Novel Journey

The Death Knell of Great Writing

2009-11-24T04:07:00.001-05:00

In 1998, Gina Holmes began her career penning articles and short stories. In 2005 she founded Novel Journey. She holds degrees in science and nursing and currently resides with her husband and children in Southern Virginia. Her debut novel, Crossing Oceans, is set to release April, 2010 with Tyndale House Publishers. To learn more about her, visit: http://www.ginaholmes.com/.

My husband, Adam, is an incredibly handsome and wonderful country boy who is forever offering to fix me up a "mess" of squirrels.

I've never taken him up on that oh-so-tempting offer, but his small-town southern vernacular amuses me to no end. He is Dixie through and through. He suwanee's instead of swears, says "cat mess" when he really means "bull sh**", and every female is "darlin'", whether she's darling or not.

He's a great help to me when I'm writing, able to give me feedback when I need it. He's not afraid to tell me something's not quite right or when he thinks it's brilliant. The one thing he isn't able to help me with is finding the right phrase or word.

Why not?

He suffers from a common ailment that many others share—laryngitis. He’s forever losing his voice and no amount of antibiotics or chicken soup can help him.

What I mean is he's a good ol' country boy, like I said, and talks that way, but when he's trying to help me write, he suddenly becomes writerly, and being writerly is the death knell of great writing.

For example, I was working on a novel that was set in a country town much like the one he grew up in. I naturally figured he’d be a huge help, but when I would ask him: what would you say if someone was making you angry? I expected him to say something like, "You're making me hotter than a Baptist's knee," or something along the lines of the way he really speaks. Instead, what I got was something like: Your inconsideration for the indiscretions I have beseeched... blah blah blah.

Um . . . When has he ever talked that way? Never. But it happens every time I ask him to help. He suddenly loses his natural voice to become what he thinks sounds impressive and worthy of fine literature.

He’s not alone.

Still struggling to find your voice? The cure is simple enough—write the way you talk. Give your stuff to friends and ask them if you're writing the way you talk. If you're not, write like the child you used to be. Chances are that's still, deep down, who you are.

It wasn’t until my fifth novel, that I finally find my voice. For me that took becoming so comfortable in the craft of writing that I no longer had anything to prove and finally began to just tell the story.

Another thing that’s helped refine my voice is reading my stuff out loud. Anything that doesn't sound natural, conversational or flow smoothly, I edit until it does.
I'm sure I'm doing a horrible job at explaining myself, but reading this piece, and the others I write, do you get a sense of my personality? I hope so. That's my natural voice.

Once you find your natural voice, writing becomes faster, easier, more natural, and more enjoyable to read.

A great book that helped me understand voice is "Finding Your Voice" by Les Edgarton. It may not completely cure your laryngitis, but it will, at the very least, help you clear your throat

Nothing deepens a stream like a good rain . . . or makes it harder to cross.

Jenny Lucas swore she’d never go home again. But life has a way of upending even the best-laid plans. Now, years after she left, she and her five-year-old daughter must return to her sleepy North Carolina town to face the ghosts she left behind. They welcome her in the form of her oxygen tank-toting grandmother, her stoic and distant father, and David, Isabella’s dad . . . who doesn’t yet know he has a daughter.

As Jenny navigates the rough and unknown waters of her new reality, the unforgettable story that unfolds is a testament to the power of love to change everything—to heal old hurts, to bring new beginnings . . . even to overcome the impossible.

Get Your MS Out of the Slush Pile

2009-11-23T03:30:00.002-05:00

Just a reminder about our new awards program, OUT OF THE SLUSH PILE, Novel Journey’s Fifteen Minutes of Fame Contest. If you haven’t already made plans to enter, please check out the details.

Please note, the submission date for the first phase, Historical Fiction, is coming up soon (December 10). Email your submissions, or any questions you may have about the contest, to NovelJourneyContest @gmail.com.

We look forward to seeing your entry!

A Matter of Timing

2009-11-22T01:00:00.001-05:00

Marcia Laycock is a pastor's wife and mother of three grown daughters. She was the winner of The Best New Canadian Christian Author Award for her novel, One Smooth Stone, and has published two devotional books, Spur of the Moment, and Focused Reflections. Visit her website - http://www.vinemarc.com/

Last week I watched two full grown geese land on a small pond across from my home. It was quite funny to watch, because the pond was frozen. The geese gracefully flapped their wings and extended their feet, anticipating the landing, but when they touched down they skidded sideways and plopped down unceremoniously on their bottoms. When they recovered they stomped about, seeming indignant.

When I saw them stomping around on the ice it made me think of those times when I’ve been impatient with God’s timing. It often seems that He isn’t in sync. with my estimation of when things should happen. Give me patience, Lord. Right now!

But His timing is always perfect. When my new novel, One Smooth Stone won the Best New Canadian Christian Author Award, I was thrilled that it would soon be in print. Then I discovered that the word, ‘soon’ is relative. There was a delay because the publisher wanted a certain editor to work with me, and she was busy with other projects. Then there was a bit of miscommunication and I was waiting for her while she was waiting for me to get in touch. Then, when it was finally begun, the editing process took time. But finally my publisher told me the books were ready to ship. I waited - impatiently - for them to arrive on my doorstep. The book launch was to be held on the first night of a writers’ conference and, of course, I wanted the books in hand for that event. I was thankful when they arrived, safe and sound, a few days before the scheduled launch.

I remember lifting the first book out of the box. I knew exactly where it was going. I gave it to my friend – I’ll call her Barb.

Barb has had a hard life – her husband left her with four small children to raise and no resources. The family struggled through. Then one of Barb’s daughters, I’ll call her Lucy, was raped when she was a teenager. Though Barb managed to hold on to her faith in Christ, Lucy has been bitter and angry with God ever since. The day after my books arrived, Barb gave that copy of One Smooth Stone to Lucy. A few days later she got a phone call.

Lucy told her that she had had no intention of reading the book – she’d thought, oh yeah, there goes Mom with the religious stuff again. But that next day she got the flu and the only thing she had in the house to read was my book. So she picked it up and started to read. She said she couldn’t put it down. When she called her mom she was in tears because she said that after reading the book, she finally believed God does still love her, in spite of everything.

The timing was perfect. God’s timing. Not mine. Next time I get impatient I’ll try and remember how ridiculous those geese looked, stomping around on solid ice.

Author Interview ~ Marci Alborghetti

2009-11-21T00:07:00.000-05:00

Marci Alborghetti is the author of over ten books, including a Season in the South and How to Pray When You Think You Can’t. Alborghetti and her husband, Charlie, divide their time between New London, Connecticut, and Sausalito, California.

What new project is coming out that you would like to tell us about?

My new novel, The Christmas Glass, will be released in October. The story moves from Italy in WWII to America in the year 2000, following the lives of several families. Each family has come into possession of one piece of a
collection of hand-blown glass Christmas ornaments. The novel tells
their stories, how they come apart and sometimes come together.

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.

The Christmas Glass is my 12th book, second novel. I've been writing all
my life, motivated by a five dollar gift certificate I won in fourth grade
for an essay on Halloween. The gift certificate was for a quirky bookstore,
and I can still remember spending an hour in that dark, little store making
my selections and driving my mother nuts. The Christmas Glass is published
by Guideposts Books and is my second book with them. But it was not an easy
contract to get, simply because while the first book did well, it was a different type of book. The Christmas Glass required a slight leap of faith for them, and when I got the call that I'd be getting a contract, I was as thrilled as I'd been with my very first contract. This book had been in my head for years.

Do you still experience self-doubts regarding your work?

Of course! Anyone who doesn't isn't really writing, they're reciting on
paper.

What mistakes have you made while seeking publication?

Seeking publication in the current environment is a nightmare. So, where
I might have been more choosy in the past, today I'm happy to get a
proposal in and a contract even if the terms are less than ideal. Mistakes I've
made in the past include assuming publishers know how to market; approaching
the wrong person, even if it was the right publisher; thinking that if I was
simply a good writer everything would fall into place; being too naive
about the business.

What's the best advice you¹ve heard on writing/publication?

Research publishers and make sure you have a possible match, in other
words, that they publish your kind of manuscript; and then, find someone you can
connect with there, or your work is likely to sit at the bottom of a
pile.

How do you craft a plot?

Usually based on one small idea. For example, the plot of The Christmas
Glass was formed around the idea of these 12 Christmas ornaments. I'd
been reading about the village in Germany where glass ornaments were made in
the late 19 century, and how they were made, and from thinking about that,
the plot came together.

Do you begin writing with a synopsis in hand, or do you write as
the ideas come to you?

No synopsis, but I'm hugely reliant on my outline, which becomes longer
and more detailed as ideas come to me before and while writing.

What's something you wish you¹d known earlier that might have
saved you some time/frustration in the publishing business?

It sounds cynical, but I'd have to say: don't believe the deal is done
untilyou're holding the signed contract in your hand. And even then keep your
eyes open. So much can go wrong in the process of getting published.
Several times I've been very close to a contract, and the editor I was
working with moved on or quit. Something as simple as that can scotch
the whole deal.

Is there a particularly difficult set back that you¹ve gone
through in your writing career you are willing to share?

Only one?!! Three years ago I was working closely with an international
publisher with a house in America on a book called One God, Three Faiths.
It explored what Christianity, Islam, and Judaism had in common based on
their scriptures: the New Testament, the Qur'an, the Torah. The book
was meant to be accessible to the average reader - not necessarily the
theological academic. The book was to be published in America, and then
later, probably Canada and Europe. After a year's worth of work with a
very small advance and praise and assurances all the way, they decided to pull
the book because it was too controversial. I was heartbroken!

How do you think reading the work of others helps you as a writer?

The only way to learn to write is to read. Everything. Good writing
teaches you how to write well. Bad writing teaches you how not to write.
Great writing makes you cry with envy and hope.

What piece of writing have you done that you¹re particularly proudof and why?

I'm extremely proud of The Christmas Glass because it is entertaining,
but also deals with the issue of family and what that means in an honest,
funny way. And I think it is a good read, which means a lot to me. I'm also
very proud of a book of short fiction, called The Jesus Women, which tells the
stories of 12 women who encountered Jesus. They speak to the reader in
their own voices and through their own perspectives. I love that book.

What is your best advice on maintaining a good editor-author
relationship?

Be courteous, be respectful, be professional, and make it clear that you
expect the same treatment from them. If you like the person, let that
show, but never let down your professional guard.

How many drafts to you edit before submitting to your editor?

I edit as I go, so it's hard to say. I probably edit each chapter once,and
then the whole mss once.

We often hear how important it is to write a good query letter to
whet the appetite of an editor. What tips can you offer to help
other writer pen a good query?

To be honest, I've never had a book picked up off a query letter. I
think the quality of the proposal is more important, and of course, having
someone to send it to. I seldom send a proposal without having called or
contacted the editor and getting their OK.

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

Ten minutes ago. Twenty minutes from now.

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

This is now most of the job. Seriously. The writing is the best part,
but if you are not prepared to strenuously promote your work, your chances of
success are nil to none. First, try to find a publisher who is willing
to diligently market your book. Good luck with that! If you have an
aggressive "marketing" publisher, simply ask what they want you to do and
do it. If not, do as much as you possibly can yourself. Set up book
signings, and not just at bookstores, but with any group or event that is a match
for your book. Go to fairs, festivals, churches, libraries, etc. Contact
newspapers and journals and see if they will announce/review your
publication. Reach out to every friend and acquaintance. Start an
e-newsletter. Consider every possible angle in promoting your book, and
then follow up on it.

Have you received a particularly memorable reader response?

Yes, that's the best part of this. Writing is a way to touch people, to
entertain them, to help, maybe to change their lives. This is why I do
it.

My second book, Freedom From Fear; Overcoming Anxiety Through Faith, was
a sometimes funny, sometimes intense book of anecdotes on how people deal
with stess and anxiety, particularly through their relationship with God. As
a result of a book talk, I was asked to facilitate a group for people
living with anxiety and depression. One man who eventually came to the group
had not been able to leave his home and immediate neighborhood for months
because of a head injury that had all but destroyed his body and spirit.
He read the book, and we spoke, and he started attending the group. He is
now working with the Red Cross in emergency areas. When I think of him, I
feel like I could quit now and be happy.

Parting words?

But, of course, I don't quit.

The Winner of Christmas Homecoming is...

2009-11-20T14:53:00.004-05:00

Diana! Congratulations. Your book is on its way.

Guest Blog ~ Zig Ziglar ~ Life is Change

2009-11-20T03:43:00.003-05:00

Life is change. On March 7, 2007, my life changed completely with one, simple, misplaced step. Some would say it changed for the worse, and by human standards they would be entirely right...

...By human standards my fall down the stairs and the vertigo and brain injury that resulted in my short-term memory loss would seem to dictate an end to my long and much-loved career, but I'm here to tell you that, even with its problems, my life is more inspiring, more intriguing, and more fulfilling than ever...

