Posted on April 15, 2010 - by Regina
INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR KAYE DACUS
Kaye Dacus has become one of my favorite authors, and I follow her blog faithfully – check it out! I read her first novel, Stand-In Groom, Book One of the Brides of Bonneterre series, and fell in love with her writing style and the folks that populate the fictitious town of Bonneterre, Louisiana. The other books in the series are Menu for Romance, and the last, just out this past February, is A Case for Love. Keep reading for a chance to win your own copy of A Case for Love!
RM: Kaye, welcome to our little writing nook. Tell us a little about yourself!
KD: I’m originally from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, though I’ve only lived there a small portion of my life. When I was just a year old, the Army sent us to Alaska for three years and then to New Mexico, where we lived for fourteen years and where I graduated from high school. Then it was back to Louisiana to attend LSU (Geaux Tigers!), and, after I dropped out at age twenty-one, I moved up to the Washington DC area to live with my parents for a few years. In 1996, I felt God calling me to move to Nashville, and I’ve been here—and loving it—for the last fourteen years. Before becoming self-employed in late 2008 (as a writer and freelance editor), I worked most of my adult life in the newspaper/advertising industry before moving into the book publishing industry as an editor.
As far as my personal life, I’m a thirtysomething single and my household is comprised of just me, myself, and I—so I travel as often as possible to go visit the rest of my family: my parents, who have recently retired to my dad’s hometown of Hot Springs, Arkansas, and my grandmother and my sister and her family who live in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. My large extended family (my mother is the oldest of six children) is the inspiration for the large Guidry family in the Brides of Bonneterre series. While we’re much more geographically scattered than the Guidrys, it was fun imagining what our family dynamics might have been if we’d all stayed in Baton Rouge as the Guidrys have stayed in Bonneterre.
RM: I know aspiring writers pick your brain every day—and I’ve been one of them. When did you know you wanted to write, and what drew you to Inspirational fiction?
KD: When I was that young, I wasn’t a writer—I hated writing, as a matter of fact. I made up plenty of stories, but they were acted out with my Barbie dolls or in my imagination as I played outside—other people, other places, other times all came alive in my mind’s-eye and I didn’t mind playing by myself. In fact, I rather preferred it, because then I didn’t have to explain to anyone else what I was envisioning and try to get them to play along the way the story went in my head.
As an adolescent, I started to read voraciously. My fancy turned to romance novels and by the age of twelve, I was reading one or two historical romance novels a week—mostly YA, but some adult fiction in there, too. These books grew in me not only a love for history, but a love for story telling because they inspired me to write. I wasn’t content with a kiss and a happily-ever-after ending. I wanted to know what happened the next day, the next year, the next decade. So the first writing I ever did was around fourteen years old when I started writing “sequels” to my favorite books. This, then, inspired me to start putting some of those stories that were always running through my head down on paper.
That experience—realizing I could put words down on paper and express the stories that I’d always had within me—opened a flood-gate; and for the last two decades, I’ve never stopped writing.
As far as writing “inspirational” fiction, I fell into it naturally, as the characters I write have similar lifestyles, upbringings, and worldviews as me—meaning that they’re Christians who try to attend church regularly who have day-to-day struggles with what it means to be a Christ follower in the 21st Century.
RM: Having read every book you have out, I have to say your most recent book, A Case for Love, is my favorite so far! What was your inspiration for the main character, Forbes? We met him first in Stand-In Groom, briefly in Menu for Romance. What made you decide to make him the main character of A Case for Love?
KD: When I first wrote Stand-In Groom, I needed a puppet-master character, one who knew the ins and outs of the secret identity of the groom and had the authority to grant—or not grant—George the right to reveal his true identity to Anne. That’s when Anne’s cousin Forbes Guidry first came to me. When Alaine Delacroix walked onto the scene in Menu for Romance, it was in the role of the vixen—the woman who was going to deliberately set out to come between Meredith and Major. But the more scenes I put Alaine in, the more I realized that she was simply misunderstood—and that she was someone who could give Forbes lots of grief. So when Barbour asked for a proposal for the third book in the series, I realized that by choosing Alaine as the heroine of the book, and by coming up with a legal case that would involve both of them, I had the perfect setup for what would become A Case for Love.
Once I started writing Case, I wondered if I’d made a mistake choosing Forbes as the hero—because he gave me all kinds of trouble, control freak that he is. It sounds somewhat psycho to admit it, but it’s hard to get a character like Forbes to let go and let me—his creator—get inside his head. It felt like he knew what I was going to put him through—forcing him to give up control over everything in his life (as well as his family members’ lives)—so he fought me almost every step of the way. But I’m glad I didn’t give up on him!
