Writing a Series: Author Interview with Lisa Harris

My interview today is with Lisa Harris who is a prolific writer. She has over thirty novels and novella collections in print. She is a Christy Award finalist for Blood Ransom and Vendetta, a Christy Award winner for Dangerous Passage, and the winner of the Best Inspirational Suspense Novel for 2011 (Blood Covenant) and 2015 (Vendetta) from Romantic Times. 

What drew you to the idea of writing your first novel? 

I always wanted to write a book. Even in junior high I wrote chapters of Nancy Drew-type mysteries and planned to write a gothic romance one day like Victoria Holt. But it wasn’t until I was in my late twenties that I actually sat down and wrote my first book. My husband and I had just adopted our oldest son, and I was a stay at home mom without a car. So while he slept, I wrote my first novel. 

How long did it take for you to write the first book? Was it harder or easier to write your second book?

It took me about six months and was never published, but I’d taken the first step, loved it, and had no intentions of stopping even though I honestly had no idea what I was doing. My second book was a Gothic romance and once again, it was never published. I continued to study the craft on the side, learned as much as I could, and tried to improve with each book I wrote.

What makes for a good mystery? 
Several years ago, I wrote three cozy mysteries and found it both fun and challenging. A cozy mystery needs both a great whodunit as well as an interesting cast of characters. It’s usually a puzzle that’s solved by an amateur sleuth who usually didn’t intend to get involved. Today I write romantic suspense instead of mysteries, but there is always a puzzle (or case) to be solved, and a number of red herrings (twists) woven into the plot. Most of the time I discover these red herrings or twists as I write. I figure if it’s a surprise to me, it will be a surprise to my reader as well. 

As for the process, instead of writing straight through the story, I usually write in threads. For example, I’ll go through and write the romance scenes and the main interactions between the hero and heroine.This helps give me get to know the characters as I write. I’ll later then go add details that were left out the first time through. I also research everything, from mountain climbing to felony laws in various states. And yes,I love doing the research and admit to getting distracted too often.

You’ve written numerous series with one to five titles. What makes you move

on from a series?
I really enjoy series writing because it allows you to dig deeper into the characters over the course of several books. Because I write for traditional publishers, they are the ones who decide how many books are in each series. And while it’s always hard to move on, I’m usually ready for something new to jump into.

Besides writing mysteries, you have written contemporary romance suspense ,and historical. Do you have a favorite?
I was able to write a two book contemporary series set in Africa (Blood Ransom and Blood Covenant) as well as a historical set partly in Northern Rhodesia and New York City. (An Ocean Away) I found the research for all three of these books fascinating, whether it was the modern day slave trade or cultural anthropology books of the early nineteen hundreds that I used as a reverence. Weaving in the setting and culture always interests me.


You live in Africa, but you’ve written books about different states in the U.S. How did you do the research? 
I spend hours doing research, especially if it’s a place where I’ve never been before. Thankfully, the internet is a great resource with blogs, photos, and google maps that can take you to a specific setting and let you see things up close. For the first book for my Nikki Boyd series, Vendetta, I decided on the area around the Smoky Mountains as a setting. I read stories by people who’d walked the Appalachian Trail, studied maps, photographs, and travel guides. I later was able to visit the setting of the story and was amazed at how I felt as if I’d really been there simply because of all the research I’d done.

I see you written a few novellas. What is different about putting them together - besides word count? How do you novellas sell in comparison to full length novels?
I haven’t written novellas for quite a while, but when I did, I always did them with other authors on a related theme. Sometimes the stories tied together tightly like with the To Catch a Thief collection, I worked very closely with the other three authors in the group. With Cowboy Christmas, it was simply a theme that we all wrote on but the stories weren’t linked. While I did enjoy the tightly connected novella projects, it does take a lot of time and cooperation with the other authors. 

How do you novellas sell in comparison to full length novels? 

I would also say that my full length novels sell better, but I do know that there are a lot of novella collections out there that are doing well.

What do you know now about writing/publishing now that you wished you had known sooner?
I had no idea how much work it was going to be, but on the other hand, I’m so glad I stuck with it!