...I'm doing the best I can with what I have and enjoying it in the process. When I get out on the golf course, which is seldom, and tee the ball up and hit it 125 yards, I don't say, “Oh, I used to hit this ball three hundred yards!” I'm just grateful that I can hit it as far as I can and am still able to get out there and enjoy playing. In my lifetime I've had one hole in one. I'll doubt that I'll ever make another one, but I have had that one, and it was a joyous occasion ! Incidentally, since my fall my putting has improved – so there is an unexpected perk!

Because I'm eighty-two years old, I figure getting to sit down while I deliver my message is a perk as well. It was not difficult for me to accept this change, because the message is so much more important than how the message is delivered. If the message has reality in it, makes sense, and is helpful, then whether I'm sitting or standing, shouting or whispering, if the message is valid and sincerely believed, I am still able to make contributions to other people's lives.

Excerpts from Page 7 and 40 of EMBRACE THE STRUGGLE: Living Life on Life's Terms (Howard Books/Simon & Schuster, October 2009.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

ZIG ZIGLAR is a bestselling author with more than three million books in print. He is the president of Zig Ziglar Corporation and has motivated the sales forces of multinational corporations and thousands of individuals. One of the leading stars of the "positive thinking" movement, he is the author of bestsellers See You At the Top, Secrets of Closing the Sale, Success and Self-Image, 5 Steps to Successful Selling, How to Be a Winner, Selling 101, and How to Get What You Want.

JULIE ZIGLAR NORMAN is Zig and Jean Ziglar's third born and youngest daughter. Julie has co-authored Embrace the Struggle with her father, and their dynamic on-stage relationship has inspired more than 100,000 people in audiences all across America. Julia lives in Alvord, Texas, with her husband, Jim, three cats, three dogs, three horses, and one box turtle.

Guest Blogger ~ Elizabeth Ludwig

2009-11-19T06:00:00.004-05:00

Elizabeth Ludwig’s first novel, Where the Truth Lies, which she co-authored with Janelle Mowery, was released in spring of 2008 from Heartsong Presents: Mysteries, an imprint of Barbour Publishing. This was followed in 2009 by “I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” part of a Christmas anthology collection called Christmas Homecoming, also from Barbour Publishing.

Books two and three of Elizabeth’s mystery series, Died in the Wool, and A Black Die Affair, respectively, are slated for release in 2010 from Barbour Publishing. Also in 2010, her first full-length historical novel Love Finds You in Calico, California will be released from Summerside Press.

In 2008, Elizabeth was named the IWA Writer of the Year for her work on Where the Truth Lies. Elizabeth is an accomplished speaker and dramatist, having performed before audiences of 1500 and more. She works fulltime, and currently lives with her husband and two children in Texas.

Critique Boutique by Elizabeth Ludwig

Being a freelance editor has afforded me ample opportunities to see the kind of mistakes new and aspiring authors make—some not so serious, some fatal.

What do I mean by fatal? These are the kind of mistakes that get your manuscript rejected. In an effort to help you steer clear of the rejection pile, I’m going to list a few of the more common errors, along with a few helpful hints on how you can avoid making them again and again.

The biggest mistake I see involves Point of View (POV for short). New authors, especially, make the mistake of thinking their writing should emulate what they see on TV—scenes hopping from one to the next, jumping from one character’s viewpoint to another, sometimes in the same paragraph, etc. In a nutshell, POV is what one character thinks, feels, sees, hears, and smells. A general rule of thumb is to stay inside one character’s POV for the duration of a scene, only changing into a different POV after you have inserted a section or chapter break. After each paragraph, ask yourself, is this something my POV character can physically know or think? If the answer is no, check for a POV slip. Editors want to know that you have a firm grasp and understanding of POV.

Plot and structure holes are the second most common error I see. Think of your favorite movie. What did you like about it? Most likely, it involved a main character who sets out to achieve one major event or goal. Many things happen along the way, but the goal remains the same. From start to finish, the viewer is left wondering whether or not the main character will accomplish their goal. Take, for example, one of my favorite movies, The Princess Bride. In it, two characters, a boy and a girl, are separated from each other by circumstances neither of them can control. From the point of their separation on, the viewer wonders if they will somehow find their way back to each other. Events strive to keep them apart, but always, they struggle to come back together until the film’s final resolution.

Plotting is a difficult concept to grasp, which is why having a timeline is so beneficial. Before you even begin writing, I suggest you sit down and write yourself a detailed timeline, always keeping in mind who your main character is and what they hope to accomplish. This way, your story never strays far from the original plot.

A third major problem is the use of passive voice as opposed to active voice. Passive voice involves past tense and the main character viewing or observing events as they happen. Active voice is more immediate and involves the main character actually doing or saying something. Editors watch for the use of active voice, which is why grasping this concept is so important. Key word indicators to passive voice are ‘was’ and ‘had’ in all of their forms. Look at the following example:

Passive: She was glad to see him.
Active: She squealed with delight at the sight of him.

Both examples say she is happy to see him, but one involves immediacy and action.

Lastly, be sure to check your manuscript for things like word/phrase repetition, use of adverbs (or ly words, as I like to say), and incorrect punctuation and grammar. Mechanics are important in your writing, and editors want to know that you’ve taken the time to learn basic techniques before they go deeper to check for a good story with a strong plot. If you’re not certain on the rules, invest in a good book—the Chicago Manual of Style for example, or consider having your work professionally edited. As someone who has reaped the benefits of having gone this route, I can tell you the things you will learn far outweigh the cost, and you’ll be able to take those tools with you and apply them to every future work.

And that’s it! Still have some specific editing questions you've always wanted to ask? Fire away, and I'll do my best to answer them all. As a special holiday bonus, anyone who leaves a comment or asks an editing question will be entered to win a copy of my Christmas anthology, Christmas Homecoming, from Barbour Publishing.

A Novel Idea with Angela Hunt & Robin Jones Gunn

2009-11-18T09:00:00.002-05:00

A Novel Idea is a wonderful collection of teachings on the craft of fiction writing by the members of ChiLibris. It's virtually a writers’ conference in a book. Today, Novel Journey is pleased to have Angela Hunt and Robin Jones Gunn with us.

Welcome, ladies. First, please tell our readers how this book came to be.

Angie: The book began in my car, actually. Robin and I had just driven to my house after ICRS and she began to tell me about her work with Media Associates International. She was musing about how nice it’d be to have articles on the craft of writing for foreign writing students, and I said we had lots of writer friends, so maybe some of them would be willing to contribute an article or two. Then one idea led to another, and soon we’d come up with the notion that we should collect these articles into a book . . . long story short, we ended up with far more articles than we could use! (We have lots of writer friends!)

Robin: I’d like to add that neither Angie nor I expected the sort of response we received once we put the word out to our combined circles of writer friends. We were asking them to give away their trade secrets and receive no compensation but our hearty thanks. As Angie said, Tyndale Publishers received far more than they needed for this book. Such generosity! We are thrilled with how the final book turned out. I hadn’t seen it until my copy arrived last week. I spent several hours in my favorite chair with a cup of tea and read every page. I learned new things that are helping me with my current project. This book is a treasure for writers at every stage of their career. And all the proceeds go to MAI (www.littworld.org) to assist in training writers around the world.

How did it come together? Who oversaw the project?

Angie: At the beginning I collected names, but once Janet Grant volunteered to agent the project, I knew I could relax. Tyndale House contracted the book, and we were happy to turn everything over to Jan Stob, our editor at Tyndale.

So many topics were covered in A Novel Idea. How were those subjects chosen and how were the authors chosen? At first we let authors choose the topics they wanted to write about, knowing that writers tend to have strong opinions on subjects they’re passionate about. As the work on the book drew to a close, our editorial team contacted specific writers to help cover a few basic subjects that had been left untouched.

Robin: I had to include this photo just for fun. We took this in Angie’s office late at night after the idea for “A Novel Idea” was hatched. The two of us were composing an email inviting writers to contribute to the project. Since it was late and since we were a bit punchy, Babe, one of Angie’s enormous dogs had to come see why we were laughing so much.

Have your writing friends done other projects like this?

As a matter of fact, we have. Several years ago we published The Story Tellers’ Collection, Volumes 1 and 2, both published by Multnomah. The royalties for those books go to benefit the Jesus Film Project and Prison Fellowship, respectively. Then we published What the Wind Picked Up, and royalties from that project benefit Samaritan’s Purse. The royalties for A Novel Idea will go to Media Associates International, to train Christian writers overseas.

Robin, while we have you, can you tell us how you think the YA market has changed since your Christy Miller books? Do you have any thoughts for writers interested in writing for this genre?

Over the last few years I’ve become more of a consumer than a researching writer in the YA market because I have a 13 year-old niece who has gone through a horrible stretch of life. She reads my books over and over for what she calls the “happy feelings” and “hope” and a “clear picture of God’s love for me”. But when I gave her Lisa Samson’s Hollywood Nobody she said she felt she could relate more to the main character since her parents are recently divorced and she’s trying to figure out where she fits.

The longings of a teenage girl don’t change from generation to generation. The ways that writers explore those coming of age adjustments change in sync with popular culture.

For instance, what if I told you I was reading a story about a girl who moves to a new town where she is trying to fit in and make new friends. She meets this out-of-the-ordinary guy and is drawn to him but doesn’t want to give in to her strong feelings for him. Complications come. Misunderstandings create conflicts. The main character is vulnerable and yet strong. She’s someone I’d like to have as a real friend.

Based on that summary would you assume I was reading a Christy Miller book? Anne of Green Gables? Twilight? Or am I reading about Jacob’s daughter, Dinah in the book of Genesis?

This is why I say the premise of what makes a YA story relatable and compelling has not changed throughout the generations. Only the surrounding elements of the story change in tune with popular culture.

Now, as a Christian, how do I craft tales that are relatable to young women and are “in the world but not of it”? I like how The Message paraphrases Philippians 4:8 “Summing it all up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse.”

One final thought on writing YA novels that keep selling is that the characters are what make us remember the YA stories for the rest of our lives. I was surprised and thrilled when the third Katie Weldon book, Coming Attractions ended up on the ECPA as well as CBA best-sellers list in August and September. Why would a story about a girl in college fan so much interest? The mail coming in told me that readers simply love Katie as a character and wanted to find out what happened next.

What can we expect to see from you in the near future?

More novels and some non-fiction as well. Writers are told to “write about what you know.” I agree. However, as I’m about to enter the third decade of my adventure as a writer, I’ve added another piece of advice to myself: “write about what you love.”

With that in mind, I’ve begun a new three-book series with Howard Publishing called the Hideaway series. Each book is about a woman who needs to “come apart” just as her life begins to come apart. In real life I love seeing women get their heart back after life has dealt them a crushing blow. I love seeing strength and courage and joy flowing back into a woman who a bruised spirit. That sums up the sort of characters I’m writing about now.

The working title for the first novel is Under a Maui Moon and is of course, set on the island of Maui. Once again, I’m writing about what I love.

Angie, your brand is "Expect the unexpected" and you write in numerous genres. I know publishers want new authors to stick with one genre. Have you always bounced around, or did you wait until you had your audience built?

In my early years I wrote historical romance—because that’s what the market wanted. Then I was encouraged to write the stories burning within me, and I’ve been “unexpected” ever since. I always wonder if I’m alienating readers by “bouncing around,” but I have to be true to my gifts. I recently took a poll of over 1,000 of my readers, and the thing they like BEST about my books is that “unexpected” quality. I doubt I’ll be settling down any time soon

What can we expect to see next from you? In December, my first (and only) legal thriller releases—except, of course, it’s a legal thriller with an unexpected twist. It’s called Let Darkness Come, from Mira. I’m thrilled with it, so thanks for asking.

Ane for NJ: I had the opportunity to review A Novel Idea, and it's a wonderful handbook for writers of all levels. I highly recommend it.

Christy-Award winner Angela Hunt writes for readers who have learned to expect the unexpected in novels from this versatile author. With nearly four million copies of her books sold worldwide, she is the best-selling author of more than 100 works ranging from picture books (The Tale of Three Trees) to nonfiction books, to novels.

Three-time Christy winner Robin Jones Gunn has four million books sold worldwide. She's a frequent key-note speaker at various events and serves on the Board of Directors for Media Associates International and Jerry Jenkin’s Christian Writer’s Guild.

Tyndale House Publishers is pleased to announce the release of A Novel Idea: Best Advice on Writing Inspirational Fiction, a compilation from a collection of premiere Christian authors including Jerry Jenkins, Karen Kingsbury, Francine Rivers, Randy Alcorn, Robin Jones Gunn, Angela Hunt, and many other beloved authors, that answers many questions budding writers or seasoned pros may ask.

In this guide to fiction writing you will find tips for writers block, how to market your writing, and personal stories from the authors who have been through it all before. This valuable guide also contains tips on plotting, dialogue, point of view, characterization, marketing, social networking, and more!
Sidebars on:
- The need for conflict
- Creating characters, not constructing them
- Authentic dialogue
- Research
- A characters “aha” moment
- And much more!

