Molly Jo Realy is an award-winning writer, editor, social media ninja and author coach. Nicknamed the Bohemian Hurricane, she encourages people to embrace their unique talents and gifts to come alive and celebrate life every day. Recently rooted in South Carolina, she celebrates with her family, her cats, a good cup of coffee, and an addiction to pens. Visit her blog and author website!
In addition to being a loving father and husband, Aaron Gansky is an award-winning novelist, teacher, and podcast host. In 2009, he earned his M.F.A in Fiction at the prestigious Antioch University of Los Angeles, one of the top five low-residency writing schools in the nation. Prior to that, he attained his Bachelor of Arts degree in English with an emphasis in Creative Writing from California State University of San Bernardino, where he studied, in part, under Bret Anthony Johnston, now the Director of Creative Writing at Harvard University.
His first novel The Bargain (2013, Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas) was a finalist for the Selah Award for debut novel. Two years later, The Book of Things to Come (2015, Brimstone Fiction), the first book in his Hand of Adonai YA Fantasy series, won the Selah Award for YA Fiction. He has written two books on the craft of fiction; Firsts in Fiction: First Lines and Write to Be Heard (with Diane Sherlock). To find out more about his books, visit AaronGansky.com.
As a Creative Writing teacher in California, he brings his expertise on the craft to several writing conferences around America where he speaks on a variety of topics.
In 2013 he began his Firsts in Fiction Podcast with Steve McLain. Shortly after, Heather Luby joined the line up. Lately, he chats with his father, novelist Alton Gansky, about elements of the craft. Each week they dispense practical, in-depth analyses of how to write powerful fiction.
You may find Aaron on Twitter (@adgansky) and Facebook.
Show Notes
Caleb: Why did you decide to write fantasy novels?
Aaron: Writing fantasy was not something that I had ever planned on doing. I had just completed my first novel, “The Bargain” and agonized over every word, every turn of phrase, every simile and every metaphor. I just really wanted that to be the Great American Novel. After that I thought, “fantasy sounds like fun!” I love the Final Fantasy series, and I was playing a lot of Skyrim, and I thought it would be fun to do a fantasy. I don’t have to worry about trying to be highbrow literary and worry about every turn of phrase. Turns out I still worry about every turn of phrase, and every chapter, and every word, and every sentence.
Caleb: What made you want to write a YA series? How does fantasy change when written for teenagers as opposed to adults?
Aaron: Typically, it’s the age of the protagonists. In Game of Thrones, your primary characters are all adults. For me, I was dealing with contemporary teenagers, and as a teacher I felt like that was a natural thing. Teenagers are interesting. They take things very, very seriously. There’s a lot of interpersonal conflict, a lot of self discovery that goes on as well as discovery of a new world. I felt like that was a natural way to increase the tension and then the stakes and the conflict in the story.
Caleb: What are some of the main characteristics of fantasy that publishers and readers will look for?
Aaron: Really what they’re looking for is kind of an epic scope. Fantasy readers are very big into setting and world building. They’re very in tune with that and they want to know what this new and strange world looks like. It’s discovery for them. They’re also pretty militant about rules – the rules that you set up in your world. They’re looking for usually some sort of swords and sorcery… elves and dwarves and things of that nature. But really, they want something that feels unique and original. Even if it’s familiar, they want something that’s going to be different enough.
Caleb: How does the structure of a novel change when you move into the fantasy genre with things like word count and story flow? I’ve heard that fantasy requires a longer length to account for things like world building.
Aaron: Fantasy readers are notoriously patient, shockingly so I would say. By and large in terms of word count you have a lot more room to play with. If you’re a new writer, I would default to the normal industry standards (75,000 to 95,000 words). If you look at the Sorcerer’s Stone (the first book in the Harry Potter Series), it’s much smaller than Deathly Hollows. Each book increased in length, and that’s because JK Rowling had developed a reputation and people would drop 30 or 45 bucks on her books. That was far less of a risk for the publisher.
Caleb: What are some things that you do to help with the world building process?
Aaron: I think I’m different than the normal fantasy author. I was intentionally writing to kind of challenge and perhaps even break a lot of the expectations, the rules and expected tropes of fantasy. I was going to write a standalone novel. I wasn’t going to write about politics and I wasn’t going to fall into writing 18 chapters of world building. When I started the novel, I wanted kind of a quick, fast paced story. I found out when I was writing that the genre really demands those things for a reason. I had to start putting in some political intrigue, and I had to start putting in some more of the world. I tried to do it a little more organically. A lot of people will sit down and world build first, and come up with their magic system and their rules. I just started writing. As I was writing my main story, I was also creating my story bible at the same time.
