10 More Reader Tips for Writers

Last month I shared 11 tips from readers on what they love to see in novels. Here are more tips to help you write compelling fiction.

Research Matters! (More so for historicals)

• Probably the #1 thing for me is accuracy. I just read Eleanor & Park (very popular YA set in the 80s). The author almost lost me as a reader when she had a line that sounded like the father was a Korean War veteran but would have been about 12. I stayed with it and the line was clarified. He was a Vietnam vet stationed in Korea. Seriously, one line nearly ruined a book & the author's reputation in my eyes. An extremely successful author did this by writing an entire novel based on a medical condition, and the details were WRONG! I'm not talking about a medical condition that I'm intimately familiar with, but one I know about through my own manuscript research.
• Accurate research is vital to keeping my attention. :)
• Never change actual history.

General Suggestions

• Where do I start???? One thing that isn't probably something a newbie needs to know right away but will when they start entering Genesis or any contest that requires a synopsis. They need to know that a synopsis is not a back-of-the-book blurb. All my years on Genesis and now doing critiques for conference have led me to realize a great many newbies have no idea how to write a synopsis.
• Write what God tells you to write without second guessing how the results will look. You may publish, you may not. Is it an offering to God? That's what matters. :-) He's in charge of the results. Of course, that's for believers. LOL
•  How long to really expect the process to take. (I think people might be inclined to give up if they aren't moving as fast as they expect to.)
• Perseverance. Practice. Keep moving forward and not giving up. Being teachable. Most people who are willing to put in the effort will make it to a certain degree, but not if you're arrogant and inflexible. No matter how talented a top athlete is they have to put in time learning and improving. Writing is no different.
• I'm an avid reader. For new writers: Characters must be believable, no matter the genre. Make me want to know them. Help me live inside the characters so I feel what the characters experience.
•  The plot and storyline must also be believable and maintain integrity within the story. As a reader I want to trust the author. Otherwise I won't read them again.
• While writing the first draft: Get the story down. Just write it. And know you will rewrite and edit - later. Don't get so hung up perfecting a paragraph or scene that you become discouraged with the process. First get the basic story written.
• Then, when working through it again, pay attention to the details. Do the necessary research. Readers do notice. Keep the main POV clear - don't bounce from head to head. Pay attention to what can jerk a reader out of the story - and don't do it.
• The comment about being teachable and not arrogant or inflexible is spot on. That goes for the entire process, including sales.
• And, for the record, I love reading new authors. Especially when their stories not only are free from "fatal" flaws but leave me sighing, "Wow, I can't believe this is her/his first book."
• Not sure this is an issue for everyone, but I definitely prefer a story that does not rely on graphic violence or sexuality.

What would you add to this list? What makes a book compelling to you?

Cara Putman

An award-winning author of more than twenty books, Cara is a lecturer on business and employment law to graduate students at Purdue University’s Krannert School of Management. Putman also practices law and is a second-generation homeschooling mom. She lives with her husband and four children in Indiana.

Writing Outside Your Culture: Researching Location, Part II

 

In an earlier post, I wrote about travelling to the place where Desert Jewels took place. I did the same with Creating Esther. I dragged Roland along as I travelled throughout Ojibwe country in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota to visit museums and reservations and the shells of former Indian boarding schools.

I already knew, of course, that different tribes had different customs and ways of life. But I didn’t know that a few hundred miles could make a difference within a tribe.

The main elements of Ojibwe life and history were the same at each location. Every exhibit we saw referred to the Ojibwes’ seasonal way of life: collecting maple syrup in the spring, fishing and berrying and planting gardens in the summer, harvesting wild rice in the fall, and hunting in the winter. (Actually, fishing and hunting took place all year long, but they were more predominant at those times.) Families moved from one place to another for these seasonal activities but tended to return to the same spot every spring, every summer, every fall, and every winter. In all regions, the members of the tribe also had the same clan system (although not always the same clans) and the same teachings passed down through their oral history.

But they didn’t all live in the same type of birch-bark housing.

Before we left, I thought all of the earlier Ojibwe lived in birch-bark wigwams with the rounded shape shown in the museum exhibit above. On the research trip, I learned that the construction materials varied somewhat depending on the season. Woven birch-bark mats covered the frame in the hot summer months, which allowed the wall coverings to be raised so that air could circulate through the lower part of the frame. In the winter, the walls were insulated with moss and the floors used a radiant heating system.

All of that was helpful new information, and none of it surprised me.

What did surprise me was that the Minnesota Ojibwe used a birch-bark teepee during the winter. We saw no evidence of this in Michigan or Wisconsin, where winter dwellings were built using the wigwam shape. A guide at the Mille Lacs Indian Museum told us that the teepee shape keeps the dwelling warmer. (Since heat rises, the smaller air space near the ceiling would keep more of the heat down by the floor.) During the warmer months, there were no regional differences—all dwellings were built as wigwams. But the winter shape seems to have been modified as members of the tribe moved farther west and closer to the plains Indians, who lived in animal skin teepees.

 



It isn’t always possible to take research trips to the sites in our fiction, but it has always been worthwhile for me when I had the opportunity. And this one kept me from falling into the pitfalls created by regional differences.

Because honoring regional differences is part of honoring the culture.

__________

I took the first picture at the Ziibiwing Center of Anishinabek Culture and Lifeways at Mount Pleasant, Michigan, and the second at Grand Portage National Monument in Grand Portage, Minnesota.

__________

Kathryn Page Camp is a licensed attorney and full-time writer. Writers in Wonderland: Keeping Your Words Legal was a Kirkus’ Indie Books of the Month Selection for April 2014. The second edition of Kathryn’s first book, In God We Trust: How the Supreme Court’s First Amendment Decisions Affect Organized Religion, was released on September 30, 2015. Desert Jewels is searching for a home, and Creating Esther has just begun circulating to publishers. You can learn more about Kathryn at www.kathrynpagecamp.com.

Writing Outside Your Culture: Reading Research, Part II

Desert Jewels was easy to research. Not only was I able to interview one couple who had been in the camps when they were about my protagonist’s age, but there were a myriad of memoirs written by people who took the same path. That’s because the events occurred in a short time frame and many of the people who took that path were students or professors at the University of California at Berkeley—including writers and artists who recorded their experiences.