All proceeds will benefit MAI (Media Associates International), an international organization whose goal is to help fledging writers and publishers produce Christian literature that is culturally relevant.

A Week in the Life of a Debut Novelist

2009-11-17T05:00:00.002-05:00

Gina Holmes

The phone rings. It’s my bff. We talk publicity, editing, writing, publishing news, kids, dogs, eyebrows, husbands and house chores. We end the conversation with, “Go write.”

I pick up my coffee, take a sip and grimace. It’s cold. I reheat it for the third time in the microwave. As I wait, I open the fridge to see what to have for breakfast. Two eggs stare back at me, along with a block of cheddar and a piece of last night’s chicken pot-pie. I pull out the cheese and break off a hunk.

Coffee in hand, cheese in mouth, I saunter to the couch where my laptop awaits.

I decide that before I get writing, I’d better check my email. I might have finally heard back from the producers of Ellen or Oprah. You never know. Instead, I find an email from my agent who writes to say that the manuscript I’ve been working on for three months is well written but not the best choice for my next book. I sigh and think, crap, he’s right. I’ve known it all along, but was hoping no one else would. Back to the drawing board again. After tearing out a wad of my hair and trying to fashion it into a noose, I decide that maybe I’m overreacting.

No worries, I tell myself, it’ll be fine. I still have six whole months to write the next book and I’ve got a great new idea that the publisher seemed to like. It will be even better than the last! It will be To Kill a Mockingbird, Peace Like a River. Watership Down, and Jane Eyre all rolled into one! “Yessss,” I hiss to my hound, Maggie who lies at my feet. She raises her eyebrows and sniffs the air—just in case my excitement has something to do with food. Since it does not, she groans and lays her head back down on her paws.

After deleting ninety-six emails sent by Facebook, I set to work on my new manuscript, trying to push from my mind the crippling thoughts of how important a second novel is to a writer’s career, the five articles I’ve promised to write for various publications to publicize my soon-to-release debut, the laundry, whether or not my day job will lay me off and … Oooh, I have the perfect title for book two!

Let me google it real quick to make sure it’s not already taken. It is—twenty-two times. I’ll go with my second choice. Also taken, but only twice. One to a vanity press self-help book and the other to a thriller that released more than a decade ago.

Should I still use it? Yes, I will. No, I won’t. Oh, I don’t know. I decide for time’s sake, I’ll just keep it as a working title for the time being until something better comes along. Something perfect will come from a line I write, it always does.

As I open a new word document to begin, the pattering of feet alarms me. Someone is in my house! My heart begins to beat wildly … until I see my son shuffling toward me, rubbing his eyes. “Morning Mommy.”

“Why aren’t you at school?” I ask.
“Today’s Election Day,” he replies.

I sit confused a moment. I could have sworn I’d dropped that child off at school. I guess that was yesterday. Am I getting Alzheimers? I call my bff back and ask her. She responds that all writers do the same thing. “Yesterday,” she says, “I took my daughter to her soccer game and no one was there. It seems I was looking at last month’s schedule. Apparently the season has already ended.”

Only half-convinced I’m normal, (for a writer at least), I thank her and hang up.

“Fix yourself some cereal” I say to my son. “Mommy’s writing.”

He hugs me, then runs away. Two seconds later, I hear screaming from the next room.

“Get off of me. I’m sleeping!” The angry voice belongs to my older son.

“Mommy said get up!” my younger son screams.

“I did not,” I yell back. “Leave your brother alone!”

Ten minutes later, there is quiet, except for the snoring dog at my feet, and boys at the kitchen table slurping milk from their cereal bowl.

Excitement and hope fills me as I type my working title into a blank word document, and then “Chapter One.” I know exactly how my story will start. I love beginnings. They are by far the funnest and easiest part of the process for me.

I throw the idea down on computer with fervor, not pausing to edit. I’m scared to lose my groove. The muse is like a little bird perched on my window, if I disturb him, he’ll fly away and maybe never return. He’s fickle that way I hear.

At the end of the day, I smile at my genius. Laugh maniacally at my good fortune. At one chapter a day, I’ll have this baby done in a month and a half. I’ll give Karen Kingsbury a run for her money.

I don’t think I’ll need the full six months to write this. At this rate, I’ll have it done in a few weeks. What will I do with my extra five months? Whip out another classic? Take a vacation? I daydream for a few minutes, until I hear my oldest son ask, “Mom, what’s for dinner?”

Dinner? What happened to lunch? I wander to the kitchen confused as to where the time has gone. I see plates left over from lunch. Apparently someone had made tuna sandwiches and apple slices. I’m not sure if it was me, and I’m too embarrassed to ask, so I just wash the dishes and rummage through the cabinets looking for something to fix.

My writing day is now over and it’s family time. I love family time. Halfway through dinner, I jump up from the table. “She didn’t kill him,” I exclaim. “He killed himself!” My husband’s blue eyes are fixed on me, wide and alarmed. After a moment, his face relaxes. “In your story you mean?”

My children continue to eat, not responding to this conversation. They’re used to their mother’s strange outbursts

The next day, I have a great idea for the next chapter, but before I begin, I decide to read what I wrote the day before just to get the feel of the story right.

The smile drains from my face. Who wrote this piece of crap? Surely it was not I. I am a genius. I write fine literature for the ages. Sigh. No matter, it can be fixed.

I spend the day adding quotes and periods, mundane things that any old hack could do. It feels like a waste of my genius and time, but I know one must shovel dung if one wants to own a purebred. A necessary evil. I’m not too proud to shovel.

At the end of the day, I reread my chapter, surely it must be brilliant now. I’ve labored two days on Monique (Monique is this chapter’s pet name. Don’t ask.).

With a grin I begin reading, with a grimace I end. This is not genius. This is trivial. Mediocre at best. Mundane word choices, half-baked ideas, absolutely no symbolism or foreshadowing what so ever. While reading it, I didn’t burst into tears or laughter even once.

A realization hits me like a wrecking ball to my chest.

I can’t write! I probably never could. Crossing Oceans is a good story, everyone says so, but obviously it was a fluke. The rest will be garbage. After I turn in my second book I’m sure Tyndale will cut me loose, wondering how they were fooled by my weak impersonation of a novelist.

After a light vomit, I call my critique partner who tells me, “You’re a great writer, Gina. Really. One of the best. I’ll bet the chapter is good. Send it to me.”

Reluctantly, I do. An hour later I get a call, “Yeah, that sucked. Sorry. What about writing a story about a child who gets abducted and ends up living in the same neighborhood as …. oh wait, I think I’m describing The Deep End of the Ocean. Well, you’ll think of something. The writing was good. REALLY good, but that’s not the right story for you.”

She goes on to talk about a plot thread in her own manuscript, and I try my best to listen and offer suggestions, but my mind is onto a new story.

When I start writing again, I’m completely confident, until paragraph two. What would it hurt if I just ran this new idea by my editor? I do and she likes it! I start to write again, but by paragraph five, I’m thinking I should probably get my agent’s too. It could work, he says. Not as enthusiastic as my editor, but he didn’t shoot it down. It’s a good story. A great story! Maybe I’ll just ask my two critique partners for the heck of it. One loves it, the other isn’t sure.

I sigh and decide I need to chew on this idea a day or two. Meanwhile, I have plenty to keep me occupied—Twitter, facebook, shoutlife, myspace, blogger, after all, a novelist has to network. After several hours of updating my status, commenting on my friend’s pages and blindly staring the Twitter bird, I write a post for Novel Journey. Two hours later, I query five magazines to see if I can write articles for them to publicize Crossing Oceans. I’ll worry about where I’ll find the time to write them later.

To reward myself for a hard day’s work, I do a voice over for the book trailer that I’ve had to learn to put together, since I’m A. poor, and B. picky.

Two days later, I’m still working on the book trailer. It seems it’s not all that easy to put these things together after all and not make them look cheesy. After thirty four takes of the voice over, and a flare up of my carpel tunnel, I have something I like. I send it to my critique partners who tell me I’ve got a winner—if I’ll change a, b, c, d, e, f, and g.

After hanging up, I cry, scream, rip out more hair, and get back to work. Five minutes later, my bff calls me back crying. “I’m a hack,” she says. “I can’t write. Who was I fooling?”

“Me,” I say, knowing just how she feels. “And you’ll fool everyone else who reads your work. You’re a literary genius. Yes. You are. Hey, did you remember to pick up your daughter from daycare?”

“My husband did.” There’s a pause. “Wait, what’s today?”

Selah: Madeleine L'Engle

2009-11-16T02:31:00.000-05:00

If you’ve read any Psalms, you’ve noticed the word selah. Hebrew—roughly translated, stop and listen. Let those with eyes, see, and with ears, hear.

Far too often, we're busy tuning out. Our eyes glaze, and we don’t see. The dramatic wisdom of untold centuries rushes over our feet, fresh and cool and invisible.

But it only takes a moment to step onto the shoulders of a literary giant. To pursue wisdom. Seriously, why read Noel De Vries when you could be reading, say, Madeleine L'Engle?

Here she is, from a compilation of her reflections on writing, Madeleine L'Engle: Herself. Enjoy the view. And selah.

Being a writer does not necessarily mean being published. It’s very nice to be published. It’s what you want. When you have a vision, you want to share it. But being a writer means writing. It means building up a body of work. It means writing every day. You can hardly say that van Gogh was not a painter because he sold one painting during his lifetime, and that to his brother. But do you say that van Gogh wasn’t a painter because he wasn’t “published”? He was a painter because he painted, because he held true to his vision as he saw it.

The creative process has a lot to do with faith and nothing to do with virtue, which may explain why so many artists are far from virtuous; are, indeed, great sinners. And yet, at the moment of creation, they must have complete faith, faith in their vision, faith in their work.... The depth and strength of the belief is reflected in the work; if the artist does not believe, then no one else will; no amount of technique will make the responder see truth in something the artist knows to be phony.

[A Wrinkle in Time] was a theological as well as a literary enterprise for me, but as a storyteller I had to make the story come first.... The theology is down deep. It’s not there unless you look for it. And that’s where I think it should be in stories. It should not hang below your skirt like a slip.

Too much concern about Christian art can be destructive both to art and to Christianity. I cannot consciously try to write a Christian story. My own life and my own faith will determine whether or not my stories are Christian. Too much Christian art relies so heavily on being Christian that the artist forgets that it also must be good art.

Whether a story is to be marketed for grownups or for children, the writer writes for himself, out of his own need, otherwise the story will lack reality.... if it springs from the writer’s need to understand life and all its vagaries and vicissitudes, if it is totally honest and unselfpitying, then it will have the valid ring of truth. If it is written because it is what is at the moment fashionable, and not out of the writer’s need, then it is apt to be unbelievable, and what is unbelievably can often be shocking and even pornographic....

I am convinced that everybody, no matter how Protestant, lives by icons. An icon is a myth. An icon is that which was true, is true, and will be true. The great icon painters, if they’re painting a picture of Jesus, are taught that they cannot possibly paint what he looked like. No human being could presume to do that. The icon is not meant to look like him, but it is meant to have in it a mythic truth....

An icon is a symbol, rather than a sign.... [containing] within it some quality of what it represents. An icon of the Annunciation, for instance, does more than point to the angel and the girl; it contains, for us, some of Mary’s acceptance and obedience, and so affects our own ability to accept, to obey.

We do not draw people to Christ by loudly discrediting what they believe, by telling them how wrong they are and how right we are, but by showing them a light that is so lovely that they want with all their hearts to know the source of it.

Noel De Vries is a youth librarian percolating her second novel, a YA märchen set in 17th-century Holland. Visit Noel at Never Jam Today.

The Inefficiency of An ADD Writer

2009-11-15T01:00:00.000-05:00

Marcia Laycock tries to write, in spite of her trouble focusing, from Alberta Canada. She has won awards for both her non-fiction and fiction writing and her work has been broadcast on national radio. Her second novel is in process and her devotional book, Spur of the Moment, has just gone into a second print run. Visit her website - www.vinemarc.com

This one is just for fun because I think some of you might relate. :)

I start my day with a cup of coffee and think about what I should have for breakfast.

I decide on cereal but there isn’t any milk, so I find a scrap of paper and begin a shopping list.

The phone rings and I take a message for my husband, on another scrap of paper, then remember that I have to call a friend but the phone goes dead so I return it to the cradle and go hunting for the other one.

I enter my office and notice there’s a ‘note to self’ to send an email to my publisher. I sit down to do that and open my email program.

But there’s a note from my daughter so I open it and then decide to send my other daughter a note but she’s on Facebook so I click on the internet icon and open up the world of fb friends.

One of them is excited because she is having her first book published so I send her a note to congratulate her.

Then I decide to click into her site to see what the book cover looks like and notice a link about marketing that looks interesting, so I click on it and decide that it’s a great article so go to my blog to link to it.

