Getting Through the Research: An Interview with Sarah Sundin

My interview today is with Sarah Sundin, who is the author of nine historical novels, including When Tides Turn. Her novel Through Waters Deep was a finalist for the 2016 Carol Award, won the INSPY Award, and was named to Booklist’s “101 Best Romance Novels of the Last 10 Years.” A mother of three, Sarah lives in California, works on-call as a hospital pharmacist, and teaches Sunday school. She also enjoys speaking to church, community, and writers’ groups.

What made you decide to write your first novel? What drew you to writing about WWII?

My very first novel stemmed from a dream. I woke up and knew it was a complete story, and I had to write it. This was a very strange thing for this pharmacist! That first novel will never be published, but it served its purpose. Soon I had an idea for a story that wouldn’t work in a contemporary setting. I immediately decided on World War II. The era has always fascinated me. My grandparents were all storytellers, and my father was always watching WWII movies when I was little. I think it seeped into my soul.

How long did it take you to write your first book?

My first published novel, A Distant Melody, took about three years from concept to complete first draft. My children were little, I was only writing part-time, and I had to do a ton of background research.

How many rewrites did you do on it?

I lost count of the rewrites—probably a dozen. Since I had five years of rejection letters, I had plenty of time to edit.

Who helped you with the editing?

I never hired a professional editor, but I belonged to a wonderful writers’ group that gave excellent feedback. I read lots of books on writing and attended conferences to learn the craft. Now my critique partners are online, and we exchange chapters by email.

Who encouraged you along the way?

As for encouragement, so many people helped along the way! The acknowledgments section for A Distant Melody is quite long.

How do you go about doing research for your books? 

Research is multifaceted—books, websites, documents, oral histories, research trips, touring historic ships and planes, and consulting experts. I usually start with a basic internet search on my topic and then I assemble a list of books and websites to investigate. This list grows and changes as I continue my research.

Was there ever an "aha" moment you had when doing research that surprised you?

I’ve had so many “aha” moments! My most recent one…I’m currently writing a series about three estranged brothers who fight on D-day from the sea, in the air, and on the ground. I’d assigned my pilot brother to the 357th Fighter Group and my soldier brother to the 2nd Ranger Battalion. I found out both units sailed from New York to Britain on the Queen Elizabeth on the same date! And the brothers are estranged! And they most definitely don’t want to see each other! I couldn’t have planned this.

How did you go about finding a publisher? Was it through conferences, seminars, or slush piles?

I found my publisher through Mount Hermon Christian Writers Conference. Conferences offer the advantage of allowing you to get to know editors and agents, especially when you attend for several years, and they give you the chance to pitch or submit. In 2008, I submitted to my editor at Revell while at Mount Hermon. I was offered my first contract a few months later.

What is the hardest part of writing for you? Starting? Creating a scene? Dialog? Tension, etc?

Plotting. Getting all the scenes and plot elements in order, while juggling history and character development, feels like a wrestling match to me. But at a certain point, the outline falls into place and all is well.

We have all experienced rejection. Give me an example of how you learned to write past one of yours.

I’ve had plenty. Five years of rejection letters. I learned to give myself limited pouting time, then back to work. Whenever I felt dejected, I took it to God. He always seemed to send me some confirmation through friends or circumstances that yes, he did want me to keep writing. That carried me through—plus my love for the stories.

What has surprised you the most in writing/publishing?

Coming from a scientific health-care background, I’ve found much about the publishing industry surprising. In pharmacy, if you work hard and do good work, you succeed. And you have to do something really bad to lose your job. But in publishing, if you work hard and do good work, you may or may not succeed. And there’s absolutely no such thing as “job security”! I’ve had to learn to relax and give up the illusion of control.

What do you know now about writing that you wished you had known sooner?

To ignore the rules and turn off my internal editor during the rough draft phase and allow myself to dream. Then during editing, to turn that editor back on and be ruthlessly analytical.

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

It’s related to my answer to the last question. During the rough draft phase, don’t stop to edit. Do find a way to capture your editing ideas, but don’t actually do the rewriting. Since I print off my chapters, I scribble notes on the hard copy—everything from punctuation to changed wording to “don’t forget her dog” or “have it raining during the scene.” Some writers make the notes in “track changes” straight in the Word document. Then when I finish the rough draft, I go through my notes and make any changes during the edit.