Researching my second middle-grade historical was much harder. As mentioned in my last post, Creating Esther is about an Ojibwe girl who goes to an Indian boarding school at the end of the 19^th Century. There are plenty of memoirs about the Native American boarding school experience, but few come from the right perspective. Most took place several decades later, when the students knew what to expect. Others came from the male perspective or that of a white teacher.

The three most helpful memoirs are (1) three essays by Zitkala-Sa (Gertrude Bonnin), which can be found in her American Indian Stories; (2) No Turning Back: A Hopi Woman’s Struggle to Live in Two Worlds by Polingaysi Qoyawayma (Elizabeth Q. White); and (3) Red World and White: Memories of a Chippewa Boyhood by John Rogers (Chief Snow Cloud). The Zitkala-Sa essays tell about her experiences as a Native American student and teacher shortly before the time of my story, but they are short on details. No Turning Back begins at about the right time and provides a few more details, but it spans a number of years and is written by a woman from a different tribe than my protagonist. Red World and White provides a more detailed look at Ojibwe (Chippewa) reservation life around the right time but gives little information about the male author’s boarding school experience.

I also read a number of academic books about the Native American boarding school experience or the Ojibwe tribe. Putting all this information together with what I learned from location research, I believe I have portrayed an accurate picture for my readers. But it wasn’t easy.

Picking the right pieces was hard, but cultural respect requires it.

Next month I’ll talk about the location research that helped me understand the broader picture.

__________

The photo at the head of this post shows one of the abandoned buildings from the Mount Pleasant Indian Industrial Boarding School. I took the picture on my research trip last year. And before you ask, I wasn’t intentionally trying to make it look old. Somehow I set my camera to grayscale and didn’t notice it until later.

__________

Kathryn Page Camp is a licensed attorney and full-time writer. Writers in Wonderland: Keeping Your Words Legal was a Kirkus’ Indie Books of the Month Selection for April 2014. The second edition of Kathryn’s first book, In God We Trust: How the Supreme Court’s First Amendment Decisions Affect Organized Religion, was released on September 30, 2015. Desert Jewels is searching for a home, and Creating Esther has just begun circulating to publishers. You can learn more about Kathryn at www.kathrynpagecamp.com.

Writing Outside Your Culture: Reading Research, Part I

In January, I told you why I write outside my culture. This month I’ll tell you how. Not how I write, but how I learn about cultures I don’t belong to and events I didn’t live through.

Have you ever been told to “write what you know”? Some writers think that means they should only write about things they have directly experienced. But if everyone felt that way, we would have no historical fiction, no biographies of long-dead individuals, and no fantasies from Middle Earth.

So what does the phrase really mean? I think it has two components. One is the writer’s reaction in situations that evoke the same emotions. Can I know how my protagonist felt when the government took away her freedom and placed her in what was essentially a prison camp? Not really. But I do know how it felt when my parents punished me by taking away something I really wanted. By remembering that feeling and magnifying it exponentially, I may come close to what my protagonist would have felt.

But it is the other component that I want to concentrate on in this post. To write what you know, you must research, research, and research.

Autobiographies, letters, newspapers, and “as told to” accounts are better than history books for learning what people actually experienced. For more recent events, interviews provide additional information by showing the anguish in the person’s voice and the pauses for composure before talking about certain subjects. I will cover interviews in a later post.

I was fortunate to have good materials available when writing Desert Jewels. I followed the footsteps of Yoshiko Uchida, who lived in Berkeley before Pearl Harbor, was initially incarcerated at Tanforan Assembly Center, and was then sent to Topaz (officially known as the Central Utah Relocation Center). Hers was one of several memoirs by people who were sent along that same path. In addition, the camp newspapers from Tanforan and Topaz are available online. So I had a wealth of information to use when trying to create an authentic experience for the reader.

Using that information, I attempted to capture both the facts and the external and internal reactions they produced. Accuracy is crucial if I want to honor the culture and the people who lived through the events that provide the background for my story.

The main point here is that you and I don’t have to belong to a culture or live through an event to write about it.

But we’d better have done our research.

__________

The photograph at the head of this post shows the stables that were turned into living quarters for some of the Japanese Americans incarcerated at the Tanforan Assembly Center in San Bruno, California. The June 16, 1942 picture was taken by Dorothea Lange as part of her official duties as an employee of the United States government. Because it is a government document, the photo is in the public domain.

__________

Kathryn Page Camp is a licensed attorney and full-time writer. Writers in Wonderland: Keeping Your Words Legal was a Kirkus’ Indie Books of the Month Selection for April 2014. The second edition of Kathryn’s first book, In God We Trust: How the Supreme Court’s First Amendment Decisions Affect Organized Religion, was released on September 30, 2015. You can learn more about Kathryn at www.kathrynpagecamp.com.

I love research yes I do…

I love research, how about you?

Okay, I admit it. I was a cheerleader for a while. But not because I could do the splits or do a cartwheel very well. I was just tall – for my age. And it was a small school and there were only three girls on the varsity cheer leading squad, and you get the idea.

from fotolia.com

Anyway, I’m not writing this month about cheer leading (although I can get happy enough to cheer when I think about this). I am writing about RESEARCH. Research is awesome. I’m kind of hearing “Everything is awesome” from the LEGO movie in the back of my mind right now. Because, for me, everything is awesome when I have something to research.

When a writer researches something she is like Indiana Jones exploring ancient places seeking out a highly valuable bit of a civilization long forgotten “that belongs in a museum!” Only instead of tucking away the highly valuable bit (what she learns) in the back corner of a museum or in a stenciled box at Area 51, she shares it through “story.” And while Indy’s whip and right cross are pretty impressive, “story” has got to be one of the most powerful tools given to humankind.

And what, at least in part, makes “story” so powerful? Research! It is through proper research that readers aren’t sucked out of the world created by the writer. Everything lines up. There aren’t little discrepancies that make the reader halt and say, “Wait a minute. Is that right? I thought…” Yes, it’s all achieved through research, lovely research.

from graphicstock.com

What doesn’t help my personal obsession for research is the fact that I work in a university library. It’s a little cruel, actually. All those

books about every conceivable subject, every time period known to man, from every country in the world just a few steps away. I think God’s trying to teach me something. I think it’s working, maybe, this week. But that’s not the point!

The point is that research well done is important for a believable story. I have to pray a lot while I’m researching because it’s so easy for me be lose myself in all of the information. It’s fascinating to me. Probably how a moth regards the open flame of a taper candle. With God’s help, though, I get what I need and I am safely drawn back out of the sea of facts to write the story He has placed on my heart.

