Book Covers

Don't you just love the day when you get your book cover? I am especially happy with this one, the cover artist did a great job!

Do you have a favorite? If so what made it stand out?

A Fiction Writer’s Purpose According to Debby Mayne

Every fiction writer has a reason for sitting down at the computer every single day and pounding out the words that eventually come together to create a story. One writer may want to use story to share a biblical message, while another may want to make readers laugh, tremble in fear, or sob.

Don’t laugh, fellow authors, but I know a writer who does this so she can get rich and never have to go back to her day job. She hasn’t sold her first book yet, but according to her, she’s this ( ) close. And once readers discover her, she’ll be able to give notice at work, buy the house she always wanted, and travel to exotic places that will inspire her to write even more interesting books. Her husband will quit his banking job and be her agent and business manager. (Yeah, right, let me know how that goes.)

I’m often asked why I chose to write novels and what motivated me to keep going after five years of not selling a thing. After all, it isn’t something I wanted since I picked up my first crayon. I enjoyed English classes—particularly those that involved diagramming sentences—and P.E. I also liked math just fine, until we got past Algebra I. After high school, I went to college and majored in recreation with a minor in English. 

Writing was something I did on the side, but I never expected to see any rewards other than an occasional check for doing a little ad copywriting I did on the side. Then when my children were little, I started writing articles for regional parenting publications after a neighbor made an off-hand remark about how there were probably other “clueless” parents out there who needed some helpful tips. I enjoyed (and still enjoy) writing nonfiction, so I had fun picking up an occasional check for my articles, but I still didn’t see myself as a fiction writer.

Then one day my husband commented on how much I enjoyed reading novels. He pointed to a stack beside my chair and said, “You’re a writer. I bet you can write one of those.” At first, I laughed and shook my head, and then I started thinking about it. Maybe he was right. Books had always been my escape, and I absolutely loved romantic stories.

So I sat down and started pounding out a story. Someone at the library told me about the Writer’s Market. I perused the listings until I found the publishers that might be interested in the type of book I was writing. Long story short, that book didn’t sell and neither did the next one. It took me five whole years to write something that editors deemed publishable.

After I got to know my first editor, I asked why she chose my book over the hundreds of others she had in the stacks on and around her desk. She said that my story pulled her out of her world and into the lives of the characters. With a hint of a blush, she added that she'd fallen in love with my hero. That got me thinking about how I finally wrote the type of story I enjoyed reading, and only then was I able to sell a book. When I tried to teach through fiction or give a message that didn’t come natural to me, I flopped. That obviously wasn’t “my thing.”

That was almost 15 years ago. Since then, I’ve discovered that my purpose in fiction writing is to entertain readers with characters they can relate to or fall in love with. As I write each book, I’m entertained by my “friends” who just happen to be the characters in the story. In fact, I’m often sad when I finish my book, which is why I love writing series.

All published authors have their own reasons for their chosen path. Christian fiction offers all sorts of stories, including those that teach biblical lessons, some that make you laugh, and others that might even have you nervously glancing over your shoulder. My fiction writing purpose has developed into entertaining readers with a fun story and a spark of a message that will leave readers thinking about their own walk with the Lord. Most of the time, the message is very subtle, but it’s there.

Readers, what types of stories do you like to read? Fiction authors, what is your purpose in writing?

Just the Story, please!

For my post, I want to feature something my son, Sean Hennigan, recently wrote to me in an email. It was in response to all of the uproar over the announcement of the new Xbox game console. Oddly enough, his words, reflective of the twenty something generation, are right on the money as to where we are today in our world of instant content. For me as a writer, it is particularly insightful so I want to share it with this blog:

"every great thing that ever was, was small on the day before it became great" Michael Hyatt

The biggest problem we're facing in the modern world is not hunger or disease, government overreach or corporate ownership, shifting global industries or climate change (though believe me, all those issues are important and vital to address in one way or another.) No, the biggest problem facing our generation is this: what do we do with the time we're given?

We live in an unprecedented season of human history where technology, social development and worldwide prosperity gives an increasingly large portion of the world more free time than they know what to do with. Access to tools for information technologies and public information create a world where secrets can't hide, and if they can, they can't hide for long. Information access is the great socially destabilizing force of our time. When combined with the reshaping of world socio-economic systems, a larger population of the world's population has access to a larger pool of comfortable free time than at any other point in human history.

