Guest Blog

A Conversation With Cynthia L. Simmons

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Cynthia L. Simmons is an author, speaker, and mother of five. She hosts Heart of the Matter Radio weekly and encourages women to seek God’s wisdom. Combining history and scripture, she ministers to women of all ages, but has a special place in her heart for homeschool mothers.

When do you find time to write?
Cynthia: I write all the time and everywhere. I’ve taken either a computer or kindle to doctor’s offices and other appointments to get something started.

What is your favorite spot for reading or reflecting on your current work-in-progress?
Cynthia: I need to see my characters to write about them. At times, I find a photo that becomes the character, but I allow my imagination to roam before I start writing.

How do you connect with your characters?
Cynthia: I often use a real person for my template, so the person will seem real. I like to watch the energy and rhythm when people interact and recreate that on paper. Books on body language help too.

How do you research ways to kill someone for your books?
Cynthia: I am a retired nurse, so that helps, but I also research online and with medical professionals. For example, I’ll pick out a real disease and show its progress.

Current book: Pursuing Gold
During the Civil War, Peter and Mary Beth discover Peter’s name forged on counterfeit money. Can they find the culprit before their bank fails?

Connect W/Cynthia
Website: www.clsimmons.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cynthia.l.simmons.7, https://www.facebook.com/HrtMtr/
Instagram: instagram.com/Cynthialsimmons
Google Plus: plus.google.com/+CynthiaLSimmons
Twitter: twitter.com/CynthiaLSimmons

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A Conversation With Gail Kittleson

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When Gail Kittleson’s not researching World War II, drafting scenes or editing, she facilitates writing workshops and retreats in Iowa and Arizona, where winters find her enjoying the gorgeous Mogollon Rim Ponderosa forest. Favorites: grandchildren, exploring WWII sites with her husband, walking, reading, meeting new people, and hearing from readers.

What’s the hardest part of writing romantic suspense?
Gail: Couple the grave danger of World War II clandestine work French Resistance work with a hero and heroine grieving for their first loves. Add a growing commitment to each other plus the suspense of knowing they could perish at any moment, you get romance and suspense. To be honest, I label my writing women’s historical fiction, but A Purpose True seems to fit both genres.

How do you connect with your characters?
Gail: They live with me, walk with me, and sometimes wake me up at night with nuances about their stories.

How do you come up with titles for your books?
Gail: I research songs of the era, Scriptures and applicable quotes, and explore what expresses the bottom-line premise of my characters’ needs and challenges.

What’s the weirdest way someone has died or been killed in your novels?
Gail: I suppose it would be the treacherous Nazi spy responsible for many deaths among the Resistance. He meets his Maker via a firing squad, after my heroine identifies him as the imposter to whom she once delivered messages vital to the cause. He transmitted these to London, but also shared them with the Nazis. ARGH!! Despicable!

How do you develop your plots?
Gail: Research and more research. Light dawns as I study actual events in the historical record, and I see how my characters fit into these perilous underground operations so vital to Allied victory.

Have you ever regretted killing off a character? Why?
Gail: Nope. The heroine and hero are the ones living in my heart, so any enemy of theirs is an enemy of mine—no regrets about ensuring their longevity. This connection with my characters is the one essential for me to write. Pungent tea, quietness, and time all help, but the characters themselves drive me to write.

What has been most frustrating about writing romantic suspense?
Gail: Hearing that the ending of a novel in a series disappointed them. That’s wartime, fraught with ambivalence and disappointment. Expecting a perfect outcome isn’t in the cards. Perhaps that’s why what I write is more aptly labeled historical fiction. The romance proves a strong thread, but not the main theme.

Current book: A Purpose True
Magnetized by clandestine French Resistance work, Kate and Domingo discover a growing commitment to each other. But everything depends upon the wiles of war.

Connect W/Gail
Website: www.gailkittleson.com/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/GailKittlesonAuthor
Amazon Author Page: amazon.com/author/gailkittleson
Twitter: www.twitter.com/GailGkittleson
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/gail-kittleson-b0693543
Google Plus: plus.google.com/106969195211961187796

 

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A Conversation With Brenda B. Taylor

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Brenda B. Taylor writes sweet historical romance connecting readers of today with events in history, and telling stories about the extraordinary lives of ordinary people. She most enjoys writing stories set in post-Civil War Missouri and 16th century Scotland.

What’s the hardest part of writing romantic suspense?
Brenda: The hardest part of writing romantic suspense is keeping the tension going between the hero and heroine, then weaving in the mystery.

When do you find time to write?
Brenda: I write each morning. After a short devotional in my favorite chair, I open my computer and begin work on the current story. About noon, I stop, cook lunch, rest, then sometimes return to work in the afternoon. However, my best writing is completed during the early morning hours.

What is your favorite spot for reading or reflecting on your current work-in-progress?
Brenda: My favorite spot for reading and reflecting on the WIP is a favorite chair beside a window overlooking bird feeders. I rest my eyes by watching the birds and squirrels at the feeders.