There’s a message from a reader there so I take just a wee moment to answer it, and while I’m doing that I remember I intended to post an article to my writing blog.

So I open the folder on my computer where that article should be but it’s not there so I open another one and find a short story that I intended to send to a magazine.

So I go back to my email program and open it up and see that the four lists I’m on have all sent their daily digests so I take just a few moments to look at them.

Then my stomach growls and I realize it’s lunch time. My husband comes home and we decided to go out for a bite and then decide we really need to look at that bed we’ve been thinking about buying.

Then we see the Tim’s on the corner so decide we need a coffee.

I remember that there wasn’t any milk for breakfast so we go to our favourite, huge, all-in-one store and take just a little while to look at the laptops and cameras while we're there. To buy milk. Right. Don't forget the milk.

Suddenly it’s supper time. We drive home and throw something together to eat before heading out to our regular Bible study.

Someone asks how my writing is going.

Writing? Who has time for writing?

Oh Lord, “Teach us to number our days aright that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” Ps. 90:12

Thirty Days and Nights of Literary Abandon!

2009-11-14T07:10:00.002-05:00

That's the catch phrase of the National November Writing Month organization, also known as NaNoWriMo.

I had to admit, the very first time I heard about this was after I was already knee-deep in a manuscript, and I frowned on the idea, seeing nothing more than a flood of hastily written manuscripts to help clog the slush pile.

I've never participated, but I've changed my mind since then. I've watched as people have taken an interest in novel writing. I've seen bloggers (those who are not writers normally) suddenly chart their efforts and talk about their novel they are writing. The project has gone international—and now I’m glad that yearly there is a stir of interest in fiction writing.

Who knows, maybe a literary giant will finally wake and realize what they're really meant to do.

Author Brunonia Barry ~ Interviewed

2009-11-13T02:43:00.001-05:00

Born and raised in Massachusetts, Brunonia Barry studied literature and creative writing at Green Mountain college in Vermont and at the University of New Hampshire and was one of the founding members of the Portland Stage Company. While still an undergraduate at UNH, Barry spent a year living in Dublin and auditing Trinity College classes on James Joyce’s Ulysses.

Barry’s love of theater led to a first job in Chicago where she ran promotional campaigns for Second City, Ivanhoe, and Studebaker theaters. After a brief stint in Manhattan, where she studied screenwriting at NYU, Barry relocated to California because she had landed an agent and had an original script optioned. Working on a variety of projects for several studios, she continued to study screenwriting and story structure with Hollywood icon Robert McKee, becoming one of the nine writers in his Development Group.

Brunonia’s love for writing and storytelling has taken her all across the country but after nearly a decade in Hollywood, Barry returned to Massachusetts where, along with her husband, she co-founded an innovative company that creates award-winning word, visual and logic puzzles. In recent years, she has written books for the Beacon Street Girls, a fictional series for ‘tweens. Happily married, Barry lives with her husband and her only child that just happens to be a 12-year-old Golden Retriever named Byzantium. The Lace Reader is her first original novel.

Tell us a bit about your current project.

I have just finished my second book, The Map of True Places, which will come out some time in May. It’s a story about finding one’s place in the world. Like The Lace Reader, it is set in Salem, Massachusetts, and is a contemporary story with embedded history. The protagonist is a psychotherapist who believes she may have caused the death of a patient.

We are all about journeys...unique ones at that. How convoluted was your path to your first published book? Share some highlights or lowlights from your path to publication.

When I began The Lace Reader, I set out to write a heroic journey for a woman. In the story, the protagonist has to go back in order to move forward in her life. Looking back, I think that my path to publication may have had a similar theme. When I was twenty-six and living in Manhattan, I took a screenwriting course at NYU which got me my first agent. Then, I sold my first screenplay. Or at least that’s what I believed at the time. Actually, my script was optioned a total of four times over the next several years, but it was never produced. But that bit of good fortune took me out to Los Angeles. At the time, it was easier and certainly cheaper to be a struggling artist in LA than it was in New York. My first apartment there was late 50’s retro, it looked like something out of an Elvis movie. I think it cost two hundred dollars a month and had a pool I could swim in year round. I was in heaven. I lived on option money for almost two years before I had to get a real job. Then I worked on soundstages in Hollywood, renting space for rock videos (Madonna, Michael Jackson) and Indie films (Nightmare on Elm Street). It was a surreal Hollywood experience. I’m certain that there is a book there somewhere, and, someday, I will probably write it.

I was also lucky to be picked by screenwriting guru Bob McKee for his development group. It was challenging, and I learned a lot. We met every Monday night and critiqued each other’s scripts. The writers in the class were wonderful, and I felt honored to be part of the group. But in the three years I spent in the writing group, I never finished another screenplay. I’ve thought about this many times and wondered why. Lately, I’ve come to the conclusion that the reason I couldn’t finish that script was that I am ultimately a novelist and not a screenwriter. This may be revisionist history, but I’m sticking with that explanation. I didn't finish that script in Los Angeles, and I didn’t finish any other piece of writing either in the fifteen years I spent there. I did meet my future husband, and I had a great time, but I wasn’t writing.

After fifteen years, we moved back to New England. My first night back, I had the dream that inspired The Lace Reader. Although it took a long time and many rewrites to finish it, I had finally found not only my voice but my medium.

Share the biggest difference between being an author with a house and being a self-published author. What did you do to overcome the negatives?

My husband and I had a small software publishing company, and, being quite entrepreneurial, we thought it would be an easy leap from publishing software to starting an Indie press. We like to say that were emboldened by our ignorance. Our original intention was not to self publish, but to start a press that would publish local fiction. Since we had done something similar with our software, our goal was to prove the success of a specific title in a local market, and then, if we thought we could scale it up, to find a larger distributor. It was more challenging than we had imagined. Initially, we were turned down by several distributors because we only had one book on our list, the one I had written. In the end, we got an introduction to a distributor on the personal recommendation of our PR company. We felt very lucky when they fell in love with the book and accepted us. Then The Lace Reader received a starred review in Publishers Weekly. So we were on our way. The other problem we ran into was that, even with distribution, while the stores may order the book, as a general rule they will only order one or two copies, which they place, spine out, on the shelves. With few exceptions, the larger front-of-store displays are paid for by the major publishers, which gives them a much stronger marketing presence.

The other down side is the expense. We had enough money to launch The Lace Reader to a limited market but would have lacked the marketing budget to really keep the buzz going had a larger publisher not picked up the book.

The down side of being with a house has been negligible. The only thing I could point to is a lack of control over each aspect of the publishing process. As an entrepreneur, I was accustomed to having my hand in everything and deciding where and when funds should be spent for promotion, etc.. That said, I have been incredibly lucky and have been included in many decisions. William Morrow and Harper Collins have been extremely good to me, and have done much more than I would have expected to promote the book. And the teams of people there have an expertise we could never hope to duplicate as a small press.

In your opinion, what does a self-published successful author look like?

We are definitely entrepreneurial and probably control freaks. To self-publish, I think you have to be comfortable with uncertainty and fairly confident in your abilities to both sell and promote not only your product but yourself. That sounds rather egotistical, and I think there has to be a bit of that personality trait in the self-published author. After all, they used to call it vanity publishing. But, self-published or not, I think there is an element of ego in the act of writing itself.

Share your opinion of the stigma attached to self-publishing. (If you need a jumping board -- that the writing is inferior...)

I think the biggest stigma I’ve encountered is the preconception that a self-published book is somehow inferior, either in writing or in subject matter. I am so accustomed to being entrepreneurial that this concept didn’t occur to me until after I was with a house and The Lace Reader had become both well reviewed and successful. I’m glad I didn’t think about the way it might be perceived, because I might not have done it, and then, of course none of this would have happened. In both the entertainment industry and the software industry, being an indie much more acceptable. Most actors I know have their own production companies, most bands start out by doing their own production, software and internet companies start small then get gobbled up by the majors. Those industries seem a bit more progressive than publishing. I think and hope that this is changing. In this economy, it would certainly make sense for a larger publishing house to want some proof of success before buying a book.

Do you still experience self-doubts regarding your work, or struggle in a particular area such as writers block or angst driven head-banging against walls? Please share some helpful overcoming hints that you’ve discovered.

One of the reasons I write is to overcome my general angst, so the process is therapeutic for me. I think insecurity and self-doubt are part of the creative process and exist in tandem with (and in contradiction to) the ego issues I mentioned above. With The Lace Reader, my biggest fear was that I would not be able to finish the book. I hadn’t had much luck with finishing writing projects. Now, of course, it’s the question I hear from well-meaning but judgmentally challenged message-passers: “Can she do it again?” I think there will always be something, and I don’t think, as writers, that we can dwell on any of those things for very long. I keep a quote from Goethe nailed on the wall above my desk: “Be bold and mighty forces will come to your aid.”

What mistakes have you made while seeking publication? Or to narrow it down further what’s something you wish you’d known earlier that might have saved you some time/frustration in the publishing business.

I didn't get to the point of actively seeking publication, though, very early on, I did send some query letters (and then pages) to agents who told me to send it back when it was finished. Instead of doing that, we went directly to self-publication. It doesn’t make a lot of sense, but it had to do with the timeliness of the book and the long response time from agents. Within two weeks of our self-published edition, the book went to auction and landed with William Morrow.

What is your favorite source for finding story ideas?

Right now it’s Salem, Massachusetts, which is where I live. The city is a character in my novels, and that character changes and arcs. There is so much history here. And, of course, the city’s economy depends on promoting a dark chapter of our history that most of us wish we could forget. You can go for a short walk in Salem and come back with a story

Have you ever had one of those awkward writer moments you’d like to share with us, the ones wherein you get “the look” from the normals? Example, you stand at a knife display at the sporting goods store and ask the clerk which would be the best to use to disembowel a six foot man…please do tell.

The first time I spoke in public, I was terrified. It was at the Georgetown, MA Library speaking to a very large group of women. I was the warm-up act for the writer everyone had really come to see, André Dubus III. Rather early in my presentation, I made the mistake of announcing that my characters spoke to me. The room grew very quiet. You have to understand that The Lace Reader is about a woman who has been hospitalized and has had electroshock therapy. Readers always want to know how much of any book is autobiographical. So the minute I said that my characters spoke to me, I knew I was in trouble. I looked around the room for André whom I hadn’t yet met, but who, as the only man in the room except for my husband, was not hard to spot. “Help me out here,” I said to him. “Do your characters talk to you?” He grinned and answered, “I think there’s a medication you can take for that,” and everyone just started laughing. It broke the ice, and I finally relaxed. When it was André’s turn to speak, he admitted that his characters had a way of speaking to him as well.

With the clarity of experience what advice would you offer up to the wet-behind-the-ears you if beginning this writing journey today?

I would tell them to write something that they would like to read and not to be attached to the results.

What event/person has most changed you as a writer? How?

I think coming home to New England was the thing that changed me. I left at eighteen and didn’t come back until I was forty-five. I had mixed emotions about returning to the place where I had started. But, like my main character in The Lace Reader, I had to go back to go forward. My husband and I moved back east to take care of ailing parents. Though it was a difficult and sometimes sad task, there was a certain opening of the heart that happened that allowed me to write and to understand my characters in a new way.

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

Not really. It has been very good to me so far.

Share a dream or something you'd love to accomplish through your writing career.

I’d like to keep writing novels for a long time.

What gives you the greatest writer buzz, makes the trip worth the hassles (besides coffee or other substances, or course )?

Meeting a reader who really identifies with my story. The Lace Reader is about abuse and domestic violence. Along the way, I have met a few readers who told me that I got it right, that they felt as if someone understood what they had gone through. To me, writing is all about making that connection, and when it happens, it’s the best thing in the world.

Describe your special or favorite writing spot.

We bought a house in Salem that once belonged to two artists. They lived here for thirty- seven years. The room I write in was their son’s bedroom, and they had decorated it with old National Geographic maps. It has four huge windows and a great view of some of Salem’s prettiest Federal style houses. In addition to the desk, the room is home to several items I have collected as inspiration for my new story. Here’s an inventory that I took one day when I was having a hard time writing: All things Hawthorne and Melville. A carved wooden moose on skis that I brought back from Maine on last summer’s book tour. Two Revolutionary War soldiers that were once in my parents’ house and now stand facing each other from both sides of the fireplace. Three ships’ models. Several books about pirates. A map of famous New England shipwrecks. Six volumes of romantic poetry. Three envelopes full of Gibraltar candies from Ye Olde Pepper Company. A photo of my maternal grandmother in her wedding gown. A piece of lace carved from an eggshell. Two quartz singing bowls tuned to different chakras. Several books on meditation. A ceramic tree my mother in law sent with Celtic crosses and leprechauns hanging from its branches. A seagull that flies upside down like a distress flag and cannot be up-righted. Several cups of coffee in various stages of consumption, decaf for writing, full octane for the editing process.

What aspect of writing was the most difficult for you to grasp/conquer? How did you overcome it?

