Gems from the ACFW Conference 2008

[Note: My normal Monday series on faith and fiction will return next week.]

Every class or speech has those little things that will pop out at the participant/listener. Here are some of the gems I gathered from the ACFW conference:

(Please excuse any errors if I don’t quote the speakers exactly—I scribbled as fast and as accurately as I could at the time.)

Angela Hunt, opening keynote address:
My dreams are too small, but God’s are tailored made.

John Olson, Advanced Fiction Writing: Writing the BIG Story:
Story gives us a glimpse of the reality we can’t see because we’re so distracted by the fantasy of our lives.

If you write out of your uniqueness, your books will be unique.

Chip MacGregor, Creating a Publishing Brand:
A brand is what someone else thinks you are.

Branding isn’t for everyone.

Branding usually springs from an author’s personality organically.

Angela Hunt, closing keynote address:
You are and always be in the middle. (i.e. there will always be writers better and worse than you.)

Pleasure in praise is not pride.

ACFW Banquet Pictures 2008

A night with the chance to dress up:

Aren't formal dresses fun? And since I finaled this year in the Genesis, my mom graciously knitted the lovely shawl to go over my dress. Not that I really expected to win...

Then I had to give a speech.

I survived, and to prove it, took many pictures with family, mentors, and teachers.

With Brandilyn Collins:

With John Olson and Randy Ingermanson:

My cousin Kristian Tolle, who took third place in the Genesis in women's fiction:
Sharon Hinck, who won in the speculative category of the Book of the Year Award (YEAH!!!):

Last but not least my parents, who graciously attended upon my request:

ACFW's 2008 Genesis Winners

The Genesis competition is an annual contest held by the American Christian Fiction Writers for unpublished writers. The winners this year are:

Chick lit, mom lit, lady lit:
1st: Erica Vetsch, Pam On Rye
2nd: Lynda Schab, Mind Over Madi
3rd: Tiffany Kinerson, Stand On My Own Two Hands

Contemporary Fiction Category:
1st: Dan Case, The Voice
2nd: Christina Berry, Undiscovered
3rd: Jim Rubart, Book of Days

Contemporary Romance:
1st: Annalisa Daughety, Love is a Battlefield
2nd: Kathleen Haynes, The Quarterback Club
3rd: Cara Slaughter, Joanna's Treasure

Historical Fiction:
1st: Mona Hodgson, A Thimble's Worth
2nd: Rachel Moore, A Trail of Waves
3rd: Lori Benton, Trouble The Water

Historical Romance:
1st: Patty Smith Hall, Flights of Freedom
2nd: Karen Witemeyer, Cloud by Day
3rd: Erica Vetsch, Marriage Masquerade

Mystery/Suspense/Thriller:
1st: Jane Thornton, Menace
2nd Donna Alice Patton, Wrestling Demons
3rd: Janice Olson, Don't Look Back

Romantic Suspense:
1st: Jenness Walker, Deja Vu
2nd: Dani Pettrey, Quest
3rd (tie): Kelly Ann Riley, A Cowboy's Prayer
3rd (tie): Jane Thornton, Be Anxious

Science Fiction/Fantasy/Allegory:
1st: Chawna Schroeder, Metamorphosis
2nd: Lynda K. Arndt, The Song of Blood and Stone
3rd: Valerie Comer, The Girl Who Cried Squid

Women's Fiction:
1st: Heather Goodman, 50 Things To Do Before I Turn 30
2nd: Cynthia Ruchti, They Almost Always Come Home
3rd: Kristian Tolle, When Autumn Comes

Young Adult:
1st: Carla Stewart, An Unexpected Journey
2nd: Stefanie Morris, The Dragon of Delarest
3rd: Kasey L. Heinly, Broken Glass

Yes. You read the list correctly. I won. I'm not sure it has fully sunk in. But my brain is fogged over tonight, so to avoid as many stupid errors as possible, I'll post more thoughts tomorrow...

