What would make you pick up a religious thriller HF, and what would make you throw it away?

[Tuvia]

Hey, guys! As I'm working on my debut novel, I would love to know from you which common mistakes, pitfalls, clichés and tropes you think I should avoid. And what are the things that would grab your attention.

What would make you interested in reading, and what would make you throw the book out your window in disgust? I can still fix stuff, because I have at least a year left writing it (Which also means that I have nothing to sell at this moment, so it's not advertising!)

I joined this group a zillion years ago, and then forgot that goodreads exists, so I'm hoping to restart my involvement here a bit. :-)

The book is Roman era Judea, between 67 to 100 AD. Secret mysterious scrolls, ancient mysteries, wars, betrayals and forbidden love.
(The only reason I state this, is because it seems like most Christian HF are amish romances from the civil war era - not that there's anything wrong with that).

[Joanne]

Tuvia wrote:What would make you interested in reading, and what would make you throw the book out your window in disgust? I can still fix stuff, because I have at least a year left writing it (Which also means that I have nothing to sell at this moment, so it's not advertising!)

This is a tough, but great question!

Just a little history on me: I use to be that reader who felt she had to finish a book once started. About 2 years ago I made a promise to myself to not do that. Since then, I have enjoyed my reading time so much more, This plan has also added quite a bit to my DNF list ;). The window is too far away from my reading spot so I throw them against the wall.

I need to be captured by chapter 3. If I am not intrigued enough at that point, out it goes. There needs to be a little string pulling me in, knowing only bits and pieces about a character, or an event so that I am drawn in and want to find out more. As the books moves on, surprises about someone/something are the clincher-"Oh My! I would have never thought that" seals the deal to finish up.

I hope this helps Just my personal thoughts and what makes it a good book.

I am new here, just joined this week-so hello! I wish you luck, Your concept sounds like something I would definitely take notice of and want to read.

[Anna]

It certainly does sound good and your question is good too. I'm not sure I can answer it as well as most other people. One of the things I try to remember is that no one can please all of the people all of the time, so find your target market and write for them.

[Becky, Moddess]

From an atheist perspective, it would really have to do with how the religion is handled. If it's something more along the lines of a historical thriller with religious artifacts or themes/setting etc, (meaning that the history and the plotline around the thriller/mystery are the focus, and the religion/religious aspects are the subject) I would likely pick that up, depending on what it is and how interesting it sounds.
I'm thinking of books like People of the Book or Labyrinth

What would absolutely not interest me at all is if the plot is just a vehicle for religious messaging/morality/faith etc... which happens a lot, and would earn the book a 1 star DNF from me. To me, if it's billed as a HF thriller, but is just a religious morality lecture in disguise, that would irritate me very much. I am not interested in religious messaging in fiction, and usually steer clear. ​

To be clear - just in case... I do not think that there is anything wrong with either form, and whichever type you write is totally fine and will find its audience (though I may not be among them). Good luck!

[Laura Tenfingers]

I agree with Becky. If there's proselytizing I throw it out the window, but if there are religious people, artifacts, plots etc I would read it.

[Melissa]

Not much. I'm staunchly witchy and pagan and grew up in a Christian family that forced Christianity on me, so even a hint of pro-church, anti-witch/pagan/proselytizing sentiments, I'm out.

[Abigail]

I’d join the chorus in saying I might be interested in a plot-driven tale of mystery and excitement, though I’m not averse to going deeper into spiritual issues if the aim is not proselytizing. There is a readership for Christian lit but members of this group probably aren’t mostly inclined that way.

That said, you should be aware if you aren’t already that agents are shying away from antiquity like the plague these days, so you’d probably be looking at self-publishing. Well-known authors can get away with it but not new authors (this according to the instructors and guest-lecturing agents in a historical fiction workshop I took earlier in the year).

[Jan]

authentic characters with a good plot.

[Eileen]

Jan wrote: "authentic characters with a good plot."

I agree with Jan, but with the addition that the novel should be historically accurate.

One problem I have with most current novels is that they tend to presume modern secular attitudes into periods when that would be extremely unlikely. I doubt that there has been any period in history as secular as ours is so when I read novels that presume secular humanist views in the 13th century, I just kind of roll my eyes and think that the writer is trying to proselytize for secular humanism. I often won't even finish books like that, although they might be very popular.