Fiction Addict

We’re honored to feature Mike Dellosso in our Author Spotlight. Mike is the author of The Hunted, Scream, and the upcoming Darlington Woods.

You can listen to our interview with Mike here.

Mike Dellosso:

I was posed with the question, why do I write fiction? Let’s start big and work our way down.

I write because, like most writers, I suppose, I can’t not write. It’s my way of expressing myself, my way of sharing with anyone who will read what I write what’s in my head and on my heart. There’s a little man inside me with a big mouth and writing is my way of letting him have his say.

I write fiction because I believe in the power of story. I believe in its ability to take a reader and transport her to another time and another place and set her in another person’s shoes. I believe in the power of story to not just entertain, but to change a person’s life, or at least cause her to think about changing her life.

I write Christian fiction because I firmly believe it’s what I’ve been called to do. Look, I realize I’ve been given a great gift here, not just the writing itself but the opportunity to write, and I don’t want to blow it. I see it this way, there’s a great sea of people out there—writers—millions of them, just itching to let their voice be heard, and God chose to hand the megaphone to me. And with it He said, “Mike, this is your chance, your opportunity, what are you going to say?” I don’t take what I’ve been given for granted for one second; I take it very seriously. So when I write I write with purpose. I want my writing to matter. I look at every book I write as quite possibly the last book I’ll ever write and I want to make it really count. I don’t write fiction just for Christians, I write fiction with a Christian message for everyone, a message of hope and redemption and salvation, a message of changed lives and regenerated hearts. For me, that’s what it’s all about, that’s the core of why I write.

I write Christian suspense fiction because, let’s face it, life is suspenseful and scary. Monsters are real and we face them every day. Villains are all around us, scheming and conniving to inflict us with fear and harm us. No, I’m not paranoid and I’m not delusional. I’ve seen the scary side of life and I’ve battled monsters. I’ve known fear and uncertainty on a first name basis (for me, it goes by Cancer). I know it’s all very real and very scary and very suspenseful.

So now you know most of what is in my head regarding why I do what I do. For the rest of the story, follow my blog at www.mikedellosso.blogspot.com or visit my website, www.mikedellosso.com.

Jake Chism recently caught up with mother and daughter writing team, Brandilyn and Amberly Collins. In our interview they discuss The Rayne Tour series, writing in the Young Adult market, and what it was like to work together. A special thank you goes out to both Brandilyn and Amberly for taking the time to chat with us.

More about Brandilyn and Amberly:

Brandilyn Collins, known for her trademark Seatbelt Suspense®, is the bestselling author of Violet Dawn, Coral Moon, Crimson Eve, Eyes of Elisha, and many other novels. She has written twenty-one books.

Amberly Collins is a junior in college in Long Beach, California, majoring in marketing. She’s active in her Alpha Phi sorority and dotes on her Yorkie puppy, Bear.

This interview can also be downloaded from our iTunes page.

Visit Brandilyn’s Web site at www.brandilyncollins.com.

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We recently asked author Ace Collins to share his experience of transitioning from non-fiction to fiction. Enjoy!

Ace Collins:

For three decades I had been exclusively a nonfiction author. Writing about four books a year left me little time to dip into anything else. Yet during this period of my life, I was always jotting down ideas and concepts for novels. By the time Zondervan fiction editor Andy Meisenheimer chatted with me about my attempting a novel for them, I had more than twenty outlines in my files. As I had always dreamed of writing a novel, it took very little convincing for me to jump into the new genre.

One of the things that made the transition easier was that I have always been a storyteller. The most consistent line I read in reviews of my nonfiction projects was, “It’s like sitting down at the table and having Ace tell you a story.” So in that sense, my writing style had been preparing for the move for years. Yet writing fiction is about more than style. It was a few other gifts I had been given that assured me I was ready to make that move.

One of my early editors in magazine work had instructed me to think of each story I wrote as a television movie. He had me picture the main scenes, find the strongest visual, and begin at that point to tell a story that read like a motion picture. This was the kind of advice that not only worked well in doing “Drama in Real Life” features, but in visualizing and producing a work of fiction. Without the vision Ric Cox gave me, the transition would have been much more difficult and I might have hesitated.