Caleb: Are you an organic writer or an outliner?
Aaron: I’m very much a discovery writer. If I know where my story is going, I feel like my readers know where my story is going. I don’t like to write things that are too wildly predictable. Give them something that they didn’t expect but that they like more than what they expected. I outline the next scene or two, if that, but it’s usually just the title of what’s going to happen in the scene and that’s about it.
Caleb: If you already have most of the story in your head, is there still a way to write organically?
Aaron: You can still be organic in that way. I’ve outlined an entire novel and then I didn’t follow the outline.
Caleb: I guess it’s just a matter of following what the character would naturally do as opposed to strictly following the outline?
Aaron: Right. What would my characters naturally do in this situation? My formula is very simple. It’s just to create characters that people love and then mess up their lives.
Caleb: You mentioned character development. Do you go about that organically as well, or do you like to use things like character sketches?
Aaron: A little bit of both. I will try to find out as much as I can about the characters. When I begin writing, I always challenge myself to put some sort of scene where a character does something that I don’t expect. A normal person would do A. This person is going to do B, and then I challenge myself to figure out why. What it does is it helps me understand that my characters are not my characters. They are their own people, making their own decisions, and there’s something that’s happened to them in their past that I don’t know.
Caleb: What are some of the common mistakes or clichés that newer writers might make with fantasy stories?
Aaron: I really think that the number one issue is the clichés. They rely too heavily on worlds that too closely resemble that of Tolkien or Narnia, or “insert favorite fantasy series here.” Fantasy readers like new and exciting things. It’s a problem that all writers have, especially when they’re beginning, is how to be inspired by something without copying something. My recommendation is to mix and match. What does Tolkien look like when you mix it with Narnia? Or in my case what does Jumanji look like when you mix it with Skyrim?
Caleb: If you had to give one piece of advice to an aspiring writer, what would that advice be?
Aaron: It’s hard to narrow it down to one, so I’ll make it a compound recommendation, and it’s the thing that really got me going. I was at the Blue Ridge Writer’s Conference, as a writer originally. I think it was Todd McNair who was talking, and he said something to the effect of you have to start thinking of yourself as a writer. He says if you sit down on a plane and the person next to you says “what do you do?” and you tell them what you do for your day job, maybe that’s not the right train of thought. I was telling people I was a teacher left and right. Now, when people ask what I do, I say “I’m a writer.” I also teach high school, but I define myself as a writer. The biggest thing is to think of yourself as a writer, and then to write. You have to read, and you have to consume as much information as humanly possible about how to become better at the craft.
Best-selling author. Award-winning filmmaker. To date, Bill Myers’ books and videos have sold over 8 million copies. Not bad for a man who never wanted to be a writer.
As author/screenwriter/director his work has won over 60 national and international awards, including the C.S. Lewis Honor Award. His DVDs and books have sold 8 million copies. His children’s DVD and book series, McGee and Me, has sold 4.5 million copies, has won 40 Gold and Platinum awards, and has been aired on ABC as well as in 80 countries. His My Life As… book series has sold 2.1 million copies. He has written, directed, and done voice work for Focus on the Family’s Adventures in Odyssey radio series and is the voice of Jesus in Zondervan’s NIV Audio Bible. As an author, several of his children’s book series and adult novels have made the bestseller list.
He is also managing partner of Amaris Media, International – a motion picture and media company currently developing several projects for both children and adults. The motion picture, The Wager, starring Randy Travis and based on Myers’ novel by the same name, was released in 2009.
Bill has been interviewed for Good Morning America, ABC Nightly News, The 700 Club, TBN, as well as hundreds of broadcast, internet and print organizations. He can be reached at bill@amarismedia.com
Show Notes:
Caleb: What inspired you to write Supernatural Suspense?
Bill: I got a call, quite a few years ago, from Tyndale House publishers. At that time there were a lot of horror books for teens, so they called me up and said, “Would you like to write a Christian horror series.” I said I would be happy to write about the supernatural, but I’m not going to write horror. Because there’s two sides to the supernatural, and I don’t get why we always have to deal with the devil and the demons and all the horror. That’s part of it, but there is this whole other side to the supernatural. I did a ton of research for the series… everything from UFOs to Ouija boards to possession. I became sort of a reluctant supernatural know-it-all.
Caleb: How did you research these wild topics?
