David James Warren interview

Q: Let me start with asking you to tell us a little bit about yourself.
Susie- Hmm. I’m a wife of an amazing man, a mom to four brilliant adult children, a swing dancer, a scuba diver, a Do It Yourself home remodeler, a writing coach and teacher, and I write novels. Lots of novels. I love to write, and my average output is 5 novels a year. I’m constantly trying to stretch myself as a novelist, which is why I loved writing the male, 1st person POV of Rembrandt Stone!

Jim- I’m married to the most remarkable woman in the universe. Granted, I haven’t visited the entire universe, but based on what I’ve seen so far, it’s true. I have two outstanding adult sons, two cats, co-own a writing academy, write novels and narrate novels and I love the outdoors and sports and sleight of hand magic.

David- This is my first novel and getting it all the way to publication has been a real whirlwind. A little bit about me? I love puppies and long walks in the rain. Actually, I do love rain, but I suppose that a lot of people do. If they don’t live in Seattle. I’ve been helping Susan May Warren with her novels for a long time. It is so fantastic to be able to put my name on this one, and to be a part of a fun and fulfilling project.

Q: When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?
Susie- As with all writers, I’ve been writing for as long as I can remember. I wrote my first novel at age 14, but I never seriously considered being a novelist. After all, that was for the special people, the lucky people. Not us earthlings. Instead, I followed God’s call to become a missionary and moved to Russia to plant churches. While there, I was writing newsletters and articles and the old desire in my heart began to surface. My husband was often gone late into the night, and I was home with the 4 kiddos…so I wrote for my own enjoyment. Eventually, (2 years and 3 finished novels later), I decided to ask…what if I tried to get published? I won a writing contest shortly thereafter and about a year later landed my first book contract.

Jim- Seventh grade. I read the Chronicles of Narnia and knew someday I wanted to try to do for others what Lewis did for me. But it was dream I buried for a long, long time. Fear, you know? What would I have to dream about if I attempted the dream and it didn’t come true? It’s one of the most profound lessons I’ve learned on this writing journey. You have to try! No regrets. So (due to my wife going on a fast) I started trying in early 2000, finished that novel in 2005 and it was published in 2010.

David- One of our endorsers on Cast the First Stone is Ted Dekker. I remember reading his books as a teenager, and just being enthralled. Then, during a writing conference in Denver, I went with my mom (Susie) and met him. That’s what made me want to be a writer. Ted was so down to earth, and interested in talking to me. I realized that writing was something that could flow out of you, and I had it in me. You just have to sit down and do the work.

Q: Could you give us the highlights of your professional writing career including how you got your first writing break?
Susie-I was still in Russia when I heard about a writing contest that Tyndale was hosting to find new authors. I had already written a story about a missionary who was trapped in an elevator in Siberia who finds, when the doors open, her old flame standing on the other side (her rescuer! And yes, it was based on an actual event!). I sent in that story to the contest…and WON. They asked if I had anything else and I created a proposal and sent it to them. They loved it, bought it and about then we moved home to a tiny town in Minnesota to put our kids into school stateside (and for other reasons). I joined ACFW, attended their first conference and sold 6 novels at the conference. From that year on, I just kept writing

Jim- As I mentioned, I finished my first novel, Rooms, at the end of 2005; went to a writing conference in spring of 2006. Met a man at the conference who became my first agent and he shopped my novel in the fall of ’06. Everyone rejected it, but one editor loved the story and wanted it, but since I was an unknown, and he was just getting his fiction line going, he told us to bring it back to him in six months. I sat down with him 12 months later and he said he’d read 200 manuscripts since he’s read mine, and mine was the one he couldn’t get out of his head. So he took another run at it with his publishing board and it sold.
After getting started, my big dream was to win a Christy Award. If only! And now I’ve won five and am in the Christy Hall of Fame. Big highlight. But the biggest highlight is when I got an email from a reader telling me one of my stories kept him from taking his own life.

David- Since this is my first writing break, that is a bit of a tricky one. The highlight for me has been one of two moments in this process. The first is the initial brainstorming of the story. Susie and I went out to visit Jim, (and that journey deserves its own book!), and we spent a week brainstorming all six Rembrandt Stone stories. Each night I’d go to bed feeling like every drop of story had been wrung from me. But I’m super proud of what we’ve managed to distill from that. The second moment came during the drafting of book 5. The True Lies of Rembrandt Stone is an interconnected series, and due to the time-travel aspect of it, we decided that we wanted to get everything right. So we have drafts of all 6 books (the entire series is coming out this year wink wink nudge nudge). In book 5 we were really stumped. Really stumped. Sometimes characters just work their way into a corner that we can’t help them out of. And finally, after a while of soul searching and noodling, Susan and I came up with the same idea, essentially the same time. That was a beautiful eureka moment.

