"I write romance because I enjoy writing about family and love, both human and divine. True love isn't easy. It brings about trials and sacrifices, create obstacles that people must overcome if they want all the benefits of a loving, romantic relationship. I enjoy diving into all the different dimensions of love and exploring them, and I don't see myself ever tiring of that. And I also find my characters need to find God’s love and a right relationship with Him before they can fully embrace human love. So the romance aspect of a novel fits together rather tightly for me, and feels fresh every time I tackle a new story.
"I write historical fiction because I love being able to travel back to any time or place I choose. Perhaps I have too active of an imagination, but I remember sitting in history classes in high school and college. Whenever I'd learn about some tragedy or major historical event, I'd think "What would it be like to live through that." With this story, Sanctuary for a Lady, I wondered what it would be like to be born a French aristocrat and have the world at your feet. Then one day, peasants raid your house and kill your family. In a matter of a few days you'd go from having everything to having nothing. So what would you do? How would you respond? Would you be able to survive?
Sanctuary for a Lady answers those questions through the character of Isabelle, a dukes daughter fleeing for her life. It's a novel of love and survival and forgiveness. I hope people love reading it as much as I loved writing it!"
I'd love to give away a copy of Sanctuary for a Lady to someone here! If you'd like to enter the drawing, please leave a comment and question for Naomi below. I'll start off with a question of my own...
Bless you all - and a heartfelt thanks to Naomi for being here!
Winner announced Monday, April 23!
Naomi, I'm sure by now readers are already anticipating your next release:) Can you tell us when this might be and what the book is about? Thanks!
ReplyDeleteLaura, right now I'm actually finishing up a western-type story that I had started writing before Sanctuary for a Lady sold. My editor has requested some revisions, and I'm getting ready to turn the manuscript in to my agent tomorrow (hopefully, if everything goes as scheduled).
DeleteIn this story, my hero is a cowboy, but I send him east to settle an inherited estate and get his sister out of her fancy boarding school. My rough and tumble cowboy doesn't exactly plan on falling in love with his sister's steely little math teacher though. :-)
Then my editor has requested I write a sequel to Sanctuary for a Lady, so I'm in the planning stages of that. Needless to say, I never thought I'd be asked to take my villain from one story and make him into a hero for another book!
Congrats on your new book! I will definitely be looking for it! Do you enjoy writing other eras as well as pre-19th century?
ReplyDeleteYou know, I have three other unpublished manuscripts (two contemporary and one mid 19th-century). Then I'm finishing up a Gilded Age set story right now (with my cowboy hero). So I've written in several different time periods, and I have to say that the 1790's setting has been my favorite. I'm excited to get back to that time period with my next novel.
DeleteSo why is it my favorite? I'm not sure I can put my finger on it exactly, but I really like exploring some the the injustices so prevalent during that era, and diving into the huge disparity between the social classes. You'll see both of those things dealt with in Sanctuary for a Lady, and again in the sequel I'm planning.
When did you first know you wanted to take those thoughts from history class & make books from them? This looks like a very intersting story.
ReplyDeleteI give a more detailed and fun biography on my website, if you want to stop by. (It involves junior high dreams of being an archeologist and a magazine editor with a college English degree thrown somewhere in the mix.) http://naomirawlings.com/aboutnaomi/
DeleteBut for a shorter answer, I started writing after my oldest son was born. He took rather long naps, and I was reading several books a week in my spare time. So I decided that I should try writing a book. And once I started writing . . . Wow! I loved it. And I could never imagine not writing. But it wasn't like I'd grown up wanting to be a novelist. Despite my love for romance stories when I was younger, my brain never once went "Maybe I should try to write one of these" until I was much older.
Would you share a little of your journey to publication? As an aspiring writer, I'm always curious about what roads writers take.
ReplyDeleteBefore I share, I want to stress that the road is different for EVERYONE. Just because something worked for me, doesn't mean it will work for someone else. So here goes nothing:
DeleteI wrote on my own for a couple years. Occasionally looking at a writing craft book or blog, but pretty much in my own little world, just writing and almost never revising. Then I got a request for a full manuscript followed by a rejection letter from my now publisher, Love Inspired Historical.
At this point, somewhere in that rejection, I realized that I'd taken my writing as far as I could go by myself, and I needed to join a critique group. So I coughed up the $$ to join ACFW for the sole purpose of joining their critique group. And I benefited from that immensely.
Sanctuary for a Lady was the first manuscript I put through a critique group, and it took me a lot longer to write as I was learning so much about the craft along the way. But by this time, I'd already found my voice and developed my writing style from that year or so of writing completely on my own. Now I was just learning to put everything together.
When I finished Sanctuary for a Lady. I KNEW it was the best I could do. I KNEW it was good and publishable. So then I started entering it in contests. This was a very calculated move on my part. The opening scene is very dramatic. I start off with a tired woman being chased through dark woods by soldiers. It's a gripping opening that won't work for every story, but worked for this one. (The opening to Sanctuary for a Lady is posted on both Amazon and my website, if you want to read it.)
