Thursday, March 31, 2011

"Exploring God in All His Shades and Textures" by Guest Blogger Dina Sleiman


All my life I dreamed of writing “the great American novel.” So, some might find it surprising to learn that I did not set my first novel in America.

I think the reason goes back to my four years spent at Oral Roberts University. There the campus pastors drilled into us that we should not think of ourselves as American Christians, but rather as World Christians. Citizens of the globe, reaching out to others without discrimination. People who did not base their views on ethnicity or patriotism, but rather considered the good of the whole world in their decision making. I guess I took that a step further by choosing a husband from Lebanon. And when my sister married a man whose parents hailed from India, we became one seriously international family.

Perhaps another reason I preferred a foreign setting is because I love that sense of traveling through fiction. When I read, I want to experience new places, cultures, and mindsets. I want to learn something about people who think and act differently than I do. I want to discover something unique about what it means to be human, and consequently to unveil more about the God who made us all in his marvelous image.

So, when I finally did sit down to write that great American novel, I didn’t feel restricted to placing it within our fifty states. The whole world stood open before me, ripe with possibilities.

My first consideration as I chose the setting for my book was that I wanted a time predating our current religious schisms and prejudices. A time when everyone was a Christian, but being a Christian didn’t always mean much. A time before the Protestant Reformation. That pretty much meant my book would be set in Europe. I choose England because much of my ancestry is British, and I had spent a summer there during a college missionary trip.

As the story began to unfold in my mind, I realized I needed a year when feudalism still existed, but when the middle class was beginning to emerge. I wanted my heroine to be born a peasant tied to the land, but I also wanted her to have the ability to rise above her circumstances. And since I wanted her first memories to be of suffering through abject poverty, I needed a famine.

So I settled on Sussex, England beginning in the famine year of 1315. The story continued to unravel before me. Dandelion would begin in Sussex, but would experience a journey of discovery through this romantic coming of age story. She would search the world over looking for the true meaning of love. First the nearby castle, then on to London. And she needed a sea voyage, perhaps to…Italy? Yes, Italy in the 1330’s as the Renaissance began to dawn would be cool.

Searching for the true meaning of love in Italy. Wait a minute. Weren’t some of my favorite medieval mystic poets from Italy and Germany during this time period? I looked it up, and yes they were. St. Catherine of Siena, St. Therese of Avila, and Hildegard von Bingen all wrote intensely passionate love poems to God within two hundred years of my story. Dandelion definitely needed the influence of women like that if she was going to ever discover the meaning of love. And so my fictional nunnery was born outside of Florence, Italy.

Of course, these odd settings aren’t the easiest sell in the CBA market. In fact, if someone had told me that medievals didn’t sell well before I had started mine, I might have reconsidered the decision. But I’m glad I wrote it in blissful ignorance. I love the setting. I love the way I was able to use it to bring to light unique aspects of man’s relationship with God, and I love the rich, musical language it permitted.

Yes, Dance of the Dandelion was a hard sell. Several big houses gave the book serious consideration but turned it down over the medieval time period. But eventually, I did find a publisher. I feel so blessed to have connected with WhiteFire Publishing for this project because they share my love for exotic settings, and they are willing to take risks. They embrace the vision that birthed this book: to explore God in all of His many shades and textures. 

Dina Sleiman: Dance with Passion. Dina writes lyrical stories that dance with light. Most of the time you will find this Virginia Beach resident reading, biking, dancing, or hanging out with her husband and three children, preferably at the oceanfront. Since finishing her Professional Writing MA in 1994, she has enjoyed many opportunities to teach literature, writing, and the arts. She was the Overall Winner in the 2009 Touched by Love Contest for unpublished authors. Her first novel, Dance of the Dandelion, will release with Whitefire Publishing in fall 2011. Join her as she discovers the unforced rhythms of grace. For more info visit her at http://dinasleiman.com/

35 comments:

  1. Thanks so much for having me today. So far everything I've written has either foreign characters or settings, so I'm very appreciative of what you're doing here.

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  2. Loved getting some of the background for Dandelion, Dina! I love that notion of traveling through fiction, too, which is probably why I'm so passionate about exotic settings. =)

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  3. I know, isn't it fun learning all the stories behind the story.

    By the way, Roseanna is part owner of WhiteFire Publishing, and I am now on staff as an acquisitions editor if anyone has questions about the company.

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  4. This new direction in publishing toward smaller presses is such a gift to authors eager to break out of the mold.
    I can't wait for Dina's story and for Christine Lindsay's which is set in India!

    Thanks Donna and Dina! I enjoyed the background and I know readers are going to love your writing style Dina.

    (waving at Donna who'll soon be sharing with us at Inkwell Inspirations about the best kind of research-- travel!)

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  5. Thank you for allowing us to take a peek inside of Dance of the Dandelion. I'm really looking forward to reading it! And thank you WhiteFire for publishing Dina's book and being willing to break the mold. It'll be nice to have more choices out there in our reading.

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  6. Hi Deb, it's exciting that with all the changes in the publishing industry now small press releases have the potential to reach a huge market.

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  7. I hope you enjoy it Sandi. I know I loved yours.