If you’re reading this, you’re probably a writer. And if you’re a writer, I just imagine you have some inkling of what I’m talking about. But if you’re a writer who struggles with research and doesn’t find it as awesome as I do, be encouraged. God will equip you with everything you need to walk in the purpose He has for your life. He promised, and He doesn’t lie.

from graphicstock.com

Humbly submitted by H.T. Lord

The Education of a Storyteller

Louis L'Amour dropped out of public school at the tenth grade, but that was not the end of his education. He jumped from one job to another in the years to come, always in the company of books. His voracious appetite for reading took him through Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire and countless other classics, where he gathered critical mass for his reactor of fiction-writing creativity.

Daniel Boorstin once mentioned to L'Amour that he was researching a book on the great explorers of human history, and the celebrated writer of Western novels immediately gave him a rundown of the leading editions of Marco Polo's Travels. "Then I had the pleasure of seeing his ample, well-thumbed collection of Maco Poliana neatly shelved on the walls of his study," Boorstin recalled.

L'Amour's study had 16-foot-high ceilings, stacked high with books on custom-made shelves. "The bookshelves that Louis designed were much like the man himself. Each tall row of shelves made a kind of book-covered door that could be swung open to reveal another sixteen-foot set of book-covered shelves fixed to the wall behind. Louis was a modest man, slow to reveal what he actually knew" (Education of a Wandering Man, vi).

If you've read a L'Amour story, you know that's true: He makes no great show of knowledge about the geography, climate, flora and fauna of the desert Southwest; but you also realize the story is being told by a man who knows what he's talking about. Some of that familiarity was formed on his annual camping trips in the desert. Far more grew out of what Boorstin called L'Amour's "spectacularly serendipitous" reading habits.

Another year is about to begin. What are you reading now? What books are close at hand for the spare moments to come? Remember, the education of a storyteller never ends.

__________________

Joe Allison and his wife, Judy, live in Anderson IN, where Joe serves as Editorial Director of Discipleship Resources & Curriculum for Warner Press, Inc. Joe has several nonfiction books in print, including Swords and Whetstones: A Guide to Christian Bible Study Resources. He's currently writing a trilogy of Christian historical novels set in the Great Depression.

Visit Joe's blog at http://southernmtns.wordpress.com

Interview With Jeff Reynolds

By Jeff Reynolds

I guess I'm running out of people to interview. Or everybody was too busy Christmas shopping. Still, there may be another reason for the interview. So here goes -- 

Q. Jeff, welcome to Hoosier Ink, though I think you're not a stranger here. How did you get into the ACFW?

A. Thanks for the welcome, Jeff. (Is there an echo in here?) I wrote a novel in 2007-2008 (technically, my second, though the previous one from '84 never was published nor should it have been), was signed by a local self-publishing company which closed in '10 with coverage on the Star's front page and at least three of the four stations without my book getting to the press. I read The Complete Idiot's Guide To Writing Christian Fiction by Ron Benrey, which mentioned the ACFW. I joined, got involved with the local chapter and several loops including the critique group. As yet, this novel is still unpublished but it is much better than the edition that would have been published.

Q. In what ways did the book improve?

A. I originally had an idea of having a half dozen friends solve a mystery, so I had six main characters figuring it out and sharing POV. Even on the rough draft, I noticed three levels emerge among the six. Then, I thought about doing it in the first person, using one of the two characters most important to the story.

Q. It's not unusual for me ... er, you to be asking interview questions. Any particular reason why your posts here have been primarily interviews the last two years?

A. It just happened. I was impressed by a book I read -- You Are What You See by Scott Nehring. So I posted a review one month and interviewed him the next. Then, I thought of interviewing authors where there was a theological element, such as Donna Fletcher Crow's Monastery Murders or Eric Wilson's Jerusalem's Undead. Not surprising, I've had either referals (e.g. Christine Hunt via Scott Nehring) or requests by the author. As a result, most months I have at least one person to interview.

Q. What would you say were the highlights among your interviews?

A. In other words, which of my children are my favorites? Actually, Randy Singer made a similar comment to one of my questions. If I had a top favorite, it was that interview -- it's fun interviewing your favorite author. Another good memory was when my scheduled interviewee and I had a hard time connecting, so with about three days before posting time I contacted Kerry Nietz whose latest release Amish Vampires In Space just came out. Hopefully, each interview had spoken to and/or inspired somebody.

Q. I've noticed you've gotten comments from people you've interviewed on your questions. How do you approach the interview?

A. If I have time and opportunity, I'll read at least one novel by the author. Unfortunately, that's not always the case. So I'll check out the author's web page and read the Amazon reviews of their books. I look for things that catch my attention and for items that would not be in every interview. For a couple of interviews I did that weren't posted on Hoosier Ink, I read other interviews by that author to get ideas for questions and note what everybody else asks so I can be different.

Q. That's interesting. Let's use you for an example. What questions would you ask yourself if you were going to do an interview with you?

A. Trying to make your job easy, aren't you? Well, many people know my wife and I have been to about forty different zoos, so I might ask if there were any animals that inspired characters. In my case, I came up with a character in a novel I started (not the one above) named Cappie Berra after observing a capybara, the world's largest rodent. There are other trivial items in my life like getting to ask Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater a question at an assembly during my freshman year at high school or putting together a Christmas music program in Nashville, TN with several local songwriter friends.

Q. I have the impression that you are considering leaving the ACFW. If so, why? What's the future of your writing, and what will you be doing?

A. Where would you get an idea like that? However, yes, I'm probably going to leave this group. My national membership ends in March, so I don't see much of a point for renewing in the Chapter for three months. It has been a matter of prayer most of this year. The best answer is that I feel the Lord might be leading a different direction and I'm freeing myself for the future. Becky and I have thought of taking a mission trip, and I've debated running for public office, as well as several other things. 

Even though I've had an interest in writing since being a teenager, I've had other interests as well: Ceramics, songwriting, and ministry for example. I will be polishing my book and seeking some way to publish, be it traditional or e-book. It's possible in the future I might rejoin ACFW. I do appreciate everyone's prayers.


Q. Since this your last blog on Hoosier Ink, is there anything you want to add? And if some of the readers want to follow you, where would they go?

A. Thank me for interviewing you ... wait, did that come out right? I'd like to thank the people I've met (via the internet) through the ACFW in general, and especially the Indiana Chapter. I had the pleasure of serving in '12 as Chapter Secretary with Rich Barry, Darren Kehrer, and Ronda Wells. 

