Good News, Bad News from Mount Hermon
This entry was posted on Monday, March 31. 2008 and is filed under Posts by Rebecca Luella Miller,Fantasy.
Good news, bad news from the Mount Hermon Christian Writer's Conference.
The good news first. WaterBrook editor Shannon Hill was on the docket to give a seminar entitled "Groundbreaking Fantasy" in the first workshop slot. Bad news, Shannon became too ill to attend the conference.
The best I can do is share the points from the handout made available in our Conference Notebooks. First the complete title: "Groundbreaking Fantasy: Or how breaking ground in fantasy writing is a myth—and why we are better for it."
Well, if that doesn't intrigue you, nothing will.
Below are the points Shannon planned to cover, in order:
Archetypes: Who needs em? You do ...
Fantastical Fore-parents: Why does everyone like these writers so much anyway? [Wouldn't I love to here an editor discuss that point!]
Contemporary Influencers: You may not love it all, but be knowledgeable about it.
Good Groundbreaking versus Bad: Friends don't let Friends write Insane Fantasy Fiction
Highly Successful Habits of Humble, Hungry Hobbits: Making a character stick with your readers [another topic I would LOVE to hear discussed by an editor]
Christian and Hopeful get to the Celestial City: Using allegory in your storytelling
So, now I'm wondering how I can convince Shannon to pass on some of her views in another venue since conference tapes aren't available.
The real positive here must not be overlooked. An editor of a publishing house that is producing fantasy, and doing so successfully, planned to tell the rest of us fantasy writers what's working. And presumably why.
My guess—and my hope—is, this seminar, though it had to be cancelled, didn't go unnoticed by other editors.
Now there's a move afoot to prompt Mount Hermon to include more such seminars, maybe even a Major Morning Track for science fiction and fantasy. I think that might be a little premature. But the thought is, if more fantasy seminars are offered, more fantasy writers will attend. And if they attend with quality writing, perhaps more editors and agents will give consideration.
There's still the bottom line to consider, however. Editors and agents have to see the proof in sales.
But the problem remains. Fantasy lovers have yet to learn that CBA stores actually do carry some good fantasy. They aren't looking in Family Christian Store yet, or in the religious section of Borders for the fantasy they want to read.
At Mount Hermon, I talked with two agents who were new to me, and as soon as I said the word "fantasy," we needed to go no further in setting up an appointment. They simply weren't willing to consider taking on a fantasy work. One said she didn't have the connections to sell fantasy, even in the ABA, because those agents specialized—working with the houses known for publishing the genre.
So, once again, it seems that the grassroots movement, though making some inroads, needs to step up. How about this—between now and next Monday, when I plan to post again, tell ten people about the best Christian fantasy you know. That can be via email or in person. But name at least three books. Maybe we can expand on that next week.
When you've told your ten people about the three Christian fantasies you think highly of, leave a comment here. I'll be checking in throughout the week to see our progress.
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Tuesday, April 01. 2008
sally apokedak wrote:
wow, I didn't even read the summary in the notebook. Now I'm really, really bummed that I didn't get to hear that class. I love the "humble, hungry hobbits" line. We all know that humility is attractive, but it's true that their approach toward food and pipe smoking was a huge part of their charm and it made them memorable.
I've already told several people this week about Andrew Peterson's On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness. Great book!
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Wednesday, April 02. 2008
Deena @ My Bookshelf wrote:
Well, I've always been an overachiever:-) I emailed 11 friends about works by Sharon Hinck, Andrew Peterson, and Jeffrey Overstreet, just to name three.
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Wednesday, April 02. 2008
Sue Dent wrote:
It's superfluous to debate the issue when it primarily concerns whether fantasy sells in the CBA or ECPA market.
In the general Christian fiction/fantasy market, fantasy sells. Yes even fantasy written by Christians. The market CBA and ECPA serve will never accept fantasy that appeals to the general Christian market and it will never sell in convincing numbers.
I have better things to do then spend my time convincing a closed market they should accept something that's selling somewhere else. :)
I've not had one problem getting Christian bookstores or publishers to accept my fantasy work. Most of them just ask where I've been! So get those MS's out there authors!
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Wednesday, April 02. 2008
pxiy wrote:
That's such a huge bummer that Shannon was ill! She sounds like she was going to mke some pretty interesting observations.
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Thursday, April 03. 2008
Rachelle Sperling wrote:
I went overboard and listed more than three Christian Fantasy Books that I love, e-mailed them and posted them on my blog. :)
They included books by Karen Hancock, Kathy Tyers, Stephen Lawhead and Michael Warden
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Thursday, April 03. 2008
Rebecca LuElla Miller wrote:
Sue, I would think letting people know that Christian fantasy exists would help any author regardless of the publishing outlet.
And obviously I disagree about CBA being so static it will "never" accept fantasy that appeals to readers who usually shop in the general market. The fact that CBA stores sell C. S. Lewis is an indication there's hope.
Thanks for the good responses to the challenge so far. Deena, I like your over achieving. ;-) Rachelle, great idea to add the list to your web site.
So we have four more days. Guess I'd better get my own emails sent!
Becky
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Thursday, April 03. 2008
Chawna Schroeder wrote:
Okay, I have a confession to make. I've only talked to one person this week about a sci-fi and fantasy novel I love.
But does it count that last month I spent eight hours at a homeschool conference of 350 as a vendor of modern Christian fiction, of which 35 titles were connected to the sci-fi and fantasy genre? Or that I'm headed in a month to another conference of 900 to do the same?
Surely that counts for a few weeks of telling ten people. :o)
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Monday, April 07. 2008
Sue Dent wrote:
But the problem remains. Fantasy lovers have yet to learn that CBA stores actually do carry some good fantasy.
CBA stores (or rather loosely termed, Christian Bookstores) primarily carry CBA fantasy that serves a niche market. If by Fantasy lovers you mean all lovers of fantasy, then they really need not worry about coming back to Christian bookstores for something "new" and different. It's the same old same old. CBA and ECPA published fiction/fanasy. And that's not likely to change anytime soon. I'd list some books for others to read but it seems most who've listed favor the CBA and ECPA market books. I won't risk offending them by listing books published for the general Christian market. Besides, they wouldn't find them in the Christian bookstores anyway.
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Monday, April 07. 2008
Sue Dent wrote:
Yikes! Maybe not "offended" (bad word choice) but certainly not what most are looking to read! :)
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Monday, April 07. 2008
Timothy Hicks wrote:
I've spread the word about Christian speculative fiction at work and in our sundry school class. Our church library has Bryan Davis' Dragons in Our Midst series, and one of Randy Ingermanson's City of God books.
I haven't noticed these being checked out lately.
In Field of Dreams, Kevin Costner built a baseball field after he was told, "If you build it they will come."
We need a speculative fiction Bookstore of Dreams, "if you write them they will read."
Maybe speculative fiction stores would create the demand to carry over to other stores.
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