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.

[Cathy West]

Great post, Shar! I agree with all you've said. I feel like a novice at all this. When I first started writing for the Christian market I was very timid. I didn't know what was taboo and what wasn't. In some instances I'm still not sure! However I have learned one important thing over the years: write the story God gives you. Even if it knocks your socks off and looks like it has no place in CBA. You never know. If it's His, and you write it His way, He already has a home for it. It's been a real lesson in trust for me.
We're living in exciting times - we have a God-given opportunity to share the good news of hope, forgiveness and restoration. I don't believe we can ever fully know the true meaning of grace if we've never been rescued from the pit. This may come in different forms for different people, but everybody has a story. A lot of our stories are ugly. But God saves. He heals, He renews, and He redeems.
Write it!

[Michelle Sutton]

You are SOOOO my girl, Shar. Love the comment! And for you, Cathy, I give cyber-chocolate. :)

[Cathy West]

As long as it's calorie free cyber chocolate! Gotta get rid of the Christmas poundage! Ha.

[JO-ANNE VANDERMEULEN]

Wow, you are quite an advocate--just what we need to promote our material to the marketing world. I wish a few more agents would read what you've wrote.

[Rita Gerlach]

You said it all, Sharlene! I've just started reading some CBA fiction again. I put it down years ago after growing weary of sugar-n-spice and everything nice stories with unrealistic happy endings and flat characters. Give me grit. Give me characters that are human, with flaws, tears, mind-numbing pain and heart wrenching grief. I want characters that bleed, that doubt, struggle, and fall. I want plots that captivate me and hold my attention.

Most readers I talk to tell me they want to read clean fiction, meaning they don't like the 'f' word laced throughout or graphic sex. But they do want edge.

I'm in that category where my novels are too 'spiritual' for the secular and not 'spiritual' enough for CBA. But I am still writing and believing my manuscripts will find a publisher, God willing.

[Kimberlee Mendoza]

Well put, Rita! I'm often in that category too. But I think with the secular publishers starting to join with CBA publishers, the winds are changing!

[Rachel Marks]

That's where I am too. And I agree, Kimberlee. The winds are changing. :D

[Michelle Sutton]

I thank God for that!

[Dennis Bates]

Add me to the list! The winds need to change.

Dennis

[Michelle Sutton]

Hey, that's me, too! I just got a rejection the other day from Faithwords that said they liked my writing but thought the subject was too CBA-ish for them (it was about a woman having an affair) because the faith element was so strong. Center Street sent it to Faithwords also. How is someone too CBA-ish anyway? You can see people's thoughts on that story by reading my endorsements page on my website www.michellesutton.net . Anyway, it is frustrating. There will be people who will say my story is too sensual or graphic (It's Not About Me) that Sheaf House bought. But most people will love it and that's what I'm shooting for.

[Timothy Fish]

People like happy endings. We want Cinderella to get her prince. We want Beauty to fall in love with the Beast. We want E.T. to go home. Even if the ending isn't happy, people like a sugary-sweet ending, like in Where the Red Fern Grows.

I think we like these stories because they give us hope. Even if we have to employ suspension of disbelief, these stories remind us that it is possible for us to overcome our weaknesses and gain our desires.

[Bonnie Calhoun]

LOL...Sharlene...you crack me right up! I think we all know who you mean, but you can't fight with what sells. If it pays the bills...that's what you write right! Personally if I have to suspend disbelief to get through an ending the book hits the wall, and I never read that author again. I'm edgy...REAL edgy...just like ti does with children, sugar makes me hyper *snort-giggle*