Thank you, Kristen. Another wonderful guest. Thank you for continuing to focus on issues related to the young men fiction segment. (I laughed out loud when you asked him your "...in five years... question.) And a great answer by Mr. Free!
Can't say I've ever read "Christian Fiction" but I was a fan of this show called Awakenings back on Channel 38 back in the 90s. Local show, once a week, hosted by Clifford E. Turner of Liberty Temple. They were ahead of the curve. They had a TV studio and a publishing company with bookstore where their small church was at. First time I liked watching that type of stuff. It went on for years. Classic show and they had all Christian writers, all who went to the church and it was for young adults. If you can catch an episode on YT, they should have had a book series. The show was about a lot of young people being involved into "sin" essentially being in the street, but eventually finding their way/life back to God. Wasn't not a kid 10-25 back in Chicago not watching it when it was on Saturday nights at 11:30, which totally was unheard of going against SNL back then. They would never be able to get on TV now.
The current landscape of indie writing (and the bleak, "maybe it can pay my taxes" best case scenarios) is actually a blessing in that there's a case to be made that going against every logical publishing trend is the only way you might stand out. I hope that's the case, because my epic Christian fantasy novel ignores (or more accurately, is completely unaware of) any of the trends that would appeal to a trad publisher. I could not care less. I have a story I want to tell that I think is worth telling, and the way I'm telling it is how I believe it should be told (you may also read a little bit of subtext in my words that I truly feel "led" to write this book.) I believe that there are others who would really like my book. My author journey is trying to figure out how to let that slice of the world know my book exists.
I'm pitching my book as Game of Thrones meets The Book of Acts. My story is very explicitly Christian. The premise is "What would it take for a world like Westeros or Middle-Earth to become believers in actual Jesus (not an allegorical lion or representation of Jesus)?" I fully realize that this premise narrows the potential audience significantly, but I absolutely don't care. I'm writing a book that I wished existed. I'm a Christian who thinks that Game of Thrones is a brilliant work. I wish there was a Christian-focused epic fantasy that pursues worldbuilding as fully as Game of Thrones and Lord of the Rings and fill-in-the-blank epic fantasy series you like. My main characters are four men who change their world, but they start off as boys in the novel, but it's not YA, but there's nothing inappropriate for younger readers (despite my inspiration being Game of Thrones. No nudity or sex or profanity in it, and almost no incest, but plenty of battle action. Okay, I lied... there's no incest in it... or is there? <There's not.>)
I've had gentle pushback from family and friends who have seen my premise and my book trailer (but they're family and friends...let's be real. They have not and will never actually READ my book) and they express all the stereotypical things I'd expect a trad publisher to say.
"One of your main characters needs to be a girl, or at least non-binary." (All four are very straight and male.)
"You need all four boys to be different ethnicities to appeal to a wider range. (All four are white, except one who is still technically white, but I won't go into detail here).
"You need SPICE in your books" (No I don't, unless it turns out these boys are from Dune.)
"Your book needs to be way shorter." (Nah. People that like epic fantasy luxuriate in the worldbuilding and don't blink at longer novels)
I get it, and I don't disagree with the validity of any of their advice, I just absolutely don't care.
My mantra these last few years as I've worked on this book is a quote/letter from JRR Tolkien talking about the monumental debt he owed to CS Lewis. "Only from him did I ever get the idea that my ‘stuff’ could be more than a private hobby. But for his interest and unceasing eagerness for more I should never have brought The Lord of the Rings to a conclusion"
It's stunning to realize there was a point in time where Tolkien had only ONE person who was interested in hearing about his story. Everyone else, I'm sure, was saying, "Why don't you write a more simple story about a boy and a sword and maybe a dragon or a troll?" But it turns out that millions and millions of people wanted to read exactly the story he wrote. So that's my mindset. Maybe there's only one other person in the world who might be impacted by my book. But maybe there's millions who just don't know my book is the exact one they've been waiting their whole lives for. I choose to BELIEVE. And I choose to write my book that flaunts all the current trends. (and this was absolutely not a sneaky ad for my book, but I'll just say that it's available to read for free on my Substack if you so choose to pursue more details).
