Interview with Lorena McCourtney by Susan Sleeman
Hi, Lorena. Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions.
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 guess my publishing career actually started way back in high school when I sold an article called "Dad Has Plans" to a magazine then known as The Alaska Sportsman. At sixteen, it's a heady feeling to see your words in print!
It was a long time, however, before I saw my name on a book. I wrote many children's and teenage short stories until I felt a generation gap and changed to writing women's short stories. I then went with an agent who encouraged me to write romances (Harlequin, Silhouette, etc), which I did for several years before changing to Christian romances. One more change and I'm now writing Christian mysteries with just a smidgen of romance. I think the concept of "branding" with an author is valid, but sometimes you need to move on.
Q. What inspires you to write?
I consider writing my job and, like any job, I don't wait for inspiration. I just do it. If you view writing as a career, I think you may be in trouble if you have to wait for inspiration to get going. Just do it!
Q. I just finished reading My Chariot Awaits and keep thinking about the premise of the book. Very imaginative. How did you invent the plot involving your main character, Andi McConnell inheriting a limo?
An amateur sleuth needs to be involved in some kind of occupation or lifestyle where she's meeting new people and getting involved in new situations that may bring her into contact with murder. Running a limo service struck me as a good possibility, but then I had to figure out a way for Andi to acquire a limo since this isn't something the average person would just go out and buy. So Andi inherited hers - and found herself sleuthing when that dead body soon showed up in the trunk.
Q. How did you come up with Andi's full name? Great introduction of her name in the book, btw. I loved the humor.
I named her Andi simply because the name popped into my head. I then realized this was an unlikely name for someone in her generation, and the origin of the full name simply grew naturally out of her father's character and WW II experiences.
Q. Speaking of humor, your write your characters with a great deal of humor. Would you describe yourself as employing humor in your life?
I see humor as getting us through a good many difficult times in life, a better way to cope with difficulties than anger. I think the ability to laugh together (often at ourselves) is what has helped keep my own marriage together for 34 years.
Q. Andi McConnell finds herself in a few outrageous situations in the book. What is the craziest thing you've ever done? Answer only if you want us to know. LOL
Andi is rather more adventurous than I am, which tends to put her in more outrageous situations than I get into.
Q. When I first picked up one of your Ivy Malone titles, Stranded, I wondered if I would be drawn into a book about an older character as this age group is not often found in suspense books. As I read, I connected with Ivy and in Your Chariot Awaits, I too, enjoyed following Andi on her mystery trail. Did you actively say when you set out to write these older women, how do I write them to appeal to all ages?
Basically, I just write a character I like, someone I think would be fun to have as a friend. Someone who is open to new ideas and experiences. Someone who is capable of being friends with people of all different ages. I see kids today as being a lot different than when I was that age, but I get enthusiastic e-mails from girls as young as eleven and realize that inside perhaps they aren't all that different after all.
Q. I noticed that My Chariot Awaits is published by Thomas Nelson. Does this mean we will not be seeing any more of the fun trips with Ivy Malone in your mystery series published by Baker?
I'm sad to say there won't be any more Ivy Malone books. I'd intended this as a longer series, so I was surprised and disappointed when I learned rather tardily that the publisher's policy is to do only 3-4 books in a series.
Q. If Your Chariot Awaits was turned into a movie, who would you see playing Andi? Oh, and Jerry. Who would Jerry?
I'm more interested in knowing who my readers would see playing Andi and Jerry. And Fitz! Who would play Fitz?
Q. One of the things I enjoyed most about Your Chariot Awaits is the relationship between 60 year old Andi and her young pregnant neighbor, Joella. On the surface, the age difference between the two seemed like they might have a mother daughter relationship, yet you do an excellent job at portraying them as friends. How did you keep Andi from mothering Joella?
Although Andi is both a mother and grandmother, she doesn't see herself as a particularly motherly sort of person. I guess I took this from my own personality. (Don't writers always stick bits of themselves in their characters?) I have friends of all ages, and I see them as friends, not people I need to mother.
Q. What are you working on now?
Five books are planned in the Andi McConnell series, spaced about nine months apart. I'm a slow writer, so getting these five books done occupies my full time. Book #2, tentatively titled Here Comes the Ride, is finished and scheduled for release in May '08. So I'm starting on Book #3 now. No title as yet. As usual at the start of any new book, I feel as if I'm standing in a deep pit looking up at a mountaintop way up there, a rather misty mountaintop. That mountaintop is the end of the book, and somehow I have to climb that mountain in the next few months.
Q.What's God been doing in your life lately?
