Into the Fire

. . . about the business of writing. Depending upon the experience of an individual writer, the assessments of the publishing business will proclaim a profound appreciation for or a quiet gratitude with overtones of under-appreciation for the particular process.

In my limited experience with the well-established local Christian writers’ conference, I’ve observed the gamut of desperate wannabes, polished attendees, nervous beginners, and disillusioned published professionals. From the visiting professionals holding classes and interviews I heard both encouragement and discouragement with no ill intent. Some were gently honest, and some were no holds barred honest. All were kind, sincere, and came looking for new clients with a measure of skepticism.

For several months of 2008 I read from three to six novels a month. I read some of the best novels of my adult life and a handful of the worst. And, yes, I do mean the worst—from a variety of publishers, all of whom contribute in some capacity to the CBA and either boldly or loosely fall into the category everybody loves to hate: “Christian fiction”.

Considering my experience as a reader and adding on my experience as a writer of seven complete novels, two self-published, I’ve learned that it’s very difficult for professionals to articulate what they’re truly looking for because within the framework of the number of novels they intend to acquire and produce in a given year, if the “right” story comes along, chances are they will make an exception to the “rule”. If you hang around the professionals’ blogs, you will eventually hear the conclusion, “I’ll know it when I see it.” That’s an honest statement. So many novels fall into an uneasily described category leading to the confusing qualifications of sub-genres.

Many inexperienced writers have attacked successful novels after studying and applying what these professionals have identified as the “rules of writing” simply, I’m now convinced, out of necessity to attempt to put some order into the submissions they were receiving and to also make an effort to define “good” writing. That effort failed miserably, if in fact definition was its intent.

Wannabes used “the rules” as if there could be no variances and marveled at the number of published authors who bid these rules no heed! Their reading experiences were ruined by the application of these rules to the published examples before them because nearly every novel broke them in so many different ways. What they failed to realize, but hopefully were able to eventually learn, is that these were the guidelines for gaining a fairly reliable structure for effective writing and storytelling. The rules were (and are) no more hard and fast than a single way to ski, dance, or cook. They provided a fundamental base—or springboard—for those writers who could be inventive and expressive beyond formulaic writing.

The business of writing requires certain basics. The physical formation of books is simple. The accumulation of particular books for publication is not. The reason for this difficulty is the meshing of opinions, selections, and consensus decisions of the professionals as to what they believe cannot help but sell in numbers significant enough to turn a profit. However, the often mentioned statistics indicate that a large portion of produced books don’t earn out their advances—that a huge number of published novels don’t sell 5000 books. That doesn’t seem like a percentage which would keep people employed for long in most other businesses—unless of course you worked for Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac or maybe the auto industry . . . if you get my drift. What’s wrong with this picture?

In the process of book publishing and bookselling, the blame seems to fall upon the author for the lack of success. Strange since it’s the publisher who selects which authors get the publishing call.

These are a few of the conundrums of publishing . . . according to my thoughts.

Father, you have no conundrums. You have plans for your people. That’s exciting and comforting at the same time. Increase my obedience, Lord. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.