Sigmund Brouwer is the author of eighteen best-selling novels for children and adults. His newest book is Fuse of Armageddon and his novel The Last Disciple was featured in Time magazine and on ABC’s Good Morning America. A champion of literacy, he teaches writing workshops for students in schools from the Arctic Circle to inner city Los Angeles. Sigmund is married to Christian recording artist Cindy Morgan, and they and their two daughters divide their time between homes in Red Deer, Alberta, Canada and Nashville, Tennessee. Sigmund is offering us a peek at a very special music video. Cindy is only part of the reason it's so special, the other reasons are pretty, little angels. Beautiful Bird from the album of the same name.
What is your current project? Tell us about it.
I’m working on a sequel to Broken Angel, working title: Angel Beyond. In Broken Angel, Caitlyn escapes the oppressive theocracy of Appalachia, where Christian beliefs are a government requirement. In Angel Beyond, Caitlyn discovers the world Outside has rejected absolute morals.
While I believe story is everything — that is, readers have to care about the characters, and Caitlyn is struggling to survive and uncover the secrets threatening her from Appalachia — I’m enjoying the process of critically examining the political backdrop, and the Darwinian pa
rodox: stating that the universe is a result of natural forces without any moral foundation, while denying this amoral view has any affect on moral standards or how people are and should be treated. (Sorry for the long sentence!)
Christianity offers the law of God’s love, while Darwinians, while they would prefer to pretend otherwise, offer the law of the jungle, where there is nothing wrong in ethnic cleansing or euthanasia or mandatory castration of the mentally handicapped.
Tell us about your journey to publication. How long had you been writing before you got the call you had a contract, how you heard and what went through your head?
I sent my first story out for publication when I was 20, but it took seven years and dozens of attempts for my first published story, and another three years to get my first book in print, a mystery written for children, in a series that would become the Accidental Detectives. I sent this book out to 20 publishers, and was very grateful when it was accepted. Fortunately, I was like a little kid learning to ice skate. I had no idea how bad I was, or how far I needed to go, so I cheerfully kept writing, believing that each new story was the one that would get published.
What mistakes have you made while seeking publication? Or to narrow it down further what’s something you wish you’d known earlier that might have saved you some time/frustration in the publishing business?
I’ve learned this: it’s not about me. Decisions in the publishing world are rarely personal. I’ve seen publishers work with authors they dislike, but who are authors that sell a lot of books. On the flip side, your editors and publishers may really like you, but if they can’t justify contracts to the bean-counters, it’s not going to happen. Same thing with marketing budgets -- decisions aren’t personal. So I’ve learned to roll with it, take it with humor or whatever other cliche you’d like to apply.
Yet, ironically, publishing is still based on relationships. Life is much easier when you enjoy the process of being part of a team, so as an author you need to clearly see where you fit in, and focus on team results, not ego results.
What is your favorite source for finding story ideas?
Internet!
Have you ever had one of those awkward writer moments you’d like to share with us, the ones wherein you get “the look” from the normals? Example, you stand at a knife display at the sporting goods store and ask the clerk which would be the best to use to disembowel a six foot man…please do tell.
My wife and I wandered around Charleston, South Carolina, looking for the best place to creatively attempt to kill someone. I was wise enough not to ask advice from passersby. At a park, I noticed a creek that was full of water that had been dry the evening before, and learned it was a tidal creek. I immediately imagined someone chained to a concrete block, with the creek rising to waist, then chest, then forehead. This became part of The Lies of Saints.
Is there a particularly difficult setback that you’ve gone through in your writing career you are willing to share? Or have you ever been at the point where considered quitting writing altogether?
Because I don’t take things personally, I don’t take setbacks personally and don’t even see them as setbacks, but as part of the journey and as part of the reality of making a living as an author. When a novel is released, there is such a complex web of factors beyond the quality of the novel that lead to sales success or failure that it verges on narcisstic to believe you can control the novel’s fate.
Yet, if I have a regret, it’s with Fuse of Armageddon. I poured two years into it, and when I was finished, thought I’d done everything possible with the accuracy of research, the plausiblity, and most of all, the characters and story. Because of the controversial subject matter, I thought the novel would get more attention, as it basically shows how evangelical America misreads the Bible when it comes to whether Israel has a divine right to the land, and because of it, needs to examine how much of a role these beliefs have in the war on terrorism.
Fuse was reviewed very well, and showed that readers not only enjoyed the story and the pace of it, but that they gained a new perspective on a flawed belief system that is essentially unchallenged. Despite this, it did not reach as many readers as I expected.