Bill: To me, that’s the best part of writing. People always want to talk about themselves. I’ve interviewed everybody from the head of the CIA Psychic Research Division, to the Son of Sam Serial Killer, to people who claim they’ve been abducted by UFOs. I’ve talked to a lot of people that have prophetic gifts. I have one, who’s become a friend now, who does miracles on a regular basis. There’s a whole world out there that we kind of ignore, because we think it’s too “fantasy”. It’s not fantasy at all. For me the best part is research, and the hardest part about writing is writing. But I guess that comes with the territory.
Caleb: What does your writing process look like?
Bill: I’m really, really disciplined. I can think of dozens of writers more skilled than I am, but they don’t have the discipline to finish it. I write two thousand words a day. I write in three two-hour sessions. Now remember, this is full time. Most people don’t have that, but you can still carve out the time, and say “I’m going to write for this amount of time every day.” And somehow, it turns into a book.
Caleb: I’ve heard some writers say that they like to write organically, and some prefer to stick to an outline. Do you outline?
Bill: You bet! I know every scene before I start to write. It takes me a month to outline a book. But I do that, so I don’t go down some weird rabbit trail. It’s a craft. It’s not some inspirational art. For me, the inspiration happens within the confines of a structure.
A lot of people say to me, “Oh, I wish I was a full-time writer like you,” and my response is usually, “I don’t think you do.” The joys of people who write part-time is that you write from the joy.
Caleb: So after all that research, how do you choose what to weed out and what part to base your story on?
Bill: I always start with a premise, a concept that hopefully hasn’t been done before. I do something called Plot Webbing. I put a circle and write the basic thing, like “dead friend.” Then I put spokes out and say all the crazy things that could happen with that. And then I put another spoke and do all the crazy things, and then I fill up the whole page. Most of them are bad ideas. Before you know it you have pages of bad ideas, but every once in a while, there’s a good one. The next step is that I try to find characters that are engaging, that are original. The next step is to give that character a want that drives them. As soon as I’ve got that, then the rest is just hanging the story on how the person gets it, or doesn’t get it.
Caleb: How do you come up with your characters?
Bill: I ask my characters different questions. One of the most powerful questions I learned is from a movie director. I ask my characters “what are you afraid of?” They start to become vulnerable and they start to become three-dimensional, if I spend enough time with them. Once you give the character a want, once you’ve got a high concept, once you’ve got character’s that are engaging, the writing pretty much takes care of itself.
Caleb: I know you write in many different genres, for both adults and children. What are the biggest challenges when you switch from one to another?
Bill: It keeps me on my toes and stops me from being stale. I love writing children’s books. Most of my children’s books are comedies, and they just loosen my self-importance and make me a kid again. Screenplays are difficult because the people that pay you for screen plays don’t always know a good story. Artistically, it’s not nearly as rewarding as it is writing a book. But, I’ll tell you, writing screenplays has made me a better novelist. One of the first things they teach you in writing is to show something and don’t tell the audience about it, but show it in action. You have to do that on a screenplay, because that’s all there is.
Caleb: If you had one piece of advice you could give to an aspiring writer, what would that advice be?
Bill: To write. To write every day. To set aside that time. To write good or bad. It’s like going to the Olympics. Nobody drifts into the Olympics. They work out every day.
Bill Myers can be found on Facebook and on his website BillMyers.com.
Michele Chynoweth is the best-selling and award-winning author of The Faithful One, The Peace Maker and The Runaway Prophet, contemporary suspense novels that re-imagine Old Testament stories in the Bible. Michele is also an inspirational speaker, giving workshops at writers conferences across the country, a college writing instructor and a book coach, helping other writers become successful authors through her editing services and assistance with publishing and marketing their books. A graduate of the University of Notre Dame, she and her husband have a blended family of five children and live in North East, Maryland.
Michele Chynoweth – Contemporary Bible Stories
Caleb: Tell us more about yourself and the different things you’re involved in.
Michele: I am the author of three books that are out so far with the fourth coming out next year. I’m also an inspirational speaker. I speak at a lot of writer’s conferences about what I do as an author. That led me to become a writing instructor at Cecil Collage in my hometown of North East, Maryland. I teach “Writing Your Book” and also “How to Get Published.” I have 30 years of marketing experience. After I graduated collage, I was a news reporter. Then I went into marketing and the advertising world, and had my own ad agency for 20 years. Of course I became an author along the way, and love teaching what I know. I’ve always had my hand in writing.
Caleb: I wanted to talk a lot about your contemporary Bible stories. First, can you define your genre in a little more detail and explain why you decided to write these types of stories?
