Christianbook.com Fiction Blog

Back in the day, movies and TV dramas that were downright creepy, were The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits” and The Birds by Alfred Hitchcock, just to name a few.  They didn’t contain sex or direct violence just great drama, imaginative thinking and of course, great writing and acting.  If you think Christian fiction suspense and intrigue is tame, try reading any of the books in The Bug Man series by Tim Downs.  He gives forensic lessons that definitely make you think differently every time you look at a bug!  Tim actually went to a three day “bug” camp just to learn about his subject.

Then there’s Colleen Coble, she gets excited at the mere mention of gory and creepy.  One of her best “creepy” books was Abomination…and believe me, that was creepy.   She even incorporated a type of game called geo-caching into the story which is a new phenomenon.

 Brandilyn Collins has taken creepy to a whole new level with her book, Exposure, just to name one.“ A columnist who is already paranoid and even writes about her paranoia in her column, is creeped out someone leaving a camera in her house, which means someone has invaded her home; now to make anyone believe that she’s not faking it!

These are just a couple of examples of terrific writers writing outstanding Fiction.  It takes great imagination and a paradigm shift in thinking to make these stories deliciously “creepy,” and they are all masters at their craft!

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So many people ask,”How do I become an author? I have a great story but have no idea how to pitch it.” First of all, we have a wonderful Writer’s Corner on the fiction website where many authors have contributed their knowledge to help others along the writing journey. 

In almost every instance, the writers will tell you to go to a writer’s conference.  You gain invaluable experience and exposure.  There are many Christian Writers Conferences scheduled throughout the country and throughout the year, which include the American Christian Fiction Writers Conference (ACFW), the Christian Writers Guild, Mount Hermon Writers Conference and the Blue Ridge Writer’s conference among many others.  The purpose of the conferences is to enhance each author’s opportunity; whether it is to refine an already published author’s skills, or to meet an agent for the first time.  Your experience will help your writing career exponentially. There are several books recommended for fiction writers:

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One of the most amazing facets of working with Christian fiction authors is to discover “the” story from their heart and soul. You know it’s not just a fiction story, but the book comes from deep down, where it’s painful to write yet their story insists on bubbling to the surface. The author feels extraordinarily vulnerable, exposing their inner pain to the world at large, and they pray that their story will help others. These are the books of courage!  There are two such books that specifically deal with adult victims of childhood sexual abuse. Patty Hickman wrote the wonderful story, “Painted Dresses” and Mary DeMuth wrote, “Watching the Tree Limbs.”  They’re both wonderfully written!

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When I called to interview new author Laura Frantz,  she was meeting with Deeanne Gist the same day to do a book signing.  Deeanne Gist was flying out the following day to visit and participate the famous CBD warehouse sale and have an interview with me. You can hear both interviews on the Christianbook.com website.

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Once I started thinking about the authors collaborating, I realized that is truly a huge understatement.  They are so tight that it’s not at all uncommon that when I interview one author, like Cathy Marie Hake, that I have to call Tracie Peterson’s house to find her…not once, but twice!  They live in different states!

And then there’s the conncection between Tracie Peterson and Judith Miller!  Tracie and Judith worked for the same company, when Tracie was newly published.  One day, Judith asked Tracie if she would just look at her manuscript.  She not only “looked” at her manuscript, Tracie brought Judith’s  manuscript to her publisher AND they ended up publishing several books together.  Of course, the rest of this story is that Judith and Tracie are highly successful authors in their own right.

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One of the most impressive parts of working with the Christian fiction authors is that their direction is clear. They are writing to glorify God, pure and simple. Since that  objective is seared in their hearts and they listen to Him through prayer, they find just as much joy helping other authors as they receive when their manuscripts are accepted.  It doesn’t matter whether they’ve published one book or a hundred books; they help lift each other up. One example of that collaborative spirit is with Amy Clipston and Beth Wiseman. Beth was writing an amish book entitled Plain Perfect.  One of the characters in the book has a bad kidney. To research the information, she reached out to the ACFW group and found that Amy’s husband has kidney issues. Amy Clipston immediately jumped in to help Beth w/ information, and they’ve been friends ever since. Their collaboration created an amish website and a deep friendship. Both writers have achieved excellent sales and have new books coming out:

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Did you know that DiAnn Mills, one of the founding members of the ACFW has sold, on average 350 copies of her books per day since 1998? She’s an amazing person as well as author. DiAnn is a tiny, fiery redhead with a passion for the people of Sudan. She’s had a couple of Sudanese young men live with her and has traveled to Sudan twice. The Sudanese embassy approached her to tell their story with the book, Lost Boy No More. She has two new releases coming out which you don’t want to miss!

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Whenever I want to hear the fiction scoop,I head to our customer service department,the pulse of our company.  Sure enough,the buzz around CS is that everyone who’s read the first one in the Lije Evans series can hardly wait to get their hands on “Swopes’s Ridge!”  It’s one of those sleepers…like the “Top Gun” movie.

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Make sure to check out our updated Series Shop!

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If you enjoy Karen Kingsbury’s books make sure to try upcoming author Kathryn Cushman’ s new book Leaving Yesterday!

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