In the end, however, to me this simply proves that the complex web of factors in publishing is like the weather. You can’t change it, nor should you waste energy getting mad when it rains; you just do the best you can to adapt to it.
Dean Koontz recently shared his take on the concept on “the writer’s sacred duty.” What comes to your mind at the mention of “the writer’s sacred duty?”
The short answer is that I’m always leery of a phrase like ‘sacred duty’. It’s too easy to call upon God as a justification for things that aren’t sacred. If this question had not been prefaced by the mention of Dean Koontz, I’d be happy to leave my answer as such.
However, the novels by Dean Koontz are amazing and deserve as much respect as any fiction published, so I didn’t want to answer without seeing in what context he said this. It gave me a chance to enjoy what he says on writing, and respect even more his thinking.
If I understand correctly, it refers to his quote: “. . .I believe that talent is a gift and that it comes with the sacred obligation to polish and grow it.”
In that sense, I fully agree, but not just when it comes to writing, but with any talent. The tricky part, of course, lies in trying to discern the existences of talent because it’s not always obvious. Often it lies hidden and unknown until a lot of hard work and perseverance shows it was there all along, and it’s only obvious in retrospect. For me, passion is the divining rod that twitches and points to the talent, pure like water flowing beneath the ground. If you burn to write novels, I’d predict the talent is there, just waiting for the work it takes to ‘polish and grow it’.
What is your favorite and least favorite part of being a writer?
Favorite: writing. Least favorite: writing.
What aspect of writing was the most difficult for you to grasp/conquer? How did you overcome it?
I’ve finally grasped what I hope I’d intuitively been reaching for until I grasped it: push reader’s emotional buttons. Each scene needs to evoke emotion -- fear, sadness, laughter, suspense, curiousity, hatred, joy. Otherwise writing is simply a delivery of information like a manual on how to assemble a bicycle.
Plot, seat of pants or combination?
Seat of the pants, chapter by chapter. But aren’t plot writers also going by the seat of the pants? They just do it point-by-point until the outline is complete. Either way, it’s simply assembling a jigsaw puzzle, except writers who do it chapter-by-chapter have bulkier pieces and are much more reluctant to throw them away.
Parting words? Anything you wish we would’ve asked because you’ve got the perfect answer?
If parting words should be pithy, how about this then: There are three kinds of people in this world -- those who can count, and those who can’t.
I’m working on a sequel to Broken Angel, working title: Angel Beyond. In Broken Angel, Caitlyn escapes the oppressive theocracy of Appalachia, where Christian beliefs are a government requirement. In Angel Beyond, Caitlyn discovers the world Outside has rejected absolute morals.
While I believe story is everything — that is, readers have to care about the characters, and Caitlyn is struggling to survive and uncover the secrets threatening her from Appalachia — I’m enjoying the process of critically examining the political backdrop, and the Darwinian pa
rodox: stating that the universe is a result of natural forces without any moral foundation, while denying this amoral view has any affect on moral standards or how people are and should be treated. (Sorry for the long sentence!)Christianity offers the law of God’s love, while Darwinians, while they would prefer to pretend otherwise, offer the law of the jungle, where there is nothing wrong in ethnic cleansing or euthanasia or mandatory castration of the mentally handicapped.
Tell us about your journey to publication. How long had you been writing before you got the call you had a contract, how you heard and what went through your head?
I sent my first story out for publication when I was 20, but it took seven years and dozens of attempts for my first published story, and another three years to get my first book in print, a mystery written for children, in a series that would become the Accidental Detectives. I sent this book out to 20 publishers, and was very grateful when it was accepted. Fortunately, I was like a little kid learning to ice skate. I had no idea how bad I was, or how far I needed to go, so I cheerfully kept writing, believing that each new story was the one that would get published.
What mistakes have you made while seeking publication? Or to narrow it down further what’s something you wish you’d known earlier that might have saved you some time/frustration in the publishing business?
I’ve learned this: it’s not about me. Decisions in the publishing world are rarely personal. I’ve seen publishers work with authors they dislike, but who are authors that sell a lot of books. On the flip side, your editors and publishers may really like you, but if they can’t justify contracts to the bean-counters, it’s not going to happen. Same thing with marketing budgets -- decisions aren’t personal. So I’ve learned to roll with it, take it with humor or whatever other cliche you’d like to apply.
Yet, ironically, publishing is still based on relationships. Life is much easier when you enjoy the process of being part of a team, so as an author you need to clearly see where you fit in, and focus on team results, not ego results.
What is your favorite source for finding story ideas?
Internet!
Have you ever had one of those awkward writer moments you’d like to share with us, the ones wherein you get “the look” from the normals? Example, you stand at a knife display at the sporting goods store and ask the clerk which would be the best to use to disembowel a six foot man…please do tell.