I'd also like to thank my victims -- er, interviewees: Scott Nehring, Donna Fletcher Crow, Julie Cave, Cynthia Simmons, Janalyn Voigt, H. L. Wegley, Christine Hunt, Eric Wilson, Stephanie Guerrero, Laura Popp, Mary Elizabeth Hall, Randy Singer, Amy Wallace, Pamela S. Meyers, Lynette Eason, former Indiana Chapter member Morgan Busse, Heidi Glick, Deanna Dodson (aka Julianna Deering), Kerry Nietz, Suzanne Hartmann, Adam and Andrea Graham, Wanda Dyson, Debbie Malone, Karla Akins, Jayne Self, Janet Sketchley (the last five were posted on a different blog but not Hoosier Ink), critique partners Ellen Parker and Donna Benson, and especially Rick Barry, Darren Kehrer, Dawn Crandall, and Suzie Bixler.

I mentioned another blog I do interviews. I'm part of a four person rotation for Sleuths and Suspects (http://sleuthsandsuspects.blogspot.com), and will be continuing with them. I interviewed one of my other S&S contributors, Heidi Glick, on Hoosier Ink, and another, Debbie Malone, for S&S. Of course, you can also keep up with me on Facebook, at https://www.facebook.com/jeffrey.c.reynolds

Thank you for letting me part of this blog the past three years, and I hope I encouraged some of you through those blogs.

Interview with Author DeAnna Dodson (also writing as Julianna Deering)

by Jeff Reynolds

I enjoy several types of stories but if I had to choose one genre, it would be easy -- cozy mystery. I've been Murder On The Orient Express. The one I've read most recently is Rules For Murder, the first Drew Farthering mystery by DeAnna Dodson, writing as Julianna Deering.

Jeff Reynolds:  Welcome to the blog. What got you interested in writing in general and in mysteries specifically?

DeAnna Dodson:  I have always been a reader, though I never thought I’d ever be a writer.  But when I was in school, I started writing dramatic scenes just to amuse myself.  The more boring the class, the more I wrote.  Those scenes eventually became my first book, In Honor Bound.

As far as mystery is concerned, I’ve been a fan of Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers for a long time.  I think Masterpiece Mystery actually got me started, and then I wanted to read the real books behind the shows.  I had so much fun not only with the actual mysteries, but with the sets and the costumes and the period dialogue, I just had to try my hand at writing that type of story.

JR:  Tell us about your latest novel. Is this the beginning of a series?
 
DD:   Yes, Rules of Murder is the first of what I hope will be a long series of mystery novels.  Death by the Book is due out in March, and Murder at the Mikado should be out next summer.  I also write under my real name, DeAnna Julie Dodson, and have published seven books so far.  Three medieval romances (In Honor Bound, By Love Redeemed and To Grace Surrendered) and four contemporary mysteries for Annie’s Attic (Letters in the Attic, The Key in the Attic, The Diary in the Attic and The Legacy in the Attic).

But let’s go back to Rules of Murder.  It is basically a throwback to Christie and other mystery writers of the 1920s and ’30 with a little of The Thin Man’s Nick and Nora Charles thrown in.  Drew Farthering is a rich young Englishman with little more to do than amuse himself with his society friends.  He meets American debutante Madeline Parker at his mother’s weekend party and they come across a body.  Soon there is a second death, and they decide to try to figure out whodunit based on what they’ve learned from their favorite murder mysteries.  It’s a lot of fun.

JR:  You have chosen to write the current series under a pen-name. What led you to do that? What are the pros and cons of using a fictitious name?

DD:  Having a pen name was the suggestion of my publisher, and I think it was a good one.  The Drew Farthering Mysteries are different from my Annie’s Attic Mysteries and my medieval romances.  They want readers to know this is something new to head up their line of historical mysteries.

JR:  Your story is set in England of the 1930's. I'm sure that setting has a lot of similarities to Dallas in the 2010's, but if I'm wrong, how did you do your research?

DD:  No, I’m afraid contemporary suburban North Texas and 1930s England don’t have much in common, but I much prefer writing and reading about something different from my usual life.  Most of my research came from reading the classic mysteries of the 1930s (which were contemporary at the time) and watching movies that were made in the 1930s.  I’m glad I’m writing during an era where there was film.  I realize that then as now, movies are a somewhat distorted view of real life, but they’re a wonderful glimpse into fashions and customs and technology and just life in general at that time.

JR:  I read a book that suggests mystery writers tend to be outliners and suspense writers opt for the blank page approach. However, my favorite suspense authors go more for an outline, and I was half way through writing my mystery before I realized who did it. What is your approach in developing your mystery?

DD:  I start with the end.  I know who did it and why and then build the rest of the story to support that.  Agatha Christie often simply made the murderer be the least likely person at the end, but that’s not me.  I need to know.

JR:  One of your hobbies is watching NHL, which I suspect is normal for female Dallas residents (better than the Cowboys, right?) How does this and your other hobbies (like quilting) fit with your writing? Is it inspiration, or more of a way to take a break?

hooked on Hercule Poirot since seeing

DD:  No, hockey is still a niche sport here in Texas, though it is becoming more popular with the increased availability of ice rinks and public school hockey programs, so being a hockey fan, especially a female one, is rather unusual.  But I grew up with the Cowboys, so I love them too and have high hopes for the, year in and year out.  Hockey and football are definitely just a pastime for me though.  Everyone needs a break from work, no matter what the job is.  But sewing, whether it’s quilting or cross stitch or something else, feeds my creative brain.  It’s a different kind of creativity though.  Writing is purely mental.  Sewing is mental and physical and tactile.  There’s something about the feel and look of fabrics and threads and buttons and everything else that feeds me creatively.

JR:  I like the faith angle in Rules of Murder. How did that develop? And are you involved in ministry other than writing as well?

DD:  I write from a Christian worldview because I don’t have any other.  I have to write truth, and that is my truth.  I’m not currently in ministry, though I sang with my church’s music group for many years.  I miss it.

JR:  Besides the sequel for Rules of Murder, what's on your writing agenda?

DD:  I’m currently working on the edits for Murder at the Mikado, and that should keep me busy for a while.  After that, I will probably work on a fantasy story I’ve been wanting to do for a long time, and I may even do more historical romance because I miss that, too.  But if readers like Drew and Madeline, then I’ll probably start working on Book Four.  They may have to go to America and listen to some of the Big Bands.