I think the most difficult part is knowing when a book is finished, when to let it go. There is always something I’d like to change, and I certainly do a lot of rewriting, which is the part of the process that I enjoy the most. But I do think you can write the life out of a story. Being under contract and having deadlines is a big help for me, though I would like to have a bit more time than I usually get.

What is the first thing you do when you begin a new book?

The first thing I do is panic. After that, I just write for a while and try to find my characters. I’ve heard some writers call this “clearing your throat.” I write about fifty pages, sometimes more, discovering the characters as I go and putting them into whatever situation I have envisioned and watching what they do. When I finally feel as if I know them, I put those pages aside and begin the real story.

Writing rituals. Do you have to sit somewhere specific, complete a certain number of words, leave something undone to trigger creativity for the next session? Some other quirk you’d like to share?

I usually like to take a stab at an entire chapter each time I sit down. That said, a first draft of a chapter can be as brief as a few sentences. If I get stuck, I leave gaps to be filled in later. If I get really stuck, I will move past the chapter and then come back to it. I do a very brief synopsis at the beginning of each chapter, explaining what should happen. Eventually, I step back and string those together creating an outline. Then I step back to look at the entire story, the pacing, etc. This is a loose outline, it will change as I go. The characters always determine the outcome.

What is the most difficult part of pulling together a book? Ex. Do you have saggy middles, soggy characters, soupy plots during your first drafts…if so, how do you shape it up?

For me, it is the order of events. I always have to keep in mind what a character wants and what’s keeping her from getting it. This is true for each character, and I have to make sure I’m stepping up their efforts to achieve things realistically. Generally, I believe that people will do as little as possible to get what they want. We are lazy by nature, I think. If it doesn’t work, we try something bigger. And so it goes. I have to make sure those actions build and are in the right places.

Have you received a particularly memorable reader response or peer honor? Please share.

The Lace Reader recently won the International Women’s Fiction Festival’s Baccante award for the Best Book of 2009. It was special for two reasons: because I was the first American writer to win the award, and because the award is given to a book that takes on women’s issues, in this case, domestic violence. I went to Italy to receive the award and met women writers from all over the world. It was a thrill.

Have you discovered any successful marketing/promo ideas that you'd share with us?

What has worked best for me has been connecting with book clubs. If they like your book, they pass the word to other clubs, and it happens rather quickly. I love going to book club meetings. I try to attend one or two of them per week.

Parting words? Anything you wish we would’ve asked because you’ve got the perfect answer?

Nope. I’m done. Thanks. It has been fun.

The winner of Missy Tippens book is...

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Johnnie! Congratulations. :-)

Author Interview ~ Terry Brennan

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I grew up in the Catholic Church. God was real to me, but He wasn’t personal. How could a God possibly love me? When I was about 30, a man convinced me to begin reading the Bible … that my faith in God was still in there somewhere. I don’t have a “salvation moment” as many do. For me, it was a process – one that continued into my marriage to Andrea and which was influenced both by her strong faith and by the spiritual awakening that was the Catholic Charismatic Renewal. One day, I just knew that what I had been reading in the Bible all these years was true. And that God meant it for me. So, for the last 30 years, the journey has been primarily in trying to apply God’s love to me, to my life. I know He loves everybody else. But me? That’s the struggle.

My kids – Michael, Patrick, Meghan and Matthew – always inspire me with their enthusiasm for life and their encouragement. But my greatest inspiration while writing The Sacred Cipher came from my wife, Andrea. Not only did she give me the gift of a year of Saturdays in which to write the book, but she kept me sane and rooted during the many long, agonizing stretches when I struggled with fear, doubt and inadequacy. Andrea is not only my prayer partner, she’s also my best friend and biggest fan.

As for me, I was a journalist for 22 years, ending up as an editor and/or publisher of newspapers in Pennsylvania, Illinois and New York State. Then God moved in a miraculous way, picked us up out of the newspaper business and dropped me into New York City as Vice President of Christian Herald Association, the organization that runs The Bowery Mission and three other ministries to the addicted and homeless here in New York. After 12 years with The Bowery Mission, I’m now Vice President of the National Organization on Disability.

What made you start writing?

I think I was born a writer … it was the way God wired me. But I didn’t become aware of it until I was a freshman in high school. I’ve written ever since, first spending 22 years as a journalist – 15 as a sportswriter.

But I never considered myself a ‘writer’ until I tried my hand at my first novel in the mid-90’s. That one took four years, then sat in a drawer for six years. One day, I thought, I wonder if there is any value in that book? Eventually I went to my first writer’s conference – the Philadelphia Christian Writer’s Conference – in 2005. I had an idea that I pitched to anyone who would listen, got a lot of encouragement and … boom … that was it. Off on this crazy journey. It took four years for The Sacred Cipher to go from an idea at the ’05 Philly Conference to launch date 2009.

What's the most difficult part of writing for you (or was when you first started on your novel journey)?

Confidence is always a roadblock, and I haven’t overcome that one yet.

Organization is another challenge, and I haven’t overcome that one yet, either.

But, once I sold a book, pride and arrogance showed up in a hurry. With a book getting published, I figured I must have the golden touch. So I wrote my second novel much too quickly, didn’t pay enough attention to my craft. God put a dent in my pride with a 2 x 4 when the second novel was declined. There is nothing as effective as God’s reality check.

But the most difficult part of writing really is the discipline to sit down and write on a regular basis. When I have it, magic happens. When I don’t, nothing happens. Creating and sticking to a rigid schedule is one of the few ways I’ve found to establish discipline.

Do you put yourself into your books/characters?

So far, my male protagonists always start off as me. But, then they wake up to the power they hold and begin to demand the ability to express themselves. After that, it’s anybody’s guess who they are.

I’m not a character-driven author, but a plot-driven author. I’ve always been a story teller. Story tellers always start with the story. The people in the story are secondary to the story itself … they people the universe, but they don’t determine the universe. The story does.

I think my story telling was sharpened and defined by my 15 years as a sportswriter. When you cover sports, the game is the story. The athletes play the game, so they have a part, but the game is the story – the score; the impact of the score; etc. So when I come at a story, I come at it through the plot, not the people.

As a result, many of my characters start off as some version of me – or someone I know – and then grow organically into who they will eventually become.

Usually, there’s not much of me left at the end.

At what point did you stop juggling suggestions and critiques and trust yourself (as a writer)?

I’ve always trusted myself as a writer. You don’t spend more than a decade as a sportswriter, writing stories on deadline, without trusting your ability to write – trust and confidence not always being the same thing.

But novel writing is a totally different ball game with a whole new set of rules. I trust my storytelling, but I also know I need a lot of help in determining a character’s motivation, in developing deep, realistic, empathetic characters and in maintaining the pace and structure of a novel. And, once you’ve worked with a good editor – like Miranda Gardner and Dawn Anderson at Kregel Publications – you’d be foolish not to look forward to suggestions and critiques from people of their caliber.

Tell us a little about your latest release:

The Sacred Cipher is an adult thriller/suspense novel triggered by the discovery of a hidden room behind the organ pipes in The Bowery Mission’s chapel in New York City. A huge safe in the room holds an ancient scroll with a message written in an extinct language that has never been deciphered. The first half of the book takes place in NYC as a ‘team’ of guys tries to discover the meaning of the content of the message, and the second half is when the team goes off to find out if the message is, in fact, true.

Here’s the blurb from the back cover of the book:

"When New Yorker Tom Bohannon uncovers an ancient scroll containing a dead language that has been lost in the sands of time, he doesn't fully comprehend the danger that's about to unfold. Though Tom and his team of ragtag scientists and historians want to decode the ancient text, others don’t want the cipher revealed. And they are prepared to kill to keep it hidden.

"From a market in nineteenth-century Alexandria to a library in present-day New York to the tunnels beneath Jerusalem, the secret of the cipher is gradually revealing itself across the globe. And for those in its path, life is about to change - forever."

Sounds fascinating! How did you come up with this story? Was there a specific 'what if' moment?

My wife and I lived in The Bowery Mission for many years while I worked for its parent organization, the Christian Herald Association. I had the idea for the second half of the story (which is the surprise part) and that was kicking around in my head. Then, one day I was standing at the back of The Bowery Mission’s 120-year-old chapel, looking up at the organ pipes that rise high above the speaker’s platform. And I thought, wouldn’t it be cool if there was a room hidden behind the organ pipes? Of course, I had been behind the organ pipes many times and knew what was there – certainly not a hidden room. But the idea was intriguing, and that’s when the two pieces started coming together and, eventually, formed The Sacred Cipher.

Tell us a little about your main character and how you developed him/her:

Since I needed somebody who worked at The Bowery Mission to be the person who found the hidden room and the secret scroll, I created Tom Bohannon to be a lot like me (I wasn’t very clever with the name, was I?). He is a former journalist, a former Catholic who has encountered and accepted the grace of Jesus Christ, a Penn State grad and a guy struggling with the concept that God really does love him. Hits pretty close to home. The challenge for me was in how to develop Tom as his own person – not just a shadow of me. I’m still working on that development now, in the sequel.

What did you enjoy most about writing this book? Least?

I really enjoyed the discovery of the journey. I started with the idea of how the book would start and how it would end and … in very general terms … what the story would be. Who knew? Over many months, the story told itself to me. And, as I searched for its various pieces, God would reveal to me in my research some crazy, wild idea or bit of information that I had never conceived of before – and that ended up adding some wonderful level of depth to the narrative. One of those was tripping across the English composer Sir Edward Elgar and his fondness for codes and ciphers. Outside of Pomp and Circumstances March played at every graduation, I had no clue who Elgar was. But he ends up playing a significant part in the development of the plot. Those things, and there were many, were like finding buried treasure. What a kick!

Least? The self-flagellation about how undisciplined I am … the self-doubt while the manuscript is out being “pitched” and, now, holding my breath to see if anyone will actually buy the thing.

What message do you hope readers gain from your novel?

That God loves them … them, personally. Every other religion in the world is about man reaching up to try and find God. The Judeo-Christian faith is all about God reaching down to find man, and to love man unconditionally.
That God invites relationship, encourages communications, and listens to prayer. God wants to be known. That’s how much he loves each of us.

What does your writing space look like?

I have an office, now, for the first time in over 30 years of marriage. And, for the first time in 30 years of marriage, I have all of the old, antique books I’ve been collecting for three decades out of boxes and up on bookshelves. The bookshelves cover two walls. They are inexpensive pine that I stained and finished myself, and they are packed with some pretty cool, old books. I love my library.

My computer is in the corner opposite from the bookshelves. In the opposite corner, behind me, is an old Morris chair with thick cushions and a tall brass lamp behind it … our favorite reading chair. To my right is a two-drawer, black metal filing cabinet. Above the filing cabinet is an antique, ornately designed gold-painted (and tarnished) wooden frame that holds a collage of most of the credentials I gathered during 15 years as a sportswriter – Sugar Bowl; Stanley Cup finals; Austrian Grand Prix; Army-Navy football game; Philadelphia Eagles playoff game; Indy 500.

To my left, are two windows. These windows don’t just look outside. They look out over the Hudson River, across to the Palisades in New Jersey, the several-mile long cliffs that stretch along the western side of the Hudson. My dream – sunsets over water – fulfilled.

BUT … where I wrote The Sacred Cipher during that year of Saturdays was in a dark corner of our bedroom in our apartment at The Bowery Mission where the windows, if you could see out of them, only looked across a space of four feet to a brick wall.

We moved into this apartment 10 months ago. And I have bookshelves … and windows … and a river. God is good!

What kind of activities to you like to do that help you relax and step away from your deadlines for a bit?

Penn State football … Phillies baseball … Yankees baseball … Penn State football … did I say Penn State football? Going out on our date nights with my wife, Andrea. Usually Friday nights, it’s the time we get to sit and talk. Any kind of vacation. Laughing with my accountability brothers. And, most precious and valuable, any time with my children.

A sports nut--LOVE IT! Briefly take us through your process of writing a novel—from conception to revision.

You give me too much credit. I sit in a chair, staring at an LCD screen. I put my fingers on the keyboard in my lap. And the story tells itself through my fingers.
Really, that’s the way it is.

I do research, both online and at the huge Humanities and Social Sciences Library on Bryant Park in New York City. And I love that part of the work.

But, the writing? I don’t have a plan (sorry to all of you who labor over plot outlines and build fully-formed character personalities). I have a story, and I try to tell the story … or let the story tell me and I tell you.

I was a journalist for 22 years – 15 years as a sportswriter. When you cover a game, any kind of game, you have a very short deadline in which to file that story. An hour if you’re lucky. Sometimes as little as 15 minutes. So you get used to telling the story through your fingers. Not too much thinking. Just try to figure out the story of the game, or the athletes, and tell the story to the best of your ability in the time allowed. Then, the next day, you get to do it all over again. And, just as an aside, don’t make any mistakes.

That is the learned skill I bring to novel writing. I have an idea what the story is going to be, some understanding of the people who are playing in that story, and then I sit down to write the story. And it tells me what to do and where it’s going.