What is the best advice you’ve been given about writing or that you've learned that you would like to pass along?
As with any craft, writing takes time to learn. When I wrote my first book, I thought it was perfect and ready to be published. In reality, it was far from that perfect. After twenty years, I’m still learning and growing and try to improve with every book I write.

What other works do you have in the process?
Right now I’m working on book four of my Nikki Boyd Files series as well as a romantic suspense for Love Inspired Suspense set in Italy.

Any last words you'd like to share on writing?

Thanks so much for inviting me to your blog! I appreciate it. If you enjoy romantic suspense, I’m super excited to share that my latest novel, Missing, has just been released! (It’s best to read book one, Vendetta, first.)

That's all for today's interviews. If you'd like to learn more about Lisa's past, present and upcoming books, here's the link to her website... www.lisaharriswrites.com

From Editing to Writing and Publishing: An Interview with M.K. Gilroy

I am impressed by the way you’ve moved from publishing to writing and back again. Let’s start with publishing. You worked with Thomas Nelson, the biggest Christian publisher. What do you think is the common misconception writers have about the submission and editing process? 

There is no simple answer to that question. The amount of attention a submission gets can be very capricious. A lack of attention and response may come down to nothing more than an editor’s workload. At the larger publishers, most submissions must come through an agent, even if that rule isn’t written in stone. If you have your own reality show or ten million Twitter followers, don’t worry, the publishers will knock at your door. Based on the sheer volume of manuscripts being written, the agent’s role has grown. He or she is being trusted by publishers to cull submissions for the best of the best. For any writer wanting to pursue the traditional publishing route, it begins with preparing a proposal that sells an agent.

You were involved in the publishing process for God’s Little Devotional Book and Jesus Calling which both became phenomenal best sellers. What did the editors see that made them think these books should be published? 

God’s Little Devotional Book was an almost immediate success. It was ordered by Sams and other big box retailers and the sell through outpaced countless books by big name authors. Jesus Calling was a slower build, even though it did very well from day one. For one thing, the first printings were four color, which meant they were done in China, so we kept running out of books and it would take months to restock. So we converted to two-color so we could print domestically and keep in stock. People were so moved by Jesus Calling that they would order in case lot quantities to give to friends or a child’s athletic team or class at school. 

In both series, the phrase we used to explain sales was “it’s a God thing.” I’d like to say I was smart or spiritual enough to predict such levels of success, but that was beyond anything I brought to the table. On more than a few occasions I’ve looked at success stories like these and tried to reverse engineer the dynamics. Hits like that just don’t work that way.

Your bio shows you’ve ghostwritten numerous books. How did you get involved in that process?

How does that work? 

I’ve ghosted about seven books now, so that’s obviously not been my focus. The first book I wrote was with Don Soderquist who was Sam Walton’s right hand man during Walmart’s explosive growth. I didn’t know him before we worked on the project, but we were introduced by a mutual friend. In his case, he had put most of the meat of the book on paper and my job was to shape it into a commercial project. I’ve ghost written other books where it was based on very little author writing but extended interviews. I’ve had one instance where someone had an idea and not much else, but they wanted a book to promote their business. I think there is tremendous opportunity for writers in this area.

You are now writing your own books. With all your publishing contacts, why didn’t you go the traditional route? 

The most disrupted category in publishing is adult fiction. Obviously not for the A+ authors, but for the solid B authors and especially new authors, publisher acquisitions have contracted significantly. Further, the marketing dollars are going to go to the bigger projects. So I believe there’s more opportunity keeping control of the publishing process. 

Are you looking for submissions for your publishing company, Sydney Lane Press?

At Sydney Lane we are acquiring at a modest pace. We are looking for authors who have ownership of a backlist with some modicum of success and new materials ready to go. When spending money to promote a book, we want it to have spillover onto an entire series.

What inspired you to create your Kristen Conner mysteries? How do you come up with the ideas for the murders in your book? 

I’ve read so much character-driven series fiction through the years that I’m surprised I didn’t jump into fiction earlier! I definitely saw Kristen Conner as a series. With six children — three boys and three girls — I determined that most of the drama in my parenting life came from my daughters, so that settled it for me. Write a female protagonist. 

