Linda Hall Interview with Susan Sleeman
Q: Let me start with asking you to share the highlights of your professional writing career including the story of how you came to be published? I was fortunate that my very first novel was published by the very first publishing house I sent it to. This was way back in 1992. (It hasn't been that easy since!) That first book, The Josiah Files was published by Thomas Nelson and came out in 1993. It was a futuristic story set 200 years in the future. At that time Christian fiction was in its infancy and I had this idea that a Christian writer was 'allowed' to set a story in the present. It either had to be in the past or in the future. So, being inherently lazy and not wanting to do all the research required to write a historical, I set mine in the future where I just could make up things.
After it was published I got lots of letters (no emails at that time), from Science Fiction buffs, wanting more and more of this kind of book. I groaned at that, because I realized I couldn't keep writing books in a genre I didn't want to write in (Science fiction).
Plus, I really like mystery and thrillers way better than Science Fiction, so I made a decision. I would write mysteries. My first mystery, August Gamble was published by Bethel House in 1994.
Highlights of my career include my two Christy nominations, and the many awards I have won from The Word Guild (thewordguild.com), and also the RWA awards I have won.
One of my biggest thrills has been the many, many emails I received from abused women, most of them Christian, after the release of Sadie's Song. So many women emailed me saying that that book gave them the courage to finally leave their abusive husbands. I thank the Lord that he was able to use me in that way. I have heard that Sadie's Song is in many libraries in women's shelters across north America.
Q: What inspires you to write?
For me it's not a matter of being inspired. Writing is my career, it's what I love doing. It's what I can't not do. I don't need to be 'inspired' to write. I just need to sit down and write. I've been writing since I was a child. Prior to writing novels, I worked as a news reporter and feature writer.
Q: Christian Suspense is a growing and diverse genre right now. I started The Suspense Zone because I found it hard to locate Christian Suspense titles. You were one of the pioneers in the field and thankfully, I found your books early on. What changes have you seen in this genre and what do you see happening in the near future?
How lovely for you to say that! I think Christian suspense and mysteries are going to get better and better. Actually, I wish someone would answer this question for me, because I don't have any kind of a crystal ball to the future. (And how I wish I did!)
Q: I have read most of your books and your private investigator character Teri Blake-Addison, is one of my favorites. Any hope we will see her again?
I'm so glad you like Teri! She's one of my favorites too, and I have so many more Teri books I want to write. Unfortunately, the changeable nature of publishing companies has put her future up in the air - at this point. My agent is currently working on finding a place where she can come to life again. When people email me asking where she is, I just tell them she's still on her honeymoon.
Q: In both books of your Fog Point Series, Dark Water and Black Ice, I found your description of the area to be so vivid and real. I was especially taken with the winter scenes in Black Ice. Are you writing these scenes from first hand experience or research?
Oh yes! Living in Canada, I DO know winter. When you look outside of your front window and snow is blowing sideways you know you live in blizzard country.
And I love the coast. I adore the ocean. Sometimes I wonder if my readers will get tired of books set on or near the ocean, but still, water ends up being a theme in pretty much all my books. I'm pretty sure that in Heaven, my 'mansion' will be set right on the ocean, set high on the rocks.
Q: I was happy to see the cast of characters from Dark Water return for another book, Black Ice. In Dark Water I found Lenore Featherjohn to be a woman I didn't really want to know a whole lot more about due to her acerbic nature. I was surprised when I found her playing a lead role in Black Ice and even more surprised that I came to care about her as I read. What was your thinking behind the development of this character?
Everybody has a story, and everybody's story is important. To God there are no unimportant people. I wanted to look into the life of a woman who had raised sons that were sort of the no good ones in the community.
Q: Another lead player in Black Ice is Amy McLaren, the minister's wife. She is burdened with great doubt and a real life crisis that makes her far more human than many fictional minister's wives I've read in the past. Where did your inspiration for this character come from?
I grew up in a pastor's home. My mother is a pastor's wife. I've been close friends with many pastor's wives. I also wanted to write about doubt. It's something we as Christians don't talk about in polite company. We all keep our doubts to ourselves. In this book, I wanted them out in the open.
