needs to judge callings that we don’t understand. Do short category romances sometimes seem a bit skewed and unrealistic? Maybe. But that has more to do with genre constraints than any intent on the part of the author. I personally know a woman who renewed her relationship with Christ because she got tired of secular romance and started reading sweet, little Christian romances instead. So, don’t try to tell me that God can’t use romance if He so chooses.

But…when my agent asked me to write romance, that presented a different issue. Did I fell called to write romance? Could I write romance with a good conscious? On one hand, all my novels contain romance. I love romance and happily-ever-afters. But on the other hand, I do feel like reading too many romance novels in my youth had negative effects on my life. I always secretly thought of my novels as “anti-romance” that would still please the romantic soul. They were really coming of age stories about falling in love with Jesus. Through Christ’s healing and intervention the couple found one another and their reasonably happy (although the reader will hopefully understand that life and marriage will not be perfect) ending.

In fact, in a blog article I wrote a few years back called “The Trouble with Romance”, I actually gave a list of elements I personally thought a Godly romance novel should contain:

1) Making the relationship more about why God would want the couple together, especially if it doesn’t fit their plans.
2) Hearing God's voice about getting together.
3) Having to overcome old hurts, prejudices, and weaknesses in order to fulfill God's plan for hero and heroine to be together.
4) Heroes with plenty of real life variety flaws, but heroines that love them anyway.
5) Show physical attraction and feelings coming and going, but ultimately it is a choice to love and fulfill God's plan.
6) Make sure that the hero and heroine really know and love each other, flaws and all.

The question remaining was, could I write my style of novel in the romance format? And, thankfully, the answer was yes! In my new historical romance novel, Love in Three-Quarter Time, releasing tomorrow with Zondervan First, I was able to write a romance that still met my personal standards while fitting the genre and winning the heart of my editor.  I took a few detours from strict category romance by including five points of view, a love triangle, and some fun subplots. I call this my Scarlet O’Hara meets Jane Austen novel, so I figured a big cast with some unexpected Austen worthy twists and turns would be appropriate. And if you read closely, I think you’ll realize that it is at least as much about falling in love with Jesus as it is about earthly romance.

Now I know. I can write romance that I feel good about and that still works for the market. And while I think it’s important that every writer seeks God for their own direction in their career, I think it’s also good to know that we can write the same message in a variety of genres and formats. I hope you’ll check out my new novel and see what you think about my brand of romance.

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In the style of Deeanne Gist, Dina Sleiman explores the world of 1817 Virginia in her novel Love in Three-Quarter Time. When the belle of the ball falls into genteel poverty, the fiery Constance Cavendish must teach the dances she once loved in order to help her family survive. The opportunity of a lifetime might await her in the frontier town of Charlottesville, but the position will require her to instruct the sisters of the plantation owner who jilted her when she needed him most. As Robert Montgomery and Constance make discoveries about one another, will their renewed faith in God help them to face their past and the guilt that threatens to destroy them in time to waltz to a fresh start?

http://www.amazon.com/Love-in-Three-Quarter-Time-ebook/dp/B009NK0LPC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1349790932&sr=8-1&keywords=love+in+three-quarter+time

http://dinasleiman.com