Formula romance makes my skin crawl.

But I’m hypocritical, because I do believe in a necessary formula for labeling fiction “faith-based.”

The tried and true formula for the “romance” genre goes something like this: boy and girl usually in their twenties, meet early in chapter one, have instant feelings of attraction even if they are hidden in comic accidents or acerbic wit or a classic problem (shepherds or cattlemen). The classic problem is soon overridden and the lovers decide to embark upon a thrilling relationship that involves deep conversation and maybe a chaste smooch. Moist, trembling lips, sighs. Dewy eyes. Lots of hand-holding. Maybe some family issues. Oh, but then! A secret comes to light, a devastating problem that tears the couple apart, a seemingly insurmountable trouble that separates them forever. Or until one of them comes to his or her senses, decides to forgive and forget and comes creeping back to see if the other half can get over whatever it is and live with it. They do. There’s a wedding. Ah, Happily Ever After.

That’s the sweet inspirational romance formula for established book club reads. What about the indie markets? Here we creep a little closer to the edge. Oh, to be labeled “romance” still means a happily ever after ending, but the cream filling can be made of different flavors. We can even flirt with the literary style and use big words. I love Joy Tamsin David’s take on the issue: “Edgy inspirational, a subgenre of inspirational romance, is written from a Christian worldview and portrays flawed characters who hit stumbling blocks in their lives similar to what you and I might face. These stories do not glorify sin, but portray imperfect characters dealing with the ramifications of their choices.” Bravo! She also goes on to explain that we might discuss temptations that affect everybody in all their gory glory, and even identifying body parts without using euphemisms. Romances are generally stories about a couple on the way to the altar, but have been known to include marriages of convenience that become real, or marriage part way through the book. It’s different than a rocking good love story, which isn’t built around a growing relationship, but one that’s basically established.

Well and good. But how to we take this edgy inspy romance “outside the box”? Let’s start with characters. Not everyone is in his or her twenties. Or early thirties. Fact: most fiction is read by women. Fact: most of these women are way over thirty. C’mon, do we really wanna only read about beautiful sweet perfectly naïve girls acting like we never did when we finished high school and went to college? And hunky guys coming in to rescue them? I watched an episode of the Dick Van Dyke show recently where Laura and Rob’s parents met for the first time. Now, if you recall, Laura confessed that she was only sixteen when she and Rob eloped. He laughed when he found out—probably out of relief that he wasn’t arrested, imprisoned in the stockade, and had to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life. But the parents! Both women were dowdy and could have passed for seventy with silver hair, pouchy frowns and great grandma bosoms. For Pete’s sake! Even if Laura’s mom had waited until she was well into her twenties to have a baby, she still would have barely hit forty when her daughter was a teenager. Forty-year-olds just don’t generally let a few gray hairs turn them into geriatric cases anymore. Outside the box calls for women and men of any age, even in their later forties, to fall passionately in love. We can still be romantic after the kids are gone, can’t we? And we have all that experience….which doesn’t always mesh with all those innocent sighs and kisses.

Outside the box storylines take experience and temptation and twist it into a pretzel of potential insurmountable problems. Today’s inspirational players know the Lord, but aren’t necessarily inoculated against the delights of the dark side. There might be more than sweet kisses; there might even be certain clothing removal, alcohol, vomit, difference ethnicities, races, creeds. If a grown woman who’s been married knows the best part of sex, and has been denied that act for a number of years, is on a “Mr. God, are you really there?” basis with faith, then develops a healthy romantic interest in a man who feels the same for her, wouldn’t you think she’d want to prove that she’s not dead? The sinful part, adultery, is not often acceptable to many publishers, but if it happens is treated with class, true remorse and repentance. Another possibility of portraying edgy sensuality can run into titillation, which is problematic; a tease and enticement to sinful emotions that can lead to sinful acts. All I’m saying is that Paul preached about this in several of his epistles, and faithful Christians avoid enticing sinful behavior. Christians have problems with pornography, alcoholism, etc., and we ought not to linger on the “feels good while I’m doing it” behaviors.

Women in general are bolder, and today’s edgy stories reflect that role change, no matter the era of the setting. Some of the twists that I’ve written into my books are: Men don’t have to be the older and wiser half of the couple. The role model older brother is just as vulnerable to temptation and his fall forever colors everyone around him. A character may be willing to lie or give in to sex. A person of faith might have real questions and struggles with that faith and not want to do what the Lord is asking him or her to do. A man might run away when the going gets tough, rather than have to be the strong one. A woman might make the first moves. A wedding might not be the end of the story, even if it was planned. A woman might have to rescue, even give her life, for her man.

If we’re going to label a work “faith-based” the one piece of formula I’m going to expect is a faith element. It might be tucked away, subtle, or clothed in other-worldly terms in spec fiction, but I feel strongly that it must be there. People acting sweet doesn’t cut it. Entertainment doesn’t bash the reader over the head to force a particular value, or get vulgar to prove that it’s edgy. And yes, I used a swear word as shock value in one of my books to show the depth of emotional upheaval a character was undergoing. But I prefer to think that people of faith are smart enough not to jump off a cliff just to prove a point. We write about imperfect characters, yes; but forgiven characters who know their place in the kingdom and want to usher their neighbors in. And that’s always the bottom line.