Conception to revision – that’s about the way it goes.

Pretty lame, eh?

What is the first book you remember reading and what made it special?

A great question. I wish I had an answer. See spot run. Does that count?

Absolutely! Who doesn't remember Spot? :-) What are a few of your favorite books (not written by you) and why are they favorites?

I’ve always loved the classic American authors – Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald – particularly Steinbeck. That guy was a wizard with words. As a kid, I read every Fu Manchu mystery. As a college student, every James Bond thriller and the required Lord of the Rings trilogy, including the prequel The Hobbit. In between, Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes … you get the drift.

Today, I love Dennis Lehane’s work – particularly his latest – The Given Day. I think he’s become a lyrical writer. And my son, Matt, has hooked me into both Stephen King and (more my style) Cormack McCarthy.

Sprinkle into that adrenalin mix some historical biographies and/or autobiographies (Mornings on Horseback By David McCoullough).

And lots of contemporary thriller writers, like Joel Rosenberg.

How do you think reading the work of others helps you as a writer?

Jealousy is a great motivator.

No, I think it’s like being an athlete (yeah, another sports analogy) watching another athlete perform. You can enjoy the grace of a cross-over dribble, the courage of staring down a blitz, the guts of going full-out past the warning track, the insanity of taking a corner at 180 miles per hour.

And you can aspire to do it as well. Even in your dreams.

What do you wish you’d known early in your career that might have saved you some time and/or frustration in writing? In publishing?

Don’t make the mistake to think somebody else has the answer. That there is some magic formula for writing that those on the inside know, but they won’t tell you.

There are as many theories about writing and style requirements as there are books about writing. And most of the teachers I’ve listened to at writers conferences all believe their way is the best (right?) way. Understand, this is not a science. There is not one formula that works. Sure, there are some basic expectations for content and presentation but – hey, down to it, it’s all about the writing.

So, write. Write a lot. Write all the time. Write until you’re sick of it. And then keep on writing until your characters begin to talk back to you. Then follow their advice.

How much marketing do you do? What have you found that particularly works well for you?

What I’ve been trying is a regular newsletter (mailing list of about 250) that I started nearly a year before the book came out. I’ve got a blog, which I visit very infrequently. Honest, I don’t know how these folks who are on Facebook all the time and have these extraordinary blog sites – I don’t know how they do it. It’s a struggle to find time to write.

When the book came out, my wife, Andrea, and I went and visited every Barnes & Noble store in New York City (we’re still working on the outer boroughs). I went in and signed the store stock (they put these cool little green stickers on them ‘autographed by author’ or something like that) and then we stood outside the entryway to the store and handed out Sacred Cipher postcards to the people entering – asked them to consider buying my book. Probably time to do that again.

I’ve also asked people on my mailing list if they would like to receive postcards – 10 stamped and 10 without stamp – that they can pass out to friends, family, church, businesses, whatever. I got 5,000 postcards from Kregel Publications and we’ve probably distributed 3,500 by now.

Just did a taped radio interview in Missouri … I’m going to the major scene locations in Manhattan (Collector’s Club; the library on Bryant Park; the Old Town bar) to see if they are willing to do some kind of fundraising promotion with the book. We did a fundraiser in our church for two villages in Rwanda where our church body is sponsoring over 1,000 kids through World Vision – sold 36 books and donated $180 to the Rwanda ministry. And it’s time to go talk to the folks at our local library.

I have no idea how it’s working. My first book only came out at the end of July. So I have no idea what works or doesn’t work.

Tell us what we have to look forward to in the future. What new projects are you working on?

Well, only God knows when the next one will be out.

My first book, Jacob’s Portion, was a necessary soul cleansing, written by a journalist who had no idea what book writing was all about. It’s still in a drawer, it’s on life support and needs organ transplants to make it viable. Perhaps someday.

I’ve “finished” (Hah!) my second novel, Hunger’s Ransom, which my publisher, Kregel Publications, has seen and for which they’ve suggested some significant editing and story shaping. It’s a good yarn, set against the back drop of the world food crisis.

But what I’m really committed to at this time is the sequel to The Sacred Cipher. I’m about one-third of the way through, a work-in-progress that is titled, at the moment, Scorpion Pass. This one is a lot of fun, too. It’s writing itself … just like I enjoy.

Do you have any parting words of advice?

Writing is a lot like life. Enjoy the journey. And let God handle the details. I said that.

Good judgment comes from experience; and experience comes from bad judgment. Somebody else said that.

“A problem can never be solved from the level at which it was created.” Einstein said that. Think about it. It covers a whole lot of ground.

Thanks for reading!!!

Want more? Check out Terry's book trailer, then leave a comment and let us know what you think!

Guest Blogger ~ Missy Tippens on Writing Partners

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Missy Tippens is a pastor’s wife and mom of three. After ten years of pursuing her dream, she made her first sale of a full-length novel to Steeple Hill Love Inspired. She still pinches herself to see if it really happened! Her debut novel, Her Unlikely Family, was a 2009 American Christian Fiction Writers Book of the Year contest finalist and is now available in large print from Thorndike. His Forever Love was a June 2009 release, and A Forever Christmas is on the shelves now! You can find Missy at her website.

WRITING PARTNERS

If you see the title of this post and are wanting to learn about collaborating with another writer, I hope you won’t be disappointed. You see, the writing partner I’m talking about is the little black and white fur ball you see curled up at my feet in this photo. :)

I’m sure Ane will be jealous. If her dog sat at her feet, the bones would be crushed. So I feel very blessed to have a dog who’s a little neurotic and likes to be glued to my side. He’s also cold natured and likes the contact with human warmth.

So my dog, Duke, is part of my “office.” And speaking of my office… I know that previous guests have shared photos of their work space. I was so relieved when Robin Caroll shared hers on June 24, 2009. She shared that she does her best work when surrounded by a mess. I have to admit I felt much better about myself after seeing the photo of her desk. It looked so similar to my work area—my couch.

My real desk is in a part of the basement that doesn’t even have a window. And I haven’t sat at that desk ever since I got my first laptop. (Bless my dad for that gift!) So now I work on the sectional sofa in the family room. It’s quiet during the day while the kids are at school. But even when I work in the afternoon and evening, I love to work with the action all around me. My children know they have to actually tap me on the shoulder (or in extreme cases grab my face with both hands!) to get my attention. They know when mom is off in her fictional world.

I love that feeling, of being transported so far away that I’m living in the world of my characters. That’s when my fingers just fly over the keys, and ideas burst into my head more quickly than I can type. Of course, I have days where I’m in that fictional world, but it’s like every word I type has to be dragged out of me kicking and screaming. But what a sense of accomplishment to finally get the words out and onto the page, and to see a scene take shape—one that may have been very difficult to write but that takes the story in a direction I love.

Writing is tough, but it’s pure joy as well. Especially with a warm pooch sitting on your feet or laying his head on your knee. And even Duke knows he has to give a few yaps to get my attention when he needs to go out. All in a day’s work for the world’s best writing partner.

A Forever Christmas

Sarah Radcliffe's quiet Christmas back in her hometown will be lost if she agrees to direct the church's Christmas pageant. But when she meets two little boys determined to gain their father's attention, Sarah agrees to help. Then she discovers that the dad in question is Gregory Jones, the man she loved and lost. The single dad is working himself to the bone to give his boys the Christmas of their dreams, when all they want is some family time. Time that includes a new mommy. If Sarah can learn to open her heart, she may receive the most wonderful present of all—a family of her own.

Leave a comment: Missy's giving away a book.

Author Interview ~ Libby Hellmann

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Libby Fischer Hellmann's sixth crime fiction novel, DOUBLEBACK, was released in October, 2009, by Bleak House Books. In it PI Georgia Davis is paired with video producer and single mother Ellie Foreman, the protagonist of Libby's other 4-book series. Libby also writes short stories and edited the acclaimed anthology CHICAGO BLUES. She lives in the Chicago area. More about her at www.libbyhellmann.com.

How long did it take you to get published?

From the time I started writing seriously, it took about 5 years – those years included 3 unpublished novels. The 4th one I wrote was the one that got published.

Do you think an author is born or made?

Made, for the most part. I believe in the proposition that writing well is 95% craft, which can be learned, and 5% inspiration or talent, which can’t be. But I do think a writer needs to have a love of language and a good grasp of grammar. Most writers also love to read, which is how I started.

What is the first book you remember reading?

It was something about a little girl and a train. I used to make my mother take me to the library to get it – repeatedly. That was followed by Blueberries for Sal. I still love “plink, plink.”

What common qualities do you find in the personalities of published authors?

As I said above, a love of language, and, in my genre, a love of story and suspense. The authors I know are also remarkably unpretentious and generous.

How do you know if you have a seemingly “stupid” book premise that is doomed to fail versus one that will fly high?

I don’t believe there are any stupid premises… just ones that are less exciting than others. When I hear the premise for a book, I know instantly whether it has possibilities. There’s just something that captures my imagination – that makes me aware how many different directions the story could go. However, having said that, there are often premises that sound trite or unoriginal that end up being quite fresh and appealing because of the execution. It all depends on the writer’s voice and style.

What is the theme of your latest book?

Doubleback is a thriller that explores what happens when quasi-military groups try to duck accountability for their behavior. It also explores how easy it is to game the system, as well as the contrast between two very different women and how they manage to work together. My last book, Easy Innocence, was quite different. It examined peer pressure among suburban high school girls, and showed how far they would go in order to be accepted.

At what point did you stop juggling suggestions and critiques and trust yourself?

Great question. I actually don’t believe I’ve reached that point; although I do read other peoples’ manuscripts and I see how far I’ve come. I’m very much aware of authenticity in my characters, and try very hard to make sure they are advancing the plot in a way that’s believable and credible. And I am in a writing group. Our “guideline” in critiquing each other is that if something in the plot or character development “stops” us, then we should point it out. I would guess that 9 times out of 10, I take the feedback. Simply put, I figure that if it stopped them, it might stop readers too. And the last thing I want is readers tossing my book across the room, complaining, “Oh that would never happen.”

Are takeaway messages (in your book) important to you?

Generally, yes. Crime fiction is an excellent way to explore social issues without preaching. I love a story that gives me more than I expected.

When do you know you’ve got the finished product and it’s your best effort?

Never. I’d keep revising forever. Editing is my favorite part of writing. The only thing that ends the process is a deadline.

Any anecdotes about the research or writing of your books?

So many.. where to start? Here’s one. When I was writing Easy Innocence, my daughter was a sophomore in high school, and I needed help with teenage fashions, accessories, and toys. I asked her if she’d help, and she said, “Under one condition.”
“What’s that?” I asked cautiously, expecting demands for a car, cash, or other goodies.
“You have to dedicate the book to me,” she said. “Not to my brother. Just me.”
You see, she has a brother, and in the past, I’ve dedicated by books to them both – together.
That was the easiest bargain I’ve ever made.

How would you pitch this book to your intended audience?

Doubleback pairs two women (my series protagonists) in a cross-country thriller that starts with the kidnapping of a little girl and ends with drug smuggling, private security contractors, and illegal immigrants.

Who Was Mrs. Giles Whiting?

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I’m sure a lot of people out there know the answer to this question, but I’m not one of them. All I’ve been able to ascertain is that her first name was Flora, middle initial E, and she was married to someone named Giles Whiting. More pertinent is the fact that in 1963, having a lot of money and a keen interest in literature, she established the Mrs. Giles Whiting Foundation. Headquartered in New York City, the Foundation is dedicated to the support of the humanities and of creative writing.

In what ways does the Foundation provide this support? I can answer that one.

First, through grants to scholars studying the humanities. Select graduate students from seven universities – Bryn Mawr, University of Chicago, Columbia, Harvard, Princeton, Stanford and Yale – receive yearly grants from the Whiting Foundation to support them while they work on their dissertations.

Second, through paid sabbaticals and research fellowships to junior faculty at Baruch, Brooklyn, and Kenyon Colleges. This gives outstanding teachers a better chance for the fulfilling academic careers usually associated with those who can commit themselves to research.

Third, and what we’re here to talk about today, through the annual Whiting Writers' Awards. This program grants $50,000 each to ten emerging writers of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and plays.

These awards are based on a writer’s accomplishment and promise. Candidates are proposed by nominations from across the U.S., and winners are then chosen by a selection committee. Both nominators and selectors serve anonymously. Since its inception in 1985, the program has awarded more then $6 million to 250 poets, fiction and nonfiction writers, and playwrights.

The purpose of the Whiting Award is to identify exceptional new writers who have not yet made their mark in the literary culture. The grant provides recipients an opportunity to devote themselves fully to writing for a period of time, helping them to establish their careers. The recognition of winning also has a significant impact.

Most winners have published one book, but some published more than one, and some had never yet published in book form, before winning the award. Established writers were sometimes recognized in the early years, but now the Foundation focuses entirely on writers who are relative unknowns.

