Perhaps the wheels of your creative mind have been spinning, weaving a story that you think would make a great book. Maybe it’s not your first rodeo and you’ve taken this journey several times already, although no two writing experiences are the same. Then again, this might be your maiden voyage—your testing-the-waters venture. Either way, you might encounter some challenges as an author, many of which most writers face at some point when they decide to turn their passion or hobby into a career.
Knowing what types of challenges to expect as a Christian fiction author doesn’t necessarily mean you will experience all of them. It’s likely that you will hit a few bumps on the road, however; most authors do. By thinking ahead and developing a plan for how you might handle turbulence when it arises, you’ll be equipped to overcome and keep moving forward to accomplish your goal.
An author often faces these challenges
Even if the writing process itself comes easy to you, it wouldn’t be uncommon to experience some (or all) of the challenges included in this list:
- Lack of confidence
- Lack of motivation
- Fear of rejection
- Difficulty handling criticism
- Struggling to fully develop a character
While some of these challenges may be short-lived and cause only minor delays for an author, others can bring the writing process to a halt and take weeks, months, or longer to resolve.
Breaking down the list
Let’s look at each potential challenge listed in the previous section that you might encounter as an author, whether it’s your first book or you have already published several of your works:
- If you lack confidence, it might be connected to another challenge on the list—a fear of rejection, or you just might worry that you don’t have what it takes to write a book that people will want to read. You must believe in yourself to be successful as an author. If you lack confidence, you risk making excuses for delays or procrastinating when it comes time to submit your manuscript to a publisher.
- Lack of motivation typically causes a work-in-progress to stall. It can hit at any time but often arises midway through a story or when it’s time to make revisions. Making sure you’re in good physical, emotional and mental health is important because such issues can negatively impact motivation.
- Constructive criticism is part of the writing process. An author who refuses to take advice from an editor or who disregards feedback from beta readers may be impeding a novel from reaching its full potential.
- Your characters must be relatable, relevant, and memorable to capture and hold readers’ attention from start to finish. If you struggle with character development, think about people you know in real life. What makes you know them better? Provide these details throughout your story so that readers may come to know the characters as whole personas with background, personality, goals, etc.
The good news is that there are resources available to help an author overcome the challenges mentioned in this post. Working with an experienced publishing team is always a good idea, as well as speaking with other authors. Address each issue as it arises so that you can keep momentum going to create a novel that people will want to read.
