Were you surprised to be nominated for a Christy for Queen
after winning last year for the Bishop?
I really put a lot of work into the Queen. It was really
hard work. It was affirming that all of that work was worthwhile.
Tessa and Patrick have a tumultuous journey and in this novel –
all characters have deep emotional issues amidst the murder and mayhem…each
character was struggling with some pretty tough personal issues.
Each book begins with a question instead of an answer,
and the question in this book is, “What does it mean to forgive yourself?” Does
it mean anything?Nowhere in the Bible does God encourage us to forgive
ourselves. All of the characters have
different ways to ask the same question.
All of them come to a different answer.
Their journey to find that answer is what this novel is built
around. Because all of them have this
struggle with forgiveness, it does create a lot of emotional struggle in the
course of the story. All of the
characters experience deep growth in one way or another.
I experienced a lot of ‘gut’ reactions in the story, whether
it was from the bad guy's point of view or the good guy's point of view. How do you, as a writer, transition so
seamlessly from one point of view to another. Is that difficult for you?
I’m constantly asking myself what would this character
naturally think or do in this situation? I try to be honest to how the
character would respond to the circumstances he or she faces. But weaving together the different story lines
is very difficult for me and takes a lot of time.
I don’t outline. I don’t write one character’s point of
view. Because the pace of the story must escalate. In order to let the context
determine the content and to allow the story to take its natural course. A lot of fiction to me is promises and
payoff. You make promises in the
beginning of the story and you pay them
off at the end. As I introduce those
promises early in the story, I begin to have ideas as to how those will be
fulfilled later on. I may jot down ideas
for future scenes, but I allow the natural flow of the story to develop and
change as I write.
There are scenes in the story that are very specific and
violent. How do you come up with those scenes? How do you get in the mind of
the bad guy so convincingly? You have
all of the elements of story
(believability, escalation.,) I’m
constantly asking myself how all of these forces press into the story and shape
the story. Instead of me dictating what
the story will look like, I try to uncover the story as I move along with the
characters.
Do you get nervous when you write your stories? YES!
Yes. When I write for me, it’s
all about evoking emotion. I try to
write myself to a point where I’m nervous or anxious. And if I can write myself to a point where I
can cry, that’s good too. That’s hard to
do. But for me, that is always a
powerful moment.
Opening Moves comes out September 1st. A prequel that happens about 10 years before
the Pawn. 1997…there is a killer on the
loose…although there is not a lot of violence on the page, this novel is
probably the most psycologically suspenseful.
Tessa appears in the last scene when Patrick meets Tessa.
Why do you write four books and
then go back and do a prequel before ending the series? I wanted
to show the genesis of Patrick Bowers.
All of the fun things that make Patrick who his is in the other
stories. If you write the entire series
and then go back and write the prequel, it’s very anticlimactic to me. So I decided to do Opening Moves now, then go
on to the King and finally on to Checkmate at the very end. I have ideas for Checkmate but no contract
for that yet. So there will definitely be two more books – possibly three before the
series ends.
Placebo – begins a new series
this Fall. Brand new…conspiracy…science
thriller…medical kind of a Michael Criton type story. I had the idea for something similar quite a
while ago. But I had heard of this
research about quantum mechanics and how our expectations and observations of
reality affect the outcome of different events.
Believer’s know about cursings and blessings in the Old Testament and
Prayer in the New Testament – all of these have to do with God’s powers but
also with thoughts and emotions. The
idea that our thoughts and ideas impact reality has been around since the
beginning and quantum mechanics is proving that that is indeed how the universe
works. It was a book where the research
was fun and unique. It was a fascinating process…it was a nice journey to
embark on a new series.
There is not an overt faith
element in the Patrick Bowers. Will that
change with future stories? I’m not
focused on a certain message so there isn’t a overt or covert message of any
kind. I’m just trying to tell a great
story that deals with big questions. If
you want to know what I believe or be inspired or want the gospel presented,
you will find that in my non-fiction. If they want a great story that doesn’t
contain sex scenes or cursing and explore big questions of life in the midst of
something dramatic, then my fiction is a great place to land.
Patrick and Tessa are a
“put-together” family – and intentional family later in the series. Do we get
to see Tessa develop further in the next two books in the series? More so than even in the first four book?
There is a possibility that she
will have her own series coming up in the future.
She is one of the most unusual,
eclectic, brutally honest characters in your stories. You can‘t help but love her!
In my mind, she is a very
emotionally needy person. She’s about
thirteen, emotionally and about twenty-two intellectually. This contrast between her emotional needy
state and her intelligent acumen is what makes her interesting. In the Pawn,
she is a snotty teen, but as she develops in the series I sort of fell in love
with her character. She is a fun,
multilayered character that sort of surprised me as the series developed.
Four books into a series…do you
ever get tired of spending time with this group of characters? I haven’t yet! The first draft of the King is done, and it’s
a good escalation for the story line.
And I have a working idea in my mind for Checkmate. I’m not sick of the characters – I’ve written
800,000 words! It’s CRAZY! But it’s been
fun!
You have revised Quest for
Celestia. Tell us about that. It was a reimagining of Pilgrim’s Progress and I basically re-wrote
it. It’s the same story, but I’ve
developed a lot as a writer, and that shows in this new edition.
Story is a non-fiction work that
has just re-released. It was my most critically acclaimed book, and it’s nice
to see that it has stayed in print.
Do you enjoy the ability to
switch from fiction to non-fiction? I think I’ll always “dabble” in non-fiction, but
because a have a number of fiction books already under contract, most of my
writing will be in the fiction market.
Any words you want to leave with
your readers? A word of thanks for buying my stories, and any time I’m in your
area, I’d love to meet you and get to know you a little bit.
What is God doing in your life?
What’s He speaking into your life right now?
It’s easy to get anxious, and
depressed and frustrated as I write. I was in church recently, and I had the
words come to me, “Live in the victory.”
And so I’ve posted those words in my office to remind me that Christ has
already overcome the world, and I don’t have to be anxious about tomorrow. The
victory has already been won in Christ, and I can find joy in the moment and
not feel overwhelmed by the work that lies ahead of me.
It takes me about a month to
write what it takes people about an hour to read. I don’t want to just put books out there…I
want every book to be the best I have to offer.
It takes me longer to get to the point where I feel I’ve written the
best I have to offer, so it’s nice to be affirmed by the readers that they
enjoy what I have to offer as a writer.
Do you take a hiatus from your
writing? I attended Thriller-fest where
the Queen was a finalist for the best original paperback of the year. That is
particularly gratifying because I’m not just competing within the suspense
category with other Christian writers, but writers of suspense in all markets.
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