Interview with Deborah Raney

Throughout the year, we will be spotlighting nominated and winning authors through interviews and guest blog posts. These are interviews and posts that are original and created specifically for this challenge!

Today's guest post is from two time Christy Award nominated author Deborah Raney, whose books Playing By Fire (2004) and Remember to Forget (2008) were nominated for the Romance category.

Do you think the Christys are important?

Although awards can present temptation for writers (comparing ourselves wrongly to one another, feeling unworthy or jealous if we don't win, or puffed up with pride if we do) I believe the Christy Award has value for several reasons:

• It sets a standard of excellence for Christian fiction.
• It challenges novelists to improve their craft.
• It encourages writers who win or final.
• It promotes the best that Christian fiction has to offer readers.
• It causes awareness of excellent fiction, even outside of Christian circles.

What does the Christy Award mean for you?


The Christy Award has come to have a reputation as the ultimate award for Christian novelists. So much of the writer's life happens in solitude in a silent office, where I tend to feel that every word I write is career-ending drivel. To have been nominated by my publishers as "Christy worth," and then to have had my books selected as finalists for this award serves as an ongoing encouragement to me.

Why do you write Christian fiction?

I actually wrote two versions of my first novel, A Vow to Cherish. One for the Christian market and one for the secular market, hoping it might be a light in the darkness. But I quickly realized that I would not be allowed to say some things that were integral to the theme of my story––namely that Jesus Christ is the only source of redemption for our lives. I write from a Christian worldview, and to do anything less would make my stories false and impotent. I want my stories to resonate with truth about life.

What do you think are some of the biggest misconceptions surrounding Christian Fiction?

That it is overall of less quality than secular fiction. That it is preachy. That it doesn't deal with real issues. I grow extremely frustrated with people who say "I don't read Christian fiction because it is all of the above." If they don't read it, especially if they haven't read it recently, how can they make that judgment? The quality of Christian fiction has grown by leaps and bounds in the past decade. If you haven't read Christian fiction recently, I challenge you to give it a try before you write it off. I'm grateful that the Christy Awards have challenged some of those misconceptions.

What writers of Christian fiction do you think are influential?

It's so hard to name just a few, but those who have influenced me personally, as well as having a positive impact on the Christian publishing industry include Angela Hunt, Francine Rivers, and James Scott Bell.

What do you think are the weaknesses of Christian fiction?

I don't think Christian fiction as a whole has any weaknesses that are different from those of secular fiction as a whole. There are excellent writers in both realms and there are mediocre writers in both realms.

Besides your own book what is your favorite Christy nominated or award winning book?

I loved Vanessa del Fabbro's The Road to Home, which was a double finalist and won the Contemporary category. Lisa Samson's The Living End and Tamera Alexander's Remembered are other favorites over the years.

How did you feel when you heard you were nominated?

Deeply honored and grateful that God would allow my work such recognition. It made me feel like a "real" writer, and has helped me write with greater confidence––not in myself, but in my calling, trusting that God is indeed using my meager talents.

What inspired you to write the book you were nominated for?

I'd never realized this until you posed the question, but both Remember to Forget and Playing by Heart were inspired while I was on a working "vacation" at bed and breakfast establishments! With Playing by Heart, it was the beautiful old home itself––and a brief exchange of notes between the owner and me––that sparked the idea for the story. With Remember to Forget, it was the safe, friendly small town where the B&B was located that inspired my fictional Clayburn, KS.

What are you working on now?

I just finished reading galleys for Almost Forever, the first book in my new Hanover Falls Novel series for Howard/Simon & Schuster. I'm frantically writing toward a January deadline with the second book in that series.

DEBORAH RANEY is at work on her nineteenth novel. Her books have won the RITA Award, HOLT Medallion, National Readers' Choice Award, Silver Angel, and have twice been Christy Award finalists. Her first novel, A Vow to Cherish, inspired the highly acclaimed World Wide Pictures film of the same title. Her newest books, the Clayburn Novels, are from Howard/Simon & Schuster. She and her husband, Ken Raney, have four children and enjoy small- town life in Kansas.