So since I knew that my opening would grab judges attention in a way most stories' structures don't allow for, I entered it in every contest where I liked the finalist judge, with the hopes I would final and get my work in front of industry professionals. It paid off well for me. I had multiple manuscript requests through those competitions, which eventually led to me signing with my agent and getting published.
Long answer, but I hope the explanation helps. :-)
When writing do you map out the story ahead of time or do you just write and let the story develop on its own? I know some authors will plan it down to the detail, but others tend to enjoy a little more freedom in their writing style. How you write?
ReplyDeleteI do a little of both. I try to let my characters grow organically and give me the story, rather than me giving them the story. But in reality, I usually know the beginning and I know how I want the story to end. It's like looking at mountain peaks from a distance. I see the beginning peak and I see the end peak, but I can't see the valley in between until I've crested the top of the first mountain. And I might not see that hidden river or meadow until I'm walking through the valley. And then when I'm climbing the second peek to the end, I might find another path to take rather than the well marked one.
DeleteHistory and romance....two great things, but even better when they're combined. How long did it take to write Sanctuary for a Lady?
ReplyDeleteAbout ten months, but I took a long, round about, write-when-I-can approach. I'm hoping my subsequent novels can get written a little faster. Like maybe six months. :-)
DeleteFrench history seems to be a historical period that we don't see in Christian fiction, perhaps because it seems like such a godless time. Did you have a hard time fitting the Christian aspect into the story or am I really clueless on the French? :)
ReplyDeleteI think your story sounds fascinating.French history is so different from out own.
Catholicism was the official religion of France for most of that time period. I would hardly call it godless, though I'm sure worship was artificial for some of the French population, much like worship could have been artificial for the Anglicans living in England during that time period.
DeleteNo, I didn't have a hard time weaving a Christian message into the story. In fact, the story has a really strong Christian message about forgiveness.
One of the reasons that you don't see much of this time period in Christian fiction is because European set novels don't tend to sell well in the Christian book market. On average, A European set book will sell a third fewer copies than an American set book, which makes publisher leery to try the European settings.
I'm sure my editors will be watching the sales figures for this novel, and if it doesn't sell enough copies, I'll probably be told I have to write American or Canadian set stories from this point on.
The writing life is challenging. Do you agree or disagree with the following quote by Dorothy Parker: "I hate writing, I love having written."
ReplyDeleteI think it's different for everybody, but no, I wouldn't agree with that quote. I LOVE writing. I hate revising, and wish I could just write, write, write without ever needing to go back and change anything I'd written. And I'm an bit of an introvert, so having written an actual book that people can go buy and might well hate or make fun of me for writing, well . . . my stomach twists just thinking about it.
DeleteThe story seems very interesting and I am looking forward to reading it.
ReplyDeleteDo you prefer creating your lead male character or lead female character for a book or do you not have a preference at all?
It completely depends on the book. For this one, the female character came first, as I wanted a wealthy aristocrat's daughter who had lost everything during the French Revolution.
DeleteFor my cowboy story, the hero came first, as I wanted to put a spin on the age old cowboy idea and bring the rancher east rather than have the fancy eastern woman go west.
For the sequel to Sanctuary for a Lady, I already had my antagonist who now apparently needs his own story. So then it's a matter of finding the right--or wrong--woman for him.
I think it's probably easier for me to start with the heroine rather than the hero. But sometimes writers simply don't get those choices.
Congratulations on your release, Naomi! I saw your book in my local Walmart next to the one by your fellow Love Inspired Historical debut author, Jessica Nelson, and I smiled. I'm thrilled for you and hope you're having the time of your life.
ReplyDeleteI have a question, but it's not writing related. You have a lovely first name, but it's not one I see very often these days. It has a dated feel, which as another historical romance author, I really like. How did your parents choose the name? Is it one that's been in your family for a long time? Does it lend itself to any nicknames?
How fun you spotted my book, Keli! And isn't it so cool to have Jessica and I debut together? Super fun, I tell ya. You must be getting excited about your own book that releases this summer. Yay for you!
DeleteOkay, about my name. Thanks so much for the compliment on it. But I must tell you that growing up, I didn't enjoy the name nearly so much as I do now. Would you believe I never got a pencil or notebook or magnet or purse or anything with my name on it? I wished more than once my mother had named me Nichole. That's a nice, normal sounding name, don't you think?
LOL! Now that I'm older, I appreciate the name, though. My mom chose it because it was a Bible name. In fact, my other two siblings have Bible names as well. Naomi, Joshua, and Hannah. We always teased my brother for getting the only normal name of the lot. My mom said that when she was growing up, she always wanted two girls named Naomi and Ruth. But by the time my younger sister was born, Mom had decided we'd get too made fun of if our names came from the same Bible story. And she didn't like the way Ruth sounded in Spanish (she was a missionary for a couple years).
So there you have it, the quirky story behind my quirky name. :-)
Thanks for sharing the story behind your name. I had a hunch you might have been named after the Naomi in the beloved Biblical tale.