ACFW's Book of the Year Awards

Debut Author
Sushi for One? (Camy Tang)
Bayou Justice (Robin Miller writing as Robin Caroll)
In Between (Jenny B. Jones)

Contemporary Novella
Finally Home (Deborah Raney)
Moonlight & Mistletoe (Carrie Turansky)
Remaking of Moe McKenna (Gloria Clover)

Historical Novella
Love Notes in Love Letters Anthology (Mary Davis)
Beyond the Memories (DiAnn Mills)
The Spinster & The Tycoon (Vickie McDonough)

Lits
Splitting Harriet (Tamara Leigh)
Sushi for One? (Camy Tang)
One Little Secret (Allison Bottke) & The Book of Jane (Anne Dayton & May Vanderbilt)

Long Contemporary
Within This Circle (Deborah Raney)
Like Always (Robert Elmer)
Autumn Blue (Karen Harter)

Long Historical
Veil of Fire (Marlo Schalesky) & Where Willows Grow (Kim Vogel Sawyer)
Fancy Pants (Cathy Marie Hake) & Then Came Hope (Louise Gouge)
Courting Trouble (Deeanne Gist)

Mystery
Your Chariot Awaits (Lorena McCourtney)
Death of a Garage Sale Newbie (Sharon Dunn)
Sticks And Stones (Susan Meissner)

Short Contemporary
The Heart of Grace (Linda Goodnight)
Heart of the Family (Margaret Daley)
Wedded Bliss (Kathleen Y’Barbo)

Short Contemporary Suspense
Caught Redhanded (Gayle Roper)
Pursuit of Justice (Pamela Tracy)
Nowhere to Hide (Debby Giusti) & Her Christmas Protector (Terri Reed)

Short Historical
Canteen Dreams (Cara Putman) & Golden Days (Mary Connealy)
A Wealth Beyond Riches (Vickie McDonough)
A Time to Keep (Kelly Eileen Hake)

Speculative
The Restorer’s Son (Sharon Hinck) (YEAH!!!!)
Demon: A Memoir (Tosca Lee)
DragonFire (Donita Paul)

Suspense
Black Ice (Linda Hall)
Coral Moon (Brandilyn Collins)
Abomination (Colleen Coble)

Women’s Fiction
Remember to Forget (Deborah Raney)
Watercolored Pearls (Stacy Hawkins Adams)
A Promise To Remember (Kathryn Cushman)

Young Adult
In Between (Jenny B. Jones)
Sara Jane: Liberty ’s Torch (Eleanor Clark)
Saving Sailor (Renee Riva)

The Outcasts of Skagaray

Title: The Outcasts of Skagaray

Author: Andrew Clarke

Genre: Adult Fantasy

Excerpt from Chapter 1, “The Laws of Skagaray”:

The man’s eyes were red. In the smoky fire-light beside him, they glowed like a maddened animal ready to attack. As Tarran watched, the man bared his teeth. He glared at the young ones sitting in front of hi and the look in his eyes made them quail. He saw the fear in their faces and for a heartbeat the snarl became a cruel smile.

He was a Slayer, a Warrior and an Elder. These younglings should fear, the man thought in his shriveled heart. If they fear me, they will watch what I do, hear what I say, and I can shape them. I can make them what they should be—fighters and killers.

He ran an evil stare around the room, fixing every child briefly in the eye.

“Hear the Instruction,” he rasped. “Learn the ways of this people.”

He paused, letting the words hang in the air. So complete was the silence that the soft hissing of the fire could be heard. Then he began, “In the dark times, unnumbered summers ago, our forebears came to Skagaray. They came in long boats over the Wide Sea. There were storms, the seas in a rage such as you have never seen. This was to test their hearts. There were quarrels among them, as there will always be among a fierce people. Some of them died at the hands of others. And this was as it must be! It was part of the proving!”

