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Home » Genre

Genre

What is Inspirational Romance?

By Guest Bloggeron May 24, 2018
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Our guest blogger today is Angela Breidenbach. She is a Montana author & Christian Authors Network president, is the host of Lit Up! on Toginet Radio and Apple Podcasts. Angela went back to college for genealogical studies w/specialties in English & Scottish Records. She’ll graduate in 2019 as a professional genealogist.

Find her at:
AngelaBreidenbach.com
Facebook/Twitter/Pinterest/Instagram: @AngBreidenbach
Apple Podcasts/iTunes: Lit Up! with Angela Breidenbach
Sign up for her newsletter too!

_____________________________

What does “clean”, “sweet”, and “inspirational” mean?

My name is Angela Breidenbach and I’m a multi-published author in the inspirational romance category, both traditional and indie. I’d like to help you understand what Christian romance is and dispel seven myths about the Christian romance market.

Myth 1: There’s no physical attraction or even any kissing!

The truth: Yes, you can show physical attraction and be published by traditional Christian publishers. My characters notice physical attributes, touch, cuddle, and have sky rocket kiss moments. They talk to their friends and family about their attraction the way normal people do in the real world. Christian authors use emotional words to draw readers into the scene to move the story forward. We keep faith involved in the characters’ decisions creating the holistic person who is more dimensional and interesting.

Myth 2: All Christian publishers are the same.

The truth: In the inspirational romance market each publisher is different and has different business goals. Learning about publishers helps you see the variety of depth, entertainment, and topics they focus imprints on for readers.

Genres also vary widely from contemporary to romantic suspense, historical crosses centuries from biblical times to WWII, Amish to Southern, and many more. Stories range from novellas to long sagas. Christian romance is so diverse it’s hard to choose.

Myth 3: Christian publishers and readers don’t like sex.

The truth: Romantic tension is not the same as sex. Romantic tension is what builds between two people and pulls them together physically. Part of romance, but not all of it. In the Christian inspirational (inspy) romance market, a lot of relationship and conflict builds before the “I love you” scene. The act of sex in inspy romance is handled more like that coffee date with a friend where you tell each other the romantic story of how you met your loved one. It’s not common to tell a friend the blow-by-blow details that happen behind your bedroom door. We tend to keep those parts of our lives personal and private in the real world. And yet those personal stories are highly charged with emotion and romance. That’s what reading a Christian romance is like for readers, the romance and story without the invasion of privacy.

Myth 4: Conversion scenes and “Bible thumping” are demanded by publishers.

The truth: No, publishers want a good, cohesive story. If I’m referring to anything biblical, it’s done in dialogue and paraphrased as we do in common conversation. Deep conversations between two people discuss hard life choices, how they share empathy and love. Think of a time you when you hurt deeply. What did that friend say to you to help you through the pain? That’s more like what would happen in a Christian romance.

Myth 5: Clean, sweet, and inspirational tags mean b-o-r-i-n-g and that means sex is a “dirty” word.

The truth: Sex between married people is important to a good marriage and beautiful to Christians. As a norm, there’s no gratuitous sex, violence, or blue language. “Clean” means clean language to readers. “Sweet” means sex is only between married people and behind the bedroom door, unseen and “off screen”. It might be inferred, as in my story, Bridal Whispers in the Lassoed By Marriage Romance Collection. The characters were married, but had obstacles in the way of fulfilling their vows. We know he carried her across the bedroom threshold, and then the door closes. Privacy is respected. Sexual and story tension are important. Christian publishers and readers want that tension. Books are rejected without enough tension.

This readership does call books “clean”, “sweet”, “inspirational”. There are always jargon words in any industry. These are the jargon words in the Christian publishing industry. They have to do with language content, explicit sexual content, and whether the story is from the Christian worldview. Meaning, the book inspires you to live a better life and turn away from things that are harmful. That’s why if risk-taking behavior happens in a Christian book (yes, these do get written into inspirational romances) the character expressing the risky behavior has to have a consequence shown in the story that results from that behavior.

Myth 6: Christian readers don’t like real life problems. They want cotton candy and fluff.

The truth: Christian readers are voracious readers. They love settings of places they want to visit, characters who struggle through real life problems that they’re trying to figure out themselves, and strong women that set an example of going after their goals.

There’s quite a varying degree of what Christian romance readers want to read from fun fluff to deep literary works. For me, it depends on my mood as is likely the same for others. The average age is 45 and up. They want to learn something from the stories and feel good at the end. These readers love learning how to work through relational conflict in positive ways, love to laugh, love to cry with the main characters, and love to win the goal with them at the end.

Myth 7: It’s easy to write a Christian romance.

The truth: Writing a good story, good enough to get published, is complicated. Entire organizations, conferences, and online education systems exist to teach fiction, including Christian romance. These books are character and/or plot driven, but the story is prime and must hold the tension for the reader through characterization and storytelling. The healing in a Christian romance can be from a trauma that resulted from risk-taking behavior or abuse. Even suicide, rape, drug addiction, marital affairs are written—the stuff of real life struggles. But these books are written for readers that want to learn how to heal from trauma while reading a good story. As our characters go through the journey, the reader does, too. No, writing Christian romance is not easy with the additional dimensions added to the mix. But it is fulfilling.