JR:  Thank you for your time. Could you share your website and other ways to get in touch with you?

DD:  Thank you so much for letting me visit.  I’ve enjoyed our chat..  Readers can find me at www.juliannadeering.com or https://www.facebook.com/AuthorJuliannaDeering or www.deannajuliedodson.com or @deannajuldodson on Twitter.  You can also find out more about me and the book on Bethany House’s site here:  http://bakerpublishinggroup.com/books/rules-of-murder/343331.  They have an author interview, an excerpt from the book and discussion questions.

Interview With Amy Wallace

  by Jeff Reynolds

  I had the honor of interviewing my favorite author last month – Randy Singer for those who missed it. This month, I have the honor interviewing another author who's in my top three (with Allistair MacLean being the other, but I'd have to conduct a séance to interview him, and most of you would frown at that.) This author is Amy Wallace, who wrote the excellent Defenders of Hope series, and has released the second book last fall of her latest series, Place of Refuge.

Jeff Reynolds: Welcome, Amy. I've noticed you have a bachelor's degree in Counseling and Guidance from the University of Louisville , and also are a graduate of the Gwinnett County Citizen's Police Academy . Where does your writing journey coincide with these degrees? How has your education affected your writing and your Christian life?

Amy Wallace: I graduated from U of L ( GO CARDS!) ages ago and the Citizen's Police Academy about nine years ago, both a fantastic experience. I attended the CPA, a volunteer, sixteen week, behind the scenes look at the police department, when I was working on my first suspense series about FBI Crimes Against Children agents. I wanted to better understand and honor the law enforcement professionals I highlighted in my novels.

My counseling degree has served me well in life and writing, to better understand human nature and observe in the real world what I write about in my stories. Not only that, but also to see how vital healing is to a healthy, loving relationship with God and others.

JR: If asked what my favorite fiction series is, your Defenders of Hope trilogy would be towards the top. I'm now reading Hiding In Plain Sight, the first in the Place of Refuge Series. Could you tell us about the series, and if you approached the writing any different between the two?

AW: Thank you very much for that high compliment!

The Defenders of Hope series is a suspense series about the FBI Crimes Against Children Unit in DC that focuses on hope and healing amid life’s most challenging storms. The Place of Refuge series is a Mennonite romantic suspense series focusing on a small town police officer protecting her loved ones, her town, and the surrounding Mennonite community from uncharacteristic violence in Hiding in Plain Sight, and, in Nowhere to Run, a stalker who forces Ashley to put happily ever after on hold to protect and defend those she loves.

Writing these two very different series included tons of research, interviewing FBI and other law enforcement officers, and plenty of editing! I tried a few new things with plotting in the Place of Refuge series after having read James Scott Bell’s Plot and Structure. But the biggest writing difference between the two series came in dealing with theme.

For Ransomed Dreams, Healing Promises, and Enduring Justice, theme grew as I wrote the stories. Ransomed Dreams' theme of healing through forgiveness became a deeper life lesson that forgiveness unlocks the future. For Healing Promises, the theme began as healing and hope amid life-shattering circumstances. The story grew out of a question I asked a Secret Service Agent: What would an FBI agent do with a cancer diagnosis? The theme grew and became Faith Under Fire and tackled the questions: Where is God when life hurts? Can God be trusted? For Enduring Justice, the theme deepened from healing from past abuse to secrets can’t last forever. Justice isn’t enough. Healing is.

The themes for the Place of Refuge books began with a simple theme and stayed pretty true to the original ideas. Hiding in Plain Sight’s theme is control. Who is in control? Can He be trusted? Nowhere to Run is about protection. Is God powerful enough to protect His children?

JR: In October, 2011, you taught a course on Plotting. Does this mean you're a committed plotter? Or do you ever try Seat of the Pants writing? After all, you have done great plot twists in your story that I didn't see coming.

AW: I’m what James Scott Bell calls a Borg plotter. I'm a full time homeschooling mom, my first and favorite career, so I don't have time to just sit down and see where the story takes me. Which, according to my pantser friends, requires plenty of rewriting. I love doing the research and character charts and outlines that help me know my characters and story so well that when I sit down to write, I have a good idea where I'm going. Plus, to honor law enforcement officers who serve us well and many of whom have been a fantastic help to me with each of my stories, I feel compelled to get my facts and twists and suspense plot right and reasonable before I sit down to write. And even with all the plotting I do, there are always surprises along the way, which keeps the journey fun.

JR: Your books are full of heart-warming, feel-good topics like losing one's family, child-killing, cancer, and racism. What reaction have you had both from the publisher/editor end and from the readers?

AW: While my novels do hit on hard topics, the focus is always on healing. I believe to show the light and hope that are ours in Christ, we have to acknowledge the darkness where He shines brightest.

The reactions from publishers and readers have been overwhelmingly positive. In large part because my stories aren't just high intensity suspense, but because they are full of flawed, searching, real characters who connect with readers, and I pray lead them closer to Christ and the healing possible in Him.

JR: One thing all your books have is a set of discussion questions. Was this your idea or your publishers? Any response from people who used those questions you'd like to share?

AW: The discussion questions were something I wanted to include to help readers and book clubs connect even more to the story. One of my favorite responses was a long letter from a reader of Ransomed Dreams that detailed how this story helped her forgive her father and begin the painful process of reconciliation with someone who had abandoned her as a child. It made me cry to read how my characters and the theme of the novel touched this woman's heart to the point her life was changed for good and a vital relationship began to heal.

JR: Besides your fiction, you've been a contributor to Writing Inspirational Fiction, God Answers Mom's Prayers, and Chicken Soup for the Soul Healthy Living Series: Diabetes. (I'm not much for chicken soup -- I'm waiting for the Supreme Pizza with Jalapenos and Anchovies For The Soul books to come out.) What was that like?

AW: Pizza is awesome soul food, but nothing beats chicken soup when you're under the weather. ;-)

I began my writing journey in creative non-fiction and learned how to write well in less than two thousand words. That's tough! I credit my first editors with teaching me how to make every word count and paint a picture.

JR: What do you have planned this year? I'm sure the second installment of Place of Refuge is coming out -- could you give us a preview? Also, am I correct that you'll be teaching a course on the ACFW Course Loop this year?

AW: I’m working on a new suspense series set both in current day Louisville , KY , and in Cold War Berlin , two places I love and miss terribly.