Another thing that prepared me for the jump into the genre was a background in sports. Sports are all about starting and restarting. They are about finding a rhythm and staying the course. Preparing to play games is also about embracing self-discipline. Sports combine fundamental skills with imagination. Sports teach that paying attention to the little details is the difference between winning and losing. Discipline, fundamentals and details are important in writing fiction as well. Hence, I had to have them anchored inside me before I made that move and my nonfiction work provided them in large doses.

There is another thing my athletic background gave to me as well. In sports I learned that an individual is only as successful as his team. In writing the team consists of everyone who has directed and encouraged you, coupled to editors, publicists, artists, designers, the sales department and members of author relations. I learned over my years of writing that those folks are vital to having success. Thus, when I finally made the move to fiction, I was ready to listen to them and plug their advice into the project. I was more than willing to be a part of their team. As I had written many books for Zondervan’s nonfiction side that had been successful, I was trusted the group completely. Having a team behind you trust and will listen to means you can pick up new skills in a hurry.

Yet to fully answer the question as to why it was important for me to take a detour from an area where I had been successful and dive into a world that was new to me goes back to the fundamental nature of who I am. I am a storyteller and a person who loves new challenges. The perfect place to use these attributes is in fiction.

I am so glad I made the move because I so enjoy being a part of a genre that allows me to create entertainment that contains an underlying message. In a sense, nonfiction works come from just the opposite viewpoint — you push the message first. So I relish the chance to have no limits placed upon creativity, to be able to soar as high as my imagination will take me and to have characters that reflect people who fascinate me. That is what makes this kind of writing so compelling and that is why I made the move.

Don’t miss our interview with Ace Collins.

Travis Thrasher is truly one of our favorite authors and recently he shared some poignant thoughts on what makes him tick as a novelist. Enjoy!

I don’t write for money even though it sure comes in handy when paying the bills.

I don’t write for reviews though I love seeing good ones and learn something (well usually) when seeing bad ones.

I don’t write to see my name in print even though it still never does get old.

I don’t write to do book signings. In fact, if I never did another book signing I don’t think I’d miss the agony of being stared at like I have the bubonic plague.

I don’t write for fame and fortune because there are ten million other better ways to find them.

I write for myself.

Sounds selfish, I know. But that’s how it started as a lonely kid writing for himself.

Here are some other reasons I write.

I write in order to make sense of some small part of life. Perhaps it’s tackling a large theme, or wrestling with a question I might have, or exploring a character I find intriguing. Each of my stories is an attempt to try and understand something a little better.

I write out of fear. I write out my fears. I have so many and I try to exorcise them, whether it’s through a love story or a story about exorcisms. Fear creates drama, which is crucial to create conflict which is crucial for a story. I guess having fears in my life isn’t necessarily a bad thing, not when it comes to writing.

I write out of joy. Joy for life and those I love. Joy in the beauty of things big and small. Joy out of surprise. I try to fill in the gaps of stories full of fear with small bits of pleasure. The pleasure of love or of life.

I write to be moved the same way I’ve been moved time and time again. Reading takes me somewhere else, somewhere far away. I used to love this as a child and I still love it now. The only difference now is that I view a story through different filters, those of someone “older” and “wiser” (older, yes, but wiser?). I write to try and do the same thing—to take readers away and to ultimately move them. To evoke both fear and joy in the reader, to help them understand something, to help move them to an emotion through my pages.

I write out of hope. This doesn’t mean that every story and every page I write needs to share the GOSPEL MESSAGE OF JESUS CHRIST! But there is only one hope I have and it ultimately does rest in God the Father and the Son He graciously sent down to earth to save us all. I try to show that—sometimes in a major way, sometimes in subtle way. I’m sure I don’t get it right and I’m sure that others would prefer less or more. But once again, I write for myself first and foremost, trying to write the story I have to tell, trying to share something I need to share.

Why do I write? Because I have to. Like every other writer out there, I write because I need to.