Interview with Beverly Lewis

Throughout the year, we will be spotlighting nominated and winning authors through interviews and guest blog posts. These are interviews and posts that are original and created specifically for this challenge!

Today's guest post is from Christy Award winning author Beverly Lewis, whose book The Brethren won the 2007 Christy Award for Contemporary (Series, Sequels and Novellas).

Do you think the Christys are important?

Creating distinction in fiction with an inspirational thrust is very important, yes.

What does the Christy Award mean for you?

Sixteen years of hard work and striving for excellence in my own body of work.

Why do you write Christian fiction?

Not sure I'd want to write anything else. This is my calling in life. My purpose--what gets me up in the morning.

What do you think are some of the biggest misconceptions surrounding Christian Fiction?

Well, for readers who've never experienced the high quality of various inspirational books, I'd encourage them to give "Christian" novels a try
.
For those who've been less than impressed, years ago, by CBA fiction, I think they'll find the bar has been raised quite significantly in recent years. I, for one, continually want to compete with the best writing out there. To give it my all. And I know many other authors who do the same. Several NY publishers have insisted that my stories could easily be published by a secular house. Interesting.

What writers of Christian fiction do you think are influential?

Dekker, Kingsbury, Karon, Kidd, etc.

What do you think are the weaknesses of Christian fiction?

Overtelling, poor editing, weak characters, authors who mimick what's selling instead of writing their own passion.

Besides your own book what is your favorite Christy nominated or award winning book?

Candle in the Darkness, by Lynn Austin; Levi's Will, by Dale Cramer

How did you feel when you heard you were nominated?

Beyond ecstatic.

What inspired you to write the book you were nominated?

The continuing story of Annie Zook's heart-break, and some elements of O'Henry's ending twists.

What are you working on now?

Book Three of my current series, "Seasons of Grace," which will be released on April 6, 2010.


Beverly Lewis, raised in Pennsylvania Amish country, is a former schoolteacher, an accomplished musician, and an award-winning author of more than eighty books, many of which have appeared on bestseller lists, including USA Today and The New York Times. Her novel The Brethren won a 2007 Christy Award for excellence in Christian fiction. She currently has more than 12 million books in print in nine languages. Beverly and her husband, David, live in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Interview with Terri Blackstock

Throughout the year, we will be spotlighting nominated and winning authors through interviews and guest blog posts. These are interviews and posts that are original and created specifically for this challenge!

Today's interview is from multi- Christy Award nominated author Terri Blackstock, who was nominated for her books Last Light (2006 Suspense), River's Edge (2005 Suspense), and Covenant Child (2003 Allegory).




Do you think the Christys are important?

I think the Christys do several things:

-- They encourage excellence, since writers know that judges are going to be poring over every word

-- They promote Christian fiction

-- They introduce authors that readers might not have discovered

otherwise

-- They provide encouragement in this lonely (and difficult) profession

-- They might give second life to a book that didn't get much in the

way of marketing

What does the Christy Award mean for you?

A Christy nomination indicates that I did something right, and that several judges found value in my story. It offers much-needed positive feedback in a profession that offers so much negative feedback.

Why do you write Christian fiction?

I started my career writing secular romance novels (for publishers such as Harlequin, Silhouette, Harper-Collins, etc.). I went into that as a Christian, planning to write only the clean love stories. But in the interest of fame and fortune, I began to compromise, and eventually was writing books as graphic as any others. It took its toll on my spiritual life, and as I grew more successful, I became more miserable. Hoping to get back into fellowship with God, I finally repented of the things I'd written and told the Lord that I would never write another book that didn't glorify Him. I feared that my career was over, that no Christian publisher would ever touch me because of my past. But I tried to break into the Christian market anyway, mostly with suspense novels with strong faith elements that taught biblical principles and reminded readers of God's love and provision--all that while entertaining with page-turners that kept my readers up all night. God made a way for me to find a publisher for my Christian novels, and I've been writing faith-based novels ever since. I now feel that my work has eternal value, and really impacts lives.