Yes, I’m teaching on the ACFW Course Loop about the gift of words and lessons learned in the writing trenches.

The second book in the Place of Refuge series, Nowhere to Run, came out in October 2012.

Someone’s out there…

Police Officer Ashley Walters is ready to leave behind the nightmares and embrace the future ahead of her. Along with her best friend, Margo, and her fiancé, Patrick, Ashley is planning the wedding of her dreams.

But happily-ever-after is put on hold when Ashley’s worst fears are confirmed: A stalker is watching her, and he’s ready to strike. Forced to flee for her own safety and the protection of those she loves, Ashley finds refuge in a gentle Mennonite community in Shipshewana , Indiana . But danger lurks even there, and Ashley must face the greatest question of all: Is God powerful enough to protect His children? 

JR: Besides writing, you also are a homeschool mom of three, a Bible study leader, a women's group speaker, a co-leader of a young writer's group, and a chocoholic. My guess is your spare time hobbies are eating and sleeping. How do these activities help with your writing, and how does your writing help with these activities?

AW: Yes, eating and sleeping are important to fit into my homeschooling, writing, and teaching schedule. So are reading, running, time with friends, Star Trek, and mom and daughter dates with my precious kiddos. All of those things together make life a joy and gift.

It really helps that I love writing and I love teaching! Teaching is one of my top two spiritual gifts, and I feel alive when I can share what God has taught me. Chocolate of course helps with all of life's difficult tasks. ;-) Teaching also inspires me to write better and understand how I do what I do. I began teaching a high school creative writing course this year and I love it! My students challenge me to write and teach my absolute best.

All of life helps with writing, making me sensitive to emotions, struggles, joys, and triumphs that bring fiction to life. And fiction helps me understand life. I work out my salvation and my wrestling matches with God at my computer.

JR: Thank you for your time. Could you tell us about your very creative website, and anything else we might be interested in?

AW: Thank you for having me on your blog! Thanks too for the kind words about my website~ Dark Chocolate Suspense (www.amywallace.com). It's a fun, interactive site that includes information about my books, about keeping kids safe, Bible studies, tips for writers, and fun quizzes about my stories. Please come and have some chocolate inspired fun and leave me a note in the guestbook! I love hearing from readers!

It's a great time to be a writer

How did they do it?

Tolstoy--Source: Wikipedia Commons

Steinbeck, Hemingway, Austen -- they didn't have Google!

I write historical fiction and faction at present (although my new release will be contemporary humor), and I thank the dear Good Lord each day that I don't have to wade through piles of books at the library anymore to do my research as I did in "the old days."

Want to know who the most notorious criminals were in 1923? 

Google it.

What did they wear in 1823?

Pinterest.

Need a unique character to spice things up?

Listology. (You're welcome.)

Another great resource for research is used books. The Internet is even useful in helping me acquire these. Amazon usually sells used copies of books right beside the new ones!

It's an amazing time to be a writer and I'm grateful to be living in this time.

But it's also one of the most important times to be a writer. I'm conscious of a spirit of disbelief as never before on earth. "Oh, God!" I cry, "Teach me Truth so I can write Truth!" 

"For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe" (1 Thess. 2:13).

The only way to know the Truth is to know His Words. Just think: God used 40 writers to teach us the Truth. What if they'd decided not to write on the day God inspired them? 

"Sorry, Lord, but one of my harp strings broke. Can't work on that Psalm. I need perfect conditions, you know. Maybe tomorrow."

Someone needs to read what God has given you to write. 

Put your procrastinating self in that chair and do it. 

After all, you have more than Google, Pinterest or Listology.

You have the Precious Holy Spirit. 

And last time I checked, He'd written a book or two Himself. 

"But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you" John 14:26.

 Karla Akins is author of the best-selling Jacques Cartier (that went #1 on Amazon in its category), O Canada! Her Story and  Sacagawea. Her debut novel The Pastor's Wife Wears Biker Boots  is due out in 2013. When she's not writing she dreams of riding her motorcycle through the Smoky Mountains.

Interview With Author, Lawyer, and Pastor Randy Singer

by Jeff Reynolds

Today, I have the privilege of interviewing my favorite author. Randy Singer has ten novels out, and his eleventh, Dead Lawyers Tell No Tales, is due out this May. Also in his portfolio are the novella The Judge Who Stole Christmas and a couple of non-fiction works he'll describe in the interview. Does an accomplished author like this have a day job? No. He has two, which are also mentioned below.

I've read his first nine novels as well as his novella. My favorite is The Cross Examination of Oliver Finney (recently re-issued under the title The Judge). One of the best Christian novels I've read is Self-Incrimination. Not only is the story great, but he takes the challenge of telling it in the first-person from a female perspective and having the protagonist of an earlier novel play the role of antogonist.

Jeff Reynolds: Randy, first it's an honor to interview you. If memory serves me correctly, you were a lawyer for the North American Mission Board (Southern Baptist). That sounds like an interesting position. What was it like, and how did that experience prepare you both for your literary career and your current day jobs of litigation lawyer and teaching pastor?
Randy Singer: For several years I had the privilege of serving as the lawyer for the North American Mission Board (NAMB) and as an Executive Vice President. NAMB’s mission was to help Southern Baptist Churches start new churches and share the gospel in North America. I worked with some of the most dedicated Christians I have ever known, both at the National and State levels. When you are part of something that big, there’s never a dull moment!

One of the greatest things about that job was seeing God work in diverse ways. From cowboy churches to hip urban churches and everything in between, it was great to see the different ways churches were adapting to their culture in order to share the gospel message with credibility.

Being around some of the best evangelists and apologists anywhere helped me understand a few things about our culture as well. For one thing, God showed me the power of story. At first, I wanted to write an apologetics book. As a lawyer working at a mission board, I thought I could come up with a unique perspective. But as I started writing that book, I discovered that everything I was saying had already been said by people smarter and more eloquent than me. Then God showed me how reasoning and logic will often fail to penetrate the defense mechanisms that people have built up. But stories go straight to the heart. One day, as I was flying in an airplane and the person next to me had his nose stuck in a novel (probably to avoid talking to me) I realized that he would spend twenty or thirty hours absorbing the worldview and philosophy conveyed by the author of that novel. That’s when God called me to be a storyteller and to share the deeper truths in life through novels.