Writing is a wonderful, miraculous, and wacky thing. To be paid to do it is truly wonderful. To hear that I’m doing it well is truly miraculous. And to try and figure it out (or to try and understand the publishing world)—well that’s just plain wacky.

My hope is that this desire that fills me daily never leaves. I don’t think it will.

For more info about Travis and his novels you can check out his website and follow him on Twitter.

With only two novels under her belt, Tosca Lee has quickly established herself as an author not to be missed. Her debut novel, Demon: A Memoir, wowed us with its unique look behind the veil of spiritual warfare. Havah:The Story of Eve is a fascinating look into the life of the first Woman and Man that is simply impossible to put down.

Recently Tosca signed a three book contract with B&H publishing. Her next book will cover the life of Judas Isacriot and is scheduled for a 2011 release. More about the author:

Tosca Lee received her BA in English and International Relations from Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. She has also studied at Oxford University.

As a Leadership Consultant, Tosca regularly works with managers and leaders of organizations throughout the Pan-Pacific region, Europe, and the U.S.

Tosca is a former Mrs. Nebraska-America 1996, Mrs. Nebraska-United States 1998 and first runner-up to Mrs. United States and has been lauded nationally for her efforts to fight breast cancer.

In her spare time, Tosca enjoys cooking, studying history and theology, and traveling. She currently resides in Nebraska with her Shar Pei, Attila.

Tosca also enjoys modeling part time.

WHY I WRITE FICTION by Tosca Lee

The short answer: I’m not sure I can’t.

For as long as I’ve been reading or, before that, listening to stories (so basically, since I was old enough to speak), I’ve lived with one foot in this world and another somewhere in that Place Where Stories Happen. (I’ve recently named that place “Nabutabi”—blurted out one day in talking with my beau, who just nodded.)

I’ve never liked leaving that place. When I was younger, I wrote all kinds of additional scenes to Lord Valentine’s Castle and The Mists of Avalon and Star Wars (writing myself right into Luke Skywalker’s X-Wing and then his arms, in fact). I hated the feeling of being orphaned back in this world after the story was done.

Apparently (or at least, according to my family), I’ve always been a tad melodramatic. I’m not sure I really agree with that; I’d say that there’s always been some kind of amplifier on my filter, which makes things seem somehow more magical, more dangerous, more significant, or more mysterious to me than to Nabutabi non-citizens.

There’s more. There’s the Narration Thing. I tend to narrate life in my head, prose style. Sometimes I read pages in my sleep. I see conversations in paragraph form, complete with quote marks.

I know.

It gets worse; there’s the Compulsive Thing. Being without paper or pen turns me into a mumbling Rainman. That is to say, it really bothers me, because I need to get stuff on paper, even if I never use it.

When I talk to writer’s groups, students, or aspiring authors and they ask for my best writing advice, it is always: “Don’t do it.”

There are two reasons for this—first, if you can avoid it, then maybe you should. Fiction, especially, is not a good way to stay focused, remember things or chase normalcy, and definitely no way to become rich no matter what people think. Nor is it a good way to eat well, sleep well, or stay in shape.

The second is that there’s plenty of competition already. So go on, shoo.

But if you really can’t help it, if you, too, are surrounded by scrawled-upon envelopes and notes written in the margins of receipts and church bulletins, if you visualize speech and see the More in everything around you… well then. Welcome to Nabutabi.

You can find out more about Tosca Lee on her website.

Welcome to our Author Spotlight! This is where you can find guest blogs from a vast array of writers. We’re thrilled that bestselling novelist Robert Liparulo is joining us for the Fiction Addict launch.

Robert Liparulo is a former journalist, with over a thousand articles and multiple writing awards to his name. Currently, three of his novels for adults are in various stages of development for the big screen: the film rights to Comes a Horseman were purchased by the producer of Tom Clancy’s movies; and Liparulo is penning the screenplays for Germ and Deadfall for two top producers. He is also working with the director Andrew Davis (The Fugitive, Holes) on a political thriller. Liparulo’s bestselling young adult series, Dreamhouse Kings, debuted last year with House of Dark Shadows and Watcher in the Woods. Book three, Gatekeepers released in January, and number four, Timescape, is in stores now. He is currently working on his next thriller, which for the first time injects a bit of the supernatural into his gun-blazing stories. The story is so compelling, two Hollywood studios are already in talks to acquire it—despite its publication date being more than a year away.

