Interview with The Lost Genre Guild's, Frank Creed

What book or project is coming out or has come out that you'd like to tell us about?

My end-times sci-fi novel Flashpoint: Book One of the Underground is why we're chatting, but a year ago I started a big project. The Lost Genre Guild's mission is to raise the awareness and respect for Biblical speculative fiction, and to encourage, educate and support the writers of such fiction. Artists, editors, agents, promoters, and fans of Christian sci-fi, fantasy, and supernatural thrillers now have a home.

Spec-fic is the best selling secular genre, but few Christian authors have been connecting with fans. After years of draught on Christian fiction shelves, genre fans have resorted to shopping secular shelves. Demographics show that many Christian genre fans are online, so the Lost Genre Guild's been laying infrastructure for Viral Marketing, or, word-of-mouth buzz to promote our lost genre. We've been promoting through the Latest in Spec newsletter, CFBA, CSSF, CFRB, Speculative Faith, and the Lost Genre Guild blog. Also, I love the bookstore at wherethemapends.com

The guild's privately developed some hi-tech promotional capabilities: Podcast, live author chats, even a virtual-reality talk-show at secondlife.com

My book-launch party for Flashpoint is even being held in the Second Life virtual world. Considering Flashpoint's end-times science-fiction (cyberpunk) sub-genre, I'm thrilled at this chance to connect with Christian readers there.

Cyberpunk is set in a high-tech near future, is dystopian (opposite of utopian), and features the ability to blend the human mind and the computer. An excellent definition of the term can be found at Wikipedia.com

Flashpoint is set in 2036 Chicago, against the backdrop of a global government called the One State. Fundamentalist terrorism is the only threat to the One State's absolute power. To solve this problem belief in the Word of God has been pronounced in illegal and treasonous.

We meet main characters David and Jen Williams as they flee peacekeepers busting their home-church. This sparks a Flashpoint in the Body of Christ (BoC), living in the abandoned parts of the Metroplex.

Through the use of brain-wave technology (something the US military was actually researching in the mid-90s), the saints living in the underground are re-formed. They undergo a process that nudges the fallen human flesh and to better align with the soul. In this process they have a kind of software called "mindware" uploaded directly into their brains, giving them near superhuman abilities. David and Jen Williams are uploaded, and become Calamity Kid and e-girl.

Anyone can use BW tech, but a re-formed spirit-walkin saint using God's will instead of their own is far superior. And with the aid of non-lethal weapons, calamity kid and e-girl's "terrorist" cell in the BoC set out to save their captured home church.

How do you define Biblical Speculative Fiction?

In my lifetime, I've seen some argument about Christian fiction. One side says Christian authors should write secular fiction, and let their God-given talent glorify the Boss. The other side says we must all write overtly Christian themes and messages. I think the answer is that He's given us all different fiction ministries. In order to make a distinction between these two sides, I coined the term Biblical speculative fiction. A Lost Genre Guild member actually wrote the definition at wikipedia.com

As a linguist, Stephen L. Rice (League of Superheroes --- The Writer's Café Press, 2008), was much better suited to the task. That's how we work in the guild: one organ in the real-world Body of Christ using our talents for the Boss.


Tell us about your journey to publication. How long had you been writing before you got the call you had a contract, how you heard and what went through your head.

I was first drawn to write fiction around eight-years-old when mom sent me to a creative writing program at the public library. At 15 years old, the first short story I've ever finished won first-place at the University of Wisconsin In Whitewater Literary Festival. There were hundreds of entries. I was stunned --- never in my wildest dreams . . . This was the first time I really thought I had something.

Through my teens and 20s, all my fiction energy went into role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons. In my mid-20s all those notes were converted into a writer's notebook for fantasy and science fiction. It was then that the concepts for flashpoint began to congeal. I wrote 75 pages of Flashpoint’s first draft and showed it to coworkers for feedback. They said it sounded good but the vocabulary was so high that didn't understand it. In frustration I killed my baby, and started over.

Working through this is when I found what every writer has to find --- their voice. It took about six years to write and polish Flashpoint’s current draft. I began submitting the manuscript with the help of a 2002 Writers Market. I kept polishing as the rejection letters came in, and gave up on the traditional Houses in 2005. Flashpoint was accepted by The Writer's Café Press in February of 06. I felt like jumping on the bed.

God had drawn all my life experiences, good and bad, together into this focal point of fiction-Ministry. When I wrapped my mind around that, tears of joy came. I said daily prayers of thanks for months, before God told me to stop groveling and go learn how to self-promote one's self while glorifying Him.

Do you still experience self-doubts regarding your work?

