I'm happy to introduce you all to Lynn Donovan for today's
{Writer Wednesday} author interview!
A little bit about Lynn...
Lynn Donovan writes from her heart and her passion for Jesus
Christ. She is a daughter, wife, mother of four and grandmother of seven who
has five decades of experiences to draw from when creating her stories. She has
published a collection of Short Stories, The Clockwork Dragon, and this novel
with AltWitPress. She categorizes herself as the “sandwich generation” because
she is caring for her mother who has Alzheimer’s and her special-needs sister.
She is one child away from an empty nest. She currently lives in Southwest
Kansas but looks forward to building a home in Colorado.
How to connect with Lynn...
Author Interview | Lynn Donovan
You and Writing
Tell us a little bit
about yourself. How did you start writing?
...My initial response is: I never thought of myself as a
writer. But when I really thought
about it, I’ve always been the one who initiated a story-play time adventure.
When I was really young, like 6 or 7, my friends and I played outside (I know,
shocking) and we would develop a scenario as we went along. The ideas always
started with “See...” For example, we would decide to play cowboys and Indians,
I would say, “See, we need to get water from the creek but the Indians are
chasing us, so we have to hide in these bushes and sneak down to the water. See,
we are hot and tired, so we have a hard time crawling down to the creek.” Then
we’d play that out, kind of like keep
away or tag. When I got older (11 or so) we sat down (outside of course)
and wrote out plays. Then we’d rehearse them, set up lawn chairs on my friends
back porch and invite their parents to come watch our play. Later still, I
learned to sew and made hand puppets (like sock puppets). I road my Schwinn
bike (like Pee Wee Herman’s) to the appliance store (about ¼ mile from my
house) and literally dragged a freezer box back home. We’d cut out a window and
hang a curtain that could be pulled back, and put on a puppet show. Again, by
setting up lawn chairs and inviting our parents to come see.
What has kept you
writing?
...Now that I am writing, the ideas won’t stop. I hear a
newscast and think, hmm that would make an interesting scene to write or basis
for a whole story. Or I’ll read a passage in the bible and think of a way to
write that in modern times. Several ideas have come from a dream. Death Without Shoes in The Clockwork Dragon, is about 80% from
a dream.
...Two years ago, we transferred my mother, who has Alzheimer’s
and my sister, who is blind and deaf, to our home. They live with us now and so
I do not work outside of the home. Writing allows me to stay busy, joyfully,
and take care of their needs as well. I feel it was divinely orchestrated for
me to have this season where I have time to write. My only challenge is my own
multi-active mind who thinks it can do several things at once. I have to make
lists so I can ignore the activity, for now, and focus on writing.
Do you have a
favorite book or work that you’ve written? If so why?
...Actually I love all my stories, since they are my own
creations, but the one I am the most fond of is, “Blind and Deaf Faith.” I
wrote it for a Creative Writing class I took at the local college this past
fall. It is a fantasy fiction about my sister. The main character, Faith, is a
blind and deaf Marine Biologist. My sister is fascinated with sharks and dreams
(literally) of running a shark center. Due to her limitations, she will never
do such. However, in my writing I have been able to present it as a reality. I
gave a final copy to her and needless to say she LOVED it and hugged me. Her
joy made me cry. (Yes, she can read. She holds the paper about one inch from
her eyes.) A copy of it is on my blog, and it will be published in the
college’s Telolith. (Seward County
Community College) which is a yearly publication from the English and Art
Department. Student’s Art work and writings are published in it. And it wins
outstanding awards for quality and layout, etc., every year.
What is the hardest thing about publishing? The easiest?
...I have to confess. I am SO blessed. Ephesians 3:20 says: “Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all
we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,” A year
ago, February/March, I wrote The Wishing Well Curse. I didn’t know anything
about writing. I simply wrote the story like I would tell the story. My grammar
was based on mother-tongue knowledge. I saw it laid out in my mind like a
movie, and did my best to put that picture into words. ...Then I read Jeff Gerke’s
book, The Art & Craft of Writing Christian Fiction.
Learned a lot! Then I used his link at the back of the book to find a
discussion forum, The Anomaly or Where the Map Ends. From there I was invited
to an online critique group. It was in that critique group that I learned how
to polish my manuscript. A member of the group, Pauline Creeden, invited everyone
in the group to write a short story or two about a clockwork dragon which was
home to legends, the many demons. I wrote four and collaborated on another.
Pauline published it Oct 2012 with her publishing company, AltWitPress. (She
wrote two of the stories) Then in December, Pauline sent me a message asking me
if I had any finished manuscripts. I gulped, cried, ran to tell my husband, and
then I relied, YES! I sent her the Wishing Well Curse. She suggested some
structural/plot changes. I made them and here we are today. It was totally a
Divine Appointment! And I do realize and appreciate that this NEVER happens in
publishing…but it did for me! Thank you
God!
Your Writing
Tell us a little bit
about your book....The Wishing Well Curse is about a twenty-one year old man
named Zeke Clay who lives in Austin, TX. His parents have died and on one
spring day he loses everything, he drops out of college, finds his girlfriend
with another guy, leaves their apartment, and gets fired from work. He receives
an invitation to come to Pueblo Colorado for the reading of a Will for an Uncle
he never knew he had. What does he have to lose? He goes to Colorado and
discovers he could inherit a huge fortune, but he has to break a century old
curse along with some other strange conditions. He is given clues from this
Uncle and his mother. One source is First Chronicals 4:10, the Jabez prayer.