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  8. Like a lot of us international writers, Dina knows the difficulties of trying to selling a high quality novel but have it turned down due to setting. I've read Dance of the Dandilion, and it's brilliant. I could really feel that Italian sunshine. Very exotic, and beautifully written as well as a gripping story. I encourage everyone to read it when it is released. And I feel as though Dina and I are now family---that is in addition to the Family of God. But we are fellow authors with WhiteFire Publishing and consider that such a God thing.

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  9. Wow, thanks, Christine. I hope everyone takes your advice ;)

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  10. Thanks for sharing, Dina, and welcome to our blog.

    Blessings from South Africa

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  11. Wow, what an interesting setting and time period. Now I can't wait to read it. I don't know why big publishers are so anti-certain time periods and settings. Thanks for sharing.

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  12. Thank you, Shirl. How's the weather down there? Hopefully nicer than this cold, dreary spring day in Virginia.

    The closest I've been to your part of the world is Egypt. Pretty different I imagine.

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  13. Naomi, they aren't really "anti" anything. They are just "pro" selling lots of books. Right now the CBA prime audience of middle-aged American women prefers cozy American settings. We need to look for ways to change that, and also for ways to expand the CBA audience. That is part of WhiteFire's mission. I find that twenty and thirty something readers like adventure and exotic settings and that is who I'm aiming for.

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  14. Dina, welcome to our blog and thank you for your fascinating post.

    My husband and I often visit Ireland and we love wandering through the ruins of medieval castles. Each time I wish that I could go back in time and see the castle and its occupants in its heydays. Perhaps "Dance of the Dandelion" will give me a glimpse of that past. I'm looking forward to reading your book.

    Roseanna, Debra, Sandi, Christine, Shirl and Naomi thank you for visiting ICFW today and for taking the time to leave a comment.

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  15. Ruth Ann, when I went searching for a castle photo that fit the one in my book, the closest I found was Kilkenny Castle in Ireland.

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  16. Sounds like an interesting setting to be sure! Thanks for walking us through the process of choosing that time and place.

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  17. No problem, Valerie. I hope you enjoyed it.

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  18. Oh, Dina, I'm so glad you wrote in blissful ignornace. It's so much more joyful to write when we're following our hearts than when we're trying to write to the market. I understand the reasoning behind writing to the market, but when your heart longs to take you somewhere else, it's so sad to think you may have written a book no publisher will take a chance on. I'm hoping that will change, and I think this blog and its members and guests are a good indication that "someday" is upon us. Great post, Dina!

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  19. Suzie, interesting story about that. With my contemporary novel, I have three main characters, and one is Muslim. She was the main reason I wrote the book. But, knowing the market, I made the Christian the main protagonist. Oddly enough, a publisher and several agents suggested I make the Muslim the main character after all. So I went ahead and made the switch. We'll see how it works out.

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  20. Hello Valerie and Suzie, thank you for your comments.

    LOL, Dina, Kilkenny Castle was one of the castles we visited.

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  21. Wonderful concept for Dandelion. I can't wait to get my hands on the book!

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  22. Hi Preslaysa. Sometime this fall. I'll keep you posted :)

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  23. During Inkwell Inspiration's October backlist promotion, I created a list of Internationally-set Christian Fiction. Now the list is not exclusive, but there's enough there for readers to begin reading books set outside the continental US.

    http://inkwellinspirations.blogspot.com/2010/10/around-world-in-almost-80-books.html

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  24. That's right, Gina. It's a great list.

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  25. I loved learning a bit more about Dance of the Dandelion, Dina. I read the first chapter (oh wow, it's been a while now) and it was wonderful. I am looking forward to reading the rest! Can't wait to hold it in my hands!

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  26. I'm guessing the first chapter you read is now buried somewhere around chapter 10, Susanne. Roseanna is a great editor and we made some huge improvements.

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  27. Great post, Dina. Congrats on Dance of the Dandelion. I can't wait to read it. :)

    Anita Mae.

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  28. Thanks, Anita. And thanks everyone for stopping by today.

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  29. Dina, thanks for visiting with us today :) Your book sounds intriguing and hopefully we will see more medieval stories published in the CBA.

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  30. I'm rather late commenting here but just coming out of the haze of edits and other "stuff". Your post is so encouraging for those of us setting our books outside America! I had an agent in America tell me that at the ACFW conference last year she heard at least three editors from major CBA publishers tell her books set outside America do not sell enough books for them to take the risk.
    I sure trust Whitefire sells heaps and heaps to help change that knowledge!
    Thank you so much Dina!!

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  31. Hi Narelle, how's life on the other side of the globe. I miss your middle of our night comments on Inkwell :)

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  32. Yes, Mary, I agree. We definitely need to hope for a change in this area. I think that popular fiction, suspense, and action books actually do okay set in foreign locations.

    However, women read romance for comfort and familiarity, so I think that's the main genre that they want American settings. Just in the last five years Regency England and now stretching to Georgian and Victorian England have become trendy, so let's hope the stretch continues.

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  33. Hi Preslaysa, Susanne and Anita Mae thanks for popping by, I can't wait to get my hands on Dina's book either.

    Gina, good to have you here and to hear about your list- maybe some of our ICFW bloggers can add to the list.

    Hi Mary and Narelle, thank you for taking the time to leave a comment. I too hope Whitefire Publishing sells heaps and heaps of books and that we'll see more books with medieval settings.

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  34. Dina thank you so much for your guest blog today, we all enjoyed reading it and wish you success with "Dance of the Dandelion".

    May God bless you as you write for Him.

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