Behind the Scenes: In Want of a Wife by Meredith Resce

 

Today we go 'behind the scenes' as Jeanette (Jenny) O'Hagan interviews Meredith Resce

Jenny:  Congratulations on your upcoming release. What inspired you to write to ‘License to Meddle series’ and this second book In Want of a Wife in particular.

Meredith: Thanks for having me, Jenny. The whole middle-aged mum with adult children situation is one I have experienced first-hand. Coming up with great advice and hints towards this nice person, or that nice person, is generally received with not much enthusiasm. Sometimes the exact opposite. So this series is probably mostly fantasy, in that meddling and matchmaking is not often done with success. I know of three or four cases where matchmaking has worked and worked really well. But the middle-aged mum still likes to dream of young love and romance.

Jenny:  Tell us about the main character Luella Linley. Who is she and why does she feel compelled to meddle? Also, how many daughters does she have? And will there be a book 3?

Meredith: Luella Linley is a popular Regency Romance author and seems to have trouble in drawing a line between coming up with plot for her characters and plotting for her adult children. She is unrepentant about her daughter’s chagrin, not fazed by being told off for meddling. She has two daughters and one son. Yes, book three is in production at the moment, and you can see the pre-order cover live on Amazon now. All Arranged Book#3

Jenny:  I have to ask, is ‘In Want of a Wife’ a direct quote from the opening sentence in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice?  How have authors like Austen and other romance authors influenced your writing.

Meredith: You’re quite right. In Want of a Wife is a direct quote from the opening scene in Pride and Prejudice. Austen is my favourite author, and Mrs Bennett is annoying and unrepentant about her matchmaking. Luella is not as annoying, but just as incorrigible. You will find in all three Luella Linley books, excerpts from Luella’s latest work in progress, Regency romance in Austen style, each plot bearing a resemblance to the contemporary plot that is going on.

Jenny:  That sounds delightful and sure to be a hit with Austen fans. My favourite book of yours is For All Time. Would it be true to say that most of your previous books have been historical romance? What challenges and joys have you found changing from historical romance to contemporary comic romance.

Meredith: For All Time was my one and only foray into time slip novel. I loved it. So much fun mixing contemporary characters with 1500s culture and context. Most other of my work has been historical drama, and while I enjoyed it, writing light-hearted contemporary romance is more fun. I like the funny side of the Brooker family. They are all blunt, a bit sarcastic and witty.

Jenny:  You’ve now published over ten novels, plus a number of novellas and short stories. How do you come up with fresh ideas?

Meredith: Actually, In Want of a Wife is the twenty first title released (this includes two novellas, a self-help book, a fantasy novel, biographical account and a faction.

New ideas were nearly always inspired by old buildings, in the case of most of my historicals. With this series, I guess when I started, I was in the middle of parenting single adult children, and I was inspired by their lack of moving forward towards marriage. They’re all married now, without any assistance from me.

Jenny:  That's an impressive output :) How would you say publishing has changed since you published your first book in the late 1990s? How are the challenges and opportunities changed for writers over this time? Do you have any tips for new writers?

Meredith: Publishing has changed soooo much since 1997.  The market has changed, so the way the book is produced has also had to change. The main change agent was the advent of digital marketing, eBooks, and algorithms. These things have decimated the bricks and mortar bookstore market, selling the paperback from the shelf. I used to pre-sell approximately 1700 copies to bookstores on new releases, without anyone having ever seen the cover. Now, I’m lucky if I can beg them to take 60-100 copies.

Algorithms now dictate how the book buyers will see what is new and available, and learning to provoke the algorithm to show your book in the top twenty is a game we’re all playing.

Also, when I started, I was one of two Australian Christian fiction authors, the other being Mary Hawkins. Now there are heaps of us. The writing is better, the range is better, and there is a wonderful group of Australian Christian writers. But the market is the most difficult it has ever been.

I only use print on demand now, and produce to the eBook platforms as well.  Australian Christian writers supporting one another, as you are doing here, Jenny, is the only way we are going to push through and see our work find a home in the hearts of Australian and international readers. Getting on Goodreads and getting activity going about your own books and other Australian writers’ books is going to be a great positive thing to do in the reality we live in now.