Re: the quality of my work, no. The first rule of writing is to learn the craft, so you know when to break the rules: I'm paraphrasing Andrea Graham, a fellow author from the Light at the Edge of Darkness, a book that has three of my short stories, set in the Underground. One never masters the craft, we're always learning. You do reach a point where you know when to break the rules; that's when you know the craft.

What does concern me is connecting with Christian science-fiction fans that no longer bother looking for novels in Christian bookstores or on religious fiction bookshelves.

What mistakes have you made while seeking publication?

If the pen's mightier than the sword, the Web is a writer's whetstone. When I first began networking, I was thrilled to discover a certain author in a Yahoo writer's group; one with a lot of rules. First, she welcomed me to the group and I buried her with a couple long messages. Then my short-term memory problems kicked in and I broke one of the group’s rules: a strict privacy policy. It took me awhile to figure out what I'd done, and whose trust I'd violated. I succeeded in alienating the biggest name in modern Biblical fantasy. Great start to the self-promotion thing!

What's the best advice you've heard on writing/publication?

The first rule of writing is to learn the craft, so you know when to break the rules. I'd say the second rule for writer is finding their voice.

Re: publication, the writer's lifestyle in the movies is a person curling up with their muse in an A-frame cabin. For those who can afford to write full-time there are three basic spheres of life: family, word count, and promoting. These spheres swallow all your time. For those of us still launching novelist careers, there is a fourth sphere of holding down a job. I still work second shift at Subaru of Indiana Automotive.

What's the worst piece of writing advice you've heard?

"The first rule of writing is that there are no rules."


What's something you wish you'd known earlier that might have saved you some time/frustration in the publishing business?

How few agents and traditional houses will even consider Biblical sci-fi. Since the Lord of the Rings films, Biblical fantasy and supernatural thrillers have had some success. ABA publishers have gobbled-up many CBA imprints, so things are changing.

The Free Market is giving Bib-spec-fic a chance. Everyone in the publishing industry is expecting religious fiction to be the biggest growth area in the next four years, so it's time to start checking religious shelves for Bibs-spec-fic again

Is there a particularly difficult set back that you've gone through in your writing career you are willing to share?

Killing my baby: pushing the delete key on 75 pages, and we about six years of work, and starting over. Fortunately the Boss made me both stubborn and patient.

What are a few of your favorite books? (Not written by you.)

I've learned that sometimes a book is not a book. The first book in a Christian author must mention is the Bible. The Bible is a compilation of 66 works that collectively communicate inexhaustive yet infinite wisdom from our Creator. That ain't a book: that’s the Word of God.

Any nonfiction by CS Lewis, Francis A. Schaeffer, Gene Edward Veith Jr., and Ravi Zacharias. My favorite novels are: Orwell's 1984, Stackpole's Wolf and Raven, and The Redemption by M.L. Tyndall.

What piece of writing have you done that you're particularly proud of and why?

I'm currently 20,000 words into War of Attrition, Book Two of the Underground. Any writer's constantly learning and growing, especially Christian writers, who believe that our Everything He's taught me, is focused in my fiction, so my own best piece is my work-in-progress.

Do you have a pet peeve having to do with this biz?

The way many in the industry places traditional publishing houses on a pedestal, and bows down. In the mid-90s, something like 80% of books sitting on bookstore shelves were published by traditional houses. In just five or six years, this dropped to less than 50%. Unlike the trend in any other industry I know-of, the little fish are eating the big fish here. Small independent presses that can spot unexploited market niches, quality writing, and effectively market to readers, have a big advantage in an industry with inefficiencies.

Take us through your process of writing a novel briefly, from conception to revision.

In 1998 I survived a high-speed head-on collision. That resulted in, among other things, a closed-head injury. That means my skull did not fracture (my head really is that thick), and my brain swelled. In spite of a documented medical miracle healing, I still suffer from a little short-term memory loss, and a total inability to multitask. So I have to write everything down.

I mentioned a writer's notebook. I'm never without pencil and paper, and I’m transcribing notes constantly.

When I begin a work, I write a rough outline, choose a beginning action scene, and the concept of the climax. Then I write a scene timeline as I go --- this makes it easy to tell what time of day a certain scene happens.

Do you have a dream for the future of your writing, something you would love to accomplish?

Already livin' it. People have no idea how long our sub-culture's spec-fic fans have been frustrated. From 1960 to 2005, the only major names have been Lewis, Lawhead, Peretti, and Dekker.

Founding the Lost Genre Guild is a dream come true. I've already touched more lives than I'd ever thought possible.

Now if only the underground novels will sell. Out of about 20 reviews, all have been positive and more than half of them have raved. It is a good sign, but Christian sci-fi fans are so scattered, I'm concerned about sales.