My first three books have had some sensational murders. Every Breath You Take was the murder of a billionaire’s son. I was writing while there were huge protests against Wall Street and the 1% so I think that probably inspired the story line. I am finishing up the fourth mystery, Under Pressure, and this one is built around multiple murders, including a school shooting. Since the stories are based in Chicago, it is easy to follow the crime timeline.

What new book(s) do you have in the works?

I’ve launched a new series with Rise of the Beast, book one in the Patmos Conspiracy. This is going to take a lot of people by surprise. It sounds biblical—and it’s definitely Apocryphal—but it’s an international thriller with the incredible twist of a billionaire megalomaniac who decides he will volunteer to be the Beast of Revelation in order to purge the world of a couple billion people.

What is the best writing advice that you’ve received or could give?

Read a lot more than you write. When you do write, write what you like!

Thank you for your insight on writing and publishing. If you'd like to learn more about Mark's current series or upcoming ones, here's a link to get you started: http://www.markgilroy.com/ and if you attend the Killer Nashville conference next month, you might just meet him there!

Planning for a Writer's Conference: Tips from Barbara Haley

Today I'm turning over my blog to Barbara Haley so she can give her insight on being a writers convention registrar. Barb is not only a great organizer, she is also an elementary teacher and reading interventionist and has been writing for over 20 years. 

Her fiction includes juvenile chapter books: The Purple Heart, Boot Camp, and Singing Soldiers. In nonfiction, she is a regular contributor of devotions for The Secret Place and Quiet Hour and has published numerous articles and short stories in magazines, compilation books, and Sunday school papers. 

Here's Barb's tips...

As I prepare for the conference, I’m reminded of the time just before my first conference when I didn’t feel like I was really ready to go. I didn’t know if I was a writer, and I felt guilty squandering our money just for a fun trip. Our finances were tight at the time, and I wondered if I was being a good steward of the money God gave us.

As the days before the conference ticked off, my anxiety grew. I rushed to get projects finished, but life happened and I seemed to get little accomplished. I would be presenting projects I was not yet proud of—writing not yet perfectly matched with my plans and expectations.

I couldn’t figure out how to be perfect. How to impress the editors and agents with whom I would be meeting. How to know ahead of time exactly what they wanted to see and hear. How to avoid the horrible experience of embarrassment or failure.

In all honesty, though I didn’t see it at the time, my anxiety boiled down to pride—not being able to control what others saw and felt about me. All my life I had been an over-achiever because my self-worth was totally wrapped up in my performance and the affirmation of others.

The excitement I first felt when signing up for the conference slowly dissipated, replaced by dread and insecurity. I couldn’t sleep. Couldn’t concentrate. Couldn’t write.

Finally, I talked to my husband about my situation. “I’m so sorry, honey,” I said. “I feel like I’m wasting our precious money. I wonder if I could cancel and get a partial refund.”

With warm eyes, my sweet husband just smiled in his special reassuring way. “No, you’re not going to cancel. I don’t care if all you do is go sit under the mountains and spend time with Jesus. That would be worth every penny we’re spending!”

Wow! What a relief. The pressure to perform was off. I was going on a vacation with my precious friend and Savior, Jesus. With His help, I would do the best I could—and that would be enough. I could trust Him to walk beside me and show me His plan for my writing. 

Each year, I remember those wise words from my husband. And each year, I consciously take time to lay aside the pressure of “being ready” and focus on my time with God. For when I turn my eyes to Him, the things of earth truly do grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.

I've attended the Colorado and Philadelphia Christian writers conferences for the last 16 years. I can honestly say that I have learned more here than from all the books I've bought and studied. The one-on-one appointments, the 30-minute individual paid critiques, and the in-depth studies provided in the continuing sessions answer my questions, strengthen my skills, and encourage me to keep writing the message God gives me. And on top of all that, I’ve developed close friendships and see the conference as a giant reunion of our family of writers.

Marlene Bagnull, director of Write His Answer annual Christian writers conferences in Colorado and Philadelphia, provides excellent tips on preparing for a writing conference at http://philadelphia.writehisanswer.com/preparingforappointments.