Consider reading across the wide variance from different publishing houses and their various imprints. There are some similarities, but a whole lot of differences between publishers as with the ABA traditional publishers. Both Lynette Eason and Susan May Warren write great romantic suspense for Revell and Harlequin Love Inspired. Both Roseanna White and Elizabeth Camden write historical romance for Bethany House. If you love biblical romantic fiction, try reading Mesu Andrews or Connilyn Cossette who write for Waterbrook and Bethany House respectively. Personally, I write historical romance for Barbour Books and have quite a few indie romances that range from the American Revolution (Captive Brides Collection) to the great fire of 1910 (The Second Chance Brides Collection) for settings. The list of great authors and entertaining Christian romance would take far too long. Time to get started!

 

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Category: Branding, Genre, Guest Post, Marketing, Romance, Romantic SuspenseTag: Christian, Genre, Romance

A Strange Case of Mislabeling

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon September 1, 2016
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As readers of this blog know, I enjoy all sorts of books. But a recent experience reminded me of the wisdom and comforts of Christian fiction. After seeing several reviews and ads for a secular novel touted as a thriller, I checked out a copy from my public library. I opened the book realizing I’d likely experience characters who weren’t seeing life from a Christian viewpoint or even making an …

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Category: Genre, ReadingTag: Genre, Reading

Happily Ever After

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon May 12, 2016
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Some people wonder why genre readers want to read the same thing over and over. Well, they don’t read the same thing all the time, and they have expectations. A primary expectation? A Happily Ever After ending. If you enjoy perusing book reviews on Amazon, you’ll find that many readers (primarily outside of genres, though genre fiction can have the first three faults as well), express similar …

Read moreHappily Ever After
Category: Craft, Creativity, Genre, RomanceTag: Endings, Genre, Romance

The Joy of the Love Story

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon November 5, 2015
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Sometimes readers will tell me they don’t understand why anyone would enjoy genre romance novels. Sometimes they’ll even grimace and shudder. I can tell you a couple of reasons why these are such great books: They Make Sense Some books don’t make sense. If you read book reviews, you’ll see that a plot not making sense is a frequent complaint. As for everything making sense, perhaps my faith (or …

Read moreThe Joy of the Love Story
Category: Genre, RomanceTag: Genre, Romance

Fiction: Contemporary or Historical?

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon July 16, 2015
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Recently I noted an article in a prestigious publishing journal that says readers are looking for more fiction. I hope the article is right! To narrow this down, we can look to historical versus contemporary, since many authors write both. To clarify, for the purposes of this blog, I am limiting my discussion to traditional CBA trade book fare of strong stories heavy on romance. I am not …

Read moreFiction: Contemporary or Historical?
Category: Career, Craft, Creativity, Genre, Get Published, Romance, TrendsTag: Contemporary Fiction, Genre, Historical Fiction

Does Genre Matter?

By Steve Laubeon June 29, 2015
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Earlier this month two literary heavyweights discussed the issue of “Genre” and whether or not it should exist in its current form. Read Neil Gaiman and Kazuo Ishiguro’s discussion in the New Statesman. It all started because Ishiguro’s new novel Buried Giant is not presented as a Fantasy novel despite having a number of elements in it that would brand it as a Fantasy (like ogres). The argument is …

Read moreDoes Genre Matter?
Category: Book Business, Book Proposals, Branding, Genre, PlatformTag: Branding, Genre

Know Your Genre When Making a Pitch

By Steve Laubeon January 26, 2015
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Awhile ago I received a call that illustrates a common error a writer can make when making their pitch…The problem of not knowing the genre in which they are writing. The call went something like this: Writer: I’m calling to see if your agency handles Westerns. Agent: That is a tough genre to sell in the current market but a lot would depend on how well you can write it. Writer: Some …

Read moreKnow Your Genre When Making a Pitch
Category: Book Proposals, Branding, Conferences, Get Published, Marketing, PitchingTag: book proposals, Genre, Get Published, Pitch; Genre; proposals, Pitching

Watching History

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon January 15, 2015
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Over the holidays, my husband and I viewed an epic series about the life of St. Teresa de Jesus, filmed in Spanish, though English subtitles were provided. For eight hours, we were taken back to the 1500s in Spain. As a writer of historical novels, I’ve researched many eras. However, being immersed in an era for such a length of time brought to life many facts: 1.) Even in the best of …

Read moreWatching History
Category: Genre, Writing CraftTag: Genre, Historical, Research

Writer, Know Thyself!

By Karen Ballon August 13, 2014
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I recently spent four days with a wonderful group of writers. We meet every year to pray together, brainstorm each other’s books, and laugh uproariously. I always come home feeling like I’ve had a major ab workout from all the laughter! In the course of our discussions, I realized that with publishing changing in so many ways, writers can sometimes lose their focus on what they’re really …

Read moreWriter, Know Thyself!
Category: Branding, Craft, Creativity, Genre, Writing CraftTag: Branding, Craft, Genre

Test Your Genre Skills!

By Karen Ballon July 16, 2014
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Today feels like a writing day, so let’s try an exercise together. Write a scene, up to 150 words (no more!), about making a sandwich, but do so in a way that makes the genre clear. I’ll go first. Guess the genre: Almond butter. She hugged herself. Oh, he loved almond butter. But not just any almond butter. He loved the organic kind, the kind that had one ingredient: almonds. It wouldn’t take her …

Read moreTest Your Genre Skills!
Category: GenreTag: Genre, Writing Craft
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