What do you think are some of the biggest conceptions surrounding Christian Fiction?

Do you mean misconceptions? If so ... I think people who haven’t read a Christian novel in the last fifteen years think these books are preachy and sappy. But often, when they read one, they're pleasantly surprised to see that it could compete with anything published in the secular market, with the added bonus that they don't have to wade through profanity and graphic sex. Readers remember important lessons when they step into the skin of a character and live through them. That's why Jesus used story. Instead of preaching about God's second chances, He said, "There was once a man who had two sons." Christian novels provide hope, as well as life-changing insights about the human condition.

As for suspense (my favorite genre), I think people who have never read Christian suspense can't understand how you reconcile murder with Christianity. But the suspense genre provides me a great opportunity to show characters turning to Christ or leaning on God as their lives are threatened or their well-being is challenged. When writing about the darkest evil, there’s opportunity to show the greatest light.

What writers of Christian fiction do you think are influential?

Francine Rivers, Randy Alcorn, Frank Peretti and Jerry Jenkins have all written Christian classics that changed the way people thought about their relationships with God, and made it easier to understand aspects of God's character.

What do you think are the weaknesses of Christian fiction?

I know my answer isn't going to be popular, but I think those novels in which Christianity is extremely minimal or nonexistent are weak links in the genre. There's nothing wrong with wholesome, clean books without faith messages, but I don't believe they should be called Christian Fiction. In my mind, Christian fiction should do more than entertain. It should offer something of eternal value, something that changes or enlightens the reader, or helps him see himself more clearly.

I'm especially disturbed by those Christian novels that play into Hollywood stereotypes, such as making evangelical Christian characters petty or mean or hate-filled. Or if they do have a good-guy Christian character, he's Catholic (since Hollywood doesn't like evangelicals). I expect that from secular novelists and movie-makers, but Christians should fight those stereotypes rather than reinforcing them ... because those stereotypes are not true.

Besides your own book what is your favorite Christy nominated or award winning book?

I’d rather not say because I’ve loved so many of them. Many of the writers are dear friends, and I wouldn’t want to upset any of them by excluding them.


How did you feel when you heard you were nominated?

I was very excited and surprised. The first time, it was for a book that isn't what I usually write--Covenant Child--which was women's fiction rather than suspense, an allegory about the amazing grace of God. But I loved the story, so I was excited about having it recognized. The second and third times I was nominated for books that were part of a series. River’s Edge was the third book in my Cape Refuge series. Third books aren’t usually contenders, so I was stunned when that was a finalist. I was probably the happiest about Last Light, the first book in my Restoration Series, because that book was so difficult to write and required so much research. It was great to have a pat on the back for that one.

You've been nominated for multiple books. Which one is your favorite and what inspired you to write that book

Wow, that’s a hard question because they’re all like my children. But probably Last Light (Restoration Series). That book was about a massive global power outage that knocks out all technology, ruins the financial system, and puts the population out of work. Crime is at an all-time high as people kill each other to get food, etc. My characters are a Christian family who realize they have to help those around them, even if it means starving, themselves. They’re forced to depend on God’s provision as never before. In many ways, that book has been prophetic, and the letters I get from readers tell me of all the changes they’ve made in their lives because of this series.

What are you working on now?

I’ve recently put the finishing touches on Intervention, which is releasing on September 22, 2009. It’s about a mother who hires an interventionist for her drug-addicted daughter, but on the way to treatment, the interventionist is murdered and the daughter disappears. Barbara, the mother, sets out in search of her daughter, hoping to find her and clear her name. The mysteries intensify as everyone’s panic grows: Did Emily’s obsession with drugs lead her to commit murder—or is she another victim of a cold-blooded killer?



Terri Blackstock’s books have sold six million copies worldwide. Her suspense novels often debut at number one on the Christian fiction best-seller lists, and True Light, published last year, was number one of all Christian books—fiction and non-fiction. Blackstock has had twenty-five years of success as a novelist.