Marlene has a heart for writers and has inspired and mentored hundreds of authors for over 30 years. Her wish is that anyone who feels called to Write His Answer will find a way to attend the conferences. And she will do all she can to make that happen … for YOU!

The book you see at the top of this post is Barbara's newest release,  Lord, Get Your Needle - I’m Falling Apart at the Seams: The Emotional Strain of Chronic Pain. 

If you'd like to know more about Barbara's writing and upcoming works, here's the link to her website: www.barbarahaleybooks.com

Bringing Comics to Life: Interview with Writer and Illustrator John Green

My interview today is with John Green, who is a very creative guy. He was the comics consultant for Disney Adventures magazine, and has written, illustrated, or otherwise worked on comics for Nickelodeon, Dreamworks, Scholastic, DC Comics, and First Second Books. When not drawing comics John creates artwork for video games, such as Emerald City Confidential, Puzzle Bots, and Nearly Departed.

As kids, we’ve all read comics or watched cartoons, but you took it to the next step. You’ve actually written or illustrated a series of comic and graphic novels. How did you get started with comic books?

I first started working for Disney shortly after graduating from art school. I worked for Disney Adventures Magazine, which was a digest-sized magazine for kids that you used to be able to find at supermarket checkout counters. It covered movies, music, and pop culture, and in the back were comics. Most were based on Disney or Pixar properties like Kim Possible or Toy Story, but a few were creator-owned. I started as the comics assistant, handling lettering and production, but eventually I started writing and doing art for a number of the comics. 

When Disney Adventures Magazine ended, I still kept in touch with many former coworkers. They contacted me when the Phineas and Ferb magazine was being launched to see if I was interested in drawing some of the comics. And so I did! I've lost count of how many I actually drew, but it was a lot. I also adapted some of the episodes of the cartoon into comics format (basically I took the script of an episode and all the animation frames from an episode and distilled them down into a story that worked as a comic book.) So in those instances I had to do some re-writing of the stories, but I didn't write them from scratch. I did some art for a couple of Phineas and Ferb picture books as well.

   

When did you actually first start creating comics?

I started writing my own comics way back when I was about 10 years old. My first introduction to comics was specifically through newspaper comic strips. Garfield was a big influence at the time and I learned a lot about cartooning early on just by copying Jim Davis' strip. I started making my own newspaper strips with my own characters, but eventually I discovered comic *books* by way of my brother. Things like Spider-Man, X-Men, and so on. 

From that point on all I really wanted to do was make comic books, so I took my characters I made in the newspaper comic mold and put them into comic book-format stories. I'd photocopy them on my grandparents' copier, staple them, and sell them to other kids at school for a dollar or so. I did that just about up until 9th grade, when I started making more "serious" art. Painting, illustration, less cartooning. 

But you didn't stay with the "serious art." What changed your mind?

I went to School of Visual Arts in Manhattan for graphic design and while I was there I met some students who reignited my interest in comics. I was drawn (pun intended) back into that world. We started making comics together, and even self-published them (as in actually got them distributed to comic shops across the country.) 

We'd attend as many comic conventions as we could, exhibiting and selling our comics. I've attended San Diego Comic-Con (aka Comic-Con International) and New York Comic Con (the shows are not put on my the same companies, so when someone just says "comic con" I'm not sure which one they mean. They are not the West Coast/East Coast version of the same show.) My most favorite comic conventions though are the smaller ones, like Small Press Expo (aka SPX, in Bethesda, Maryland), the Toronto Comic Arts Festival (aka TCAF), and MICE (the Massachusetts Independent Comics Expo.) 

How did you go from making your own comics to working for Disney and the others?

As for the submission process, I sort of went in through the backdoor. I've been working within the industry for a long time, so I know people and have a lot of friends. When I heard a specific editor was looking for a certain type of book, I basically said "I have an idea!" and ran it past them. They said "I like it! Show me more when you have it!" Then I did just that (though it took me another year or two to finally put together the pitch.) 