Michele: I’d like to say it chose me. My novels are contemporary suspense with a little romance. I call them Edgy Inspirational Fiction. They’re based on Old Testament stories in the Bible. You could consider them “Christian Fiction”, but also outside of that – they cater to a non-denominational and even universal audience. They re-imagine the stories in the Old Testament in a contemporary way with characters and plots we can relate to today. But I stay true to the plot.
I’ve always wanted to write since I was ten years old, and life happened. Along the way that writing bug bit me again and I wrote what I thought was the Great American Novel. It won the drama fiction contest for the Maryland Writers Association. The prize was literary agency representation with Writer’s House in New York. Then 9-11 happened, and they were in New York. We all lost the prizes and that book never saw the light of day. I was devastated.
I was driving along one day and the thought hit me out of the blue, “You should write a book based on the story of Job.” At the time, I wasn’t a big Bible reader. I just wanted to be rich and famous at the time. I thought “How is that going to get me there?” But it wouldn’t let go. So I started writing it, and I realized God was trying to tap me on the shoulder. I was going through a lot of Job like stuff: losing my marriage, losing my business, losing my health. I had the family disease of alcoholism. In the end, God brought me through all that, and in the end it helped me and now I help others. Fast-forward to today and I’m living my dream as an author, speaker and book coach. That book became “The Faithful One”, my first novel, and set me on the path to this genre.
Caleb: What inspires you to modernize these stories? How do you go about choosing what to change and what to keep the same?
Michele: That story hit me. I got it self-published originally. Then a Christian publisher picked it up and published it. They were coming up with a new genre – re-imagined Bible stories. A friend of mine suggested that I write the next one based on Abigail. I said “Abigail who?” and he said to look her up in the Bible. Abigail becomes the second wife of King David. Before that she was originally married to Nabal, who’s a mean, narcissistic bad guy. I thought that if I modernize it, David and Nabal could be running for President of the United States and Abigail gets stuck in the middle. That idea became “The Peace Maker”, my next novel.
I had been fighting this whole idea of “do I want to write in this genre?” At first, I just wanted to be rich and famous, now I realize it’s more about following God’s call and helping others. Bits and pieces of me are in there, or people I know. So I piece those stories together, but I really stay true to the plot and re-imagine them in a modern day way.
Caleb: What do you find is the main difference between writing in this genre and writing other types of fiction? What is different and what is the same?
Michele: This is somewhat of a new genre. What makes it different is that it bridges the gap between Christian fiction, which tends to be very clean. My books are clean and meet those Christian guidelines, but they’re also universal. They have themes and characters that are real. “The Runaway Prophet” is set in Las Vegas, and there’s prostitution and there’s gambling, and drug-addicts. There’s an underground, radical Islamic terrorist group trying to destroy Las Vegas, which is like a modern-day Nineveh. It’s real. It’s gritty. And that’s really what’s in the Bible.
Caleb: One of my writing friends, Molly Jo Realy, pointed out to me that you can’t really show how God can rescue you, until you show what He can rescue you from.
Michele: And sometimes when you help rescue someone, God rescues you in the process. That’s part of the message as well. I try to get to that underlying message that I think we miss in those Old Testament stories because they’re hard to read – hard to comprehend. So I try to uncover that, but not in a preachy or religious way.
Caleb: How has this given you more insight into the Bible? I’m guessing you had to really dig deep into these characters for research. Has this helped you more in your spiritual life?
Michele: Absolutely! I’ve actually sat down and read the Bible cover to cover. What I do is start with good research tools that get into the history, the wording and God’s messages. And then I also authenticate each novel with somebody in the clergy in various denominations. I want to make sure I’m following the Scripture’s story.
Caleb: How do you research your characters? What tools have you used to help get in the mindset of someone who lived thousands of years ago?
Michele: I do it more in a contemporary way. I really base my characters on bits and pieces of people I know. When I visualize them, I tend to think like a movie director. When you’re writing that kind of contemporary, fast-paced fiction, it should unravel like a movie.
Caleb: Tell us a little more about your writing process. Are you an organic writer or an outliner?
Michele: I’m a big advocate of a chapter outline. I feel like I need a road map. You’re going to veer off a little, as it changes and evolves. But at least you know where it’s going.
Caleb: If you could give one piece of advice to an aspiring author, what would that advice be?
Michele: Don’t lose your passion. Stay at it! Carve out your writing time and carve out time for you. You’re worth it!
Michele can be found on social media and through her website: Michelechynoweth.com
Michele offers book coaching through her website Bookcoachmichele.com