Ragamuffin Diva Rocks

From Publisher's Weekly's Review of Zora and Nicky: A Novel in Black and White...

At this novel's heart are love and race-what happens when a self-described BAP (black American princess), the daughter of a famous megachurch leader, falls in love with a young white man. Zora & Nicky's dialogue about race is unflinching, with attitude, honesty and occasional humor. Burney pushes her prose to the edge of the edgiest in the "Christian fiction" genre, and then barrels right over. She doesn't sugar-coat, especially when it comes to sex, yet she manages to create a love story that's both erotic and chaste. Faith in Jesus comes to life on the page through Zora and Nicky's intense, if imperfect, soul searching.

I'm excited for you, Claudia.

Gospel Music Channel on Directv 338

Gospel Music Channel (GMC), the nation’s first and only 24/7 all-Gospel/Christian music television network, and DIRECTV, Inc., announced today that beginning March 19, GMC will be available to DIRECTV customers nationally on channel 338. Yey!!

I called DIRECTV last year asking that they add the channel. It's great others did, too. Yeah!!! BBJay, I can't wait to see your show.

Releasing the Spirit of your Story, Part 2

"When do you think is the best time to love somebody, when they done good and easy for everybody is that what you think? You ain't done learning...The time to love the most is when his head is lowest and can't believe in himself 'cause the world don't whipped him so ." -Lena Younger, A Raisin in the Sun, written by Lorraine Hansberry

Today is Part 2 of Last week's discussion, Releasing the Spirit of Your Story. I received many comments. (Thank you.) As I read them I noticed a pattern emerge, which shape today's discussion.

How Do I Make my Sticky Character See a Christian's World?

For those of you who don't know I have been a Christy Book Awards Judge for the past three years. The Christy's awards honors excellent fiction written in a Christian Worldview. I am honored to participate and always excited to see what novels each publishing houses chooses as an entrant for this award.

What I have learned from this experience is that all of the novels nominated are written in a compelling way that captures a Christian's view of their world. Today let's take a look at some of the 2007 nominees in the romance category as an example and a tip builder for this segment of this series.

1. Build a Strong Spiritual Character Sketch
Know your character inside out before you begin your story. Tracy Groot's (Madman: A Novel) did so much research on Legion's character that she used the historical, geographical, political and cultural issues of that time period to shape his story arc. What emerges is a stark troubling image of a kidnapped soul.

You have to do a lot of prep work to not only build this character, but to keep his soul's journey a focus through the life of the novel.

2. Make Your Character's Dilemma Almost Redemptive Impossible.
What separates Christian fiction from others is the notion of redemption. There are novels with characters who have a measure of grace(Interview with a Vampire) or the human condition becomes universal(Field of Dreams,) but a Christian novel glorifies a universal, omnipotent, merciful God. The stories that capture this reality the best are those whereby their characters get themselves so stuck that even the reader can't figure how they will get out. (Example:Tim Downs, The Plague Maker.)

3. Learn the Power of Big Voice and Little Voice
What makes the stories that I review and judge crème is the story’s voice. The spirit of the story. I believe that character development, plot, theme, style, setting all hinge on how well we tap into the story’s spirit. Stories where the author allow their characters to speak about the world around them and their world at large understands the quiet power of voice.( Example: Lisa Samson’s Straight up.)

So what if your character is a hooker, who snuck in a church balcony during early worship service on Sundays to hide from her pimp? It's believable, a hot mess and has a glint of light piercing through and is what your readers are after. They want to invest their time in a character they can see existing in their mind. They want to invest their time in a character who presents God in a way that hadn't seen before, but felt all along.

Keep these 3 ideas in mind as you tweak your novels. Subscribe.