Tips for new writers – welcome to the time when the most opportunity to learn to write well is available to you through many different conferences, writing chapters and online resources. Work on your craft (this was something I did not have access to when I started). You may have to go forward with the understanding that you may be writing for a small audience of family and friends, and thank God for ever little opportunity you get beyond that. It is a tough market to publish and sell into, but writing is often its own reward.

 

Thanks again, Jenny, for having me, and for supporting Australasian Christian writers from here and New Zealand.

Jenny: You're welcome. Thanks you Meredith for taking the time share about your books and experiences.

But what would you speak about?Jo-Anne Berthelsen

There I was, chatting away to some people who I thought knew me. At least, they already knew I was an author. But when I mentioned something about one of my recent experiences of speaking at a particular venue, they appeared quite puzzled. Eventually, one of them asked a question I have heard several times before.

‘But ... well ... what would you speak about at these places?’

More often than not, this is meant as nothing more than a polite enquiry about the sort of topics I am comfortable speaking on, in which case I am happy to fill them in. Yet sometimes I feel there is more behind such a question. Sometimes these people seem incredulous that I as an author—and particularly a novelist—might have anything to say that could interest or encourage or challenge others.

Now one might well (and perhaps rightly!) put this defensive response of mine down to pride and self-doubt and that slight ‘chip on the shoulder’ attitude some authors seem to display at times. But such a question disturbs me for a different reason as well—and that is that it shows how easily we can pigeonhole people. Fiction writers, these people seem to think, just write novels. Yet most novelists I know have thought long and hard about the themes featured in the fiction they produce and are quite passionate about them. In my own six published novels, I explore such themes as the love and grace of God, forgiveness, becoming the person God created us to be, overcoming rejection, dealing with anger and bitterness, and holding onto our faith in God. I feel deeply about all these and love talking about them when given the opportunity.

Beyond that, however, I believe many people are interested in hearing about how a writer goes about creating a book and about the challenges and rewards of the writing journey and of being a published author. I have spoken about such things in both church and secular settings many times and have learnt to be prepared for all sorts of questions. So we as authors have the opportunity of sharing about both the process and content of our writing and of thus being used by God in a unique way.

Now I know some of you might still cringe at the thought of public speaking. Perhaps you have had bad experiences in the past with this. Or perhaps you have more of a naturally quiet, retiring personality. We are all different. I know too that I am blessed to have had so much experience standing up in front of others and speaking in various capacities. In the past, I have worked as a high school teacher and also as a local church minister. But there is no doubt we all have something to say and a story to share. We would not be writers if we did not.

So I will continue, I suspect, to be disturbed—perhaps even a tad annoyed—when writers are pigeonholed and regarded as having little to talk about. But how about you? Have you encountered such questions in your own writing journey? Do you feel writers have anything to say?

Jo-Anne Berthelsen lives in Sydney but grew up in Brisbane. She holds degrees in Arts and Theology and has worked as a high school teacher, editor and secretary, as well as in local church ministry. Jo-Anne is passionate about touching hearts and lives through both the written and spoken word. She is the author of six published novels and one non-fiction work, Soul Friend: the story of a shared spiritual journey. Jo-Anne is married to a retired minister and has three grown-up children and four grandchildren. For more information, please visit www.jo-anneberthelsen.com.

Being a real author

I think I could write a book about my book promotion experiences over the past seven years. In this scintillating piece of literature, I would include some of the more startling and amusing conversations I have had at my book table, such as the following:

‘So what do you have here?

‘These are my six novels and this one, Soul Friend, is non-fiction.’

‘Oh ... what are they about?’

‘Well, I explore different faith themes in my novels such as understanding God’s love, forgiving others, using our gifts to serve God, overcoming rejection, holding onto our faith, and so on. My latest one here, The Inheritance, highlights the importance of dealing with anger and bitterness in our lives and learning to trust God. It has a strong male main character in it as well as a female one this time.’

‘Oh ... so you said they’re novels. Do you mean fiction?  I don’t usually read fiction.’

‘Yes, they’re fiction—but several of them were inspired by real people.’

‘Oh, okay. ... And what about this one here? Did you say it’s non-fiction?’

‘Yes. It’s the story of my own journey with my spiritual mentor Joy.’

‘Oh ... you mean you wrote it yourself? Wow!’

‘Yes. I wrote all these.’