RM: While the Bonneterre books are contemporary romance, you also have a series that is historical fiction, set in Regency England, no less (the second in the Ransome Trilogy, Ransome’s Crossing, comes out this summer). I am in awe of the research that goes into a historical. How difficult do you find it to switch back and forth between the contemporary genre and historical?
KD: I started writing Ransome’s Honor, the first book in what became the Ransome Trilogy, when I was in the revision process on Stand-In Groom during graduate school. I’d been working on Stand-In Groom for three years, and I was ready for something with a totally different style, a totally different sensibility to it than the contemporary. I’ve had plenty of reviewers say that the style of my contemporaries is somewhat old-fashioned (in a good way), so I guess my voice as a writer has adapted to writing in both contemporary and historical settings.
I look at it this way. Many, many years ago, I took voice lessons in which I sang classical English, Italian, and German pieces (arias, excerpts from operettas and cantatas) in an almost operatic style. But I’ve also sung Southern Gospel, pop, and more jazzy/swing style music. Writing different eras is much the same thing: training myself to have a good “ear” and picking up on the rhythm and cadence of the language and losing myself in it.
RM: What’s next for Kaye Dacus? Can you tell us about your NEXT series?
KD: Well, after Ransome’s Crossing releases on June 1, I’ll be getting ready for the release of the first book of my next contemporary series, Love Remains—book 1 of The Matchmakers series, with Barbour, which releases in August 2010:
The Series:
Every grandmother wants to see her grandchildren happy, especially when it comes to their love lives. Join five active senior ladies—and one gentleman—who take a great interest in the lives and loves of their single grandchildren and become The Matchmakers.
Love Remains, Book 1:
Nashville native Bobby Patterson has just returned home after many years away to take a position with the Tennessee Criminal Investigations Unit. His new job: lead a task force investigating potential real estate fraud connected with the Middle Tennessee Historic Preservation Commission. Zarah Mitchell, who’s worked at the Commission for more than a decade, is about to face a piece of history that could ruin the life she’s built in Nashville: Bobby Patterson—her first love and the reason her father kicked her out fourteen years ago. When Bobby realizes Zarah is part of his investigation, he is tempted to use his grandmother’s not-so-subtle setups as a way to learn if Zarah is involved in the fraud. Zarah, at her grandmother’s suggestion, tries to put the pain from the past aside to see if any love remains between her and Bobby. But when she learns he’s been investigating her, will she be able to forgive him a second time?
And I’m currently writing the third book in The Ransome Trilogy, Ransome’s Quest, which comes out July 2011.
RM: Our readers are a mixture of published, about-to-be-published, and hope-to-be-published authors. If you could come up with your top five pieces of advice for writers, what would they be?
KD:
1. Above all else, FINISH YOUR FIRST DRAFT. As I just mentioned in a class on writing opening hooks, don’t stress out about perfecting your opening hook before you have your entire story written—until you get to the end, you don’t really know what your story is about, no matter how detailed your outline/synopsis is.
2. Put your manuscript aside for as long as you possibly can after you finish the first draft. You want to forget as much as possible about it before you start revisions—that way, you can be more objective about it.
3. Move on to something new as soon as possible. Don’t spend too long revising your draft. Get feedback, polish it up, but don’t get caught up in a continual revision loop.
4. Read five published novels in your genre for every one craft book you read. So many writers, especially new writers, get so caught up in “learning the craft” that they lose sight of “writing.” You can learn more from critical reading of published novels (breaking them apart, learning how/why they work or don’t work) than you’ll ever learn from reading a how-to book.
5. Story trumps craft. Carefully consider each critique you receive. My local writing group has adopted a line from Captain Barbossa from Pirates of the Caribbean when it comes to comments received from critiquers or on contest entries: “The code is more what you’d call guidelines than actual rules.” It doesn’t matter how many writing how-to books you memorize and how skillfully you apply the “rules” you’ve learned from them—if you don’t have a good story, none of the rest of it matters. Yes, the guidelines of good writing are important, but don’t let your story get lost in an attempt to “follow the rules.”
RM: Thank you, Kaye – good advice! I can’t wait to get my hands on your next book!
I’ve read and loved A Case for Love, and I can’t WAIT to share it with the rest of you. Yes, as mentioned earlier, I’m talking about a GIVEAWAY – our first on Inkspirational Messages! For you, our readers, I have a copy of A Case for Love that will be mailed to someone who comments on this post! Leave your email contact, and if you’re the winner, I will contact you and arrange for you to have your VERY OWN COPY to enjoy!