Tarran, the son of a warrior, rejects his superiors’ lust for blood, only to become an outcast and the target of that blood-lust.

The Writing: The Outcasts of Skagaray is what I’d call a diamond in the rough.

On the surface, the writing is poor. There are an abundance of typographical errors, redundancies, overdone explanations, extraneous words, and head-hopping. Overall, the text needs a thorough line edit.

But if you can look past the poor mechanics—what a story! I know a few authors who could take a lesson or two from Mr. Clarke.

The world is complex, real, and organic, lacking the inconsistencies propped up with convoluted explanations that some fantasies have. And though alien to a reader like me, this world is easily grasped and 100% believable.

Then there are the characters. Flawed. Motivated, yet with the mixed emotions that every human wrestles with. The villains are evil incarnate—yet in an understandable way. The protagonists are varied, sympathetic, and easy to root for, especially for someone like me who has a soft spot for underdogs.

As for the plotting, this is a slow-cooker. Mr. Clarke doesn’t dump you into the fire, but like a skillful hunter, he lures you into a pot of cool water. Not until it’s too late to escape do you realize that the pot sits over a hot fire, slowly warming the water to boiling.

So The Outcasts of Skagaray portrays the need for good mechanics. But it also reminds us that in the end, story is more important.

The Story: A classic tale of good versus evil, The Outcasts of Skagaray bring together themes such as sacrifice, releasing anger, forgiveness, and the value of every human life against a background of the true source of power. There is neither preachiness nor hyper-religiosity, but Mr. Clarke ties his story and content together so you can barely see where one starts and the other ends.

I’m also impressed with the lack of blood on the page considering the blood-lusting society of the book. For me this is an excellent example of the power of suggestion: despite what you don’t see, you never doubt the ugliness of the evil, underestimate what it is capable of, or scoff at the danger of the outcasts.

The Summary: The Outcasts of Skagaray is an excellent story and worthwhile read, especially if you’re willing to look past some of the problems in the mechanics of the writing. It’s easily accessible to those less familiar with the fantasy genre, and the bloodless portrayal of violence opens this book to teens and even some preteens as well as adults.

Rating: Writing—1.0, Content—3.0, Overall—4.0

A Name from God

Writers have perfect control over their work.

Not.

While writers tend toward being control-freaks—I know I do, at least—very few think we’re in control of our stories. There are too many twists, unexpected happenings, moments of unexplained inspiration to believe that. Rather, a sense of something more at work pervades.

For me, that’s the hand of God.

I can’t explain it. I don’t understand it. But somehow, in the background (and sometimes not so in the background) God is carefully orchestrating the details, pulling the pieces together, despite my human flaws, selfish motivations, and controlling tendencies. As I saw again this week.

I’ve been putting together a synopsis of my most recent novel for an upcoming writer’s conference, and for this synopsis I decided to use a character’s given name instead of the nickname my protagonist gave him. But I haven’t really thought much about his given name. I simply slapped the name Elroy on him when the need arose in the first draft and didn’t worry much about it—until now.

This novel has a somewhat allegorical style, and for me, names are very important in allegory. So since King Elroy is supposed to represent the majesty, power, and love of God, it didn’t seem right if Elroy turned out to mean “Beast-slayer” or “Den of the Devil.” I decided I had better check it out.

And it turns out that Elroy means “The King.” How more perfect could the name be?

Even now it amazes me. I’ve never hand any particular preference for the name and it is definitely not in my stock of names I reach for first. Nor do I know anyone named Elroy. I don’t even know any characters of that name, except for the boy on The Jetsons, which I’ve not watched in probably a decade. So why I would pick that name at random?

I can only think that God was at work, prompting me even in this tiny detail.

Canceled

I’m in a deadline crunch for the upcoming American Christian Fiction Writers conference. So my words are at a premium and my blog on fiction and faith today is canceled. But I should have a new one up next week. I hope :o)

A Book Signing Extravaganza

I wasn’t prepared to do a book review this week, so what I’d like to do is tell you about a really cool upcoming book event.

