Kevin Lucia

Well, if it ever comes about, we can always blame Michelle Pendergrass for the title, though I doubt we'll actually call it that.  Plus, it won't be that much like MoCon mostly because:

A. There's no way you can copy the awesomeness that is MoCon.

B. We'd probably do something a bit more generic, looking at fiction and writing in general.

It's largely an unformed idea at the moment.  We had the begginnings of something this year with our first annual Arts Retreat at our church, which welcomed visiting speaker and artist  David Taylor.  I was invited to read "Way Station" from Coach's Midnight Diner, (left), to talk about my writing habits and writing horror.

It was a good time.  Right about the time Dave Taylor showed us a slideshow of necessary artistic influences and listed Shaun of the Dead as one of them, I suspected he was my kind of guy, and when he compared the plot of the standard (bad) Christian novel to the plot of a porn movie...I was sold.

How does THAT go, exactly?  Bad Christian fiction = porn?  Sorry.  You'll have to attend the conference - if we have one - to find out.

Anyway, the arts director and I have been talking for awhile about doing something along the lines of a writing convention, because there's not much in this area for writers, with the exception of the great work our poet laureate Andre Guruianu has done with The Broome Review and the workshops they've held in the last two years (We'd certainly invite them to participate, too). 

I don't want to run a conference on "how to write Christian fiction", though.  I want a conference focused on the art of writing, Christian/faith fiction being only a small segment.  I've been very fortunate to encounter writers of all kinds, across the faith/nonfaith/mainstream spectrum, and I'd love to bring them together to talking about writing - as an art form, as a business, as a life pursuit, as a discipline, if only because when I started out I didn't have access to this kind of information and floundered for quite some time. 

Tamara Murphy (UCCC Creative Arts Director) and I still need to hammer out the details, but what I'm imagining is a conference for the public at large and anyone interested in writing in general, both fiction and nonfiction.  We'd have panels, workshops, readings, and even suggested readings: suggested fiction and nonfiction.

I'd like the focus to be "On Moral Fiction/Writing".  Renowned author John Gardner wrote a critical work of the same name, and though controversy still swirls as to whether or not he wrote it as a cruel prank, (most of his own fiction contradicts his critical essays, being mostly postmodern), the idea has resonance with me.

As a writer and a reader, I'm not so much interested in creating or enjoying fiction with an evangelical thrust aimed at pushing ideals or beliefs, I'm more interested in fiction that has substance: that there's not only good old fashioned "suspension of disbelief" and flight of fancy fun, but that there's something solid to take away, something that benefits humanity as a whole.   In other words, in addition to the entertainment factor: what's the message? What's the point, even?

Anyway.  Some thoughts.  KevCon.  Doesn't really sound as good as MoCon, but we'll see.  As long as Michelle comes and makes her Shrimp Etouffee.  Heck, I'd call it PenderCon, just for that.