Are there any other points about writing that you would like to add?

You’ll hear lots of techniques and lots of advice—including mine—but you have to find what works best for you. A strategy can unleash one writer’s creativity—and kill another’s creativity. Try new techniques. Keep those that help you work better and ditch the rest.

What is the next book that will be coming out? Can you give me a short synopsis?

The Sea Before Us, the first book in the Sunrise at Normandy series, will be released in February 2018.

Here are the details… In 1944, American naval officer Lt. Wyatt Paxton arrives in London to prepare for the Allied invasion of France and is determined to redeem himself with the brothers he has betrayed. Dorothy Fairfax serves as a “Wren” in the Women’s Royal Naval Service, striving for the love of her bereaved father and of the man she’s always adored, Lawrence Eaton. When Wyatt and Dorothy work together on Allied plans for D-day, he hopes Dorothy will return his growing love. But will family secrets, misplaced affections—and the seas off Normandy—separate them forever?

Sounds like a great story! If you’d like to learn more about Sarah’s writing, here are some links for more details.

Website: http://www.sarahsundin.com

Blog: http://www.sarahsundin.com/blog

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SarahSundinAuthor

Twitter: http://twitter.com/sarahsundin

Writing to Inspire Love: Interview with Laura L. Walker

My interview today is with an avid reader who was so inspired about books that she decided to write her own. Like many of us, the process didn't happen overnight. Read on to find out what motivates Laura and keeps her writing. 

What drew you to writing sweet romance novels?

I love to read clean romance novels, preferably inspirational, so naturally, when I started writing again, this was the genre I gravitated toward. I also love historical fiction and would love to try my hand at that someday, but it will be awhile before I can really delve into the research that such a project requires.

What inspired you to write your first book?

From the time I can remember, I was always drawing heroines that appeared in my head and creating stories for them. After getting married and starting my family, I was given the overwhelming responsibility of raising an autistic child. I put away my hopes and dreams of writing a book for what I thought would be forever. Little did I know that several years later, I would feel the need to create something for my own enjoyment. 

I’d been cooking and cleaning and sewing costumes for my kids for so long, I felt that this had become my permanent identity. An idea for a story had been percolating in my head for a while, so when I presented it to my husband, to my surprise, he jumped on it and helped me to flesh it out. This project we collaborated on became Pierced by Love.

How long did it take to write it? How many rewrites did you do?

Three months. That may sound really fast to any writer; let me just agree. It wasn’t the best writing or even plotting and once my manuscript was accepted by a small publisher who likes to work with brand-new authors, there were a lot of revisions that awaited me. But I think in those early months of my writing career, my excitement at doing something I used to love again became a passion that helped me finish this story and carry enough momentum into the next story, which was a continuation of the first, with the exception of having different main characters. That story, The Matchup, took me five months to write—again, with many revisions in the months ahead.

Who helped you with the editing?

I’m pretty good with line editing, so my manuscript was pretty clean that way. But as I mentioned above, the plot line was very chaotic. A team of editors from my publisher carefully read it and made several suggestions for changing the story. This was difficult writing for me because they also put me on a deadline, but the story makes a lot more sense from those revisions. Then a line editor from Cedar Fort worked with me to make my book as readable as possible. The same goes for my second book.

Did you attend conferences or seminars prior to publishing your book?

Aside from taking a few creative writing classes at a junior college and earning a scholarship from an essay I wrote for an English professor, I had almost no formal training in writing prior to becoming a published author. The one exception is a small writing workshop I attended about fifteen years ago that way hosted by ANWA (American Night Writers Association) in Mesa, Arizona. This was a birthday present from my mom, who didn’t want to see me give up on my dreams. Not only did I get to meet several authors whose books I enjoyed but the most important thing I came away from with that workshop was learning that it’s perfectly normal for a writer’s characters to talk in your head. Until then, I had thought there might be something wrong with me. No, I’m just a writer. LOL

How many publishers did you pitch to before getting accepted?

Two.

How did you learn about your current publisher?