In 1994 Blackstock was writing for publishers such as HarperCollins, Harlequin and Silhouette, when a spiritual awakening drew her into the Christian market. Since that time, she’s written over thirty Christian titles, in addition to the thirty-two she had in the secular market. Her most recent books are the four in her acclaimed Restoration Series, which includes Last Light, Night Light, True Light and Dawn’s Light. She is also known for her popular Newpointe 911 and Cape Refuge Series.

In addition to her suspense novels, she has written a number of novels in the women’s fiction genre, including Covenant Child, which was chosen as one of the first Women of Faith novels, and her Seasons Series written with Beverly LaHaye, wife of Tim LaHaye.

Interview with Angela Hunt

Throughout the year, we will be spotlighting nominated and winning authors through interviews and guest blog posts. These are interviews and posts that are original and created specifically for this challenge!

Today's interview is from multi- Christy Award winning and nominated author Angela Hunt, who won the 2000 Christy Award for Futuristic Novel with Grant Jeffrey for By Dawn's Early Light. She was also nominated for The Shadow Women (2003 International History) and Doesn't She Look Natural? (2008 Lits)


Do you think the Christys are important?

Indubitably. None of the other awards focus on fiction in the way the Christy does, and many of the others tend to reflect best-sellerdom. The Christy is the single award that has tough criteria for fiction and doesn’t take an author’s sales record or name recognition into account.

What does the Christy Award mean for you?

For me, the Christy Award was affirmation from people who love fiction and recognize its unique challenges and possibilities. Catherine Marshall’s Christy will live in the minds of its readers for years, and I’d like to think Christy-winning books will do the same thing.

Why do you write Christian fiction?

I write novels that reflect Christ because Jesus is the focus of my life. I’d like to think that anything I write reflects him in some way.

What do you think are some of the biggest misconceptions surrounding Christian Fiction?

I think most people operate under the misconception that Christian fiction is formulaic or preachy or requires a salvation scene. Obviously, those folks haven’t read Christian fiction lately.

What writers of Christian fiction do you think are influential?

Most people will cite C.S. Lewis or Madeline L’Engle, but I’m going to talk about people who are actually leading the charge today: Francine Rivers. Athol Dickson. James Scott Bell. Jan Karon. I could fill the page with names, but I’d better stop now.

What do you think are the weaknesses of Christian fiction?

I honestly don’t think Christian fiction has unique weaknesses—all writers have weaknesses. Every author sets out to write a great book, and most of us fall short of brilliant and breathtaking. In the great bell curve of life, most books and movies fall in the center, the wide part of the bell, while only a few achieve brilliance . A few fall on the low end of the bell curve, and I suspect those are authored by writers who didn’t set out to write a great book.

So what keeps a book from achieving greatness? Usually it’s a lack of risk, emotion, and unpredictability. Writers dream of greatness, and then fall back to playing it safe.

Besides your own book what is your favorite Christy nominated or award winning book?

I’m drawing a blank here . . . too many to name.

How did you feel when you heard you were nominated?

Each time I was thrilled—not only to be nominated, but to have my book entered in the first place. For various reasons, lots of books don’t get entered by their publishers, so even knowing that a book was entered feels like affirmation.

You've been nominated (and won) for multiple books. Which one is your favorite and what inspired you to write that book?

It’s hard to pick a favorite book—ever—because they’re like children, and we’re not supposed to have favorites, are we? So I’ll mention the last book nominated: Doesn’t She Look Natural, the first book in the Fairlawn series. It was inspired by my musings about death, and I proposed the series as a way of removing some of the mystery and fear around the end of life. The Christian should never fear death . . . and readers of that series needn’t fear buying a casket, either.

What are you working on now?

I’m working on a collaborative project that will come out early next year. I think I should keep a lid on the subject matter and not announce the book until the publisher does, but it’s fascinating!