Thank you, Kristen. Another wonderful guest. Thank you for continuing to focus on issues related to the young men fiction segment. (I laughed out loud when you asked him your "...in five years... question.) And a great answer by Mr. Free!
Can't say I've ever read "Christian Fiction" but I was a fan of this show called Awakenings back on Channel 38 back in the 90s. Local show, once a week, hosted by Clifford E. Turner of Liberty Temple. They were ahead of the curve. They had a TV studio and a publishing company with bookstore where their small church was at. First time I liked watching that type of stuff. It went on for years. Classic show and they had all Christian writers, all who went to the church and it was for young adults. If you can catch an episode on YT, they should have had a book series. The show was about a lot of young people being involved into "sin" essentially being in the street, but eventually finding their way/life back to God. Wasn't not a kid 10-25 back in Chicago not watching it when it was on Saturday nights at 11:30, which totally was unheard of going against SNL back then. They would never be able to get on TV now.
The current landscape of indie writing (and the bleak, "maybe it can pay my taxes" best case scenarios) is actually a blessing in that there's a case to be made that going against every logical publishing trend is the only way you might stand out. I hope that's the case, because my epic Christian fantasy novel ignores (or more accurately, is completely unaware of) any of the trends that would appeal to a trad publisher. I could not care less. I have a story I want to tell that I think is worth telling, and the way I'm telling it is how I believe it should be told (you may also read a little bit of subtext in my words that I truly feel "led" to write this book.) I believe that there are others who would really like my book. My author journey is trying to figure out how to let that slice of the world know my book exists.
I'm pitching my book as Game of Thrones meets The Book of Acts. My story is very explicitly Christian. The premise is "What would it take for a world like Westeros or Middle-Earth to become believers in actual Jesus (not an allegorical lion or representation of Jesus)?" I fully realize that this premise narrows the potential audience significantly, but I absolutely don't care. I'm writing a book that I wished existed. I'm a Christian who thinks that Game of Thrones is a brilliant work. I wish there was a Christian-focused epic fantasy that pursues worldbuilding as fully as Game of Thrones and Lord of the Rings and fill-in-the-blank epic fantasy series you like. My main characters are four men who change their world, but they start off as boys in the novel, but it's not YA, but there's nothing inappropriate for younger readers (despite my inspiration being Game of Thrones. No nudity or sex or profanity in it, and almost no incest, but plenty of battle action. Okay, I lied... there's no incest in it... or is there? <There's not.>)
I've had gentle pushback from family and friends who have seen my premise and my book trailer (but they're family and friends...let's be real. They have not and will never actually READ my book) and they express all the stereotypical things I'd expect a trad publisher to say.
"One of your main characters needs to be a girl, or at least non-binary." (All four are very straight and male.)
"You need all four boys to be different ethnicities to appeal to a wider range. (All four are white, except one who is still technically white, but I won't go into detail here).
"You need SPICE in your books" (No I don't, unless it turns out these boys are from Dune.)
"Your book needs to be way shorter." (Nah. People that like epic fantasy luxuriate in the worldbuilding and don't blink at longer novels)
I get it, and I don't disagree with the validity of any of their advice, I just absolutely don't care.
My mantra these last few years as I've worked on this book is a quote/letter from JRR Tolkien talking about the monumental debt he owed to CS Lewis. "Only from him did I ever get the idea that my ‘stuff’ could be more than a private hobby. But for his interest and unceasing eagerness for more I should never have brought The Lord of the Rings to a conclusion"
It's stunning to realize there was a point in time where Tolkien had only ONE person who was interested in hearing about his story. Everyone else, I'm sure, was saying, "Why don't you write a more simple story about a boy and a sword and maybe a dragon or a troll?" But it turns out that millions and millions of people wanted to read exactly the story he wrote. So that's my mindset. Maybe there's only one other person in the world who might be impacted by my book. But maybe there's millions who just don't know my book is the exact one they've been waiting their whole lives for. I choose to BELIEVE. And I choose to write my book that flaunts all the current trends. (and this was absolutely not a sneaky ad for my book, but I'll just say that it's available to read for free on my Substack if you so choose to pursue more details).