I woke up this morning missing the life of Shelia, the character in the novel I wrote for NaNoWr. I did not create Shelia specifically for the 30-day novel contest. She was a character that emerged in a short short I wrote several years ago title “Girl in the Mirror” and have continually revised (from short short to short story, to play format).
When Shelia and her story resurfaced in a longer form, I realized this story itself, whether titled “Girl in the Mirror,” “The Choker” or “Deliverance” all have the same theme (but don’t ask me to explain it, at least not right now). I’m unsure what will happen with this story but what I know for sure is that it needs to be told.
And that is where I hesitate. Genre. An ugly word with too many biases and crossovers. Yes, I want the novel, if that is where the piece is headed, to reflect the religious inspirational market. Christian fiction, specifically. However, I realized that will not happen because in the book world of Christian fiction, there are rules and during the 30-day novel challenge I broke all the rules: sex, homosexual lifestyle, divorce, parental favoritism, murder; yet the characters experienced divine deliverance in which the Christ-like walk should reflect.
I must say that many of those same attributes were reflected in God’s holy Word and many of those same biblical figures wrestled with breaking the rules, man’s rule. Anyway my writing life will be interesting if I take this first crappy draft to the next level or leave it where it lies: Winner of the 50,000 word novel 2009 NaNoWr Challenge.
angchronicles 