So read, comment, and ENTER!
Bio: Kaye Dacus is the author of contemporary and historical romances with Barbour Publishing and Harvest House Publishers. She holds a Master of Arts in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University, is a former Vice President of American Christian Fiction Writers, and currently serves as President of Middle Tennessee Christian Writers. She loves action movies and British costume dramas; and when she’s not writing, she enjoys knitting scarves and “lap blankets” (she’s a master of the straight-line knit and purl stitches!). Kaye lives in Nashville, Tennessee, and even though she writes romance novels, she is not afraid to admit that she’s never been kissed.
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White Pearls by Shannon Taylor Vannatter
Shell doesn't have a good reputation...But no matter what everyone in Rose Bud, Arkansas, thinks of her, she's back in town with a job to do. She'll stick it out and make the best of things. But why does Ryler have to be the landscaper on this project? She was just getting her heart under control. Ryler has his own reasons for being in Rose Bud, and they don't include Shell. Spying on his birth family was going to be hard enough. He doesn't have time to worry about a woman who dumped him...even if his heart says otherwise. McKenzie’s Branson Brainteaser by Shari Barr
McKenzie and Sydney meet in Branson, Missouri, where McKenzie has been recruited to help at the Dixie Stampede. While the girls take in the sights and sounds of Silver Dollar City, they become involved in a search to find a teen girl’s long lost uncle–who is rumored to have settled near the Branson area. With no clue other than a whittled necklace with an “SS” on the back, how will they ever reunite Shara with her uncle? The Camp Club girls are on the case, and they’re not about to give up until they close the gap and reconnect Shara’s family.
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Ruled by despair, remorse, and anger, the author’s life had become a classic rendition of the cliché “What’s a nice girl like you doing in a place like this?” Desperate. Overwhelmed. Isolated. Trapped. She hit bottom.
On the elevator of life, those descending will all exit on different levels–some much lower than others. You don’t have to go all the way to the bottom. Stop now and push the “up” button. This book will show you how!
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April 15, 2010
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Dawn Ford said:
Kaye,
I pretty much did the same things with my barbie dolls, only I lived waaay out in the country where there were no other kids to play with. But I did prefer to play alone with my own stories.
Rule #4, I had began to read only how to write books and then went back to reading books of my genre. I found one that really was disappointing. I took the reasons why and am trying to apply that now to my own writing. I found it to be as important or more important than some of the things I learned from the how to books. Great advice!
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April 15, 2010
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Kav said:
What a wonderful interview — and great advice! I’m heading to my town’s one and only Christian bookstore this weekend and I’ll be sure to look for your books, Kaye.
I made up stories when I was a kid too and acted them out with my Barbie dolls too. I wonder if that is going to be a common thread amongst us?
I even did it with my living and breathing friends too, but that involved a lot of negotiations, but I perservered. I swear I started my first book in elementary school — each recess was a new ‘chapter’. LOL. I started writing the stories down when I was too old to play like that any more and I pretty much daydreamed my way through high school!
I love your writing tips — especially #4 because I’m horrible at reading ‘craft’ books…in fact I don’t even try any more. I get so bogged down with the technicalities and all the don’ts that I just freeze up and my writing becomes stilted rubbish.
I think I learn more my soaking up good books. Sometimes I’ll pause to admire a beautifully crafted sentence or an incredible wow-factor opening paragraph, or to mull over the way the romance is developed…but mostly I just read and that really helps my own words flow when I sit down to write.
Also — #1 — about finishing your draft. I got sidelined by trying to ‘perfect’ the first couple of chapters and it really messed me up. I just whooshed a sigh of relief when I read your ‘FINISH YOUR FIRST DRAFT’ because that’s what I’ve been thinking I should really be doing instead of trying to get bits and pieces ‘polished’.
Thanks so much for taking the time to answer Regina’s questions…and thanks Regina for introducing us to Kaye.
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April 15, 2010
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Shannon Taylor Vannatter said:
Great interview. Kudos to Regina. And Kaye, thanks so much for your nuggest os advice. I’ve told numerous people how much you helped me.
I had writers’ block for the first time ever after I had to write my chapter by chapter for Heartsong. I attended one of your workshops in Little Rock and you said to write the chapter by chapter, then put it away until it’s out of your head, then write the book. That’s what I did and it worked like a charm.
I did the Barbie Doll thing too. And when I got too old for Barbie’s, I locked myself in my bedroom and acted the stories out myself. I even did costume changes. I thought I was really weird, but I guess they had to come out some way.