‘You mean ... you mean you wrote all those as well?’

‘That's right.’

‘Wow! I’ve never met a real author before. That’s amazing!’

It’s a little strange how, even when I talk about ‘my’ books or ‘my’ writing in such settings, some people still think I must be selling someone else’s books. After all, their expression says, I couldn’t possibly be an author! Yet I can well understand where they might be coming from. You see, when I was a child, I always thought authors weren’t real people like the rest of us. I think I imagined them as a race apart—some sort of exotic beings from a realm far removed from us whom we could know only via their names on the covers of their books. They must be so clever, I used to think. Only super human beings could weave stories together like that. Imagine writing a whole book!

Now I know differently, of course. Now I myself have joined their ranks. And, as I usually assure those who have such conversations as the above with me, authors are quite normal people—well, sort of! We just happen to love writing, even when that involves many hours of hard work. And some of us also believe that’s how we can best serve God and others.

I never imagined I would be a ‘real author’. I can well remember the day I received the proposed cover of my first novel and how I felt when I saw my name in large letters at the top. My first thought was ‘What have I done?’ Now my work and many of my inner thoughts would be out there for all to see. But in the years since, I have discovered what a privilege it is to be a ‘real author’ and to take hold of every opportunity to honour God and bless others that comes my way as a result.

What are your thoughts about ‘real authors’ or your experiences of being one? Is this a term only published authors can use? Does it differ from the term ‘writer’, which I still prefer to put down as my occupation?

Jo-Anne Berthelsen lives in Sydney but grew up in Brisbane. She holds degrees in Arts and Theology and has worked as a high school teacher, editor and secretary, as well as in local church ministry. Jo-Anne is passionate about touching hearts and lives through both the written and spoken word. She is the author of six published novels and one non-fiction work, Soul Friend: the story of a shared spiritual journey. Jo-Anne is married to a retired minister and has three grown-up children and three grandchildren. For more information, please visit www.jo-anneberthelsen.com or www.soulfriend.com.au.

Taking that leap of faith

I remember the day our older daughter began pre-school. I can see her now, eyes wide as she walked in that gate, so excited to be fulfilling at last that dream of hers to get inside those grounds and that building that looked so enticing. I am remembering it because that’s how I feel right now. You see, I’ve just finished editing my next novel and am on the brink of beginning another writing project—and oh, how enticing the prospects ahead are!

Perhaps you’re about to embark on writing your first full length work or perhaps you’ve been in this place before. Whichever it is, I have found the feeling is the same. It’s that mind-blowing moment when your brain almost explodes with possibilities, when this or that story races through your head, when one delicious scenario after another pops into your brain in full technicolour—or perhaps even 3D with surround sound or whatever it is these days! It’s that exciting stage when your characters start to take shape and you begin to fall in love with them, treating them as real people—which of course any author knows they are! It’s that instant when you sense yourself almost bodily being drawn into that vortex of plot and character development and point of view and setting until you begin to lose touch with reality—at least for a few delicious moments.

All that presupposes the particular project at hand is a novel. Yet I found the same thing with my non-fiction book Soul Friend, released last year. I can still feel the excitement as those chapters unfolded and I saw how I could move ahead with the whole idea. I began to envisage how I could perhaps encourage others to find a soul friend or spiritual mentor of their own or to be that person for someone else. I felt almost overwhelmed with the thought that God could possibly use my own journey with my spiritual mentor to speak into someone else’s life. What a joy and privilege!

And yet ... and yet it can all be just a wee bit daunting too at this point. It’s now that I begin to wonder what I am even thinking of, committing myself yet again to months and months—perhaps even years—of hard slog to bring that next book to fruition! With fiction writing, it’s a wonderful experience to be able to breathe life into those characters that, prior to this, have existed only in my imagination. But there’s a lot of hard work involved too. On some days, the words will come only with great difficulty and I will grope for how to move my characters from Point A to Point B. On other days, whether writing fiction or non-fiction, my fingers will hardly be able to keep up with my brain as they fly across the keyboard, spilling those words onto the screen.

All up, this writing journey is a big leap of faith, isn’t it? As Christian authors, we may know it’s what God wants us to do, but it still requires that leap from us. Yet when we take that leap, we know we will land in the hands of our awesome God who has promised to be with us through it all.

