Writing Brief — Fall ’08

Back in ’06, after I’d finished my first (still unpublished) novel and was shopping for representation, a Scripture came to me in a dream. The verse was so vivid, I immediately woke up and wrote it on an index card.

“Cast your bread upon the waters, for after many days you will find it.” — Eccl. 11:1

I keep that card in a shadowbox (the one pictured here), and the verse has served as a reminder, sometimes as inspiration, during my writing journey. There comes a point in every writer’s life  when a project is completed and then released. Months, maybe years, of labor are “cast upon the waters.” And then we wait to see if, when, or how it will return. The funny thing about this verse is that, the week I “got it,” Janet Grant offered me agent representation. So it’s a really special reminder about the nature of the writing business and how God providentially guides us and our work.

While a couple of my short stories have been accepted and are currently waiting in the wings for publication, I’ve recently managed to push through two big projects. Okay, this one isn’t so big — it just felt like it. But last month, I finished a short story that I’d been wrestling with for the longest. It’s about 5K in length and set in a distant future where “singers” — a new breed of being — are routinely exterminated. These frail souls, through their musical giftings, can evoke euphoria in their listeners, sometimes madness. Thus, they became fodder for the galactic black market. I named the piece “Consonance,” built heavily upon Pythagorean music theory and the Vocal Memnon legend. Aren’t we all looking for a universal note to bind our “dissonance”?

Anyway, Consonance begins its journey and, at the rate the publishing business moves, could take years before it ever returns to me. Stay tuned.

Of much bigger consequence is the revision of “What Faith Awakes” (WFA). It’s the story of a crippled woman who raises a boy from the dead, the smalltown citizenry who grapple with its implications, and the ancient curse unleashed by the miracle. (Miracles always have a price tag, don’t they?) This is my first completed novel, a 91K word supernatural suspense aimed at CBA readers. My agent has been shopping the work throughout the Christian publishing industry. While several house requested the entire m/s, nothing has stuck. The most interesting response I had was from an editor who really liked WFA, but thought it was “too eerie” (his words) for the Christian market. While the arc of the story, and the thematic elements, are overtly “Christian,” there are some ingredients that grate against CBA conventions. So I’m not too surprised with the response.

Anyway, it’s led to some great — but hard — conversations with my agent. After months of wrestling within myself, we’ve come to the conclusion I should aim for the general market rather than the Christian market. It’s a bittersweet realization for me. It feels like I’m leaving the Church or something. So, as part of this transition, I’ve spent time revising WFA for an ABA launch. It’s been really fun, and I actually think the story is truer to itself as a result.

So what changes did I make? Did I gut the story of its religious elements? Not at all. The story arc remains relatively the same, however I’ve included more PG-13 elements (minor cursing and “soft” horror elements), and reduced the “Christianese.” It’s funny how, when approaching this story from another angle, so much “Christian code” is evident. (Could this be said of all Christian Fiction?) But even more surprising is, after two years away from WFA, how cliche the ending seemed. Good guys win. Bad guys lose. Scriptural lesson is obvious. Just heat and serve. Can’t figure out if this was the result of me being a novice or trying to meet CBA quota. Maybe both. Whatever it is, aiming general market has made the tale truer to the telling, more nuanced, and less predicatable. Anyway, I’ve re-titled the novel, “The Unnamed.” You can find a One Sheet synop, PDF formatted, HERE.

Okay. So this weekend, I finished my revisions, a two-page, single-space synopsis and bio, and the book is cast upon the waters. When, or if, it will ever return is anyone’s guess. I’ll take a couple weeks break, finish up another short story (an urban fantasy, of sorts) and then it’s on to another novel.