Author Interview ~ Lynette Eason

Lynette Eason grew up in Greenville, SC. She attended Converse College where she obtained her Masters degree in Education. During this time, she met the boy next door, Jack Eason—and married him. They have two precious children. Lynette loves to ice skate, go bowling, walk on the beach, visit the mountains of Asheville, NC—and of course, read. She is often found online and loves to talk writing with anyone who will listen. She gives God the glory for her giving her the talent and desire to spin stories that bring readers to the edge of their seat, but most importantly, to the throne of Christ.

Plug time. What new book or project do you have coming out?

LETHAL DECEPTION is due out February 2008 from Steeple Hill Love Inspired Suspense.

How did you come up with this story? Was there a specific 'what if' moment?

Ha. You’re going to think I’m so weird. I was sitting in the DMV bored to death thinking, “What a jungle! I’m never going to get out of here. Then my thoughts turned to creating a story about a girl stuck in the jungle, running from the bad guys and what would she do if…so I grabbed a pencil stub and a piece of paper and wrote the whole first chapter before my number was called.

Tell us about your publishing journey. How long had you been writing before you got a contract?

I’ve always had a very active imagination, however, as an adult, I decided I better channel into something socially acceptable, so I started writing my first novel about eight and a half years ago. I wrote four complete novels, joined writers groups such as RWA, ACFW, and FHL, and attended several writing conferences. I started sending out my stuff and getting a LOT of rejections. Fed up, I self-published a book in January of 2005 called GIFT OF GRACE. That was fun, but it wasn’t my goal. My prayer was for my writing to be a ministry where when someone reads my book, they see Jesus in the pages.

How did you find out and what went through your mind?

I was at work and normally don’t have my cell phone turned on, but my son wasn’t feeling well when I dropped him at school that morning, so I left it on in case the school called. When it rang, I figured it was about him. Then I saw the 212 area code and just flipped. I KNEW it was New York calling. And I could think of only reason anyone in New York would be calling me.

Fortunately, I had an assistant in the class, so was able to run out and take the call. It was Krista Stroever, editor for Steeple Hill, saying they wanted to buy my book. I wanted to scream, but didn’t figure that would come across as very professional, so managed to hold it in until we hung up. Then I squealed my way all the way back to class. Fortunately, I work with deaf students, so no one knew what a racket I was making…ha.

Do you ever struggle with writer's block? If so, how do you overcome it?

Sometimes. Not very often. [To overcome it,] I just write. And sometimes it’s REALLY bad stuff, but I just keep going until I kind of get an idea where I want the story to go from that point. Then I go back and delete the “unfixable” stuff and edit the “possibly worth keeping stuff”. Also, if I know of a scene that will come later in the story, I’ll just skip on over to that scene which will sometimes trigger something that I can go back and write. Also, cleaning my house helps or doing the laundry. And if you saw my house right now, you would say the writing is going REALLY well. Ha.

What is the most difficult part of writing for you or was when you first started on your writing journey?

Plot.

Do you have a word or page goal you set for each day?



I really go for 2,000 words a day. And they don’t have to be good words, but I want them to carry the story forward. Of course life often intervenes and I may only get 1,000 written, but other days I write 4,000, so it all evens out in the long run.

What does a typical day look like for you?

Try totally unpredictable. It’s summer time and I’m home with my children now, ages 8 and 6. They’re very active and HATE staying home. So we get up around 8:30 (I am so NOT one of those people that can get up before 5:00 a.m. and get the writing done. I’d fall asleep over the keyboard and drown it with drool.)

After a bite to eat, usually at Chick-Fil-A, then it’s off to whatever adventure we’re doing that day, possibly the library, then it’s back home for lunch and the kids play while I work on whatever it is I need to get done writing wise.

In between interruptions from kids (which is fine, I don’t mind if they need me) I try to get something in the computer. Then later that night—after a nice supper courtesy of take out—and after my kids are in bed, I try to continue working on my book. My husband travels a lot with his job, so most nights after my children are in bed, my time is my own. That’s when I get most of my writing done.

Take us through your process of writing a novel briefly—from conception to revision.