My wife and I wandered around Charleston, South Carolina, looking for the best place to creatively attempt to kill someone. I was wise enough not to ask advice from passersby. At a park, I noticed a creek that was full of water that had been dry the evening before, and learned it was a tidal creek. I immediately imagined someone chained to a concrete block, with the creek rising to waist, then chest, then forehead. This became part of The Lies of Saints.
Is there a particularly difficult setback that you’ve gone through in your writing career you are willing to share? Or have you ever been at the point where considered quitting writing altogether?
Because I don’t take things personally, I don’t take setbacks personally and don’t even see them as setbacks, but as part of the journey and as part of the reality of making a living as an author. When a novel is released, there is such a complex web of factors beyond the quality of the novel that lead to sales success or failure that it verges on narcisstic to believe you can control the novel’s fate.
Yet, if I have a regret, it’s with Fuse of Armageddon. I poured two years into it, and when I was finished, thought I’d done everything possible with the accuracy of research, the plausiblity, and most of all, the characters and story. Because of the controversial subject matter, I thought the novel would get more attention, as it basically shows how evangelical America misreads the Bible when it comes to whether Israel has a divine right to the land, and because of it, needs to examine how much of a role these beliefs have in the war on terrorism.
Fuse was reviewed very well, and showed that readers not only enjoyed the story and the pace of it, but that they gained a new perspective on a flawed belief system that is essentially unchallenged. Despite this, it did not reach as many readers as I expected.
In the end, however, to me this simply proves that the complex web of factors in publishing is like the weather. You can’t change it, nor should you waste energy getting mad when it rains; you just do the best you can to adapt to it.
Dean Koontz recently shared his take on the concept on “the writer’s sacred duty.” What comes to your mind at the mention of “the writer’s sacred duty?”
The short answer is that I’m always leery of a phrase like ‘sacred duty’. It’s too easy to call upon God as a justification for things that aren’t sacred. If this question had not been prefaced by the mention of Dean Koontz, I’d be happy to leave my answer as such.
However, the novels by Dean Koontz are amazing and deserve as much respect as any fiction published, so I didn’t want to answer without seeing in what context he said this. It gave me a chance to enjoy what he says on writing, and respect even more his thinking.
If I understand correctly, it refers to his quote: “. . .I believe that talent is a gift and that it comes with the sacred obligation to polish and grow it.”
In that sense, I fully agree, but not just when it comes to writing, but with any talent. The tricky part, of course, lies in trying to discern the existences of talent because it’s not always obvious. Often it lies hidden and unknown until a lot of hard work and perseverance shows it was there all along, and it’s only obvious in retrospect. For me, passion is the divining rod that twitches and points to the talent, pure like water flowing beneath the ground. If you burn to write novels, I’d predict the talent is there, just waiting for the work it takes to ‘polish and grow it’.
What is your favorite and least favorite part of being a writer?
Favorite: writing. Least favorite: writing.
What aspect of writing was the most difficult for you to grasp/conquer? How did you overcome it?
I’ve finally grasped what I hope I’d intuitively been reaching for until I grasped it: push reader’s emotional buttons. Each scene needs to evoke emotion -- fear, sadness, laughter, suspense, curiousity, hatred, joy. Otherwise writing is simply a delivery of information like a manual on how to assemble a bicycle.
Plot, seat of pants or combination?
Seat of the pants, chapter by chapter. But aren’t plot writers also going by the seat of the pants? They just do it point-by-point until the outline is complete. Either way, it’s simply assembling a jigsaw puzzle, except writers who do it chapter-by-chapter have bulkier pieces and are much more reluctant to throw them away.
Parting words? Anything you wish we would’ve asked because you’ve got the perfect answer?
If parting words should be pithy, how about this then: There are three kinds of people in this world -- those who can count, and those who can’t.
Sigmund, I love that you're willing to tackle controversial subjects. I enjoyed Broken Angel. I still remember meeting you, briefly, at CBA in 2004.
ReplyDeleteKeep up the good work.
Eric Wilson
Sigmund, It's always good to hear what you are working on. Your response about learning to "push reader's emotional buttons" really reasonated. As a writer, I, too, find the challenge there. Although, as a reader, I am acutely aware when an author has connected with me. I finished reading a new novel the other night that grabbed, shook and left me emotionally flayed.
ReplyDeleteOn another note, my elementary-aged daughter still talks about you speaking at her school a year or so ago. You made an impact. Thanks!
You're a gifted writer. My favorites: Out of the Shadows and Crown of Thorns.
ReplyDeleteLove Cindy's work, too. What a voice.