I didn’t realize they were books until I was in my thirties. But by the time I wrote the first book, I’d acted it out on numerous occasions.
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April 15, 2010
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Brenda Anderson said:
Interesting how those Barbie dolls ignited our imaginations, isn’t it?
Kaye, thanks so much for stopping in. It’s always fun & encouraging to read of other writer’s journeys.
Like Dawn & Kav, I really appreciate your writing advice. Number four resonates with me also. I read novels like crazy, but now I tend to pick apart everything I read.
In the end, though, like you say in tip #5, story is king. An engaging story will blind the reader to broken rules.
If you don’t have an intriguing story, it doesn’t matter how perfectly crafted your writing is.
Thanks, Regina, for introducing us to Kaye. Awesome interview!
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April 15, 2010
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Laura Frantz said:
Great interview! And such wise advice. #4 especially resonates with me as I learn so much about writing from published novels, ones I love and ones I don’t, whereas craft books sometimes leave me overwhelmed and confused. Kaye, I’ve always been amazed at how prolific you are and what a great multi-tasker! Your blog is one of the best out there. You put your heart and head into it and it shows. Bless you all.
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Jaclyn said:
Kaye, I have not has the privilege of reading your books yet. After reading your interview I am super excited to get one! Thanks so much
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April 15, 2010
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Regina said:
Don’t forget the giveaway!!!!! You can’t win if you don’t enter . . . .
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April 15, 2010
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Lorna said:
Kaye, thank you so much for coming today! I loved hearing about your writing journey and “Love Remains” sounds terrific.
I love your writer’s tips, too. Whenever I can put time between my manuscript and my edits, it does turn out sooooo much better.
Respectfully love “Story trumps craft.”
Thanks again for sharing your story and your advice.
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April 15, 2010
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Kaye Dacus said:
Hi, everyone! Thanks for all of your wonderful words of encouragement. I’m thrilled that Regina asked me to participate by doing an interview. I’ve been lurking around Inkspirational Messages for quite some time now, and loving every post!
When I started writing down the stories I had been acting out with the Barbie dolls—because I wanted to remember where I was in the “story” the next day—we lived in a house in which I had a small walk-in closet. The two deep shelves in it were my Barbies’ house, and I’d moved my footlocker (one of my dad’s old Army footlockers) in there as a place to sit while I played. So it was only natural that was where I would sit to write, too. Though it was more than fifteen years later when I attended my first writing conference and started letting others read my writing, I have to laugh and call it “coming out of the closet” with my writing.
Shannon, I’m so glad you found the outline advice helpful. Even though I consider myself mostly a Pantser (seat of the pants writer), I’m discovering now that I’m writing on deadline, having that original story synopsis, the ones I write for the publishing house to sell the series, extremely helpful, especially when I get lost in the middle of the novel and lose momentum with where the story’s going. Having that synopsis reminds me of conflicts I may have forgotten and pathways I need my characters to take to get to the end of the book.
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April 15, 2010
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Kav said:
Even your responses are enlightening, Kaye. LOL. I perked up at your ‘panster’ claim, since I POSITIVELY HATE SYNOPSIS..ER SYNOPSES? Anyway, I dislike them intensely. But alas, I see that the dreaded synopsis seems to have a place in the writing world after all. Sigh.
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Shannon Taylor Vannatter said:
Kav, I agree with Kaye about the synopsis being helpful. And I’m very much a pantser. But once I get the synopsis out of my head and start writing the book, if I get stuck, the synopsis is a nice tool to have. Kind of a, Oh yeah, that’s where I was going next.
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Lorna Seilstad said:
Absolutely true about the synopsis. And it’s even more fun to finish the book and see how close or far you ended from what you planned.
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April 15, 2010
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Caroline Seilstad said:
What a woman! Three books at the same time sounds crazy, but if God gave you such talent I applaud you for taking it and encouraging so many people.
It’s neat to see how all my mom’s friends think and how great you are to each other. I never realized those stories I also acted out with my Barbies can someday be a novel that you all may read.
The song analogy is really cool and I can relate. Your books sound so cool I can’t wait to pick one up and delve on in.
Speaking of exploring I also find myself looking at the technical aspect of books and you interview reminds me I need to just relax and enjoy the a well written story. The author has put in so much work so I can find that escape from a hectic world. So thank you.
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April 15, 2010
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Kaye Dacus said:
Shannon said: “if I get stuck, the synopsis is a nice tool to have.”
