Since I began my series Golden State Trilogy in 2013, I have felt the Lord’s prompting to address “hot-topic” issues in my fiction. I’ve written about same-sex marriage, school shootings, divorce among Christians — mostly issues that we didn’t have to face twenty, thirty years ago. I write for readers who prefer their stories gritty, not pretty. (Click on My Books on www.dawnvcahill.com to learn more.)
Now it seems more authors are brave enough to explore this uncharted territory. And someone even came up with a name for it – Contemporary Realism.
Gotta love it!
When I began writing Book I, Paint the Storm, in 2013, same-sex marriage was not yet legal in the U.S. At the time, I approached the story as if it were a likely future scenario. Two years later, it was no longer a “what if.” It became reality. Unfortunately, it’s an issue which has polarized our nation, and even our churches.
You may be wondering why I would tackle such a controversial topic. Bottom line, God showed me an unfilled niche in the Christian market for edgier fiction that dealt with issues unique to our time. I decided to call it Hot Topic Fiction (HTF). My stories aren’t afraid to explore the question, how does God want us Christians to live out our faith in this not-so-brave new world? Without insulting the reader by offering pat or easy answers—because there aren’t any—my books tell of ordinary Christians following hard after Christ in a world of terror and violence, of upside-down morality, of hostility to Judeo-Christian values. The characters in my stories face situations that would have been unthinkable even 20 years ago. We live in a vastly different world than our parents did, and that’s the world I write about.
I don’t claim to have all the answers. My goal was not to push an agenda. I simply wanted to tell the story of one Christian mom, and how she chose to live out Christ’s law of love in the midst of a crumbling world.
I hope that more Christian authors will be courageous enough to tackle this and related issues in the future. After all, this is the world in which we live. And we Christians need to be prepared for it.
Book II, Paint the Desert, tells the story of the same mom from Book I who is impacted in the worst way by a random shooting at a community college. After I’d finished Chapter 1, the most astonishing coincidence happened. A very similar shooting happened just a couple hundred miles south of my home. I even wrote a blog to the shooter on October 3, 2015:
WHY, Chris Harper-Mercer…WHY??
WHY did you walk into Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon, and shoot all those innocent people? Did you simply want infamy, your five minutes of fame? National attention? Well, you got it. How does it feel over there on the other side?
WHAT demonic obsession made you decide that a shoot-out was the only way to get people to notice you?
Didn’t you realize there are many other non-destructive ways to get attention? You could’ve helped out at the local homeless shelter. That would’ve gotten you some kudos. Or you could’ve been a mentor, a big brother, to a needy kid.
Guess what? You’re not a hero. The other Chris — Chris Mintz, the guy who tackled you, will live on in the American psyche as the true hero. He’s going to survive, and he’s going to thrive. But the poor students you killed…c’mon, a nineteen-year-old? Again I ask, WHAT were you thinking?
I want you to know I’m currently writing my second novel in my Hot Topic Fiction series, and it’s about YOU. More specifically, a family who is victimized by a YOU. I’m blown away by your timing. HOW did you know I was already telling the world about you in my fiction?
But most of all…what’s going through your mind RIGHT NOW?
True confession time: Paint the Desert is my favorite of the five novels I’ve written. It was gut-wrenching to write, yet received the most positive feedback of all my books. Its message of hope in God’s goodness and sovereignty is one I’ve had to learn the hard way myself.
Just like my characters.
My current project? Book 3, Paint the Sunset. Coming in 2022!
Dawn V. Cahill, an indie author from the land of hipsters and coffee snobs, writes “Stories of Victorious Faith for the 21st Century,” nearly always with a crossword puzzle, sudoku, or dark chocolate nearby. “The characters in my stories face situations that would have been unthinkable even 20 years ago. We live in a vastly different world than our parents did, and that’s the world I write about.”
Ms. Cahill also blogs about puppies, substance abuse, and single parenting…sometimes all in the same day. She has written several newspaper articles, five Christian contemporary novels, and more limericks than she can count. Email her at dawn@dawnvcahill.com, or find her on Facebook. She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW).
Thank you, Jennifer, for hosting me today and helping spread the word!