Like many writers, I like to read. Currently I'm reading Ted Dekker's "The Bride Collector", and then I'll be reading Matthew Keith's "Watchers of the Night". Dekker is an old favorite of mine, going back to "Blink" and "Blessed Child". Keith is a new author I am trying out, someone I found on Facebook.
I tend to bounce between two general genre's when I read, Sci-Fi/Fantasy and Christian Romance. Occasionally I'll find decent Christian Fantasy, although they tend to call it Allegorical, as if Fantasy is something to fear. This is probably why my own novel is a blend of the different worlds, it's Romance, but it's also Fantasy, or Urban Fantasy.
Years ago, when I was starting my first free-writes for "Farmer's Daughter", I let a church friend read the first few chapters I had. At that point, it was loftily named "Dominions of Darkness" based on a bible verse. And it was mainly Romance, as I had yet to feel free enough to read what I really liked. She gave the notebook back to me with mixed reviews. "It's good, BUT...you have to decide which world you're writing for." She didn't like the sexual overtones I had in it at the time, specifically the emphasis on Craig's fascination with Angela's body. In essence, was I going to write a secular novel, or a Christian novel?
This stumped me for a while back then. I was a terribly self-conscious young woman at the time, easily upset by criticism from people I looked up to. Eventually (almost ten years later) I decided that I didn't have to pick a world to write for...I only had to write the world in my head. Once I made that decision, that world became unlocked to me. It is filled with hurting humans struggling to find peace, filled with demons and dragons unhappy in their own existence and so feel the need to interfere with the humans. Eventually, they will collide.
So, my question to you: what do you like to read?
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