DeleteI hear you on not being able to find keyrings and other things with your name on them. With the unique spelling of Keli my mom gave me (which I love, btw), I found the same to be true--until I visited Hawaii anyhow. But we have gotten something pretty wonderful with our names on them: our books! No pencil, magnet, or other trinket can compare with that. :-)
Congratulations Naomi! My question deals with characters and plot - which comes first for you? Do you sketch out a character and then place them in a situation? Or do you have a set plot and plunk your character into that plot?
ReplyDeleteCharacters. I don't intentionally do it that way, that's just how it happens in my brain. I think writers should do what's most natural for them in this area, though.
DeleteBut you know what works best for me, is to center my story around a problem rather than a plot or characters. How can a woman forgive the man who tried to kill her? Well, Sanctuary for a Lady answers it.
Coming up with characters first probably leads to deeper characters in the long run, while coming up with plot first might well lead to a stronger plot.
Hi Naomi! I bought your book for my Kindle App not too long ago- LOVED IT! So, no need for me to be in the drawing! My question thought, nonetheless, is what are your inspiration sources for writing? Blessings! ~AMY
ReplyDeleteSo glad you enjoyed it, Amy. Now if I can manage to write another one equally as good. :-)
DeleteHello Naomi,
ReplyDeleteAm curious about how book cover illustrations are developed. Can you describe your experience?
Hey Andrea,
DeleteMy publisher sends me a long, three page form that I have to fill out. The form asks questions the cover artists need to know, like hair and eye color, theme of the book, etc. Then I have to give three scene suggestions, and the artists will pick which scene they think will work best. Also, I have to send in a lot of picture of period clothing, and settings and the like. It takes quite a bit of time to put everything together, and it wasn't exactly my favorite part of the publishing process. But I do think the art department did a great job on the cover, don't you?
Yes, it seems like it would take time to meld your ideas with the cover artist-I bet it is exciting to see the end product! And, I think they did a very nice job :)
DeleteThe end result is worth it, though! Did I mention I have to do famous person look-a-likes for my characters. My hero was Ben Barnes, and my heroine was Keirra Knightley. :-)
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations Naomi.
ReplyDeleteI was wondering how you select the names of your characters?
karenk
kmkuka at yahoo dot com
Well . . . I'm really not the best person to ask. I like classic, ageless names, so thus far, I've gotten away with mostly Bible names or their variations. Of course, the longer I write, the more difficult that will become without repeating names. Behindthename.com is a great website that lets you look up the history of various names. And since I write historical romance, I need to always make sure the name would have been in use during that time period.
DeleteIn Sanctuary for a Lady, I liked the name Isabelle and knew it had been around and would have been used by the aristocracy because of Queen Isabella in Spain a couple centuries earlier. And Michel was the French variation of Michael, which happens to be a Bible name.
In the novel I'm finishing up, I have a Luke and Elizabeth. Both Bible names. Maybe my mom's penchant for Bible names rubbed off on me. :-)
Congratulations on your new book! I was wondering how you go about doing the research when writing a historical book like this.
ReplyDeleteSarabeth
MattyandSarabeth(at)gmail(dot)com
Oh goodness. Doing research on a book like this is a headache, let me tell you. There isn't a whole lot of information on the French Revolution available in English. (I'm sure there's an abundance written in French.) Google Books is really invaluable. Using there advanced search feature, I'm able to come up with all kinds of things. And I use Amazon's awesome search engine to look up obscure books, and then I order them through inter-library loan. But you should also know that research is my least favorite part of writing.
DeleteLaura might kick me off the blog for admitting that, because I know she loves research and does a really wonderful job with it. But it doesn't come very natural to me. I have to force myself to do it, and even then, I probably miss things because I simply don't have the patience to look up little details. I'm a much bigger reader of fiction that non fiction and biographies. Sometimes I think that benefits my writing, and sometimes it hinders it in areas like research.
LOL, Naomi;) No kicking, I promise! I admire your honesty. And I've heard from a lot of contemp writers that they wouldn't tackle historicals because of the research. That's the beauty of literary license, I think. We can tweak history when we want or if it fits the novel's purposes. Of course I've been picked on a time or two for doing that and accused of getting history wrong. But I do think literary license is a wonderful thing! I am only half way through your book but find your historical angle very well done!!
DeleteThank you, Laura. I'm glad my history research (or lack thereof) is convincing enough for you. I will say that when I'm writing a novel, I try to understand the mindset of the time more than historical details. If I can have my characters think like people would have back during the French Revolution, then the entire book seems more real and the characters more believable. I'd dive into the mindset and the political philosophies of my characters long before I'd bother to describe what clothes they wear or how they would have cooked a meal 200 years ago. I'm sure some of that is preference, but it seems to work for me.
DeleteYour novel sounds exciting and intriguing. Congratulations on your debut!
ReplyDeleteThanks Carla. Didn't you just have a novel debut at the beginning of the year? You must be so excited!
DeleteYes, in February. Just getting the news out! Thanks, Naomi!
DeleteThanks so much to everyone for the great questions and to Naomi for her very thoughtful answers!! It's been wonderful having you as a guest here. I hope everyone has a chance to read Sanctuary for a Lady. You're in for a treat!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed being here as well, and I hope everyone got their questions answered. Thanks for having me, Laura!
ReplyDelete