In about two weeks, on September 20, 2008, there will be a book signing at the Mall of America in Minnesota.

Now, I might be prejudice, but the Mall of America is a spectacular place to have a book signing. But wait. There’s more.

Not only will this signing be held in the Mall of America, but there will be 126—count them! one-hundred twenty-six—authors in one place doing book signings at the same time! At what other book signing would you see so many authors congregated?

And that’s not all. All one-hundred twenty-six authors are novelists and even better, they are all Christian novelists!

So do you like fiction? Do you like Christian fiction? Would you like to meet 126 authors of Christian fiction? Then join us for a book-signing extravaganza!

Who: 126 Christian novelists
What: Mega book signing and author panel discussions
Where: Mall of America, Bloomington, MN, Best Buy rotunda, Sears rotunda and connecting the halls
When: Saturday, September 20, 2008, at 1-3 p.m.

God Is Not Obligated

God is not obligated to anything for anybody. Including me.

I find that concept difficult to stomach. I want to be rewarded for my work. I want God to pull His “fair share.” When I step off a cliff because He asks me to, I want to be guaranteed He will catch me.

Like in my writing. I didn’t want to become a novelist, at least not full-time necessarily. I wanted a safe job with a steady paycheck. Not a career where only a handful of the best of the best can make a living at it. What if I remain single for the rest of my life?

But God asked.

I said yes.

And seven years later I am still without a contract, without even an agent. I can’t help but lift my face toward heaven and ask, “Why? I agreed to take this leap of faith. Why haven’t You opened the doors for me?”

His answer is simple: “Because I am not obligated to.

“Suppose one of you had a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Would he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? Would he not rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself read, and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’” (Luke 17:7-10)

Hard words. I don’t like them very much. But that doesn’t make them unture.

Yes, God is faithful and will do all He has said and promised. And yes, often that means God will reward the hard work. Yes, often He will perform the impossible when we can do no more. Yes, often He will catch us if we take that leap of faith.

But He is not obligated to.

Sometimes He will refuse to provide—especially in the way we want Him to. Sometimes He will ask of us the impossible…and then let us fail. Sometimes He will let us fall and hurt ourselves.

It’s ultimately His choice. He is Master and He knows what He’s doing.

My job is to obey—do my duty—no matter what, placing no “obligations” on God to fill. Of course, knowing that and living it are two different beasts.

Lord, grant me the strength to persevere.

Finding Personal Limitations

For several weeks now, we’ve been studying personal limitations in-depth. From gender and personality to culture and experiences we have touched on many different areas.

But ultimately it all boils down to one question: How do you or I find our limitations? How can we make our guidelines personal?

First, observe. How do you feel after finishing different movie types? Is there a pattern of being emotionally drained, edgy or unable to sleep after reading or watching a specific genre? What are problem areas that you already struggle with and which stories help or increase the struggle?

I know I have problems with an overactive imagination and very graphic films feed that. That horror genre leaves me edgy. I noticed that watching Murder, She Wrote could make sleeping difficult for me afterwards.

Then experiment. Is the problem the whole genre or one way the genre is handled? Are other factors at work, such as time of day or watching a movie in theater versus on television? Push a little the boundaries set by observation, or try something a little bit different. Does it make any difference? This is how I found out I can watch Murder, She Wrote—as long it’s before 7 p.m. Darkness and the nearness of bedtime, as well as the presence or lack of others, are all factors I monitor.

Finally, listen. What do other Christians, especially mature ones who know you well, say about your fiction habits? What kind of patterns do non-Christians spot? It is possible to have blind spots or become desensitized (a whole other topic we’ll be covering in the future). So ask other what they see and weigh carefully what you’re hearing. You might discover something about yourself you never knew.