Also, there is another small group few know of. At frankcreed.com the "Attention Christian Artists" side-bar link has networked me with some talented artists. I've opened my settings and characters to aspiring authors willing to write in the Underground setting. Role Playing Game designer Mike Roop is writing Flashpoint: the RPG (The Writer's Café Press, 08). Books three and four of the Underground series are slated to be by Project Underground members.

I've been networking on the Web for 18 months, and I cannot believe what he’s dropped in my lap.

Was there ever a time in your writing career you thought of quitting?

A few. I wonder about the huge investment in launching my novelist career. Deadlines and promotion takes so much time away from what's really important in life. My family and I are stressed-out, and at times I do wonder.

Last time I considered quitting was this past June. I put out a prayer request on the Lost Genre Guild's private mail-list. God answered that prayer when Flashpoint’s reviews began rolling in. I sent messages to all the reviewers letting them know how much they encouraged me.

The story inspires readers to think about how they live their own lives, and deepens their Spiritual sojourn. That was exactly what I'd tried to do. The entire purpose for the Underground series' setting, and characters was meant to communicate Biblical answers to the great philosophical questions through fast-paced page turning fiction.
Once in a while life gets so crazy that we all want to run away to some tropical island somewhere. Just pray-it-out, and show up every day for His glory. The Boss will be there for you, and that too will pass.


What is your favorite and least favorite part of being a writer?

(Making the difference in the lives of real people) sits on the other side of the scale from (the time demands and the StReSs).

How much marketing/publicity do you do? Any advice in this area?

For every six hours spent on the computer, I'm happy to get two hours of word-count. It's that bad.

Marketing plans are helpful. A strategy of building a marketing infrastructure and a plan for promotion are necessary, but what looks good on paper has to be employed in reality.

Cynthia at The Writer's Café Press requires a marketing plan, but what she really looks for is a writer who is already self-promoting. She has dealt with some authors who have promised to assist in marketing, then after publication, became invisible. Promising to do interviews, appearances, and book signings is easy. The hard part is showing up.

What used to be known as word-of-mouth, then known as buzz, is now called viral marketing: using the Web to infect other forms of media. This is very important for Christian books because our subculture has its own print, radio, and television Medias. Plugging into all these with Web infrastructure is crucial.

The number one reason, by far, that a person buys a book is because it was recommended by friends or family. Because of this, when a publisher considers a stack of polished manuscripts, the ones that will be purchased have been penned by an author with the established Web presence. That's business.

Self-promotion is my least favorite aspect of the industry, but it's terribly necessary, and not as hard as you think. The number one rule of self-promotion is: don't. First, help other people with whatever talents you have, then your audience will wonder who you are; this is when you can talk passionately about your craft. All you have to do is live the Golden rule. For example, the Lost Genre Guild has become very helpful for my own networking and self-promotion purposes, but that was not my motive for founding it. People will detect a fraud, or a spammer. Just live at the intersection of your passions and talents while giving the Boss your best --- and all the credit. That’s infectious.

Have you received a particularly memorable reader response?

As I sought out reviewers for Flashpoint, I came across an ordained minister on Shoutlife who has a profile picture that looked just like Calamity Kid, Flashpoint's main character. In his review he detailed everything intended in my fiction ministry. He was so inspired by the novel that he wrote a fan-fiction piece about 10k words long, and sent it to me out-of-the-blue. I was absolutely blown away.
On Shoutlife, his profile name is Jonathan, and he's now a member of Project Underground.

A word of wisdom: marry a schoolteacher. I met my wife online, on May 9, 2003, the fifth anniversary of that devastating head-on collision. Cynthia edited many things for her local school, and offered to edit Flashpoint for me.

We wound-up marrying. Because it took for two years to get her Green Card, the only thing we could think of for her to bring-in some income was her editing skills. She started a Web business called The Writer's Café. After years of editing and networking, she learned that the Web, and the trend for corporate outsourcing had changed the publishing industry forever. A small independent press could now do everything that the traditional houses had been doing for decades.

When she told me she wanted to publish Flashpoint, it was very exciting, but that excitement was tempered by an amateur feeling. Face it, being published by your wife is a short step away from being published by your mom. I gained confidence quickly as I watched her publish Tales for the Thrifty Barbarian, a fantasy anthology, and A Child Underground, the memoirs of a Holocaust survivor. By the time Light at the Edge of Darkness, was compiled in August of 06, my confidence was complete.

I may be sleeping with my publisher, but our business relationship is completely professional. She respects me as an artist, and I get the same kinds of deadlines, contracts, and expectations as everyone else she publishes. We work well as a team and I expect this to be a huge advantage, as together we live the crazy-paced lifestyle this business requires. Book signings are also desperately needed weekends away.
Just as everything else in my life goes into my books, how God gave me a gift like Cynthia, is absolutely unreal.

In conclusion: marry a schoolteacher!

To God be the glory.