There is also another inspiration for this book, and this comes from the popular media. A few years ago I was watching Dr. Phil or Oprah (I can't remember which, at this point.). The program featured wives who had 'secrets' from their husbands. Most of the women were addicted to pain killers, or had affairs, etc. Well, as I watched this I thought, what is really good secret that a pastor's wife would keep to herself? Ah. A pastor's wife who doesn't believe in God anymore! There. I had my inspiration.
Q: Your spiritual messages are well integrated and woven into your plot. Do you have a spiritual theme you try to weave into all of your books or are they book specific?
I don't set out to add a spiritual message to my books. What I start with are characters, and usually the spiritual message comes from the characters and their struggles.
Q: In that vein, if your readers could take away only one message from Black Ice, what would that be?
God is a God of forgiveness and grace and great, great patience.
Q: What are you working on now?
I've been contracted to write three romantic suspense stories for Steeple Hill/Love Inspired Suspense. The first of that trilogy, Shadows in the Mirror will be released in October. That book is written, and I'm currently working on the second in that series, Shadows at the Window.
Just today I completed a mystery short story for an anthology. Also, I'm working on several proposals.
Q: What's God been doing in your life lately?
What a question this is for me this year! In January my father was diagnosed with inoperable cancer. He passed away April 4. So, the winter was mostly spent with my parents. As well, I've had various health problems of my own, in terms of a recurring back problem. And let's see, what else has been dropped in my lap? Career and publishing challenges big time, which I won't go into here. But all have conspired to make this a most difficult winter. Yet, through this all, I am beginning to see God's hand on my life. It's like he is telling me to be still. And listen. And wait.
A few weeks ago we were singing a contemporary hymn in church and I found myself stopping on the line, And while I wait I rise up like the eagles. I have sung this song many times, but it was the first time I noticed the lyrics. I wept as I sang it. I checked out that verse in Isaiah, and what it says is that during the waiting I can rise up - not after this horrible ordeal of a winter is over, but during it God gives wings to rise. Q: When you sit down to read for pleasure what authors do you choose?
I love a good mystery. Oh my goodness, there are so many authors that I enjoy: Ruth Rendell, Laura Lippman, Jane Kirkpatrick, John Irving, Dee Henderson, Mary Higgins Clark, Lisa Gardner, John Irving, Dean Koontz, Jonathan Kellerman, Stephen King, and the list goes on and on and on. I read a lot. More than a lot. My husband and I have chosen not to pay for cable television. So, since we only have three channels, we end up reading a lot.
Q: What authors have inspired your writing career?
I would have to say that one of the biggest influences on my life and writing career with Janette Oke. I lived for many years in Alberta and prior to my first novel being published, I had the opportunity to meet her and interview her for an article. I was so impressed with her life and ministry that I decided to go into Christian publishing when my manuscript was finished.. I've gotten to know Janette through the years and she is a woman of such integrity.
Another influence, also from Alberta, is Maxine Hancock.
Q: Any advice for an unpublished writer?
I have 6 words of advice: Read, read, read and write, write, write. Never stop reading, and never stop writing. I always encourage unpublished writers to read widely, and read everything. Also, write every day, even if it's only in your journal.
Q: Anything else you would like to tell our readers?
I love to hear from my readers, and my website is http://writerhall.com
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Romantic suspense author Susan Sleeman's books include High-Stakes Inheritance, a romantic suspense novel to be released in 2010 by Love Inspired Suspense an imprint of Steeple Hill Publishers and Nipped in the Bud, a cozy mystery coming soon from Barbour Publishing. Read more about Susan Sleeman |
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Susan Sleeman
is passionate about Christian Suspense as both a reader and a writer. She is the author of High-Stakes Inheritance, a romantic suspense novel to be released in September by Love Inspired Suspense an imprint of Steeple Hill Publishers and Nipped in the Bud, a romantic cozy mystery in October from Barbour Publishing.
Read more about Susan's. . .
Christian Suspense
To Die For
©2006-10
Susan Sleeman
Susan Sleeman
