Where Do the YIKES Come From?

Marcie with her latest reads. She even has Erica Vetch's new debut novel, A Bride's Portrait of  
Dodge City, Kansas included in her "to read" stack.

Everyday, people pick up books for entertainment, escape, and inspiration. Finding Christ-honoring books is no longer the challenge that it used to be. Christian Fiction boasts some of the best of today's literature. With a variety of genres from which to choose, readers can immerse themselves in stories of love, history, and contemporary fiction. Along the way, the suspense category of Christian Fiction has
flourished with mysteries, thrillers, and romance.


Mysteries are often defined as "Cozy Mysteries" either because they don't give too much tension, which isn't always the case, or because their typical heroine is a little old British widow. The word cozy in this case refers to the tea cozy that the British use to keep the water in the teapot warm and the furniture protected. A story is considered a mystery when the main character, often highlighted in a series of stories, isn't really in danger. Think Miss Marple. The who-dun-it is a puzzle, a conundrum, with a challenge to the reader to unravel the knots before the detective.



If mysteries are on the mild side of the suspense spectrum, thrillers inhabit the opposite edge. The genre defines itself, although some of the books are simply cached as "Suspense." These are the books that keep readers on the edges of their seats, where the intensity rarely stops and when it does, the reader has a physical reaction of relief. In this type, the main character is always at risk. The cerebral puzzle rarely enters, utilizing instead the wits and power that the hero has to avoid certain destruction. Within the Christian realm, there are many types of thrillers including psychological, medical, and military.



The romantic suspense spans both extremes. There are true cozies and thrillers that include romance, but the romantic suspense lies more in the center of the span. It can include either the elements of a mystery or those of a thriller, but the romance plays a defining part of the novel. A hero and heroine must have personal stories, outside of the plot line, that drive their actions and draw them to each other.

Romance is definitely the heart of the suspense grouping, lying smack dab in the middle of the two extremes. Thrillers are the brawn and mysteries are the brain. The best news for Christian Fiction Readers is that there are ample amounts of all of the different types readily available at Christian Book Distributors, Barnes and Noble, and Amazon.

{For my students, the above is an illustration of a five-paragraph framework using an example format.}

It's not my regular type of posting, but when expository writing is necessary, it's important to know how it works. Picture the whole thing as an hour glass.

In this case, the first paragraph provides an introduction with each sentence progressing down a funnel of broad category to narrow category. Finally, the last sentence is the thesis statement. It mentions three separate sub-topics (examples for this format) which provide the subject for the next three paragraphs, in order.

For this format, the examples of the topic are merely described, but the covers that match the types are pictured beside each and are linked to reviews about each book. The final paragraph concludes the essay, starting with narrow categories, the ones discussed, and ending with broader ones.

Besides grocery lists, what type of writing have you done in the last week?