editors speak
Chatting with Carol Duerksen, With Magazine
By Jan Fields
WITH is a Christian teen magazine, published six times a year, with a
strong practical focus on teen life in today's society. According
to their guidelines, " WITH seeks to empower youth to be radically
committed to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, to peace and
justice, and to sharing God’s good news through word and action." We
talked last year with Carol Duerksen, the editor of WITH, for our
Spiritual Matters department. But we realize many of our readers would
like to gain more insight into the magazine and how writers can break
into this fascinating market, so we're bringing that interview back in
our more popular Editors Speak slot for those who missed it the first
time.
Sometimes mainstream writers assume all religious magazines are
filled with nothing but pious sermons for kids and teens. But nothing
could be further from reality in WITH. "WITH has sometimes gotten into
hot water with some of the more conservative subscribers," Duerksen
admits, because the magazine is committed to providing godly help for
teens in difficult situations. She mentioned topics like child abuse,
which many Christian magazines would consider too edgy, but which WITH
has stepped in with help for the hurting.
Another mainstream myth is that religious markets have no sense of
humor -- especially in serious subjects. Edgy doesn't mean dreary,
though, and Duerksen says WITH seeks to mix humor with the very
serious topics involved in sharing God's good news in word and
action. "We want articles from a teen perspective," Duerksen says and
doesn't run the "I remember when I was a kid…" type articles that
sometimes cross her desk as editor. "We want a teen voice and a teen
perspective but we know adults write most of our articles. Plus, our
readers range from rural Middle America to Toronto, Ontario -- so there
are is no one exact common reader. We need writers who can speak to
all our readers."
When asked to mention an article that really made her feel good about
running it, she described an article by Max Lucado from last year's
December issue. Her favorite thing about the piece was the way Lucado
captured both the very real humanity and the divinity of Jesus. "He
talks about Mary changing Jesus' diaper -- you don't get much more human
than that," she says. The accompanying magazine illustration featured a
fetus in the womb. The goal is to pull teens into the reality of Jesus
and give insight into stories the reader may have heard over and over
but not really thought deeply about as real-life happenings.
Duerksen also cited the Bible stories of Leola Floren Gee which run
in every issue. [A sample can be seen online.]
"The stories always put you right into the scene and the character. They
include humor and they always have a cool takeaway point. The use of
humor and the humanizing of the story -- those are definitely WITH
traits."
WITH also encourages readers to think for themselves. "We try to give
a well-rounded look," Duerksen says. For example, the same December
issue printed two different pieces that mentioned the Mel Gibson movie,
The Passion. There was a movie review, which was negative, and
another piece where the author talked about how powerfully the movie
touched her. By not presenting a single view, WITH gives room for teens
to make their own choices within godly context.
WITH is also open to teen writers but the bar for quality is very
high. "The area that would probably be best for new teen writers to
break in would be the WITH Devotions," Duerksen says. "I've been running
reprints from Devo'zine and many of them are written by teens." She adds
that WITH likes to cultivate good young writers who are also good
writers. So, if you like writing for teens and you feel you can share
with them instead of talking at them -- give WITH a thought. Here is a
theme and deadline to get you started:
May 15 "Finding the Real Me" [Nov/ Dec ’05 issue]
This page last updated on 01 April 2005
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