In short: Wonderful things!
In long, there are four things:
1) I've been working on a top secret, new novel while I send out queries for Capture Me Strong. It's going slowly, but well. I'm just fiddling and building characters and plot.
2) I send out queries in little bursts because if I get no responses/all rejections back, then I know I either need to tweak the story or my query. So, I've been doing that. Sending, waiting, tweaking. Not to be confused with twerking.
3) Some of you may have seen on my author page on Facebook (Click here to check it out, and "Like" if you haven't, please!) because I talked about it there, but there has been something wrong with the beginning of Capture Me Strong, but I haven't been able to figure out what the problem is even with Beta Readers. I was working on the top secret project when it hit me! I suddenly knew what the problem was and how to fix it. I fixed, and it energized me so much that I had the best writing day ever, and was able to edit for number 4.
4) I noticed while I've been querying that I was trying for too vague an audience. Or it seems like it to me, anyway. I'm still learning about the publishing world. When I queried, I wasn't quite sure what genre to choose. Mostly I would say "Contemporary Christian YA with crossover appeal because it addresses faith, but it's not preachy". In case you don't know, that's not a great way to put it. The reason I said it, though, is because I felt like a few small things about my book would be off-putting to a Christian publishers. I used some "real" language that some conservative folk might find foul. To me, they aren't forbidden words. I use some of the words every day. To some, they are swear words. Plus, one of my characters speaks a bit crassly of a sensitive, hot-button issue. So that might not make some Christian people happy. Which means I didn't now if it as "Christian enough" for the Christians.
On the other hand, I knew it was "too Christian" for people who aren't into that. There's talk about God. I explore some of the big questions, like why do such bad things happen on Earth if there's a big, loving God? How can I believe God is my protector when something horrible happens to me? How can I have faith in such goodness when all around me there is such evil? You don't have to believe in God to appreciate those sorts of questions, but there is too much God-talk for it to not be classified as "Contemporary Christian" or "Inspirational Fiction".
I have not read a book that straddles the lines like mine does, and it would be amazing if it could find a home with a publishers as it's line-straddling self. I would love more books that are faith-based but also very real, i.e. not super sugar-coated. If you know of any, please do mention it!
Yes, I could leave it as-is if I self-publish. No, I do not, at this time, want to self-publish. Traditional is the dream.
So I prayed about what to do about this. I felt like I needed to make it a solid one or the other. So I thought about what both versions would be like. After consideration, it was clear to me that I cannot take the faith issues out of the novel. The very heart behind Capture Me Strong is so I can share hope with survivors of sexual violence, that there is healing in the Father. I need to be careful not to preach a message, but to simply tell a story and let the reader, no matter what faith they have, explore their own beliefs and come to their own conclusions, just as the protagonist will come to hers.
This change is also the easiest because I can still make the language very "real" without using language that may offend some people. I greatly admire James Dashner, Veronica Roth, and Susanne Collins (to name a few) who are excellent at showing raw, deep emotion in dialogue without using offensive language. I can do this, too. As for the crassness of the aforementioned character, I can also find ways to stay true to her without being offensive. All it takes is wise word-choice. These changes can be done without changing the important parts of the story. If I took God out of it, it would be like taking my heart out of it, and I can't do that.
Plus now that I'm sticking with "Inspirational/Contemporary Christian YA", I feel like I don't have to be so careful on my Twitter (@Je55ieMullin5) and author FB page not to share my faith too much. That's how I felt before. Like, "okay, I'm going to straddle this line, so I can't say this and this". I want to be free. I feel free this way.
So, I'm making those changes, and I feel great about it. I may end up with a smaller market, but it's vital that I stay true to myself and to the story.
Yay, progress!
Thanks for reading. Stay sweet.
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