The nominators are literary professionals – mostly writers, but sometimes teachers, editors, agents, critics, bookstore owners, and others as well. The roster is different each year, though some have served more than once. These nominators are contacted by the Foundation and asked to nominate one emerging writer of exceptional talent and promise.

The director of the Foundation’s Writers’ Program appoints six or seven writers of distinction to serve as the selection committee, which meets four times over the course the year. First, they select new nominators. Then they read the work of the nominees – each selector reads every nominee’s work, no matter what the genre – and meet three more times to narrow the field to ten. Their recommendations are presented to the Board of Trustees for ratification.

All nominators and selectors serve anonymously, so they will not be subject to pressure. This also enables them to speak candidly about the writers under consideration.

In making their selection, the committee must rely on their own expertise and experience. The definitions of emerging and promising vary from one genre to another, and from one individual to another within any one genre. Therefore the issue is looked at on a case-by-case basis with no measurable standard such as age or publication record.

On October 28 the Foundation announced the ten winners of the 2009 award: The fiction-writing recipients include short story writer Vu Tran, born in Vietnam and now living in Las Vegas; Adam Johnson, whose debut short story collection, Emporium, the setting of which is described by New York Times critic Michiko Kakatuni as being “somewhere between Kurt Vonnegut’s sci-fi empire and that wild and crazy land of weirdos limned in T. Coraghessan Boyle's stories;" Nami Mun, author of Miles From Nowhere, a 1980s urban odyssey in which a 12-year-old Korean-American leaves her troubled Bronx family for the life of a New York City runaway; and Salvatore Scibona, whose novel The End was a National Book Award finalist in 2008.

The roster of this year’s $50,000 winners is rounded out with poets Jay Hopler, Jericho Brown and Joan Kane; playwright Rajiv Joseph; and nonfiction authors Michael Meyer and Hugh Raffles.

A complete list of all recipients can be found on the Foundation’s website.

As a Novel Journey reader, you might never win such a prestigious (and profitable) award, but you do have an opportunity to participate in our new awards program, OUT OF THE SLUSH PILE, Novel Journey’s Fifteen Minutes of Fame Contest. If you haven’t already made plans to enter, please check out the details.

In 2010 we will have twelve monthly winners, and in January 2011, we will acknowledge the grand prize, best-of-the-year award winner. So get those unpublished novels polished up, download the entry form,and email your submissions to NovelJourneyContest@gmail.com. We’ve already received some entries, but we’re looking for yours!

Finding the Words

2009-11-08T01:00:00.000-05:00

Marcia Laycock is a pastor's wife, mother of three daughters and a published author of two devotional books and one novel. This post is written in honour of Arimistice Day, November 11th, (Veteran's Day in the U.S.) held in Countries around the world to honour those who have fought to defend our freedom.

Several years ago I heard Eli Wiesel speak at a writers’ conference. He told the story about the catalyst that made him write his prize-winning book, Night. After WW2, he had gone to Paris to try and find surviving members of his family. He got a job as a journalist and on one occasion had to interview Francois Mauriac, the famous writer.

Mauriac spoke about Jesus and Wiesel finally could stand it no longer. He exploded and told him to stop “talking about your Jesus.” He said that not far from where they were sitting atrocious things had happened to his people. “And we have no words,” he said. “We have no words.”

Mauriac was deeply moved and responded – “You must find the words. You must write this story.” Wiesel began to write.

He was fortunate. Some did not find the words and the result was depression, mental illness, even suicide.

My father was one of those who had no words. He talked very little about the war. I learned more about his military service from my mother than from him. But once, late one night when we were having a rare father-daughter talk about faith and religion, he told me how God met him in an old church in Germany.

He spent the first years of the war in Canada, working as a clerk in the RCAF,because he “made the mistake of telling them I could type.” We have a picture of him in uniform, brandishing a rifle, smiling proudly, the Halifax harbour behind him. Then he was moved to England where he again worked at a desk. We have another picture of him on a golf course in Ireland. Then the war was over, and somehow – he always thought it was a mistake of paper-work - my father was sent to continental Europe with the occupation forces. He found himself moving with the liberation army through France and Germany. One day he found himself at the gates of Bergen-Belsen. It was at that point, after the allies had won and the Second World War was over, that my father's war began.

He would never say what it was specifically that caused it to happen. Perhaps he looked too long into the face of one man, a man his own age, whose eyes were glazed with hunger and shadowed with pain, a man who looked a hundred years old, 'though he was only twenty. Perhaps my father looked into another face, one without any sign of emotion, of anguish or compassion, a face which, though living, was dead. Perhaps he could not stop staring at the piles of dead bodies, the bones and skulls, or perhaps he was required to record the numbers, the unfathomable numbers. Perhaps he could not bear the smiles, the smiles of survivors who welcomed their deliverers in silence. He would never say what it was, but something that day, in that place, made my father's mind stop. It stopped and could not go beyond the horror, the fear, the guilt.

I don't know how long he was in the psychiatric hospital. I know he was afraid to leave it, afraid even to go for a walk beyond the doors of the building. Until one morning when one of his nurses brought him his clothes and told him to get dressed. She walked him down the hallway, outside and to the front gate. She unlocked it, pushed him gently beyond it and closed it behind him.
My father told me he didn’t know how long he stood there, afraid to move, afraid that someone would walk by, afraid most of all, that he would hear the German language spoken. Then he said he was filled with a desire to find a church. He started walking and soon stood in the centre of a huge cathedral. He sat in one of the pews and stared at the stained glass windows all around him. Then he fell to his knees and wept. When he looked up the light was streaming through the windows above the altar. He said it was like watching a movie – the life of Christ flowed by in brilliant colour. When it was over, the fear was gone. He never returned to the hospital.

When he returned home he was not the man my mother had known six years earlier. He could not sleep and loud sounds made him shake. He had not conquered his fears but buried them in a shallow grave. Many times they were resurrected and continued to plague him. I know in some ways he remained an unreachable stranger, even to those who had been closest to him. I know my father never found the words.

And I know Francois Mauriac was right. We must find the words to express those things that are ugly and even evil. We must find them and write them down and then allow them to go out into the world. We must find the words, words that help us remember, words that help us to heal. Lest we forget.

Webcast Alert! Christian Book Buzz 2009 -

2009-11-07T00:00:00.000-05:00

DATE: Thursday, November 19, 2009 TIME: Noon–1:00 PM EST REGISTER TODAY

It may seem simple, at first, to categorize Christian fiction. Most readers would agree that there is a core of biblically-based attitudes, values, and actions, and likely there would be very little, if any, profanity, sex or violence. Generally, Christian fiction has religious themes infused into a regular genre story. But there are as many subgenres in Christian fiction as there are in popular fiction – from cozy mysteries to legal suspense to fantasy. And readers aren’t all looking for the same message – Christian historical fiction can inform and entertain, while women’s fiction may be sought for comfort or advice.

Christian fiction gives readers characters and situations that demonstrate the growth of faith, depth and breadth of moral responsibility, the possibility of conversion and redemption, and examples of Christian living for men and women of all ages, races and cultures. Many libraries are seeing an increased demand for Christian fiction with more readers looking for inspirational and uplifting stories and finding good writing in newly discovered places, contributing to the cross-over appeal of this growing genre.

Join four leading publishers for this one hour webcast which will feature over 60 new and forthcoming titles in all Christian fiction categories for adults and young adults.

PANELISTS

Susan Salley, Executive Director of Marketing, Abingdon Press

Nathan Henrion, National Account Manager, Baker Publishing Group

Allen Arnold, National Account Manager, Thomas Nelson

Karen Watson, Acquisitions Director of Fiction, Tyndale House Publishers

She Reads

2009-11-06T03:50:00.004-05:00

Explain a bit about how She Reads came to be.

I have always loved fiction but Proverbs 31, the women's ministry I work with, didn't really cater to fiction readers. We would carry the occasional Christian fiction book as a resource but it was rare. When I went to the Colorado Christian Writers' Conference this past May, I met lots of other people who were crazy about fiction. It got me thinking: there's not really a place where people who are passionate about a well-written story can come together and discuss, compare, etc. There's no place for the writers and the readers to connect. How can we at Proverbs 31 create that place? The obvious answer was the internet. I started jotting down the ideas as they came to me and working with a friend who became my partner in these efforts. Pretty soon we had a full-blown proposal to take to the executive team at P31. They approved it and we launched this fall. It's been a whirlwind ever since and we are so excited by what God is doing!

How can our readers (authors, editors, marketing professionals, agents and wannabes in all of the above) help you to achieve your She Reads goals?

Participate in the discussion. Leave comments on the blog. Read the books we select. Recommend those books to your friends. Follow us on Twitter, friend us on Facebook and put the button we have available on your own blogs to direct people to us so they can find out about us as well. Our goal is to become a trusted place women can come to to find consistently great reads, connect with those writers, and communicate with other people who love a well-written, thought-provoking story. It is to all of our advantage to see this thing grow as that creates more fiction lovers by increasing awareness of the books, publishers and authors that are out there.

How can She Reads benefit our readers?

Writers and publishers can benefit because we are spreading the word to readers that there is great fiction being put out in the Christian marketplace. Shortly after I started running with the idea of She Reads, I had a defining conversation with a friend. I was telling her what we were doing and she said, "Oh I don't read Christian fiction. None of it's any good."

I said, "Will you let me issue you a challenge? Can I put some books in your hands that will change your mind?" She took me up on that challenge and is now one of my readers for our selection committee! She has found that there is great Christian fiction out there and it's changed her opinion. I want to continue to spread that message on a larger level through She Reads.

What is the most encouraging thing you see in Christian fiction today?

Two things: the quality of the writing and the realness of the stories. You don't have a lot of riding off into the sunset salvations and rounds of Kumbayah. Instead you get real people with real problems dealing with those issues in real ways. They aren't plastic characters you can't relate to. You could give these books to a friend who is not a Christian and they would be impacted-- and even drawn to Christ-- without feeling preached at. You could have a book club and read these books each season (we choose 3), discuss them and invite people who don't go to church or want anything to do with Christianity and they would be moved by these stories. These same folks would probably never come to a Bible study, but they would come to a book club. Jesus knew the value of stories. These authors do too.

Do you have any marketing or public speaking tips that might benefit our readers?

My She Reads partner, Ariel Allison Lawhon, and I have a little saying we have used since She Reads began: One reader at a time. We want to build relationships and trust with each reader on an individual basis. When we get comments that say that they have found a new favorite author or that they are so happy to find a place they can connect with other fiction readers and the authors, we feel like we are doing what God wants us to do. We believe that this entire venture will be built on relationships between authors, readers, publishers, and Proverbs 31 Ministries. The relationships are key.

You write non-fiction, run a ministry, raise a large family and still have time to add to your plate with an upcoming fiction title and She Reads. Any helpful hints on juggling a busy, busy life?

Do the next thing. I try not to get overwhelmed with what I have to do and instead ask myself "What is my next thing that needs doing?" Sometimes it's sitting down to answer interview questions like now. Sometimes it's cleaning my house for our church small group meeting (which needs to happen in a minute!). Sometimes it's listening to my teenage daughter tell me about her school day or helping a child with homework. Sometimes it's writing or making dinner. Whatever it is, I do that one thing because it's all I can do. I trust God to accomplish within my days exactly what He would have for me to do. And I make every effort to begin each day with Him. I have certain boundaries I have erected in my life to make sure that happens.

What have you learned while transitioning from non-fiction to fiction and your additional ministry commitments and goals?

Fiction is hard to write. It takes a lot out of you and comes from a deeper place. But it's also so much fun. I feel blessed to be doing something I am so passionate about! I have had several women tell me that by watching me chase after my dream it has inspired them to chase after theirs. That was an unexpected benefit of taking the plunge into fiction. It doesn't get any better than that!

Author Interview ~ Maureen Lang

2009-11-05T06:00:00.002-05:00

Maureen Lang has been a storyteller nearly all her life, and is thrilled to be able to share her stories with a wider audience than the neighborhood kids. She’s expecting her ninth book out on the shelves late this summer, Look To The East. But don’t look for her first three books—they were published BC and are thankfully out of print. BC? Yes, that would be the years Before Christ impacted her writing life. God definitely wired Maureen to write, and she’s found few greater blessings than to write for Him.

Welcome back to Novel Journey!

Thanks very much for having me. :-)

The last time you visited was in 2006. Can you share what you’ve been doing in the years since?

I’m happy to say I’ve been writing. My first Inspirational novel, Pieces of Silver, came out from Kregel in 2006 and since then in 2007 they published its sequel, Remember Me.

That second book actually released around the same time the first of a different two book series came out, this time from Tyndale House, The Oak Leaves. That’s a novel about a woman who finds her Victorian grandmother’s diary and learns they might share a common bond neither of them wanted.

The sequel to that is On Sparrow Hill, which released in the spring of 2008. In October of 2008 Tyndale released a stand-alone for me, My Sister Dilly. Now we’re just about to release Book One of my new Great War Series, Look To The East.