Like Clay Shirkey points out in Cognitive Surplus, we've spent the last 50 years trying to reckon with this enormous shift in social and cultural life around the globe. Shirkey asserts that like the gin craze of industrialized London, society has coped with our influx of free time by investing in something easy and palatable (though by no means healthy): the television. We befriend characters (fictional and "real") and we live vicariously through them, letting producers and writers take our nigh-genetically-encoded hunger for story and shared experience and transform it into a multimedia, multi-national conglomerate entertainment complex. For many years, television viewership was like a national religion - the shared set of stories and cultural understandings that grounded us in modern life.

But (and this is a really, truly crucial but): the world is changed. Ironically, the information access that created this coping mechanism's key systems is also slowly dismantling it. With the advent of personal computing, interactive entertainment and affordable mobile electronic devices, people have more opportunity than ever to actively participate in and sometimes even co-create the media they consume. Smartphones enable users to photograph or record any event they choose; games like Minecraft and even Mass Effect allow users the opportunity to custom-tailor their story experience and tell stories of their own; and digital hosting like Youtube or Instagram allow for easy and free distribution of created material. We have participated in stories because we must be involved in shaping our understanding of our world; we have consumed them passively through commercial media production because previously we have had no choice.

That has changed. Reality has shifted, and media creation (and participatory media consumption) is now within reach of (if not already a reality for) a vast majority of people in the developed  world (and a good portion of the developing world too.) Humans have always had a nigh-infinite capacity for creation and self-realization; technology now allows our created works to finally catch up with our imaginations.

Most people realize that this change has come about on an instinctive level. They share photos and videos of their lives on Facebook; they post pictures to Instagram and keep up with far-flung acquaintances through digital audio and text. The capacity for deliberation and deep, honest engagement with people of like mind has never been greater. Therefore, for most people the television has become the new household god, a marker of cultural identity maybe, and a presence to which people feel great affection or deference, but not the overwhelming, monolithic driver of human existence and identity that it once was. It's an old god in a new world, having the appearance of power but slowly losing any of that power's realities, not by outright defeat, but by a slow fade into irrelevance.

It's an old god in a new world, having the appearance of power but slowly losing any of that power's realities, not by outright defeat, but by a slow fade into irrelevance.

There's a secret to that god, one that its fondest worshippers diligently spend millions of dollars a day to obfuscate and disguise. The secret is this: the god was never real, and was of our own making from the beginning. Before television, before commercial radio, we created: we told stories, we laughed at bars, we wrote songs on our porches. Sure, there were always consumptive media (and interactive experiences like games, incidentally), but we have always actively engaged them: we have gone to the theater, we have cheered at games, we have sung together in church. One of our human prerogatives is to create, and no amount of media consumption has ever fully suppressed that compulsion. We've consumed because we've been trained to; we create because we have no other choice.

So that's my invitation to you: create. Make something. Do something; do anything. There is no amount of cultural gatekeeping that can keep you from creating. The tools are there; the desire is there. You need only to act. Michael Hyatt says every great thing that ever was, was small on the day before it became great. You have no idea how important your stories are: to you, to your loved ones, to me, to the world. You just have to tell them. If you do, if we create and share, then the world will never look the same again.

How My Faith Impacts My Writing

In a recent interview I was asked this question: In what specific ways does your faith impact how you write fiction? The question gave me pause because in all honesty, I didn’t set out to be a Christian writer, per se. I set out to be a general fiction writer, hoping to appeal to as broad a spectrum of readers as possible, irrespective of religious persuasion, nationality, political affiliation, and so on. Over the years, however, I have come to realize that it’s impossible for my faith not to impact my writing, and in looking back I can see that it has been a constant influence.

So how has my faith impacted my writing? In every way! For example, I will not use inappropriate language, gratuitous sex, or graphic violence in my books. I want my children and grandchildren to be able to read and recommend them without reservation. I believe in God and His goodness, and I believe that I am accountable to Him in all I do, say, and write. So I want my books to be positive and uplifting.

But here’s the qualifier. I don’t want my writing to be “preachy.” My faith will naturally shine through, but it needs to be in a manner that’s not “in your face.” Not all of my readers are Christians, but we are all members of the human family. As such we have much more in common than our religious differences might suggest. So I paint with a wide brush and am careful not to slip in my personal doctrinal beliefs and then chuckle to think I pulled one over on my readers. I have no hidden agenda. I simply want to tell a story—shaped by my faith—that appeals to a broad base and makes my readers feel better for having spent some time with me.

 

These are my thoughts on the subject. Anyone have additional insights? I’d be curious to hear your comments.