Q: Would you tell us about your current book release, Cast the First Stone?
It’s the story of Rembrandt Stone, an ex-detective who solves a cold case that haunts him by time traveling into the past. Here’s a longer description:

One Case Haunts Him. One Chance to Fix the Past. One Mistake Could Cost Him Everything.

Ex-Minneapolis Police Detective Rembrandt Stone walked away from a career he loved—just the price of being sure he can come home to the wife and daughter he cherishes. But he can’t shake the deep regret over a cold case left behind.

When his mentor, the former Chief of Homicide dies and leaves Rembrandt with a box of cold case and a mysterious watch, he finds himself thrust in a world he recognizes—a world from twenty years ago—the same world he’s woken from in a cold sweat a hundred times. But is it a dream, or some kind of twisted reality?

If he solves the case that plagues him, and justice is finally served, will it destroy the life he loves?

Strap in for a mind-bending time travel thrill ride in Book One of the riveting new series, The True Lies of Rembrandt Stone.

Q: What is the main thing you hope readers remember from this story?
Susie- I love Rem’s voice, but mostly, I love the lessons he’s learning along the way. He struggles with regret–which most people do, and Rem has to figure out how to live in peace despite his regrets. It takes him 6 novels to figure it out, but from this story I hope readers see that regret has its purposes.

Jim- Hope. No matter what has happened, no matter how deep the regret, there is hope. Hope for reconciliation. For restoration. For the good choices of good men and women to make a difference in their lives and the lives around them.

David- I hope readers remember how dark things get, before the light. No matter how hopeless things seem, The True Lies of Rembrandt Stone is a story about hope and providence (and love and getting the bad guys). I hope that comes through. It’s grittier than a lot of Christian fiction. But I think the payoff is worth it. The deeper the valley, the higher the peak. And Rem ends up getting a lot of both.

Q: What inspires each of you to write?
Susie- Stories impact us. They encourage, inform and change lives. My life is better because of story, and I love to tell a great story about a character who moves us to think more deeply about our lives. This quest for discovery for more of life, more of truth, and a bigger view of our world is something that keeps me asking, what if? And then exploring the answers.

Jim- Wow, I’m not sure how to answer that. It’s like asking me what inspires me to eat or sleep. I have to write! Because story is what shapes the world in the most profound way possible. There’s a reason Jesus only used stories to communicate the great truths. There’s a reason fictitious movies are more popular than documentaries. Stories go to the heart. And I love telling stories that go to my reader’s hearts and change them forever.

David- Each story I write has a pivotal moment. A scene that is so poignant and special in my head, that I have to make it real. In this series, that comes in book 4, and I have no doubt that you will spot it when you see it. It’s gut-wrenching and compelling. Book 4 is my favorite for it, all though I must say that each time I read one, I’m convinced that it is my new favorite. I’m so proud of how it turned out.

Q: Would you share with us what each of you are working on now?
Susie- Since my part of The True Lies of Rembrandt Stone is finished, I’m working on a series about three brothers who return from war to find their family (and maybe the entire world!) in trouble…and of course, it’s up to them to save it.

Jim- I’m neck deep in voicing the audio versions of the six book Rembrandt series. As I write this I’m wrapping up book 2, No Unturned Stone. I’ve voiced a lot of books, but never first person and it turns out I absolutely love it! I’m not narrating about Rembrandt Stone, I am Rembrandt Stone.

David- Finishing the True Lies of Rembrandt Stone, and making sure all 6 books come out on time, and as phenomenal as they can be is my writing focus for now. Once that’s assure, the babies are out the door, then I’ll think about where to cast my line next.

 Susie- I love diy home projects, and we just finished a massive renovation of our 1968 home. When I’m not redesigning and redecorating, I love to scuba dive, dance, read, make nummy food and take long walks on the beach.

Jim- Guitar, golf, water skiing, dirt biking, hiking, back packing, sleight of hand, wood working, photography, walks around the lake with Darci … yes, I definitely need to figure out how to clone myself.

David- Sometimes, if the story isn’t coming together, I just need to lay down on the floor, and give it a real good think. Susie knows that the characters are in trouble if she finds me laying on the floor of my office. I also love to cook. Making a tasty meal is just the relaxation I need at the end of a tough day.