God is often doing things in my life, but I often don't recognize this until much later. At the time it just seems as if I'm slogging along a steep and muddy road, but eventually I usually see that God was working in there.
One thing He's done recently is move us from our rural home of many years to a place in town. A move I did not want to make and resisted with much grumbling and foot dragging. But now, after it's all done, I find that I like living in town just fine. Which perhaps might be equated to moving from this life on into eternity - a move we tend to resist strenuously but will eventually prove to be just fine.
Q.When you sit down to read for pleasure what authors do you choose?
Actually, I tend to read whatever happens to come my way. What someone gives me or another author or a publisher sends. What I pick up on the 50 cent table at a yard sale. Lately I've been reading some historical non-fiction that was in my mother's library when she died. There are authors I enjoy more than others, but I don't usually go out of my way to read any particular author.
Q. What authors have inspired your writing career?
I think every author I've ever read has had a smidgen of influence, but I can't point to any specific author that had a big influence. I loved Zane Gray as a girl, but I've never written anything even remotely like what he wrote.
Q. Any advice for an unpublished writer?
Read, read, read! Study what you read and figure out why you do or don't like it. And hang in there. I still think persistence counts for more than talent. (Although I admit I sometimes question this when I see someone new make an instant leap to the top.)
Q. One of the things I struggle with as a writer is where to start my books. How do you make the decision on where to begin a story?
Well, truth is, I struggle with this too. Looking at other mysteries, I see that I tend to start further back than many of them. I just can't seem to manage getting the murder into the first chapter. But I've read some stories that jump right into the action and I find myself bewildered rather than intrigued. So I like to take a little time and space to set the stage, often to let the reader get acquainted with the victim before the murder takes place.
Q. Christian Suspense is a growing and diverse genre right now. What changes have you seen in this genre since you started writing and what do you see happening in the near future?
I see that Christian suspense is getting considerably grittier, although I don't see myself going in that direction. I like writing cozies, and I especially enjoy the humor and occasionally outrageous situations that this genre allows.
Q. Anything else you would like to tell our readers?
Authors like to hear from readers! I like connecting with a real person, not just a generic "reader." There's nothing like hearing from someone who's enjoyed one of my books, one of the greatest joys of writing.
Hi, Lorena. Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions.
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 guess my publishing career actually started way back in high school when I sold an article called "Dad Has Plans" to a magazine then known as The Alaska Sportsman. At sixteen, it's a heady feeling to see your words in print!
It was a long time, however, before I saw my name on a book. I wrote many children's and teenage short stories until I felt a generation gap and changed to writing women's short stories. I then went with an agent who encouraged me to write romances (Harlequin, Silhouette, etc), which I did for several years before changing to Christian romances. One more change and I'm now writing Christian mysteries with just a smidgen of romance. I think the concept of "branding" with an author is valid, but sometimes you need to move on.
Q. What inspires you to write?
I consider writing my job and, like any job, I don't wait for inspiration. I just do it. If you view writing as a career, I think you may be in trouble if you have to wait for inspiration to get going. Just do it!
Q. I just finished reading My Chariot Awaits and keep thinking about the premise of the book. Very imaginative. How did you invent the plot involving your main character, Andi McConnell inheriting a limo?
An amateur sleuth needs to be involved in some kind of occupation or lifestyle where she's meeting new people and getting involved in new situations that may bring her into contact with murder. Running a limo service struck me as a good possibility, but then I had to figure out a way for Andi to acquire a limo since this isn't something the average person would just go out and buy. So Andi inherited hers - and found herself sleuthing when that dead body soon showed up in the trunk.
Q. How did you come up with Andi's full name? Great introduction of her name in the book, btw. I loved the humor.
I named her Andi simply because the name popped into my head. I then realized this was an unlikely name for someone in her generation, and the origin of the full name simply grew naturally out of her father's character and WW II experiences.
Q. Speaking of humor, your write your characters with a great deal of humor. Would you describe yourself as employing humor in your life?
I see humor as getting us through a good many difficult times in life, a better way to cope with difficulties than anger. I think the ability to laugh together (often at ourselves) is what has helped keep my own marriage together for 34 years.
Q. Andi McConnell finds herself in a few outrageous situations in the book. What is the craziest thing you've ever done? Answer only if you want us to know. LOL
Andi is rather more adventurous than I am, which tends to put her in more outrageous situations than I get into.
Q. When I first picked up one of your Ivy Malone titles, Stranded, I wondered if I would be drawn into a book about an older character as this age group is not often found in suspense books. As I read, I connected with Ivy and in Your Chariot Awaits, I too, enjoyed following Andi on her mystery trail. Did you actively say when you set out to write these older women, how do I write them to appeal to all ages?