Christy-Award winner Angela Hunt writes for readers who have learned to expect the unexpected in novels from this versatile author. With nearly four million copies of her books sold worldwide, she is the best-selling author of more than 100 works ranging from picture books (The Tale of Three Trees) to nonfiction books, to novels.

Her books have won the coveted Christy Award, several Angel Awards from Excellence in Media, and the Gold and Silver Medallions from Foreword Magazine’s Book of the Year Award. In 2007, her novel The Note was featured as a Christmas movie on the Hallmark channel. Romantic Times Book Club presented her with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006.

Also in 2006, Angela completed her Master of Biblical Studies in Theology degree. She completed her doctorate in 2008 and was accepted into a Th.D. program in 2009. When she’s not home reading or writing, Angie often travels to teach writing workshops at schools and writers’ conferences. And to talk about her dogs, of course.

LInk to Your Reviews

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Interview with Lisa Samson

Throughout the year, we will be spotlighting nominated and winning authors through interviews and guest blog posts. These are interviews and posts that are original and created specifically for this challenge!

Today's interview is from multi- Christy Award winning and nominated author Lisa Samson, whose winning books include Songbird (2004 Contemporary) and Hollywood Nobody (2008
Young Adult).

Do you think the Christys are important?

Yes and no. Yes, it encourages writers who are nominated or who win. Yes, it creates a certain amount of community. Yes, it gives novelists something to look forward to if you work hard enough. Yes, it brings novelists together and, as a group, showcases their work to those who know about the awards. No, it doesn't mean God's blessing you more than someone who hasn't been nominated. No, it actually doesn't mean you're a better writer than the people in your category if you win since judges have different tastes and motives for reading. No, it doesn't necessarily mean your novel will have more Kingdom implications than those who haven't even been submitted for nomination. And I think that's what I like about the Christys in general. It's not so ministry-oriented, it's about the novel as an artform, a form of communication, pure and simple.

What does the Christy Award mean for you

It means I get to bite my nails waiting for a call to see if I've won or not. Mostly, the phone doesn't ring! But honestly, I really am honored to be a nominee. Gives me that "yes!" feeling inside.

Why do you write Christian fiction?

Honestly? Because I can't write anything else! I'm at the Oregon Christian Writer's Conference right now, and I was talking at breakfast about how my every artistic pursuit ends up being about God. And I'm not one of those people who draws a clear line between secular and sacred! It almost isn't fair, because I don't think a novel needs to be about God to be "about God." And yet, everything I put out has very clear spiritual themes and plotlines. I'm one of those people the more hip writers complain about when they talk disdainingly about having "overt spiritual messages." It's not like I'm preachy, but good grief, I can't write for a page without some member or the Trinity or the church showing up.

What do you think are some of the biggest misconceptions surrounding Christian Fiction?

That it's a genre. I'm writing in a vastly different genre from Stephen Bly or James Scott Bell. And I'm not even going to get into the "sub-quality" yack-yack you hear on the internet. Lord have mercy! On all of us! Blah-blah-blah-blah-blah.

What writers of Christian fiction do you think are influential?

I have no idea. There are so many different genres now, it's hard to say who's leading the way unless you're reading them extensively, and I'm a little-of-this, little-of-that kind of reader.

What do you think are the weaknesses of Christian fiction?

I would have said before the strictures, but lately, I don't know. We know what the rules are, what the game is. It is possible to work around it even though, every once in a while, you have the perfect word or phrase or line of dialogue and no matter what you think of to replace it, it's just not the same. But that's rare, maybe one or two times a book for me. What I've found most saddening is that now novelists are expected to have the same "platform" offerings as non-fiction writers. So I have to wonder if really great works are being turned away at the expense of a "name" that has a platform, can garner in more book sales, but isn't nearly the artist. It's a shame that the art of the novel is being compromised by this "platform" business. That may prove to be a real weekness if that sort of approach gets so widespread it compromises the entire Christian fiction ball of wax.

Besides your own book what is your favorite Christy nominated or award winning book?

All the Way Home, by Ann Tatlock

How did you feel when you heard you were nominated?