Inspirational Military Heroes

Image courtesy of hinnamsaisuy  / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Memorial Day marks the unofficial start of summer. That means pool parties and barbecues, or, if you're older than Justin Bieber, it brings back memories of our mothers and grandmothers'  warnings not to wear white until the last Monday in May. How many of us still follow that old rule?

More important than summer fun and white pants, Memorial Day is a holiday reserved for those who have fought and sacrificed to make our country great. I remember my grandfather's stories of how he led a platoon of soldiers through northern Africa. My heart swelled with pride, because I knew that in WWII, it was uncommon for an African-American man to hold a leadership position in the Army.

Grandpa's recollections stuck with me, so much that I found myself creating heroes in stories of my own. Those familiar with the romance genre know that the male lead is referred to as the hero. I didn't want to take that term for granted. Rowe Winford, the hero in my upcoming historical romance, The Preacher's Wife, is a Civil War veteran. The strength and integrity he displayed during wartime is still very much a part of him when he has to make a decision to stand up for an ostracized and ridiculed young woman. I enjoyed writing his story and wanted to continue featuring military men in the Brides of Assurance series. I am currently working on the tentative third installment featuring a courageous Buffalo Soldier named Adam Campbell.

I also happen to have a hero in real life. My husband currently serves in the armed forces. His dedication to God and the Army Chaplain Corps shows in his work ethic. I couldn't be more proud of him.

Have a great Memorial Day, and if you see one of our country's service members, please show them your appreciation!


What's your favorite barbecue food?

Popular Genres

GENRES

I have written in a number of different genres, but my romances seem to be the most popular. My stories have romance or romantic elements in them, and because romance is always the top selling genre, I want that genre in what I write.

Romance covers a wide and vast group of readers who enjoy all different types of romances. Contemporary, historical, romantic suspense, paranormal, inspirational, multicultural and more. All of these genres can work without the romantic element, so as romance writers we are weaving a love story into what every one of these genres, we just add another element.

Romance stories have been around for a long time. The first romance was written in 1740 titled simply, Pamela. In the next century Jane Austen expanded the genre and we all know that her books still live on today. A decade later Mills and Boon began releasing romance novels, and their books were resold in America. In North America, romance novels are the most popular genre in modern literature, compromising 55% of all paperback books. Despite the popularity, the genre has attracted diversion, skepticism and criticism. The more controversy the more interest readers have for the very thing that is causing the diversity, meaning more books on the shelves. Although there isn’t as much in the CBA market, there are some CBA writers who have pushed pretty far. But if we’re going to reach readers in the ABA market we have to be real in our writing.

As for Amish, it’s seems to be here for awhile, but like any popular genre it will eventually find it’s place behind the next popular genre that surfaces, but I will keep writing them as long as people will read them. Writing Amish stories fits my roots, having a father who was raised on a farm and my mother on a ranch brings out the pastoral side of me. It’s familiar to write about life in the country, and seems real when I’m writing about how they live, the struggles they go through, which are not so too much different than ours. But the way they deal with everything God centered always amazes me, and I have grown to admire their ways.

So for those of you who enjoy a good Amish story, read on. And for those of you who haven’t given it a chance, you might be pleasantly surprised.

Trust

I decided to discuss something that everyone I know considers an essential element in relationships, and that's trust. Since most of our books are about relationships—whether they’re romance, fantasy, mysteries, westerns, women’s fiction, or whatever—trust is important to both readers and writers.

As a reader, I choose a genre based on what type of mood I’m in. If I want rugged adventure with a romantic element, I’ll pick up a western, trusting that the good guy will always win. When I want to have a book grab my heart so I can swoon as I turn the pages, I choose a romance novel, trusting that the author will take me on an adventure that will end up with the hero and heroine ultimately getting together after overcoming whatever obstacles their conflict created. Of course, it’s the author’s job to make me worry, but with genre fiction, I have a safety net that gives me that “Ah!” moment at the end.

As a writer, I get to know my characters before I write the first word of my story. This is a necessary step in my process so I can have every action and discussion clearly motivated by something that makes sense. Only after I know who my characters are and what motivates them can I write my plot outline that shows the conflict and character growth. The details will probably change while I write the book, but it’s nice to have some direction to keep the story on track. I trust my story characters to face their problems and make the necessary changes, and they trust me to keep them in line.

I want my readers to trust me and know that when they pick up one of my books, they’ll have characters who make sense and preferably at least one that they can relate to. Authenticity is important, so I do research when needed, use reality if necessary, and fictionalize what I can without making the book unbelievable. And more important than anything else, I want readers to trust me to tell my stories in a way that acknowledges and respects their Christian beliefs and sensibilities.