To bury or to resurrect? That is the question.

[ErinGayle]

Dear Nathan,

I posted this in the wrong thread - silly old woman!

Wrote a novel 25 yrs. ago (I'm an old boiler hen) and Danny B. (Robert Ludlam's agent, then) asked to read it. Said it was terrific writing but too below the belt
and setting unrealistic.
'Below the belt' referred to terrorism targeting children, 'unrealistic setting,' Australia ('the Lucky Country').
Another problem was strong Christian content ~ wrath of God / slide into Armageddon / proxy God-power delegated to group of religious (but not Bible-
bashing ) people.
Mothballed novel because I had gut-feeling that Christian content might 'phoo-phoo' it with agents.
THEN : Beslan Massacre
THEN: Australia becomes a more likely terrorist target.
AND THEN: Praise the saints and Alleluia , I read in a Q & A site ( forget which ~ Alzheimer's excuse) that you like Christian content !

Should I revamp 'Terror Australis' or leave it in my knickers' draw?

[linguista]

I just finished a novel that sounds very much like yours theme-wise. Proxy Godlike powers and Armaggedon and all that jazz. I am hoping that movies like the Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons mean that the public is ready for spiritual fiction.

[ErinGayle]

I just finished a novel that sounds very much like yours theme-wise. Proxy Godlike powers and Armaggedon and all that jazz. I am hoping that movies like the Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons mean that the public is ready for spiritual fiction.

Wouldn't we all love to write a Dan Brown!
I think his plots are more to do with adventure/quest/mystery. There is,of course, the Magdalen/Jesus connection, but I see that more as a way of justifying the quest, and not as a religious premise. Angels and Demons may be pigeonholed as a conspiracy theory story (the Illuminate).
My novel, and I suspect yours too, is more spiritual. And it is THAT element that gets in the way with agents. The majority give me the gut feeling that they'd rather not take on the truly Christian flavour of my novel (although I've not submitted it for 25 yrs). That is why I was so excited when I learnt of Nathan's specific mention of his Christian Lit interest.
The best of luck with your querying and submissions. It's an exciting topic!

[Nathan Bransford]

I think only you can answer whether to pull it out of the drawer, but I will say that any novel that has been in there for an extended length of time would at the very least need a big overhaul to bring it up to the present stylistically.

Ultimately, 99% of the time a novel going to sell because of current events. It's going to sell because it's good. I wouldn't bring it out simply because the times seem more suited to the plot.

[ErinGayle]

I think only you can answer whether to pull it out of the drawer, but I will say that any novel that has been in there for an extended length of time would at the very least need a big overall to bring it up to the present stylistically.

Ultimately, 99% of the time a novel going to sell because of current events. It's going to sell because it's good. I wouldn't bring it out simply because the times seem more suited to the plot.

Thanks, Nathan.
Danny B. loved the writing, so that's no problem. I'm very confident I can re-write it . My problem is still the terrotists' target ~ children. I wonder if this aspect is still too 'below the belt' despite the reality of Beslan.
Another question. Could 'Christian thriller' fall into 'Christian Lit.' ? I've always thought of 'literature' as meaning,in its original concept, clasic literature ~ the high-brow stuff, then novels in general. Now I'm interpreting it as possibly leaning towards non-fiction (the lifestyle - philosophy book). There are so many new genres floating around nowdays. ('nowdays' as opposed to ancient times ~ some of my best friends were dinosaurs.)

[TigerGray]

Personally, I am not a fan of pulling punches unless they amount to so much wankery.

Meaning if it is important to the plot and it has a point, keep it regardless of whether someone might be offended or turned off.

[elfspirit]

This question interested me because today I got an email from an old friend with whom I wrote a screenplay 23 years ago. It had a spiritual (but not Christian) theme. We're interested in seeing if we can do anything with it. He concluded that we'd been way ahead of our time. It sounds like you were, too.

Bottom line, if you still feel a tug from the story, see what you can do with it.