Author Interview: Gayle Roper

Plug time. What book or project is coming out or has come out that you’d like to tell us about?

My next title, ALLAH’S FIRE, comes out in March, 2006. It’s a military intrigue/romance, an action adventure. I’m co-writing it with a young man named Chuck Holton who is a former Army Ranger. Chuck writes all the guys who are part of a Special Forces explosives unit called Task Force Valor. Their assignment over the three book series is to find out where the new explosive being used by the bad guys is coming from. I write all the women who end up in Valor’s adventures through adventures of their own. In ALLAH’S FIRE Liz is a reporter whose sister disappears in the big explosion and fire that brings Valor into the story.

How long had you been writing seriously before you got “the call?”

I started writing over 35 years ago. I think I always had a sense of ministry about it though I didn’t see it as a career at first. At first it was just something to do when I was home with my two small sons. But I quickly realized I wanted to keep writing and teaching writing rather than go back into a junior high classroom where I’d been before the kids came.

Tell us about “the call.”

There was never any moment I had “the call”. It was always part of my heart to write for the Lord. I couldn’t imagine doing it otherwise. My need was to learn to weave spiritual issues into things as part of the story, not as statements I wanted to make. Less is often more. I didn’t need to present the Gospel in everything I wrote. Sometimes it doesn’t fit the story line, and if I tried to force it, I ruined both the story and the presentation. I learned that it’s the whole of my work that presents the full picture of my faith.

What’s the best advice you’ve heard on writing/publication?

It’s hard to come up with only one thing, but I think for me it’s learning (and relearning and relearning) that it’s obedience to the call, not success in numbers of sales, that is the spiritual sign of success.

What’s the worst piece of writing advice you’ve ever heard?

The worst piece of advice I’ve ever heard (and this applies to a lot more than writing) is that if you try hard enough, you’ll make it. Many of the most gifted don’t “make it”, however you define that term. Again, it’s about obedience, not making it.

What’s something you wish you’d known earlier on that might have saved you some time/frustration in the publishing business?

I think one of the most beneficial things a writer can do is attend writers conferences, getting involved if possible. I was fortunate in finding a local writers conference, the Saint David’s Christian Writers Conference, early on, and it saved me a lot of unnecessary flailing in ignorance. I served that conference as everything from assistant hostess to director over a span of almost twenty years. Contacts made here opened doors to further contacts and so on and so on.

Do you have a scripture or quote that has been speaking to you lately?

My life verse, the one I always add after my name whenever I give an autograph, is Col. 2:17. “Whatever you do in word or deed, do all to the glory of God.” It’s good for every day and every occasion.

Is there a particularly difficult set back that you’ve gone through in your writing career you are willing to share?

At one point several years ago, after I’d had seven books published, I went through a five year dry spell where I couldn’t place anything. The only things that kept me going were a couple of article reprints and my writers conference involvement. I wondered if I was reading the Lord right about this writing thing, but I couldn’t come up with any alternatives that appealed at all. So I kept on, and eventually things started to move again.

What are a few of your favorite books?

I assume you mean that I’ve read, not written?
Non-fiction: LOVING GOD, Chuck Colson; KNOWING GOD, J.I. Packer; HEART OF AN ARTIST, Rory Noland; YOUR GOD IS TOO SAFE. Mark Buchanan; ENCOURAGEMENT, Larry Crabb and Dan Allender.

Fiction: ABA: any Dick Francis mystery, any Luanne Rice novel, Lisa Scottoline’s mysteries
CBA: Lisa Samson’s books (loved TIGER LILY!), THE CHAIRMAN, Harry Kraus; A NEST OF SPARROWS, Deb Raney; SECRETS, Kristin Heitzman


What piece of writing have you done that you’re particularly proud of and why?

SPRING RAIN, the first of the Seaside Seasons books, is the one I’m proudest of. It’s romantic suspense or women’s fiction, whichever you want to call it. Both sound innocuous enough. But it tackles a hard subject, a son/brother coming home to die of AIDS. In contrast the “good brother” has his own secret sin which comes out as the story progresses. What pleases me most is that all comments on either topic are in the context of the story.


Do you have a pet peeve having to do with this biz?

My pet peeve is that it’s all about numbers and not necessarily quality.


Can you give us a view into a typical day of your writing life?

I am a procrastinator, so there really aren’t typical days. There are nice, slow days, then nightmare days as deadline looms. Just ask my longsuffering husband.

If you could choose to have one strength of another writer, what would it be and from whom?

It would be a desire to be consistent, to write 5 pages every day like Bill Myers,

Do you have a dream for the future of your writing, something you would love to accomplish?

I would love to see my things sell in greater numbers (even though I know it’s about obedience. Remember I said I was always relearning that truth?).

Was there ever a time in your writing career you thought of quitting?

Perhaps I wanted to quit when the kids were about to start college. Well, I didn’t want to quit, but it seemed it might be reasonable to find a job with a steady income. I didn’t stop though.

What is your favorite and least favorite part of being a writer?

I love rewriting! I dislike that first putting of words on a page. One they’re there, it’s great fun to make them better and better and better.

Parting words?

Writing’s a career that calls for prayer and perseverance. Without that duo, you’re dead in the water.