And that makes all the difference, don’t you think?

Jo-Anne Berthelsen lives in Sydney but grew up in Brisbane. She holds degrees in Arts and Theology and has worked as a high school teacher and editor, as well as in local church ministry. Jo-Anne is passionate about touching hearts and lives through both the written and spoken word. She is the author of five published novels – Heléna, All the Days of My Life, Laura, Jenna and Heléna’s Legacy—and one non-fiction work, Soul Friend: the story of a shared spiritual journey. Her sixth novel, The Inheritance, will be released in September. Jo-Anne is married to a retired minister and has three grown-up children and three grandchildren. For more information, please visit www.jo-anneberthelsen.com or www.soulfriend.com.au.

Hobby or Career?

Is writing a hobby or a career? Maybe it should be both.

I'm a writer, I have been all my life. Many of my early childhood memories involve making up stories and writing them down. I remember the moment in my classroom when I realised for the first time, that I could write real words, and string them together into a meaningful sentence. I remember sitting with my parents in restaurants, waiting for the food to arrive (it always takes hours when you’re a kid). I would write stories in an exercise book. I'm sure that a love of writing is something that God wired into me.

Writing was definitely a hobby for me as a child. When I was in grade six I decided what I wanted to be when I grew up - a computer programmer. What a nerd! I had great fun writing that year, but I didn't choose author as my career path. It just never occurred to me that writing could be a job. Writing was what you did for fun. It wasn't work! If I’d seen things differently then I wonder if my life might have taken a different path - who knows?

I went on to study computing at university and achieved my career goal. Through all of this I never lost my love of writing. During my uni days I wrote lots of Star Trek fan fiction (who didn't?). As a young adult in my first job I turned my attention to novels. I was sure I could do it. My parents were always supportive. The idea of trying to get something published entered my mind and never really left.

As I've grown older I've come to realise something important. To succeed with this writing game, it has to be more than just a hobby. I have to treat it like a career - regardless of whether writing is my ‘day job’ or not. I have to develop a professional attitude to my writing. Here are a few ways that I am learning to do this.

1) Learn the Writing Craft.

As with any creative endeavour, you have to learn the craft. There are so many resources out there to help with this. I remember when I first came to understand the rules behind point-of-view - it was very eye-opening. I learned about story structure - this was a huge revelation to me that totally changed the way I view the creation of a novel. Learning about scene structure was the next logical step. At the end of this article I share a couple of books and free resources that helped me.

2) Stick at it

Completing a novel-length manuscript is a big job. Getting to the end requires dedication. Not just a little “writing when you feel like it”. Many people say you must write every day. Some even suggest word limit goals that every writer should aim for if they want to be taken seriously. We are all different and have unique life situations, so I think we should find a schedule that works for our situation. My current schedule is to spend an hour or two writing fiction (without distraction) every Saturday morning. I'm sticking to this quite well. I started a manuscript at the beginning of the year and I aim to have the first draft completed by year’s end. So far I'm ahead of schedule. Credit must go to my kids who are pretty good at leaving Daddy alone for his special writing time (amazing since they’re usually such a handful). This may not be an appropriate schedule later on, but as an unpublished writer, I have the luxury of setting my own deadlines right now.

3) Research

As an amateur you have the freedom to make up everything. It doesn't matter if you get a fact wrong because you're just writing for fun right? While fiction (particularly sci-fi and fantasy) does give us some room for inventing things, there are times when you just need to do the hard yards and research something. While writing my novel I have learned about a fascinating range of subjects such as astronomy and galactic coordinate systems, particle weapons, people trafficking, Tasmanian aboriginal culture, early nineteenth century history, self-defence for women and bush tucker. Obviously I'm no expert on any of these things, but I've certainly expanded my mind somewhat.

4) The ‘E Word’

As a hobbyist, I have tended to finish a first draft, look lovingly at it and say "I'm finished". Now, what will I write next?” If I hope to become an author I know this isn't good enough. Editing is an important part of producing a book of publishable quality. This is a skill I'm going to have to develop. Of course there is only so much self-editing you can do. Just like with software development, eventually you have to hand the product on to someone else with a fresh perspective who can find the bugs that you will never see. I’ll need to get my work professionally edited.