It’s been great being so productive! After having published a few books now, I can look back and see a trend. All of my books have a heroine (or two) facing something that’s life-altering. Her faith is tested, but along the way God gives her everything she needs to face the challenge and become stronger—both as a woman, and as a follower of Christ. I must admit that as I’m bringing my characters into their blackest moments, I usually shake my head and remind myself if I didn’t know better I’d think they were doomed. That’s when I know the story is working.

Several of your books have been up for awards. Is this an important part of being published?

With my first few books, I believed contests were important so I could bring whatever success I might achieve to the table when negotiating a new contract. Since then, knowing that contest placings or even wins don’t actually impact sales as much as some people believe, I’ve changed my thinking. I do still value contests because it’s a sure-fire way of getting my books into the hands of readers, at least in the form of judges. And that’s how we win readers, one at a time. I’ve gotten many wonderful comments on my books and those are heartwarming. But really, the best form of advertising is word of mouth.

Tell us a little about your latest release:

Look To The East begins at the outset of the First World War. I can hear women saying: War, oh, no! But actually the war is only a backdrop, a great source of conflict. This book, like everything else I’ve written, is more about relationships than anything else. This is the story of a man caught behind the fighting lines, forced to hide in the small French village where my heroine lives. She helps hide him, falling in love along the way. Between the fear of discovery and the fighting going on not so very far away, there is a lot of adventure.

What did you enjoy most about writing this book? Least?

As with every book, the romantic element is the most fun. There is a scene where the heroine mistakenly believes a German soldier helped her. In an effort to thank him, she agrees to dine—alone—with him. Watching her fear unfold beside the terror the hero holds for her when he realizes she has to follow through on the dinner engagement was actually a lot of fun. Tension is always better when the stakes are deeply personal!

As far as the least favorite part…well, I’m happy to say I don’t have one! I know there are several chapters in the beginning where the hero’s story is told parallel to the heroine’s, and it’s always more fun once they’re united. But I always like that slow build-up, that anticipation of seeing the two characters every reader knows are meant to be together. So it’s all just plain fun for me!

Tell us a little about your main character and how you developed him/her:

Julitte is my heroine, and to tell you the truth she was more of a challenge than my hero! I always struggle with my characters a bit at the outset; I know where they’re going to end up, but the journey along the way isn’t always clear until I get to know them. For Julitte, I knew she would have an incredible faith, based on her biological and adoptive parents. I knew she would be ostracized from a small village, which makes her even more dependent upon God. But creating someone with such a strong faith seemed to make her too perfect, as if her faith would either cover or prevent any flaw. And we all know even the most faith-filled people have flaws, we just don’t like to consider that being true.

Seeing Julitte as too perfect was one of the first things my editor said about her, too. So we knew she needed to struggle with that faith to make her believable. That’s when the whole theme of “misplaced faith” started to take shape, and how hard it could be to imagine others placing their faith in you when you feel like you’re letting down everyone around you.

Do you put yourself into your books/characters?

I think, to a certain extent, every author does. We have to, or they wouldn’t be convincing. We may not agree or condone everything our characters end up doing, but we ought to understand why they’re doing what they’re doing or else the reader won’t buy it. So to the extent of empathizing with them, I do sort of “become” my characters.

What made you start writing?

To be honest, I don’t really have a good answer. It’s like asking someone why they have brown eyes; I just do. I suppose there’s a genetic answer to the eye color question, because there are just so many possibilities given the fact that one of my parents had brown eyes. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I was wired to write; it comes natural to me, it “feels” right. I can’t not write, I just have to do it. God wired me to write since I was a young child, and it makes me happy.

What would you do with your free time if you weren’t writing?

If I weren’t writing, I’d probably do more things with my boys, which would be a very good thing to do! Perhaps I’d even be able to develop an interest in sports, which would certainly make my husband happy. I’d also probably do some crafty things, like painting ceramics or make pretty stationery with some fancy stamping designs. I don’t do any of that now, but maybe some day…

What message do you hope readers gain from your novel?

In Look To The East, some of the characters place their faith in the wrong thing: some of Julitte’s neighbor’s place their faith in her rather than in God. Early in the story, my hero Charles places his faith in himself. Even Julitte’s faith is tested when things don’t go according to the way she expects for doing the right thing.

What I would love for readers to take away is that God is constant; He always wants what is best for us, even if the journey along the way is sometimes difficult. I think when we face hard choices we think God isn’t good or doesn’t love us as much as we thought, but the truth is He’s more interested in us becoming more like Him than in our comfort and happiness along the way. Sometimes we grow faster with deeper dependence on Him when things get a little rocky.

As a multi-published author, how much marketing are you required to do? Does this detract from your writing time?

I’m such an introvert that deep down I feel like any form of marketing takes away from my writing time. For me to go to a public engagement takes time not only for the event, but for the preparation. However, once I’m involved in talking to others about my books or about writing in general, I always enjoy myself and end up learning something new about people. I need to be reminded that in order to create life-like characters I should spend time with real people! Because even though I have yet to create a character that’s built totally upon a single real-life person, almost all of my characters tend to be composites in one form or another of people I’ve met.

Tell us what we have to look forward to in the future. What new projects are you working on?

I’m just now involved in final edits for Book Two in this Great War Series, and that’s a book I’m especially excited about—despite the fact that at the moment it still has no title! It’s set in the same time period, but other than the fact that the heroine of this book is the sister of the hero from Look To The East, it’s an entirely independent book. A reader doesn’t have to read Look To The East to enjoy this second book in the series.

Basically it’s the story of people involved in a secret, uncensored press. This paper was actually circulated during the German occupation of Belgium, by Belgians who wanted to give their fellow countrymen hope that the War would end someday and they would regain their independence. But once again, the occupation of Brussels and their fight to give hope to others is only the backdrop for not one but TWO romances within the same book! Who doesn’t love a good romance?

The last time you were here, you said, “this business is harder than it first appears, that it takes longer, that the competition is tougher than ever. But writing itself, if you’re wired for it, is the real blessing.” Do you still feel that way?

I absolutely DO feel the same way. Writing really is its own blessing! I know I’d still be writing, even if the words were only between me and God.

Any parting advice?

Christian fiction has come a long way in a relatively short period of time. It’s reaching a wider audience, appealing to a broader scope, and attracting not only many new readers, but more writers all the time. God is at work in this industry, attracting and equipping all kinds of people to not only strengthen the Kingdom, but broaden it. And I couldn’t be happier! I’m excited when people take an interest in writing for the Lord. We need all kinds of voices to reach all kinds of people!

But of course even though the market is growing, so is the competition. Being called to write is not a guarantee of publication, but it will be a growing experience, one God will use to bring a person closer to Him, no matter where the writing goes. So if you do have an interest in writing, this is a great industry—but just make sure to stay connected to the One who wired you to write in the first place!

Fifteen Minutes of Fame Contest

2009-11-04T06:01:00.000-05:00

Just a reminder about our new awards program, OUT OF THE SLUSH PILE, Novel Journey’s Fifteen Minutes of Fame Contest. If you haven’t already made plans to enter, please check out the details. Email your submissions, or any questions you may have about the contest, to NovelJourneyContest@gmail.com. We look forward to seeing your entry!

Guest Blogger ~ Robin Lee Hatcher

2009-11-04T06:00:00.000-05:00

Robin Lee Hatcher is the best-selling author of over sixty books. Her well-drawn characters and heartwarming stories of faith, courage, and love have earned her both critical acclaim and the devotion of readers. Her numerous awards including the 2000 Christy Award for Excellence in Christian Fiction, the 1999 and 2001 RITA Awards for Best Inspirational Romance, Romantic Times Career Achievement Awards for Americana Romance and for Inspirational Fiction, and the 2001 RWA Lifetime Achievement Award. Catching Katie was named one of the Best Books of 2004 by the Library Journal.

Robin began her career as a novelist in the general market, writing mass market romances for Leisure Books, HarperPaperbacks, Avon Books, and Silhouette. In 1997, after several years of heart preparation, Robin accepted God's call to write stories of faith and hasn't looked back since. She has written both contemporary women's fiction and historical romances for CBA publishers. Her most recent book, Fit To Be Tied, is the second book in the Sisters of Bethlehem Springs series which began with the question, "Who says a woman can't do a man's job?" The setting is Idaho during the WWI era.

MY FAVORITE PART OF WRITING: BRAINSTORMING

There are plenty of things I like about the writing process and more than a few things I dislike. And on any given day, some of them can swap places, depending on how a book is going.

But one thing I always love to do is brainstorm with other writers.

Back in the mid-1990’s, I began meeting twice a year with three other writers who, like me, wrote for the romance mass market. We lived in various parts of the country, and we took turns hosting our get-togethers so three of us were always flying. Our brainstorming weekends usually lasted for three days/two nights, and we worked hard the whole time, brainstorming one book per person.

In the early part of this decade, I began meeting with a larger group of writers in the same location each summer. Our brainstorming retreats last for five days/four nights, and we are all Christians. Over the course of the retreat, we usually brainstorm 9 to 11 story ideas.

Some of you might wonder what is the difference between a brainstorming group and a critique group. Lots. The former is a place to play “angel’s advocate,” to let ideas flow without trying to dam them up. The group is not interested in your prose, in misplaced modifiers, or if you did any head hopping in your latest chapter. (FWIW, only once in my 28 years of writing have I participated in a critique group. It wasn’t for me.)

Some years I show up at our retreats with a fairly detailed idea of the story I want to write. Other years I show up with a very vague idea of what I want to write. If you’re with the right group, it won’t matter. You’ll get what you need from them.

Back in 2003, I began my session with, “I want to write a book about four women friends during WWII.” They all waited for me to continue, but that was all I had. And so we began to talk. People began tossing out ideas, saying “What if…” If something didn’t work for me because of my own personal style and/or genre, I said so, but for the most part, I just took lots of notes. Then I took those notes home with me, and out of the abundance of ideas I had to choose from came The Victory Club, published by Tyndale House in 2005.

One of the tools that I love to use is a “List of 20.” After brainstorming for about an hour (we limit each author’s session to an hour and fifteen minutes), everyone takes a sheet of paper and writes 20 things that could happen in the book. These aren’t detailed scenes. They are snippets, suggestions. For instance, “The heroine goes into the attic, and while looking around, finds an old chest with a baby’s christening gown inside. She wonders who it belonged to.” “The hero makes a rope swing on the old oak tree near the barn and ends up pushing the heroine in it while they talk about ______.”

My novels are character-driven, and I rarely have any trouble creating the emotional part of a story. But coming up with those individual scenes where the emotions come into play can sometimes stymie me. So these Lists of 20 are a great resource. If there are five people in a group and all write twenty ideas down, a writer can go home with 100 different scene ideas. I often put each of these individual scene suggestions onto 3x5 index cards. Then I sort them into three piles: No, Maybe, and Yes. As I’m writing the book, if I come to a place where I’m wondering what my characters should do next, I can pull out the Yes cards and the Maybe cards, look through them, and see what they inspire.

Most novelists are wonderful brainstormers. One reason I think it is so easy to come up with ideas for other people’s books when I can struggle so hard with my own is that there is no ownership of the other stories and nothing invested. If you don’t like the idea I just shared, that’s okay. How about this one then? Ideas are easy to come by when I know that I don’t have to actually write them. I don’t have to make certain that the motivation is shown clearly to the reader. I don’t have to make sure I’m writing the scene the best way possible.

Some people can brainstorm equally as well or even better by themselves with pads of paper or in a computer program such as Inspiration 8. Me, I do better with others. I’m a ten on the extravert scale, so I’m energized by the interaction with enthusiastic people getting caught up in all the possibilities.

If you’re a writer who has never tried brainstorming with others, I suggest you give it a try. It just might become your favorite part of writing too.

FIT TO BE TIED

Cleo Arlington dresses like a cowboy, is fearless and fun-loving, and can ride, rope, and wrangle a horse as well as any man. In 1916, however, those talents aren’t what most young women aspire to. But Cleo isn’t most women. Twenty-nine years old and single, Cleo loves life on her father’s Idaho ranch. Still, she hopes someday to marry and have children.

Enter Sherwood Statham, an English aristocrat whose father has sentenced him to a year of work in America to “straighten him out.” Sherwood, who expected a desk job at a posh spa, isn’t happy to be stuck on an Idaho ranch. And he has no idea how to handle Cleo, who’s been challenged with transforming this uptight playboy into a down-home cowboy.

Just about everything either of them says or does leaves the other, well, fit to be tied. And though Cleo believes God’s plan for her includes a husband, it couldn’t possibly be Sherwood Statham. Could it?

Watch a trailer of Fit to be Tied here.

Book Giveaway

2009-11-03T00:10:00.003-05:00

Linda is giving away a copy of her latest book in the pet-sitter series, Never Say Sty. For a chance to win this title, please leave a comment for our guest along with your email addie.