Chris Norman finds himself in possession of a strange object after almost losing his life in an airplane crash. It’s a celtic cross, and this leads Chris on a journey to the Isle of Skye, where he has inherited the croft his forebears farmed, and where he still has one distant relation. That relation is …
Spiralling Out of Control by Michelle Dennis Evans
Stephanie’s family have moved from Sydney to Toowomba, a move that forces her to leave her best friend, her school and her passion in life: dance lessons. While the rest of the family settle easily into their new lives, Stephanie is teased and has trouble fitting in to her new school until Jason, one of …
How to Write a Christian Novel: Defining Your Genre 11
Step Six: What is your target word count? The ‘sweet spot’ for a modern novel seems to be 90,000 words (which equates to around 300 pages), but there is variation by genre: Category romance (e.g. Love Inspired): 55,000 to 60,000 words, but can be up to 75,000 words depending on the imprint (e.g. Love Inspired …
How to Write a Christian Novel: Defining Your Genre 10
Step Five: Is your novel a stand-alone or part of a series? My personal opinion is that, where possible, authors should plan to write a series of books. This has advantages in both the writing and the marketing: Research You can utilise your research into time and place for more than one book, reducing average …
How to Write a Christian Novel: Defining Your Genre 9
Step Four: When is your novel set? The key question to ask in writing a historical novel is: Is the time period an integral part of the plot? If not, consider a contemporary novel. Successful historical novels are almost always set in a time of social, political or religious conflict. Perhaps this is why there …
How to Write a Christian Novel: Defining Your Genre 8
Worldbuilding Genres Many bookshops have a section called ‘Sci-fi/Fantasy’ or similar, which annoys writers because they see the genres as being quite separate—and they are. What these novels do have in common is the requirement for world-building: the ability of the author to create a credible imaginary world in which the story takes place. This …
How to Write a Christian Novel: Defining Your Genre 7
Action Genres Ronald Tobias distinguishes between plots of the body and plots of the mind, and action plots are plots of the body. They are focused on providing suspense, surprise and fulfilling expectation, and the main character doesn’t necessarily change and grow as an individual (think James Bond or Jack Reacher). Mystery The essence …
How to Write a Christian Novel: Defining Your Genre 6
The Romance Genre The biggest genre is romance: biggest both in terms of the number of books published, and the number of books sold . Romance novels, according to Romance Writers of America, have two defining qualities : they have a love story that is central to the plot, and they have an “emotionally-satisfying and …
What Makes A Good Book Review?
Following on from my post last week about getting book reviews on Amazon, I thought I’d address a related question: What makes a good book review? Looking at Amazon, it appears that a lot of authors automatically consider a five-star review to be good and a three-star or lower review to be bad. I disagree. …
How to Write a Christian Novel: Defining Your Genre 5
What genre are you writing? In this post we are addressing the traditional understanding of genre, as opposed to the market segment (described in the previous posts). Christian fiction is a market segment, like Young Adult. There are different genres within the Christian fiction segment, just as there are different genres in the general market. …