5) Surround yourself with Role Models

I think it's helpful to learn from those further along the journey. I've had the privilege of meeting Mary Hawkins a couple of times, and she has been very supportive. Hanging out with everyone here at Christian Writers Downunder has also been fantastic. The community is very welcoming of a newbie like me. This brings to mind the great cloud of witnesses in Hebrews 12:1.

So that’s my journey so far. I'm sure there are still more lessons for me to learn. In all of this, there is one thing I don’t want to lose - the passion that drove me to write as a hobby in the first place. Taking a story from idea to a publishable manuscript seems to me to require a huge amount of dedication, and love is a much greater motivator than duty (that’s a line from my novel)

So what about you? What ideas would you suggest to an aspiring author such as myself to help adopt the professional attitude?

Resources that have helped me:

• The Complete Guide to Writing and Selling the Christian Novel by Penelope Stokes. This book had some great thoughts about creating a story from a Christian perspective. It is also the first place I learned about point of view.
• Story Engineering by Larry Brooks. As a software developer, the idea of engineering a story really appealed to me. There are lots of great lessons here with a huge focus on story structure.
• K.M. Weiland has two brilliant series on story structure and scene structure. You can read the articles or listen to the podcasts.
• Rivet Your Readers with Deep Point of View by Jill Elizabeth Nelson. This book showed me how to go from a passing grade on POV to an A+.

---

Adam Collings is a writer of speculative fiction. He is actively working toward becoming a published author, and is currently working on a space opera. He lives in Tasmania, Australia with his wife Linda and two monsters (oops I mean children). Adam works as a software developer for a consulting engineering company. You can find Adam on-line at collingszone.wordpress.com or his Google+ Profile

Listening to our ‘deep gladness’

At the moment, I find myself at something of a crossroads. I have been writing for around eight years now and have had five novels published in that time. I have also completed a sixth and submitted it to a publisher. Last year, I also completed my first non-fiction work and am in the process of deciding where to direct it for possible publication. And more recently, I have re-edited over a hundred of my blogs, in the hope that at some future date they will be published in book form. I have enjoyed it all. But what next for me in my writing journey?

Common sense would tell me I should apply myself to those rough outlines and first chapters of three further novels waiting on my computer. I am not getting any younger (!)—and who else is going to write them if I don’t? Sure there will be many other novels written in the years ahead, but they won’t have my characters in them or the many ideas running around in my head right now! I think I could complete each of these novels—but for me, the bottom line is whether this is actually what God wants me to do.

So how do I discover that? The whole picture becomes a little more complex too when I realise afresh how much I enjoy mentoring other women in their walk with God--particularly other authors. Before I began writing, I was part of a local church ministry team. I loved that role and still find myself wanting to care for others in the way I did then. How is this all meant to fit together in my life, now I have reached this ‘mini-crossroads’ point again?

Well, first and foremost, I take time to pray—and listen to God. I have learnt not to make quick decisions but to ‘hasten slowly’, asking God all the while if I am on the right course for my life and in my writing. I read God’s word and journal about that. I know God can speak so clearly through it to me—in fact, my initial call to write came as I was reading some verses from Isaiah 42. I talk the matter over with those close to me. And then I watch as circumstances unfold in my life under God’s hand. By that, I mean I may take the step of submitting a manuscript to a publisher. If it is accepted, I am grateful, but if it is rejected then I accept that too. I have asked God to lead and I need to trust God is actually doing that and will show me the road ahead in these practical ways.

But there is something else I try to do as well—and that is to listen my own self! I am learning to recognise what energises me the most and gives me great joy and fulfilment—or, as the American author Frederick Buechner puts it, to recognise the place where my ‘deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet’. I also remember Psalm 37:4 where David writes:

Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.

 

And as I do, I move forward step by step with hope in God, aware of that ‘deep gladness’ that tells me I’m on the right track and using my gifts well to make a difference in this world.

Jo-Anne Berthelsen grew up in Brisbane and holds an Arts degree from Queensland University.  She has also studied Education and Theology and has worked as a high school teacher and editor, as well as in local church ministry. Jo-Anne loves communicating through both the written and spoken word and currently has five published novels—‘Heléna’, ‘All the Days of My Life’, ‘Laura’, ‘Jenna’ and ‘Heléna’s Legacy’.  She is married to a retired minister and has three grown-up children and three grandchildren.