Wow, I get ideas from everywhere. A movie, a song, a sermon, being STUCK IN THE DMV; you get the picture. After I have the little seedling of an idea, I try to grow it by expounding on it. I pull out the pencil and paper to jot stuff down because when I get an idea, I’m not usually at home.

Once home, I enter everything I’ve written in the computer and let it germinate. Then I have to introduce myself to my characters. I use Randy Ingermanson’s handy dandy little character chart and fill in all the information. That chart is great. I highly recommend it or something like it. I’ve found that if I don’t know my characters inside and out, I can’t make the story work.

Once I’ve gotten the characters down, I move on to the plot. I ask myself what’s the worst thing that could happen to my Hero and Heroine, make it happen, then I try to make it even worse! THEN, I have to figure out how to get them out of the situation/s that they’ve managed to get themselves into. And that’s usually when my house gets cleaned.

After I’ve got the basics of the story worked out in my mind, I write a LONG synopsis. I have a love/hate relationship with writing the synopsis. I love it when it’s done. I hate everything in between. Anyway, once it’s done, I break it into scenes.

After I have the scenes, I start writing Chapter One. The first part of the book for me is always the hardest. I don’t usually have trouble with the middle because I’ve fleshed out the scenes so much. The ending goes pretty fast. Right now, I have 40 pages left to finish the second book I hope Steeple Hill will buy. I expect to finish that by the end of next week. But the beginning…ugh. So, once I get the beginning down, things usually go pretty well after that. The characters kind of take over the story and it writes itself. I just have to get them to that point.

What are some of your favorite books (not written by you)?

I love, love, love anything written by Brandilyn Collins. Deborah Raney’s latest, REMEMBER TO FORGET. Robert Liparulo’s GERM fascinated me. Dee Henderson’s THE NEGOTIATOR was my favorite out of all of hers. I like Ted Dekker’s earlier stuff, especially BLINK. Karen Kingsbury, of course. And I’m really getting into some Chick-lit. I’m not normally a 1st person POV reader, but I’m coming around with this genre. I just finished QUEEN ESTHER AND THE SECOND GRADERS OF DOOM and laughed my head off. The heroine was SO me and I could totally relate to her. STEALING ADDA by Tamara Leigh is my all time favorite book right now. I howled with laughter. Terri Blackstock is awesome. I love all her stuff. I could go on and on, but I’ll stop there.

What’s the best writing advice you’ve heard?

Write everyday. And if you believe this is what God has called you to do, never, ever give up, He will be faithful to fulfill your dreams.

What do you wish you’d known early in your career that might have saved you some time and/or frustration in writing?

Just the basics. I wrote my first book and thought it was the best thing around. Then Dee Henderson got hold of it. HA! I am so fortunate that God placed that woman in my life at just the perfect time. She took my GAN (Great American Novel), went through the entire thing and taught me the basics of POV, passive vs. active writing, action/reaction sequence, and gave me tons of advice.

What she did cut my “learning time” (and by that I’m talking basic fiction writing skills) by at least half. What she taught me in a few short weeks would have taken me months to learn on my own. I wish I had known about all the resources out there for new writers such as critique groups, writer’s conferences, etc. In publishing? I’m not really sure yet. Emily Rodmell has been so awesome with this whole publishing process, I haven’t really had any frustrations. Not that I expect that to last forever, but I’m going to relish it while I can.

How much marketing do you do?

I’m dying to do some! But I can’t post or email the cover of the book yet, so I am kind of waiting on that to go all out with postcards and emails. Of course, I announced my good news to all the writer’s loops I’m on and on my website and blog . I’m also on ShoutLife, a Christian MySpace kind of thing. Brandilyn Collins was so kind to announce it on her blog, too. Check it out . I’m February 28, 2007.


What have you found that particularly works well for you?


This one is a hard question for me to answer since I’m still kind of learning here.

Do you have any parting words of advice?

I’ll reiterate. Never ever give up. Pray a lot, write a lot, and never stop learning. Expect rejection and be willing to learn from it. Immerse yourself in the writing process. Writer’s conferences are wonderful, but can be expensive. Plan in advance. If you can go, look at the schedule, find a class that you would attend if you were there, then buy the tapes. Most conferences record their sessions. Get a mentor and/or a critique partner. Most of all, keep giving your writing to the One who gave it to you in the first place. Trust God. His timing is perfect.