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.

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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.

Interview with Melody Carlson

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 nominated author Melody Carlson, whose book Finding Alice was nominated for the 2004 Christy Award for Contemporary.


Do you think the Christys are important?

I do appreciate the Christys because they’ve helped to elevate Christian fiction to a new level. But the truth is, despite having received various book awards myself, I feel a bit torn. On one hand, I love to celebrate fiction and I applaud writers who do their best and are honored for it. But at the same time…the idea of “competition” makes me uncomfortable. I guess it’s because literature is so subjective and personal. What one reader loves another may hate. It’s difficult to fairly judge art. And yet it’s sometimes award ceremonies like the Christys or even the Oscars that foster open discussion. So, you see, I’m a little divided on this.

What does the Christy Award mean for you?

Again, it’s an honor to even be considered for this award…and yet I think there are many much loved books out there that aren’t even nominated. So again, I’m unsure. Also, as a Christian, I wonder about the value of earthly awards. Quite honestly, I treasure my reader letters far more than any of my writing awards. In fact, I kept my awards in a box for a long time.

Why do you write Christian fiction?

I write fiction because I am, at heart, a storyteller. And I love telling stories because I believe it’s a great device for divulging truth—sometimes it’s those hard-to-hear truths about things like mental illnesses or social issues. Because my world view is that of a believer, I guess you would call my writing “Christian fiction.” But in reality, I think of myself as a writer who is a Christian. I find it difficult to label my writing as “Christian” just as I would have difficulty saying my gardening skills are “Christian.”

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

I think some readers assume that “Christian fiction” is substandard. I have even met people who have treated me like my writing would never cut the mustard in the general trade. And while that hurts a bit, I can understand their perspective—especially since literature is so subjective. But there’s also the misconception that Christian novels are evangelical, full of preaching and proselytizing. I’ve also heard complaints that Christian fiction is “shallow, predictable, and formulaic.” My response to any of these comments is usually: How much Christian fiction have you read? Because I know there are plenty of deep, thoughtful, and surprising novels.

What writers of Christian fiction do you think are influential?

Naturally, I would list my favorites. Early on I was inspired by the Thoenes and then Francine Rivers. I greatly admire Lisa Samson, Jane Kirkpatrick, Patricia Hickman and many others.

What do you think are the weaknesses of Christian fiction?

I think good writing is good writing—whether it’s Christian, Muslim, or Hindu. But, as a reader, I don’t enjoy books where the main purpose is to proselytize. To me good fiction is simply good storytelling and that involves realistic characters, interesting places, compelling plots…woven together in an artful way.

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

Passing by Samaria by Sharon Ewell Foster comes to mind—a memorable book. Also Lisa Samson’s Songbird.

How did you feel when you heard you were nominated?

Surprised…and honored.

What inspired you to write the book you were nominated?

Real life. Finding Alice is about schizophrenia and my son was treated for this mysterious illness. I wanted to share what I’d learned with others.

What are you working on now?

Right now I’m in the midst of a teen novel in a new series called On the Runway. I don’t expect my YA books to win awards (although some have) but my readers seem to enjoy them and that’s what matters most to me.Melody Carlson is the best-selling author of more than 100 books for adults, children, and teens. She and her husband, the parents of two grown sons, make their home near the Cascade Mountains in Central Oregon. Melody is a full-time writer as well as an avid gardener, biker, skier, and hiker.

Guest Post from Marlo Schalesky

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 Marlo Schalesky, whose book Beyond the Night won the 2009 Christy Award for Contemporary Romance.


What do you do when characters just won’t leave you alone? They haunt your dreams, whisper to you in the car on the way to the grocery store, dance through your thoughts when you’re supposed to be doing your job.

What do you do? You write their story. For me, that story was Beyond the Night.

It started with a dream. Not one of those “I have a dream” kind of dreams, but a real, honest-to-goodness, it’s-3am-and-I-had-pepperoni-pizza-last-night kind of dreams. I dreamt Paul and Maddie’s love story. And when I woke up, I couldn’t get the two of them out of my head, or out of my heart. I thought about them in the shower, on the way to seminary classes, in the check-out line at Costco. Everywhere! For weeks, I found myself replaying tidbits of their interactions in my mind, enjoying their humor, laughing to myself at their antics.

But there wasn’t enough for a story. Not a real story that I could write as a book. And then, I realized Maddie was going blind.

“Oh,” said I, “That’s very interesting. But it’s still not enough. Not quite. Not yet.”

Two more days went by, and Paul and Maddie’s story kept teasing my mind. And I knew there had to be more. More than what I’d seen, more that they still had to tell me.

And then I saw it – the big ending twist. The incredible truth that I had no idea about before. It took my breath away. So, after I finished picking my jaw up off the floor, I sat down and started working on the proposal for Beyond the Night – a new type of story. A moving love story. A shocking twist.

As I fleshed out the plot, I realized that this is exactly the type of book I’d like to keep writing – something with the poignancy of a Nicolas Sparks love story matched with the knock-your-socks-off twist of a M. Night Shymalan movie (without the horror!). That kind of story excited me, spiritually, emotionally, mentally. And I figured that there had to be more people like me out there – people who want to be both moved emotionally and surprised and delighted intellectually. People who want to be changed, challenged, and caught with wonder by a story. People who just want something more in their stories, because the typical tale is just not quite enough.

So, that’s what Beyond the Night is. It’s following a dream. It’s letting the characters whisper truths in the dark. It’s coming face to face with unexpected, wondrous light. For me, it was one breath-taking ride. I hope it’ll be that for readers too!

Marlo Schalesky is the author of several books, including Beyond the Night and Empty Womb, Aching Heart. A graduate of Stanford University, Marlo also has a masters of theology with an emphasis in biblical studies from Fuller Theological Seminary. Married over twenty years, she lives with her husband, Bryan, and their five children in California.

Book Winner!

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The winner of the set of 2009 winning books is....

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