My work at NAMB also helped prepare me for my dual jobs as a litigation attorney and a teaching pastor at Trinity Church. The heroes of the Southern Baptist Convention are the many bi-vocational pastors who do what Paul did–work in a secular pursuit and at the same time pastor a church. Among other things, this allows those of us who are bi-vocational to stay in touch with people who never darken the door of a church and reach them in ways that we could never do if we were only pastors. I also had a lot of experience with church starting at NAMB and this helped prepare me for my job as the first teaching pastor at Trinity Church, a place where I have been serving for the past six years.


JR: A subject that's discussed in ACFW circles and elsewhere is the preferred method of writing: Plotting/Outlining versus Seat of the Pants/Blank Page. Which approach do you use? Or does it vary from story to story?

RS: I am a very committed plotter/outliner. Before I begin drafting my books, I will typically have a twenty-page outline and a very clear vision for the twists and turns in the story, including the ending.

However, now that I’ve concluded eleven novels, I realize that the final version of the book seldom looks much like that twenty-page outline I put together at the beginning. Does that mean I’m going to start writing by the seat of the pants? Not on your life! If nothing else, the outline gives me a security blanket and allows me to write with a direction in mind. You might find this shocking, but as a lawyer and pastor I tend to be somewhat verbose. If I didn’t have a detailed outline with an ending in sight, I think my books would be 800 pages. They are already on the long side so I’d better stick to the plotting approach.

I’ve found that many times I will write the book from the original outline until I get about two-thirds of the way through and then I’ll throw in a plot twist which changes everything. This makes it harder for the readers to predict the plot twist because I didn’t even know it was coming myself when I wrote the first two-thirds of the book. My perfect ending is a twist that catches the reader by surprise but still seems “fair.” The worst ending is something that catches the reader totally by surprise but feels like an ambush because it came out of left field and there were no clues or foreshadowing along the way.

JR:  One thing I enjoy about your novels is the development of your antagonists, like "Ichabod" in Directed Verdict, Irreparable Harm, and The Judge Who Stole Christmas and Mitch Taylor in Self-Incrimination. How do you create such interesting characters?

RS:  Thanks for the encouragement. I work hard at developing three-dimensional antagonists. For each story, I will actually construct an entire biography for my antagonist. What made him/her that way? What motivates him/her? What redeeming qualities does he/she have? Etc. I’ve found that hardly anybody starts out in life just trying to be evil. In his/her own warped view, the antagonist usually believes that his/her actions are justified.

Most of that biography will never make it into the book but it helps keep the character consistent and realistic.

I also work hard to make my antagonist at least equal in terms of cunning, force of will, discipline, etc. to my protagonist. Even better if my antagonists have superior traits so that my protagonists can be the underdogs.

Next, I’ll have my antagonist do something that is admirable or noble. As a lawyer, I’ve learned that even the most despicable people have moments of honor.

Finally, I will go through the entire book once I have the first draft written and read it (and rewrite it, if necessary) from the POV of the antagonist. What would he/she be thinking here? What would he/she know here? How would he/she react?

JR: At this moment, you have eleven published novels. Which one was the most enjoyable to write? The most frustrating? The most rewarding?

RS: This is a really tough question. It feels like: “Which of your children is your favorite?”

But since the Fifth Amendment doesn’t apply to author interviews, I’ll try to answer.

The book that was probably the most enjoyable (i.e. easy) to write was False Witness. It was my fifth novel and the first time I took the pressure off and quit trying to evangelize readers and just allowed myself to tell the story. The main character was based on a former friend of mine who had been in the witness protection program and had led a very colorful life. Writing that character was easy. There were also law students and a crusty old law school professor and a cool black lab—all of which are familiar parts of my life (I’m the crusty old law professor). The settings were Atlanta and Las Vegas, two interesting cities. That story came easy to me and to this day most people say it is the hardest one of my books to put down.

The most frustrating is probably a two-way tie. The Cross Examination of Oliver Finney and my most recent book, Dead Lawyers Tell No Tales, both stumped me. For both, I thought I had the plot all figured out at the beginning but really struggled to bring it all together in the end. I can distinctly remember during The Cross-Examination of Oliver Finney having such severe writer’s block that I had to get away from my normal patterns of life and go to the city that was the setting for the book, stay in a hotel away for about a week, and go for long walks and runs until I could work through everything in my mind. I isolated myself from everyone until I figured it out.

About halfway through my most recent book, Dead Lawyers Tell No Tales, I called my publisher and said that the book just couldn’t possibly work. It was time to move on to the next book instead. Karen Watson, my editor, talked me down from the ledge and told me to keep working on it. I'm very grateful because I think it’s turned out to be one of the strongest books I’ve ever written. It eventually came together and I look back on it now and find it hard to believe that I was ready to quit on this book.

The most rewarding book is always your first book, isn’t it? For me, Directed Verdict is when I learned that I really could write a novel and that people might actually read it and enjoy it.

But that book is now being surpassed by the one I’m currently working on. The Advocate will be released in time for Easter, 2014. That story is proving to be the most challenging and rewarding experience I’ve had as a writer. I tell people that I was born to write this book.

JR: There are additionally some non-fiction works in your portfolio. Could you tell us about them? How did your fiction experience influence your non-fiction writing and vice versa?

RS: One thing I’ve learned is that both fiction and non-fiction are ultimately about storytelling. There is a reason that Christ taught in parables. Our brain is hardwired to respond to stories and our hearts are drawn to them. A good non-fiction book captures truth through real-world stories.

One of the non-fiction books I co-authored with my friend, Bob Reccord, is the book Made to Count. As leaders at a mission board, we were advocates for the biblical principle that laymen and laywomen are just as “called” as those who surrender their lives to full-time ministry. Made to Count is the story of men and women who share the Gospel in all kinds of ways (through their occupations, in their neighborhoods, etc.) outside the walls of the church. In church life we sometimes inadvertently treat those called into full-time ministry as the true spiritual giants and others as second-rate. Bob and I wanted to tell about the heroes that minister beyond the bounds of traditional ministry. For example, the book starts with a man who cleans port-a-johns for a living and includes those serving Christ in a number of secular professions including, believe it or not, lawyers!

I also wrote the The Cross Examination of Jesus Christ because I was intrigued by Christ’s confrontation with the lawyers of his day and what those confrontations teach us. The book contains a number of my personal experiences that I use as examples for how Christ can work in the most unlikely among us.