Basically, I just write a character I like, someone I think would be fun to have as a friend. Someone who is open to new ideas and experiences. Someone who is capable of being friends with people of all different ages. I see kids today as being a lot different than when I was that age, but I get enthusiastic e-mails from girls as young as eleven and realize that inside perhaps they aren't all that different after all.
Q. I noticed that My Chariot Awaits is published by Thomas Nelson. Does this mean we will not be seeing any more of the fun trips with Ivy Malone in your mystery series published by Baker?
I'm sad to say there won't be any more Ivy Malone books. I'd intended this as a longer series, so I was surprised and disappointed when I learned rather tardily that the publisher's policy is to do only 3-4 books in a series.
Q. If Your Chariot Awaits was turned into a movie, who would you see playing Andi? Oh, and Jerry. Who would Jerry?
I'm more interested in knowing who my readers would see playing Andi and Jerry. And Fitz! Who would play Fitz?
Q. One of the things I enjoyed most about Your Chariot Awaits is the relationship between 60 year old Andi and her young pregnant neighbor, Joella. On the surface, the age difference between the two seemed like they might have a mother daughter relationship, yet you do an excellent job at portraying them as friends. How did you keep Andi from mothering Joella?
Although Andi is both a mother and grandmother, she doesn't see herself as a particularly motherly sort of person. I guess I took this from my own personality. (Don't writers always stick bits of themselves in their characters?) I have friends of all ages, and I see them as friends, not people I need to mother.
Q. What are you working on now?
Five books are planned in the Andi McConnell series, spaced about nine months apart. I'm a slow writer, so getting these five books done occupies my full time. Book #2, tentatively titled Here Comes the Ride, is finished and scheduled for release in May '08. So I'm starting on Book #3 now. No title as yet. As usual at the start of any new book, I feel as if I'm standing in a deep pit looking up at a mountaintop way up there, a rather misty mountaintop. That mountaintop is the end of the book, and somehow I have to climb that mountain in the next few months.
Q.What's God been doing in your life lately?
God is often doing things in my life, but I often don't recognize this until much later. At the time it just seems as if I'm slogging along a steep and muddy road, but eventually I usually see that God was working in there.
One thing He's done recently is move us from our rural home of many years to a place in town. A move I did not want to make and resisted with much grumbling and foot dragging. But now, after it's all done, I find that I like living in town just fine. Which perhaps might be equated to moving from this life on into eternity - a move we tend to resist strenuously but will eventually prove to be just fine.
Q.When you sit down to read for pleasure what authors do you choose?
Actually, I tend to read whatever happens to come my way. What someone gives me or another author or a publisher sends. What I pick up on the 50 cent table at a yard sale. Lately I've been reading some historical non-fiction that was in my mother's library when she died. There are authors I enjoy more than others, but I don't usually go out of my way to read any particular author.
Q. What authors have inspired your writing career?
I think every author I've ever read has had a smidgen of influence, but I can't point to any specific author that had a big influence. I loved Zane Gray as a girl, but I've never written anything even remotely like what he wrote.
Q. Any advice for an unpublished writer?
Read, read, read! Study what you read and figure out why you do or don't like it. And hang in there. I still think persistence counts for more than talent. (Although I admit I sometimes question this when I see someone new make an instant leap to the top.)
Q. One of the things I struggle with as a writer is where to start my books. How do you make the decision on where to begin a story?
Well, truth is, I struggle with this too. Looking at other mysteries, I see that I tend to start further back than many of them. I just can't seem to manage getting the murder into the first chapter. But I've read some stories that jump right into the action and I find myself bewildered rather than intrigued. So I like to take a little time and space to set the stage, often to let the reader get acquainted with the victim before the murder takes place.
Q. Christian Suspense is a growing and diverse genre right now. What changes have you seen in this genre since you started writing and what do you see happening in the near future?
I see that Christian suspense is getting considerably grittier, although I don't see myself going in that direction. I like writing cozies, and I especially enjoy the humor and occasionally outrageous situations that this genre allows.
Q. Anything else you would like to tell our readers?
Authors like to hear from readers! I like connecting with a real person, not just a generic "reader." There's nothing like hearing from someone who's enjoyed one of my books, one of the greatest joys of writing.
©2006-09
Susan Sleeman
Susan Sleeman
is the author of Nipped in the Bud, available May of 2009 from Heartsong Presents: Mysteries, an imprint of Barbour Publishing.
