After years of seeing her books in stores and movies made from them on network TV, I recently decided to read a Danielle Steel novel. It was curiosity that led me to it. I wanted to see just how “bad” her storylines are.

I was actually surprised to see that the storyline wasn’t bad at all. In fact, it was good! The book I picked up, Rogue, was actually a nice story of a divorced couple finding their way back together. Sure, there was more cussing than I would have liked. And I didn’t care for the drinking and the sex scenes (though they were not nearly as graphic as I had expected). Over all, it was an entertaining book. It could have been an amazing, unforgettable tale (especially the part where the husband finally “grows up”).

Could have been. But it wasn’t.

Even more of a surprise than the “tameness” of the book was the writing ability of Danielle Steel. Or should I say that lack of writing ability.

OK, so the woman has sold a lot of books. According to the Wikipedia entry about her, Steel has sold 550 million copies of her books, had 22 books made into TV movies, spent nearly 400 weeks at the top of the New York Times best seller list, and is the 7^th bestselling author of all time. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danielle_Steel) Between 1973 and 2009, she wrote and published over 75 books, not counting her children’s books and non-fiction offerings. She is obviously a very successful writer, with a career many of us can only dream of.

Personally, I would prefer to eek out a meager living with one or two well-written novels than be raking in the profits of nearly one hundred poorly written ones.

OK, so maybe that isn’t fair. Maybe I just picked a bad example of her writing. Maybe the others are not as poorly written as Rogue. Obviously there is someone out there who likes them. I won’t be spending my time reading through them all, trying to find one that isn’t a dud, though.

Why do I think this is a dud? Mainly because there is one “rule” that I have always heard about writing, one thing that I strive to do—”Show, don’t tell”. In this book, I felt that Steel was telling me what she wanted me to know, not showing me. She repeatedly talks about how “flaky” Blake is and how is never around for his ex-wife and kids. She doesn’t SHOW it, though. In the scenes with Blake and the kids, he is very involved with them, and appears to be very hands-on. And as far as telling, there are so many places in the book where she just repeats the same thing over and over. It’s like she is trying to convince herself and her readers of what is happening.

Danielle Steel may be one of the most known, bestselling authors of all time. But based on just this one book, her work is not something that I want to spend my time on.

Recently, I was told that one of my novels was too risqué for a Christian resale shop to support. It is completely within the rights of the store managers to feel this way, and I respected their decision.

At least I did until I saw a shelf of Danielle Steel novels for sale in this same shop.

I’ll be honest—I had never read a Danielle Steel novel before. I can’t say I’ve ever seen a movie made from one of her books either, though I can say that I have seen the previews for them. “Risqué” seems too tame to convey what I saw in those clips and scenes. It confused me and even hurt a little that my novel about first love could be over the line, but her works could be deemed acceptable. I decided that I would read at least one of her novels for myself, just so I could compare my work and hers a little more fairly.

The novel I chose was “Rogue”.

This is the story of a man and a woman, still very much in love, who found they were not compatible in the same home. They have been divorced for I believe 5 years. She is raising their 3 children while working full time as an adolescent psychiatrist, specialization in suicidal teens (note: NOT a job I would want to tackle!!). He is a free spirit, spending his time jet-setting around the globe, purchasing homes to remodel/restore, and dating any hot young thing he meets. Throughout the book, they slowly realize how much they need each other and that no one else can make them “complete”.

It’s a harmless enough story line. In the right hands, it likely could have been a very powerful story as well. But the book is filled with sex, alcohol use, and cursing. No, the sex scenes are not graphic. They are also not between married partners. The drinking was not always confined to adults, and it seemed that the only not swearing was the 6-year-old.

Is this kind of work acceptable in a Christian resale shop because it is not labeled as “Christian literature”? Mine is. So does that mean my characters need to be perfect, following the Bible exactly, never veering off the path or taking a detour into sin? I suppose I could write that, if I really tried. But the characters would not be real. If not for the mistakes we make, there would have been no need for the death of Christ. Why would we need a Savior if we never needed to be saved?