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I
love hanging out with authors. Besides being a blessing and pure fun to
get to know the people who create the stories that I love, I am
fascinated by the process by which those tales arise. “Voices in their
heads,” uncooperative characters with minds and wills of their own, and
characters invading “real” life by impacting writers’ moods or even
their purchases at the grocery store are often common threads in
conversations with authors; however, the point—sometimes obscure—at
which the seed of an idea sprouts to become a book has always piqued my
interest.
At the recent International
Christian Retailers Show (ICRS) in Orlando, Florida, I had the
privilege of interviewing several authors about their latest or
upcoming novels. I was intrigued to learn how their stories were
birthed.
Jocelyn Green, Wedded
to War (Moody, July 2012)
 While in Gettysburg
researching
their archives, I read diaries, journals, and letters from women who
were there after the battle. Lots of civilians and nurses came to help.
One of those nurses, Georgeanna Woolsey, is the historical figure that
Charlotte Waverly is based on. Reading these primary sources is not
like reading a history textbook. The handwritten account by these real
women comes to life. It doesn’t feel like it was 150 years ago! It was
very dramatic and emotionally moving. When I got home I did all the
research I could on Georgeanna Woolsey, because she gave up so much
wealth in New York City to become a nurse and endured horrible
conditions. In the early years of the Civil War, it seemed like the
North was losing, so she gave up a lot for a cause that might not have
won. I thought that someone should write this as a novel. I didn’t
think it would be me!
Colleen Coble, Tidewater
Inn (Thomas Nelson, July 2012)
 I was standing in the harbor
at
St. Croix and spotted a harbor camera right there. I called my parents
and said, “Here’s the u-r-l; get on the computer and we’ll wave at you
from the harbor cam.” Of course, with my twisted brain, as I was waving
and calling, “Hi, Mother! Hello, Dad,” I thought, What if
something happened to me right in front of them, where they couldn’t do
anything about it thousands of miles away? That was the
jumping-off place where that story came from. Also, I’m very interested
in historic preservation so it was fun to have Libby interested in
that. We have an old Victorian house that we’ve restored, so I know so
much about that kind of stuff.
Dan Walsh, The
Reunion (Revell, September 2012)
 While researching an earlier
World War II book, I came across two different true stories that were
similar and really struck me. Two gentlemen did crazy, heroic things
that saved several lives during the war. They received the
Congressional Medal of Honor. Most who receive this medal do so
posthumously because they die doing their courageous deeds. These guys
came back and lived lives of virtual obscurity, one of them becoming a
custodian at the Air Force Academy for over twenty years.
A cadets did a research project
on the Congressional Medal of Honor winners and discovered that the
custodian, effectively invisible to the cadets and instructors, was a
recipient. That year at the academy graduation ceremony, they surprised
him by honoring him. He became a celebrity at the academy, yet he
retained his humbleness. I decided to write that story; however, I set
it in the Vietnam war.
Ronie Kendig, Trinity:
Military War Dog (Barbour, September 2012)
Growing
up, I read classics such as Where the Red Fern Grows, Lassie,
Old Yeller, and many more―stories of heart and loyalty. So it
was no surprise that I fell in love with a story sent via e-mail by a
dear friend. But the great irony was that the story was an incredibly
convincing and compelling hoax about a military war dog who lies in
wait, alone and knowing his handler has been taken captive. The dog
waits till darkness falls, then sneaks through
the night and saves his
handler by killing one of her captors then chewing the ropes that tied
his handler. They escape death by the fierce bond expressed through
these words by Lord Byron:
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The
poor dog, in life the
firmest friend.
The first to welcome, foremost to defend.
Curiosity propelled me down one
of the most adventurous paths I’d ever encountered. As I dug deeper
into the lives of these amazing military war dogs, I could not resist
the idea of a series focused on these furry, four-legged military
heroes. Thus was born the series A Breed Apart, which includes Trinity:
Military War Dog.
Martha Rogers (work
in progress)
 My next series is set from 1865
to the 1880s, loosely based on the story of my great-grandparents. My
great-grandfather was captured in the Battle of Nashville, taken to
Point Lookout Prison in Maryland, and then released around the time of
the armistice. He then came home with his brother to Louisiana and
married my great-grandmother. We have been in the church where they
were married and have seen their marriage license! I thought that was
such a neat love story that I wanted to write it. I embellished to fill
in the gaps that we don’t know anything about. In the series, I write
about her sister then their daughter.
Anita Higman A
Merry Little Christmas (Summerside, October 2012)
 Set in the early 1960s, it’s a
little bit about Jim Crow, a little bit about falling in love, and a
little bit about two people colliding from very different worlds. The
heroine is an Oklahoma farmer’s daughter and the hero is extremely
wealthy. I grew up on an Oklahoma farm so I infused many scenes with
real-life farming activities. A scene where they are starting to fall
in love is when they’re birthing piglets! It’s so easy in romance to
get stuck in a cafe, sipping coffee or tea. I wanted to do something
really different so I thought, What if I open the novel with
her slopping hogs?
Debby Mayne, Waiting
for a View (The Bloomfield Series, B&H, July 2012)
 The idea for the Bloomfield
series, which is written by a community of eight authors, was actually
Tamela Hancock Murray’s idea (our agent). She sent it out to all of her
authors and said, “What do you all think?” A bunch of us latched on to
it. Some decided it wasn’t right for them, but the eight of us got
really excited about it.
The town of Bloomfield is full
of quirky characters of a variety of ages. You have your meddlesome
busybodies, and the Garden Club runs the town. Most of the books have
some romance in them. It includes widows and some divorced characters
(which happened before the stories), as well as those who have never
been married, and children. The characters love to get involved in one
another’s lives. The president of the Garden Club is an eccentric woman
who has her nails done according to the season. During the winter, she
might have snowflakes on her nails.
In July she’s likely to have
red, white, and blue fingernails. Naomi is my favorite character in all
my stories. She’s not the main character, but she takes over sometimes.
She’s pushing eighty but she’s spry and gets involved in everybody’s
business. Past president of the Garden Club, she believes she can do
whatever she wants. The current president is about twenty years younger
than she is. They clash yet work well together when push comes to
shove, especially when it comes to matchmaking. I can’t forget the
parrot named Murray (named after our agent), a bad birdie who does all
kinds of naughty things. The bird is outspoken and usually says the
wrong thing at the wrong time.
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