Why I Write Fiction

By Robert Liparulo

Stories are powerful, fascinating things. Good ones transcend cultures and even time. They mirror our emotions and lives. They show us, vividly, the world in which we live and how to navigate through it. They are sad and joyous, enlightening and, ultimately, thrilling.

I love stories, always have. I remember teachers as far back as elementary school telling my parents that my “learning style” was through stories. Laying out a mathematical equation and telling me someday I would need it just didn’t work. Put the same equation into a story (the old “One train leaves the station at 2:11 and travels at 90 miles an hours . . .”) —and bingo! Got it! I learned about hard work through Dickens, tenaciousness through Hemingway, the unfairness of life through Steinbeck (as if Dickens didn’t offer enough of that, too), the wonder of imagination through Tolkien and Heinlein and Bradbury.

My love for stories didn’t stop with books. Like Xander, the teenage protagonist of my Dreamhouse Kings series, I’m a lifelong movie buff. Before video tapes, I’d set an 8mm camera in front of the TV to capture movies. I use to host showings of movies in my parents’ basement. At 13, I started The Cinema Company, which purchased stills, posters and press kits from theaters and resold them to fans around the country. At 14, I made a documentary on the social impact of Jaws, which found its way onto a few PBS stations.

Of course, I was a comic book nut as well: Superman, Batman, Tales from the Crypt. I LOVED Plop!, which gave me my first glimpse of what happens when horror and humor have babies. I’m thrilled to be a friend of Larry Hama, who wrote the best of the Wolverine and G.I. Joe comics. Our conversations are naturally laced with stories: It happened like this . . . I love the way this author pulls you in by doing this . . . what do you think of this story idea . . . . He’s a man after my own heart.

Going a little deeper, where did my inclination toward stories come from in the first place? I like to think that’s just the way I was wired. But then I think of my mother. She is an incredible storyteller. Every trip to the grocery story or bank results in an elaborate tale of some crazy driver or someone who tripped, spilling a bag of whatever everywhere . . . it’s how she communicates, and that must have rubbed off.

No doubt this early and long fascination—obsession?—with stories shaped the direction of my writing. Even so, I can pinpoint the exact moment I vowed to become a novelist. When I was 12, I read Richard Matheson’s I Am Legend. For about half the book, the main character, Robert Neville, tries to get a sick dog inside his home. When he finally does, he spends the night nursing it and recognizing it as one of the last living things not affected by the virus that had wiped out humankind. Stroking the dog, he recalls the way things used to be. Then came last line of the chapter: “In the morning the dog was dead.” Not only was the dog cool, its death was symbolic of the death of life as it had once been. I started crying, and I thought, If words—WORDS!—can make a pretty tough 12-year-old kid cry, imagine their power. I want to do that.

What’s puzzling is how I ended up in journalism and magazine writing. Oh, I know why I started writing nonfiction, having to do with the short story market drying up as publications cut pages and sought brand-named authors whose monikers sold issues. But like the memory of your first kiss, fiction stayed in my heart and deep in my subconscious. Even my articles worked in stories: Bruce Springsteen didn’t just give audiences everything he had, he “came off the stage as out of a downpour. His clothes clung to him like wet leaves, his hair wild and dripping . . .”

Until finally, I came back to my first love. I didn’t want to be a seventy-year-old man in a rocker, daydreaming of the one that got away. I started getting up at three in the morning to work on a novel. At eight or nine, I’d return to my day job, writing nonfiction. I did that everyday for almost a year. What came out of it was my first published novel, Comes a Horseman. Eventually, its success allowed me write novels fulltime, and eight books later (after Horseman, came Germ, Deadfall, Deadlock, and the Dreamhouse series), I’m in storytelling heaven. I can only hope my passion for story—cultivated over a lifetime—comes through in every one I tell.

As for why my fiction leans toward thrillers and adventure . . . well, that’s another story.