I own several books that have been published through Cedar Fort, so after I finished writing Pierced by Love, my husband helped me find their website along with other publishers’ websites. I decided to try Cedar Fort as well as another small publisher for the first go-around, and then I’d research a few more after that. I received an offer to publish from Cedar Fort shortly before I received a rejection letter from the second publisher. 

It was all very exciting for me. But while I haven’t had to go through numerous rejection letters like many writers do, I’ve learned that people can reject your writing in lots of different ways. And the way to approach bad reviews, friends not wanting to read your story, etc. is the same way to approach rejection letters from publishers. Thinking of it as them not being the right audience for your story helps to ease those disappointments.

How do you write? Do you do an outline first? Did you do individual character development before doing the full plot?

Before I started writing the story, I basically knew the temperaments of my main characters. I knew that I wanted Pierce to be a guy who dates lots of girls and Noelle to be a fun, spunky kind of girl who’s sorely disappointed after her boyfriend decides to become engaged to her sister. Fleshing out their family members’ personalities was a little more difficult. Since I write inspirational fiction, my husband suggested that I give Pierce’s younger brother, Gage, a spiritual crisis so that by the time I wrote his story in The Matchup, he had a pretty big chip on his shoulder over some things that had happened in the past. I decided to pair him with a really sweet woman whom he’d known while in his teenage years. Valerie’s character is more like myself. In fact, her struggles with raising an autistic child closely match my own.

So even though I’m not much of an outliner, I know the general direction that I want to take a story. My current work in progress has been more difficult for me to write, so I have outlined with this one more than with the others. And then I’ve discarded outline after outline until I finally feel like the story is heading in the right direction. Sometimes writing is like that.

What type of publicity do you do to promote your books? What has worked best for you in generating sales?

I try not to keep track of sales if I can help it. I do a little bit of tracking on Amazon and Goodreads, but I’ve learned that tracking sales can make a person crazy. However, I engage in many different marketing venues. Social media is my strongest area of marketing. I’ve joined writing groups that help establish connections with other authors. Facebook and Twitter are great for spreading the word about books. I also belong to a writing group that meets once a month called Typeractive. We’ve put together an anthology called Typeractive Tales that I feel showcases our very different writing styles and genres. Our Typeractive group also hosts a small writing conference in Mesa in October once a year. 

Unfortunately, book signings are money-drainers. With the superb presence of technology, it’s so easy to interact with your favorite authors and people don’t feel the need to go out and meet authors anymore. At least this has been my experience, although I love to meet readers face-to-face.

What did you learn from writing your first book that helped you in the second?

Having good beta readers is a must! And family members don’t count. You want a fellow writer who can tell you where your story’s pitfalls are. Unfortunately, I didn’t learn this until I started working on my current WIP.

What do you know now about writing/publishing that you wished you had known sooner?

The list is too long to name. But just a few: keep your characters real and consistent, adding a great plot twist is only good if you can tie up loose ends at the end, and if you aren’t planning to tie up loose ends but continue the saga past the first one, make sure you have the next book in the series written and (almost) ready for the reader to purchase by the time he or she finishes reading the first (this is especially true for Indie authors).

What surprised you the most in becoming published?

The time that it takes for a book to go through the publishing process, the cost of a good book cover, and the fact that most authors don’t really see much of a profit on their hard work.

What other books or works do you have in the process?

I’m currently working on two novels, both inspirational YA. The first is a story of two high school teachers who go head to head over a student athlete and the other involves a newlywed couple who need to be rescued from themselves in order to make their marriage work. My goal is to complete the first draft of the high school story by the end of this summer and send it off to beta readers soon after.

What is the best advice you’ve been given about writing or that you’ve learned that you would like to pass along?

Learn all you can about the writing process. There are limitless articles about writing that you can read for free online. Take advantage of this virtual library and study the craft. But don’t forget to write for fun because if what you’re writing isn’t fun for you, it will show on the page.

Any last words you’d like to add?

I just want to thank you for giving me this opportunity to share my experiences with your readers. Never give up on your goals.

That's it for today's interview. If you'd like to learn more about Laura's current books and upcoming works, here's some options. 

http://www.lauralwalker.com/

http://www.facebook.com/lauralarsonwalker