How do you connect with your characters?
Brenda: I connect with my characters by getting into their heads. I write by scenes, so I determine the POV character for each scene, then imagine what he/she does and says. The story is outlined before writing begins and a character sketch for each character completed. Sometimes I search for photos of the character to look at while writing. By sketching characteristics and looking at photos, I get an idea of the character’s actions, reactions and conversations for the scene.

Why do you like writing romantic suspense?
Brenda: I enjoy writing romantic suspense because my favorite genre is historical romance with interwoven mystery.

Current book: A Highland Bride
After six years as a fugitive in France, Alistair returned to Scotland. His wife and son are gone. Can he find love again?

Connect w/Brenda
Website: www.brendabtaylor.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/authorbrendabtaylor
Twitter: www.twitter.com/rayburnlady
Amazon Author Page: amzn.to/2hSKCXt
BookBub Author Page: www.bookbub.com/authors/brenda-b-taylor
Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/rayburnlady/
Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/brendataylor

 

A Conversation With JP Robinson

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JP Robinson began writing as a teen for the Times Beacon Records in New York. He holds a degree in English and is a teacher of French history. JP is known for creating vivid, high-adrenaline plots laced with unexpected twists. JP Robinson writes to ignite faith in a living God.

When do you find time to write?
JP: I don’t find time to write—I make it. For me, writing is a commission—it’s part of my life’s purpose. There are thousands of compelling stories to write, lined up inside my head like planes waiting to take off. Each one carries a powerful message that reflects God’s relationship to humanity and our relationships with each other.

How do you connect with your characters?
JP: Simply put, I become them. For me, they are people with scars from their past, dreams for the future and challenges in the present. I start by searching on Google for a photo of someone that visually epitomizes the character in my head. This can take hours or even days. But I always know when I’ve found my character.

I also do extensive research on the people, times and climate I’m writing about. Bride Tree, set during the French Revolution of 1789-99, took well over a hundred hours of research. This allows me to better understand my characters’ problems, background and probable reactions to their own unique situations.

Why do you like writing romantic suspense?
JP: I see the Bible as one intense love story. Genesis, Song of Solomon, Revelations and all other 63 books are actually chapters of the greatest book of all time. This kind of love is to die for—as Christ showed us on the cross. As to suspense? No mortal could ever pen the kind of drama in the Bible. Bride Tree is driven by intertwined factors of love, intrigue and revenge. It is my attempt to encapsulate the greatest love story of all time.

Where do you get the inspiration for your plots?
JP: You’re going to laugh at this one. Most of my inspiration comes from sermons! Especially those by the late Rev. WM Branham.

There’s so much in the Word of God that relates to any society’s problems. From religious hypocrisy to political liability to temptation, each sermon holds the potential to be dramatized and set in a different epoch of the past or the present. For example, my first novel, Twiceborn, was created based off a mind-blowing sermon on the Fall of Man called the “Serpent’s Seed.” Bride Tree is a riveting allegory of the Church condensed into 430 unforgettable pages.

Current book: Bride Tree
In 1789 France, one woman finds herself torn between a noble who has sacrificed everything for her and a peasant who promises true freedom.

Connect w/JP
Website: www.jprobinsonbooks.com
Facebook: Facebook.com/jprobinsonbooks
Twitter: @JPRobinsonbooks
Google Plus: JPRobinsonbooks

A Conversation With Donna Schlachter

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Donna lives in Denver with husband Patrick, writing historical suspense. She is a member of ACFW & Sisters In Crime; teaches writing classes & courses; is a ghostwriter & editor, & judges in writing contests. She loves history & research, & is represented by Terrie Wolf of AKA Literary Management.

What’s the hardest part of writing romantic suspense?
Donna: For me, getting the romantic part in! Although I’m finding with every romantic suspense book I write, it’s getting easier.

When do you find time to write?
Donna: I am a kept woman in that I don’t have to work outside the home. My husband is very supportive of my writing. I think he’s figured out that if I don’t write, he’ll have to live with a crazy woman.

What is your favorite spot for reading or reflecting on your current work-in-progress?
Donna: A local coffee shop. Away from the distractions of home, I am most productive. I have a standing appointment to write there on my calendar for every Monday morning to get the week started out right.

What’s your go-to when you need a pick-me-up to keep writing?
Donna: A cup of coffee, usually around three in the afternoon.

Current book: Mail-Order Brides Collection
John Stewart needs a wife. Mary Johannson needs a home. On her way West, Mary falls in love with another. Now both must choose between commitment and true love.

Connect W/Donna
Website: www.HiStoryThruTheAges.wordpress.com, www.HiStoryThruTheAges.com
Facebook: www.Facebook.com/DonnaschlachterAuthor
Twitter: www.Twitter.com/DonnaSchlachter
Amazon: http://amzn.to/2ci5Xqq
Smashwords: http://bit.ly/2gZATjm

 

 

 

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