Edgy Fiction

[JO-ANNE VANDERMEULEN]

Wow, I have found my niche!
I have sent my manuscript to agents in both the secular and christian. Secular feel my plot is too "religious" or "spiritual". The christian agencies feel my plot is too explicit. I have taken my manuscript and have began revising my plot. First, trying to exclude the christian aspect and to hit the secular. Then, I will try to tone-down my plot and hit the christian agencies. I did not feel great about this. I wanted my manuscript to be accepted the way it was...edgy fiction.

[Michelle Sutton]

Margo, you always have the funniest comments! LOL!

[Bonnie Calhoun]

Bob Liparulo is even more edgier than Ted. And all of his books have been either already worked as screenplays (Comes a Horseman is being made now) or they've bought options for the screenplays. And he is over-the-top in edgy!

[Kimberlee Mendoza]

There was another author I read a few years ago who I really liked. I think his name was Eric Wilson. He was edgy Christian and successful. Haven't seen a woman break in there yet. Anyone know of any? I'd love to see edgy Christian romance in the CBA.

[Rachel Marks]

Eric is so nice! He's set to have a vampire book come out in September. I can't wait to read it. It's set in Jerusalem, I think.

[Rachel Marks]

I love White Christmas!

I think the opportunity is out there more than it has been in a while. Change is tough and CBA is trying, but it's hard to teach a old Christian new tricks. ;P

Dekker is a very edgy author (and I'm so excited! They're making a movie out my fave book of his, Blink. YAY! I was so bummed that they picked Thr3e for his first movie. I really dispised that book), but I read an interview with him once that said it took him a heck of a long time to get published and at first he was held back a lot. It's his name that allows him to have freedom. Dekker sells. That's really the only reason they don't publish "edge." They are worried it won't sell--the lady in the purchasing pew will get miffed.

I can't tell you how many times I had a conversation with a CBA editor and he/she said something like: "Teens just don't buy books anymore." "Fantasy just doesn't sell."

WHAT?!

*Buzzzz*, wrong answer. Fantasy/Sci-fi is the second largest section in the bookstore after Romance. And the teens are buying books now more than ever--but they're buying the stuff at B&N.

Christians want to buy edge--but they can't buy it in CBA like they'd want. However, I think change is coming. I've seen a lot happen this year in the industry. I think there's light on the horizon.

[Michelle Sutton]

Who wrote White Christmas? I read Blink when it first came out. It's still my favorite Dekker book.

[Rachel Marks]

lol...Margo was singing Sisters from White Christmas. :D I have no clue who wrote it....

[Kimberlee Mendoza]

Can you believe I've never seen White Christmas! I know. Weird!

I LOVED Blink!!! I'm excited to see it coming out, I just hope they do a good job and not a "Christian" job. What I mean is, that it fits industry standards. I went to see Thr3e in the theatre and there were only two other people there on opening weekend. It wasn't done that well. And look at all the Left Behind movies. Totally cheesy done.

I'm glad to see change on the horizon. I used to write psychological thrillers until I had a CBA agent steer me in another direction. Now I write romance. I'd like to combine the two.

[JO-ANNE VANDERMEULEN]

I love to write thriller/romance. Just the perfect combination. I just read somewhere that a writer should first focus on the thriller or suspense and then add the romance after. Comments from anyone?
Another reference of resource indicated suspense/romance is the most difficult genre to write. Any feedback from others?

[Bonnie Calhoun]

LOL...I'm an action/adventure writer. Romance doesn't interest me in the least, so I don't think I'll ever get around to it! I really don't see any difficult genres, because you should be writing the story that God gives you, and He always equips us for the task at hand.

To me writing is a love. If it's difficult to do, then it's not a love, it's a job! LOL...just MHO!

[Rel]

Hi JoVan - I am a reader/reviewer NOT a writer. I love thriller or suspense/romance but high on the suspense and less on the romance. I would be concerned about adding the romance after. I have just read a thriller/romance where it was all to obvious that the romance was wedged in with a crowbar to attract the female audience. It didn't blend in with the characters traits and quirks or fit well with the rest of the story. That might be the danger in adding it at the end.

That's my two cents worth anyway - LOL!!

[Timothy Fish]

Rel mentioned an author who tacked the romance on at the end. Something to think about is that there is a difference between tacking on a story and weaving it into the story. In non-romance stories, the love story frequently takes place as a subplot. We can come back and add subplots, but a good subplot is more than just a few chapters we added later to push up the word count or so we can get Steeple Hill to consider it. At the very least, the subplot should reveal character and discuss the theme, but it should also play an integral role in bringing the story to resolution.

If we look at this less in terms of order of story development and more in terms of parallel development we might consider a single scene. We know that we need to do two things with this scene; we need to develop the story of the two lovebirds; we need to raise the tension with the villain. Focusing on the romance first can be a problem. Let’s say we send the two lovebirds to Paris because the man is wealthy and is trying to impress this woman. Unfortunately, the killer is in Detroit. Oops, now we have to figure out how to get the killer to Paris. If we turn it around, we might put the lovebirds on an elevator in Detroit, the killer shuts off the power to get to them and they start climbing up the elevator shaft to get away from him. To develop the romance, the rich man starts telling this woman that when they get out of this he would like to take her to Paris on his private jet.