Genre!

The advice out there is that when you are writing a novel, you should find other books in your genre to get a feel for what is out there and where your own story fits in. I found this a difficult task! In fact, the genre of my book was one of the reasons I didn't even try to pursue traditional publishing. Young Adult, yes, although ... not necessarily a teen story. Half of it happens when the characters are in their twenties. It's South African, and it's a Christian story. I never found something that fit all those categories; maybe I still will.

The closest I came was a book by Katherine Graham called Lifeline for Lee. It was about a young girl who was a lifeguard on Fishoek beach. I especially enjoyed the local flavour of it. There's something special about recognizing the setting of a book you are reading. I had only just begun writing Alex on the Edge, and although it was not overtly Christian, reading this book really encouraged me to keep going.

When I searched Young Adult Christian fiction on Amazon I mostly found American books about Amish girls falling in love. I was glad to find this series by Canadian author, N.J. Lindquist.

It is about a young guy navigating a complicated friendship and finding some spiritual clarity along the way. The main character was so endearing. Also, the author is, like me, clearly not a young adult! I found the story a little old-fashioned but still relevant and fun. And the first of the series is free on Kindle.

Another helpful discovery was 18 hours to Us by Krista Noorman. It was so good to read a book where there are characters who are unapologetically Christian but the story isn't preachy or overly sentimental. I have read some other popular contemporary Christian fiction authors and cringed at the way they write about faith. This book was not cringy at all! This is my aim - to write about the Bible and the Christian life in a fresh, unaffected way.

I can't not mention Robin Jones Gunn. It seems that her name is synonymous with Young Adult Christian fiction. Her best known is a series about a girl called Christy, following her romance, marriage and baby years. She has written over a hundred books! My favourite of the few I read was a spin-off, Finally and Forever, which was set in Kenya. I think they are great reads for young girls.

So I picked an unusual, rather tiny genre. I have plans to branch out in the future (I am a Robin McKinley fan forever and one day I'll get my fantasy novel together) but this is my spot. It's a fairly insignificant one for now but here I am. If you come across anything else like my stories, I'd love to hear about it!