What I typically do, about 30,000 words into a novel (my contemporaries are contracted at 100k, historicals at 105k)—which is where I get stuck—is pull up the synopsis and write out “scene cards”—two to four short sentences of conflicts/scene ideas I had in the synopsis. I use the 4×4 lined Post-it Notes, color-coded by POV character (with an extra color for the don’t-know-POV-yet scenes). I also go back and write out scene cards for what I’ve already written. I put them all up on the wall in my office so I can see where I’ve been and I can see where I’m going. It’s especially helpful with my historicals, when I’m dealing with multiple storylines and POV characters.
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Kaye Dacus said:
Ooh–I actually have a photo from when I was writing Ransome’s Crossing:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2469/3985765676_c2b19f1f6a_o.jpg
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Kaye Dacus said:
Kav said: “I perked up at your ‘panster’ claim, since I POSITIVELY HATE SYNOPSIS..ER SYNOPSES? Anyway, I dislike them intensely. But alas, I see that the dreaded synopsis seems to have a place in the writing world after all. Sigh.”
[Editor hat on: Yes, SYNOPSES is the correct plural form of SYNOPSIS.]
What helps me is to not think of them as synopses, but as story summaries that I’m writing for myself. In filmmaking, they call them story treatments. Basically, it’s writing down, in narrative form, the idea for the story. I used to HATE doing them because my story ideas started out so amorphous and so centered around one character (usually the hero) that I didn’t know until I was a third to half way into the manuscript what the actual story conflict was. And while I was writing my first few manuscripts, which were exercises and nothing I ever intended would be sent out to anyone other than a few family members to read, that was okay. When I started writing Stand-In Groom, though, I wrote the first ten chapters three times before I finally figured out what the main conflict of the story was—and the only reason I didn’t rewrite them again when I did figure out what it was (the hidden-identity plot) is because I was in graduate school and under “contract” to have the manuscript completed (or at least written through to the end) by the end of my second semester. Thus the “don’t get caught up in a revision loop” advice—I had to write 60k words of that ms. in about four months. (Which now seems like A LOT of time for that amount of words, but I’d never done anything like that before then.)
I discovered, when I got to the end exactly how I needed to rewrite the beginning to tie it all in together. What a lesson to learn—write the manuscript all the way through to the end to figure out what the beginning should be!
Now that I’ve been doing this for a while, it’s easier for me to map out a few of the main conflicts of the story ahead of time—because I need that road map. With only four to five months (though sometimes only two or three) to write a novel, I have to know what’s supposed to happen by the time I start writing, or I lose a lot of my very short window of time in figuring out the storyline instead of actually writing.
My synopses are nowhere near as detailed as an outline, or even the chapter-by-chapter synopsis HeartSong Presents requires. It’s not turn-by-turn directions from a GPS. But it is a road atlas giving me an overview of which direction I need to go to get to my destination.
[An analogy . . . whew, I feel better now.]
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kav said:
Oh, Kaye, that’s soooooo helpful. Synopses are not my friend but I can handle thinking of them as an overview. That seems so much friendlier!
I love your Post-It Note scene cards. That’s something that could really work for me, I think. It’s like a storyboard on the wall. I’ve really enjoyed our ‘chat’ and appreciate how gracious you’ve been with your inside writing know howc! Thank you sooooooo much!!!!!
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Kim said:
This was fantastic! Thanks Regina for arranging it and Kaye for dropping by!
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April 15, 2010
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Regina said:
This has been amazing! I leave my computer for a few hours and WHAM! Major conversations and learning has been happening without me!
Thank you so much, Kaye, for your teaching spirit. As you can see, our group, as a whole, is like a sponge where writing is concerned. I have a feeling you’ll find a few more of us on your blog after this!!
Psst, Iksters – her writing series index is TERRIFIC!!
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April 15, 2010
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Shannon Taylor Vannatter said:
I regularly visit Kaye’s writing series index and have steered other writers there too.
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April 16, 2010
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Karen said:
Barbie dolls were meant to be played with solo, weren’t they? How else could a child… ok, me… act out the stories exactly as I wanted them to go? No wonder I like writing. LOL
Thank you for saying outline instead of synopsis. It seems less intimidating this way. I will admit I’ve been grateful for them recently when noodling with fanfic stories. When certain characters inevitably took over I found myself forgetting what the original point of the story had been. Oops.
I feel better for reading all your advice Kaye. I’d pretty much scrapped the book I was working on because I couldn’t get the opening to flow. Maybe I should dust it off and try simply writing to see where it ends up. Thank you for that.
From one panster to another I look forward reading your books, and seeing you drop by again. Mega thanks to Regina for setting this up.