Ransomed Dreams

We are here with Amy Wallace to talk about her new book Ransomed Dreams.

PJ: Hi Amy, I am so excited to have you here on my blog.

AW: Thanks for having me over! It's always a joy to talk with other writers about a passion we share~ writing books for God's glory.

PJ: I certainly hope you have another book in the works. I haven't completely finished Ransomed Dreams, but I am totally HOOKED! In fact I've already been recommending it to people.

AW: Thank you!!! Those recommendations are by far the very best thing people can do to encourage a writer and spread the word about a book they love. I'm learning to never underestimate the power of a great recommendation. That and trust the Lord will do abundantly more than I can imagine. ;-)
And yes, book 2 has been turned in and I'm working right now on book 3.

PJ: I read your interview with Cheryl Wyatt on her blog and I too wondered how you were able to write that first chapter. The emotion absolutely strummed from the pages. How did you tap into the kind of emotion?

AW: I wrote that chapter praying through my worst nightmare. My awesome writing mentor told me to never be afraid of bleeding onto the pages. So that's what I did. I walked in Gracie's shoes thinking about my own kids and husband and how I'd react to that kind of pain. At times, it was hard to be that honest on the page because I felt very vulnerable being that open about how I'd wrestle with God and walk through those circumstances. But that's how I try to live my life. I don't like masks and I don't want to wear them on the page any more than I want to wear them in real life. It's a painful path to choose, but I'm encouraged to see so many writers who do that and their characters really breathe and communicate the deep things of life. Funny thing I've found is that when I'm willing to get that honest with God, He takes me to places I never dreamed and then He makes my characters take on a life and personality that is theirs, not mine. That I can't explain except to say that when we're willing to lay ourselves bare with God, He'll take that and reach hearts in ways we can't begin to comprehend.

PJ: Your characters are so well rounded and very real. Do your characters appear to you fully formed? If so what do you do to fill them out? Character charts or interviews? If not, how do you go about creating such a real 'person'.

AW: I tend to see my characters' inner struggles first. Then as I'm creating their back-story through extensive character charts, (Thank you Randy for the awesome snowflake charts!) that's when I really get to know my characters and see what God is communicating through them. I don't want to write sermons, that's not my calling. Nor do I want to write a book where I hit the reader over the head with some preconceived point. I want to write a story that draws people in and opens their hearts to hear the Lord. I pray that's what I'm doing through creating realistic characters who seek a real God and then planting myself in the chair, watching for what God has to teach me as He and I write the story.

PJ: How was such a marvelous plot born? Do you have any tips or tricks you can share with the readers?

AW: No tricks! ;-) I do have some tips though. One would be to seek the Lord for good research materials and technical advisors for whatever careers your characters have. For me, reading FBI biographies, talking to real life federal agents and their spouses, scouring the FBI website and reading bulletins on there have all given me some awesome plot ideas. Then when I'd take those and pray over how to tell the story, I watched God put together some amazing things that I sit back and say, "Wow God. That's cool!"

PJ: I just have to ask, are you a pantster or a plotter?

AW: I'm a total plotter. But what I've learned to do is spend time creating the characters, and then I write out an outline that gives me a story I can jump into and am excited about. As I'm typing, I don't have all the scenes completely mapped out so there's still plenty of room for God to surprise me with some issues that come up, and He does that often!

PJ: You are a homeschooling mother (like myself). How do you fit it into your day? Any tips or suggestions for all the other homeschool/writer moms out there?

AW: I'll share what has worked for us. Pray! ;-) In fact, I’d say pray a lot! For the most part I try to keep my homeschooling separate from my writing. Meaning during the hours my kids are up, I'm mom and we're working on school or hanging out. But when they're busy with a project or it's afternoon quiet time, then I jump into email or other business related things.
On Saturdays, I do the bulk of my writing when my husband and kids are together. Sometimes it's really hard to give up a Saturday just playing and having fun with my family, but I try to take some time out to go for walks and plan times during the week to have fun too.

PJ: Has your suspenseful mind gotten you in trouble before?

AW: Let me count the ways! ;-) I can't watch CSI or any of the crime shows anymore and my husband has asked me not to do so much reading on serial killers and other criminals because I tend to let my mind run wild and end up scared of every noise. I finally learned to mull over story ideas by talking with God and not just letting my thoughts wander into situations. That's helped.

PJ: Do your kids show signs of being raised by a suspense writer? :) I know mine do.

AW: It's scary that my kids talk about the types of guns I have researched or we discuss as a family the theological repercussions of killing off bad guys. But my kiddos are pretty amazing in that they've learned far earlier than I did to work through their questions by talking it out with us and with God. We tend to talk about praying a lot because that's the only way I can handle the issues I write about.

PJ: Thank you so much for hanging out at my blog today. I'm praying for your powerful story to touch many lives. And praying that waiting for the next book will go really fast.

AW: Thank you! Your prayers are a precious encouragement to me! And I greatly appreciate your patience in waiting for the next book. ;-) I do have a few things to offer that might help the wait... I do a fun monthly quiz about RD characters and book facts on my website (www.defendersofhope.com) and in my newsletter (http://www.defendersofhope.com/newsletter.html) I'm going to start talking in depth about how I created my characters and what I love most about certain Ransomed Dreams folks.

PJ: I'll be sure to go check those out. Sounds like a fun idea.

Have a blessed day.