Writing Inspirational Writing Ain't Easy

We talked earlier in the week about how difficult writing for series line can be. Today, I want to talk about writing for the inspirational market.

This is an AMAZING market, but one that really takes the courage of David to be successful writing those inspirational novels. On the surface, many writers might feel it isn't that bad, but let's talk about those things that really cause you to pull your hair out.

Let's start first with the competition. This is a HUGE market! Conferences just for inspirational writers can sell out instantly. Look around you at the number of "non-denominational" churches pop up. These churches can pack the house. Our home church pulls in 800 kids for their one week of Vacation Bible School. That's huge! Now, you might think that with a demand this high, the demand for authors might be equally as high. Not so!

Remember, these publishers have a smaller number of bookstores they sell to. Sure, they have the standards of Amazon, Barnes and Noble and so forth, but, their central audience are those smaller bookstore, churches and select locations. These publishers simply are not producing the same number of books that those larger lines publisher. In other words, there are simply a smaller number of slots for inspirational authors.

But what about the writing? Isn't that pretty straight forward? Again, not as easy as you think.

First of all, the level of "faith" has to be pretty moderate. Yes, it needs to be there, but no preaching. Shoving scripture down the throats of the readers is not going to work. Along the same lines, because this is non-denominational writing, it needs to appeal to a very broad spectrum of writers.

Next, we have to examine the central story arc of this writing. If you are writing inspirational romance, you have to find a happy balance between the romance and inspiration. It is the faith that is going to bring the two of them together, but we still have to see the romance. It's easy to keep things tame but for the romance to blossom, you have to find different ways to bring them together.

Finally, this level of writing really needs a strong guiding theme. What is that single, powerful message you want the reader to leave with. Think sermons here. The pastor determines what the thing he or she wants the congregation to walk out with. They don't just babble on and on about faith. There is a goal. Without that in your writing, you will struggle a lot.

If you truly have the passion of this writing, and want to write it, I strongly encourage you to do two things. First, join the larger Christian writing organizations and get to every major conference. Secondly, read and research those authors EXTENSIVELY. This is not something you can just jump into.

Have a great weekend everyone!