The first time, I was so excited. I'd never been nominated before. These days, I'm delighted too. Embrace Me was such an odd story, peopled with very strange characters, I was surprised the judges went for it, to be honest.

What inspired you to write the book you were nominated for?

I thought about a statistic I heard that within two or three years after an adult comes to faith, he or she has no more friends who are non-believers. And I thought about how in various kinds of churches, people all end up looking the same. You've got the mega church make up lady who's a size 6, or the emergent guy with the cool glasses and the hemp t-shirt, or the independent baptists with their denim jumpers or floral Sunday dresses, or the mainline man in khakis and a blue blazer. Somehow churches homogenize people. (Actually I think all groups do this.) Why? Shouldn't the church be the place where people can be exactly as God made them? It's not that I believe in hyper-individualism, I really believe we are a unit--Christ's Body; but what about individuality? So I wanted to explore that, but in an extreme way, around a mega church pastor, a biker-tattoed preacher working out of an old laundromat, and sideshow performers.

What are you working on now?

I'm rewriting my latest novel entitled "The Resurrection in May" about a woman who survived the Rwandan genocide, an old farmer who nurtures her, and a man who's on death row and refusing to appeal. Who'll bring who back to life?


Lisa Samson is a Christy Award-winning author of 19 books, including the Women of the Faith Novel of the Year, Quaker Summer. Lisa has been hailed by Publishers Weekly as "a talented novelist who isn't afraid to take risks."

Her novel Embrace Me has been named as one of Library Journal's books of the year.

She lives in Lexington, Kentucky, with her husband and three kids.

Guest Post from Mary DeMuth

Throughout the year, we will be spotlighting nominated and winning authors through interviews and guest blog posts. These are interviews and posts that are original and created specifically for this challenge!

Today's guest post is from Christy Award nominated author Mary DeMuth, whose book Watching the Tree Limbs was nominated for the 2007 Christy Award for First Novel.

Hang with the Hairdo

In organization, there's a funny little thing that happens to me. I wonder if it happens to you. You pull out a bunch of stuff from a closet. Chaos reigns a very long time. You work, toil, donate, pare down, and still you're in a mess. But if you keep at it, it seems like suddenly everything is organized and beautiful. It's like a messy hairdo one minute, and a professional coiffure the next.

Writing can be a lot like that hairdo.

When you're putting together an article or a book or anything in between, you filter through far too much information. Scraps of paper are everywhere. Your mind is cluttered and crazy. You start writing, but you still feel overwhelmed. Piles of words are everywhere. What to do?

Keep going.

Keep going.

Keep going.

Eventually, in a happy flash, it will all come together. So many writers quit in the middle of a project because the chaos seems too high. Or overwhelming. If you keep quitting in the midst of your project, you'll never complete a project and you'll never become a writer. Stick with it. Keep at it. One glorious day, you'll be holding a finished copy of something that comes together quickly at the end.

I had a dream to write a novel. I harbored that dream ten years. I gathered information, thought about the plot. The timing wasn't yet right to start the book, as my kids were very young and needed a lot of my attention. But one wild day, I started the book. Four months later, I typed THE END. It took a lot of time and effort to get to that point, and I almost quit several times in the midst of the book, not knowing where to take it. But eventually I finished it. God even gave me the ending of the book in a dream!

That book led to an agent, which led to contracts, which led me to mentoring writers.

The question to ponder: Would I be where I am today had I not pressed through?

And a question for you: What hairdo are you threatening to abandon? What could you persevere through today? Mary E. DeMuth is an expert in Pioneer Parenting. She enables Christian parents to navigate our changing culture when their families left no good faith examples to follow. Mary has spoken at Mount Hermon Christian Writers Conference, the ACFW Conference, the Colorado Christian Writers Conference, and at various churches and church planting ministries. She's also taught in Germany, Austria, Monaco, Italy, France, and the United States. Mary and her husband, Patrick, reside in Texas with their three children. They recently returned from breaking new spiritual ground in Southern France, and planting a church.