Once you have the attention of an editor, you don't *have* to go through an agent unless they tell you otherwise. Perhaps I would have if the pitch was turned down, but I submitted it, they made an offer, and that was that! By comparison, my follow-up book took many more tries until the pitch was accepted.

I see you’ve also co-authored a number of books. How does that work? How do you divide up the story?

I've illustrated and co-created the series Jax Epoch and the Quicken Forbidden and Teen Boat! with Dave Roman (one of the aforementioned students I met while at SVA.) While it's easy to say that for both those series Dave was the writer and I was the artist, it's not really that cut and dry. For Jax, Dave would, for the most part, hand me a script and then I'd go draw it. But usually we would hash out some parts of the story before Dave finished that script part. He'd tell me big picture ideas, or options of different directions the story could go, and I'd give feedback. 

Sometimes I'd say "it would be cool if this happened in the story, because I'd like to draw a sequence like it." Sometimes I'd come up with snippets of dialogue or little story beats, and most of the time Dave would provide his own sketches for things he was picturing in his mind (creatures, environments, and the like.) Some parts of the story Dave would draw himself, because we have different styles, and the different art styles helped with the mood of specific parts of the narrative. 

Our process on Teen Boat! was a little different, especially on the first book. The book started as mini-comics, which were just black-and-white 8-page comics photocopied and stapled together. We didn't plan much of the stories as a whole in advance, just mostly made them up in little chunks as we went along. Usually one of us would say to the other "hey, we have a convention to go to next month, let's see if we can whip up a new Teen Boat! comic for it." And then we'd just come up with funny jokes and boat puns that could have a story created around them, or we'd say "let's do a version of The Breakfast Club or License to Drive." 

There's a part in the first volume of Teen Boat! that takes place in Venice, and that came about mostly because I told Dave "Hey, if I can make a comic out of my trip to Venice, I can write it off as a business expense." For the second volume, Teen Boat! and the Race for Boatlantis, we didn't fly by the seat of our pants as much. The whole book was written before I started drawing any of it, so in comparison to the first book it feels like one big story instead of tiny episodes. Dave and I still got together to hash out the story ideas. I even did concept sketches of locations and characters that helped Dave formulate some scenes and story bits. Generally, our process is much more collaborative than people realize when they think of Dave just being the writer and me just being the artist.

What has frustrated you the most in putting together your stories? 

I guess the most frustrating part is just that they're time-consuming. Like, I can see the finished page in my head right away, but it can take days to execute a page to the point that it actually exists. 

What has pleasantly surprised you in the process? What do you know now about writing and publishing you wish you had learned sooner?

As for pleasant surprises, I'm going to say librarians. And that's part of something I wish I'd learned sooner. In the world of mainstream comic books, librarians hadn't really been a part of the process. If you were making a monthly or bi-monthly comic, your outlet was basically to have it distributed to comic shops, and that's it. Librarians or teachers never really factored in. Even if you planned to collect your series into a trade paperback, your expectation was that it would just get sold in a comic shop. Now comics and graphic novels have exploded into the book market, and librarians are some of the best advocates for getting new readers interested in things. If I could, I go back and tell myself to focus less on the comics industry as an outlet for my work and more on the BOOK industry.   

What’s the best writing tip you’ve learned or been given that you’d like to share about writing comics and graphic novels?

I would say the best advice I'd have for a writer of comics, especially if they don't plan on being an illustrator, is to learn how to think visually. Comics are quite different than picture books, and they're totally different than prose books. You don't have to be an artist to write a comic, but you have to know why your story is best told as a comic versus any other format. If you can't think of your story existing as visuals, what makes you want to tell it as a comic? Comics are a merger of text and images that are inseparable, and keeping that in mind during the writing process will only make the work stronger in the end.     

What other works do you have in the process?

My next book will have kittens!

Any last words or tips?

Put your work out there. Be nice to people. :)  

That's all for today's interview. As you can see my John's history, you're never too young to start promoting your creative ideas. Take a risk in small steps and see where it can take you. If you'd like to learn more about John and his comics, here's some options. 

My site: www.johngreenart.com

Teen Boat: www.teenboatcomics.com

First Second Books: www.firstsecondbooks.com