JR: One subject I find interesting both in regards to writing and to life in general is mentoring. Who would you consider your writing mentors? Also, you undoubtedly have had opportunities to mentor as an author, a lawyer, and a pastor. Any advice for us in either mentoring others or being mentored?

RS: I've had wonderful mentors in all areas of my life, including ministry, my law practice, and writing. Four Christian authors who welcomed me to Christian fiction and have been very helpful along the way are: James Scott Bell, Angie Hunt, Brandilyn Collins and Robert Whitlow.

Mentoring others is one of the highlights of my life. I presently have a group of about 15 young men that I mentor on Sunday evenings. I’ve also had the awesome experience of mentoring high school boys who don’t have fathers in their lives. These young men become like sons to me and seeing them succeed in life and grow closer to the Lord is its own reward. Recently, I’ve had the opportunity to see my latest surrogate son play football at the college level which has been a fun experience for a guy like me who was too small and too slow to have that kind of career.

JR:  A common denominator/thorn-in-the-flesh your three responsibilities have in common is research. Does your research in one field ever light a spark in one of the other two?

RS: Great question. Many of my novels are sparked by real-life cases. God has given me a very interesting, diverse and challenging case load at my firm. Many lawyers end up doing the same kind of mundane cases week after week and year after year. However, I’ve had the privilege (I guess you could call it a privilege) of being involved in in some of the most unbelievable cases you could possibily imagine.

And usually, somewhere in the middle of a case, I’ll say to myself, “This would be a great novel but nobody would believe it!”

When a lawyer prepares a case for trial, there’s an enormous amount of research that goes into that subject matter. As novelists, we are taught that we write best those things we know the most about. For me, it’s a natural thing to let my real-life cases bleed over into my fictional ones.

For example, a little over two years ago I represented the daughters of Hamilton Somerville in a high-profile case where we sued their step-mother for poisoning their father. I learned more about evidence for modern-day poisoning cases in the context of that litigation than I could have learned as a writer doing months of research. Another example is a case I tried arising out of a school shooting. That case formed the basis of my book The Justice Game.

Readers often respond to authenticity in the stories that we tell. Nothing makes a story more authentic than basing parts of it on real-life events that we’ve lived through—actually experiencing many of the emotions and traumas of our main characters.

JR:  My guess is that your pastor's heart carries over into your legal and literary duties. What are your greatest burdens/concerns, and how do they motivate your preaching, writing, and litigating?

RS: My overriding concern is for those who have never experienced salvation through Christ. Each of my messages on Sunday, and each of the books I write, are designed to help people take another step on their spiritual journey. Many of my books are designed to raise important spiritual questions and allow the readers to sort out the answers on their own. I’ve learned not to “preach” in my books. If people want to hear me preach, they can come to my church. My books should just tell a story that will entertain and, hopefully, point subtly toward some spiritual truth.

I’ve built a law firm on the principle that we should minister to our clients both by seeking justice for them and by being open to their spiritual needs. When people come in my door, they are frequently going through the biggest crisis in their lives. They need someone who will be a loyal advocate and not judge them. And yes, they need someone who will fight hard for justice. But they also need someone who will level with them and tell them the truth about the reality of what they are facing, both legally and sometimes spiritually. I hope that I can provide all the above.

JR:  I am grateful that you took the time for this interview considering how full a plate you have. What should we look forward to on the publishing end? And if we visit your church, what will you be preaching on?

RS: As I mentioned in response to a previous question, I think that my next book may be the most important book I’ll ever write. It’s called The Advocate and it’s a first-person account of the two most important trials in the history of the world–the Trial of Christ and the Trial of Paul in front of Nero. Of course, many brilliant scholars have studied, dissected and reconstructed the trial of Christ in the past two thousand years. But we know very little about the trial of Paul in front of Nero. The Advocate is being written from the perspective of Theophilus, the court-appointed advocate for the Apostle Paul and a man who was an advisor to Pilate during Christ’s trial. My hope is to bring these two epic events alive in the context of this story.

At church from now until Easter I’m preaching on the final seven days of the life of Christ. Easter is my favorite day of the year and I’ve seen God do some incredible things during this season of Lent.


JR:  Thank you for your time and may the Lord Jesus Christ bless you.

RS:  Jeff, thanks for asking me to do this interview and for your very thoughtful and insightful questions. I’ve had the opportunity to do a lot of interviews but your questions were unique and very insightful. Bless you!

*    *    *    *    *

You can learn more about Randy Singer at his web-site, http://www.randysinger.net

Bunny trails

Is it research, or going down a bunny trail? What if the bunny trail leads me into conviction?

When I was young, sometimes I tried to follow literal bunny trails, little paths threaded through long grass almost always leading deep into a thicket of multi-floral ("wild") roses. It usually took longer to get untangled and out of the sticker bushes than it did to get in, leaving me with scratches, torn clothes and no bunnies.

So I have to wonder about my research sometimes. Internet bunny trails are just a link away. I don't have to worry about thorns, torn clothes or chiggers, but want to make the most of my time.

While looking for background on Indiana and the Civil War, I have collected several reference books, read on-line sources, leafed through old family letters, and visited re-enactments and Conner Prairie. I keep going back to some favorite sources, especially ones about farming with horses, and of course, hoopskirts, even Victorian jewelry and hair art.

Some of my research nuggets are thought-provoking, though. Uncomfortably so at times.

My WIP has a thread about Spiritualism, a belief that souls of the departed linger near loved ones and can communicate with them. It was a serious movement in the 1800s.

As a Christian, I have all kinds of objections to that, but my characters have to work towards those conclusions. Using the "Nineteenth Century in Print" collection of periodicals from American Memory Project, I found many articles about Spiritualism from the 1800s.

I also wandered to Beliefnet, a site dedicated to spirital life. Several articles covered modern Spiritualism. Some of its beliefs and practices have been renamed and merged into the New Age movement.

What surprised and saddened me was a survey on that site about beliefs about souls of the departed. While most Christians and Jews believed in an afterlife, so did the Wiccans.

Matter of fact, when the survey asked whether the living could contact the dead, the Wiccans were  most likely to believe that was true and to report having such experiences. At the other extreme were atheists, who believe it's all over at death.

As a Christian from a very grounded Midwestern farm family I find both extremes troubling. How do we as Christians share hope with such lost people? So lost that they have not a clue where they are or where they are going? How should I deal with someone with surprising beliefs?

I think fiction -- maybe not my historical romances written for other Church Ladies -- from some gifted writers could work through the thorny hedges around the hearts of such lost people.