(Did I mention his middle name is Jabez) Hmm, maybe mom knew something when she
named him. He has to deal with a cantankerous elderly Attorney, a pastor who
looks more like a Hell’s Angels member than an evangelical pastor, the
attorney’s nephew/receptionist, and two ghosts who are not terribly agreeable.
If that’s not strange enough, his 3 year old tattoo, a band of thorns, on his
bicep, bleeds every time he goes near the wishing well. Wonder why?
Why are you/did you
write it?
...Prior to this story, I wrote a fictitious story about a
difficult period in my life but every other chapter is about the chapter before
only from the point of view of the spiritual world, i.e., my guardian angel,
prayer warriors, other angels, and demons who were out to get me. I wrote it to
completion, was amazed I could write a whole novel length manuscript, and then
decided it was too personal. So I set it aside and thought, “Okay, now what?”
The Wishing Well Curse was the only other story in my head at the time, so I
started writing it.
Do you have a
favorite character in this work? If so, why?
...Zeke, the main character, is totally patterned from my first
born. So, he’s a favored and dear character to me. But as I wrote the story, I
became fond of Clifford. Don’t get me wrong, I like all my characters in their
own way, after all I birthed them, so to speak.
What is one take-away
from your book that you hope readers identify with?
...God had a purpose for each and every one of us even before
we were conceived. My hope is for every reader to wonder what their purpose is.
I call it destiny, but I refer to God’s destiny for us. By wondering what that
destiny is, I hope everyone will seek and find that destiny, then follow that
path and fulfill God’s plan. I hope this story plants a seed that will flourish
over time.
Writing
Where do you find
inspiration for your story/characters? Are they based on real life or pure
imagination or both?...This story originated in my head over twenty years ago when
I heard Gordon Lightfoot’s song, If you
could read my mind. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ta0a3DFUU0Y
The line “Just like an old time movie,
about a ghost from a wishing well…” got me to thinking. Then when this season
presented itself in my life, I thought: I’m gonna try to write that story… And
here we are today. Some scenes are from a real life event. The only character
from a real life person is Zeke. The rest are from my imagination. With one
minor exception, a waitress. (That’s all I’m saying.)...I describe the way I write like this: I follow my characters
around and write down whatever they say and do. Sometimes they won’t let me eavesdrop,
other times they’re very open to me. That’s not to say I don’t plan out my
story or do research. I do that too. But my characters usually take the story a
whole different direction and I go along for the ride....My characters are VERY real to me. Sometimes, I accidentally
call my dog Zeke, his name is Binx.
When you write, what
is your overall intention with your stories?
...Number one intention is to glorify God. Number two intention
is to entertain. Number three intention is … no that’s about it.
What advice would you
give to aspiring authors for writing and/or publishing?...
Three quotes: Nike-
Just
do it Nemo-
Just keep swimming [
writing]
Confucius-A journey of a thousand
miles begins with one step.
.
..The only way to be a writer is to start writing and keep on
writing. No matter how terrible you may think it is, how slow you may type. If
you don’t have a computer, write it out in long hand. WHATEVER you have to do,
write. Second: read, read, read, everything you can get your hands on in the
genre you love, or want to write in. Third: read all the how-to-write and
how-to-edit books you can get your hands on. Plus, get an emotional thesaurus!
Invaluable! Fourth: connect with other writers - online, in person with writing
group, join a critique group (be careful some of those can be brutal) if you
don’t like the critique group, join another. Whether you write Christian
fiction or not, I recommend Where the Map Ends at www.wherethemapends.com/main.htm Lurk through the discussion threads until you
feel comfortable with posting something. Last, but not least, pray about it.
Pray before you write, pray after you write. Pray for other’s who write.
You
What is a favorite
memory you have of your mother?
...Not my mother so much as my grandmother. She was the
funniest person I have ever known. I got my humor gene from her. She always saw
the silver lining. She patiently spent time with me, playing games (hide and go
seek, checkers, and made up goofy games, too.) She would go out of her way to
help someone in need. She read to me and bought me Golden books, Tell a Tale,
etc. She taught me to cook, I had my own little bitty apron, and baking tools
just my size. I stood on a stool and helped with everything. (At least I
thought I was helping) There’s a story about her and my apron on my blog, too. Her
son, my father, imprinted on me the art of telling a story with just the right
poignant pauses and climactic reveals. I dedicated this book to him.
If you had to choose
one type of food, what kind would it be?
...I love all foods (you can tell by looking at me! LOL) but the first thing that comes to my
mind is Italian. I’m not Italian, but I love their food and cook it probably
60% of the time. I’m in love with pasta!
April showers bring
May flowers – or so they say. Do you have a favorite flower? If so, why is it
your favorite?
...Daisy is the first thing that comes to mind. But I adore
daffodils and tulips and roses and … well, I love all kinds of flowers! I don’t
know why. They’re beautiful and I love looking at them.
One question I did not ask but Lynn was so gracioius to piont out:
Will
there be a sequel?
...Why yes, Emilie, there is!
I’m calling it Thorns of Betrayal.
It is (as Paul Harvey would say) the rest of the story…about Zeke. That’s all I can tell you without spoiling
the Wishing Well Curse. *evil smile*
_______________
Thank you so much for this great interview Lynn! I am right there with you about playing outside as a child. I think it was the beginning for my writing career. I'm also a very visual writer myself. I see what my characters are doing and basically let them tell me the story. And lastly, your advice about praying for your writing and for others who are writing is invaluable! I'm planning a post on this soon so I won't say more than that ;)
I also have exciting news from Lynn that a new trailer for The Wishing Well Curse is out! You can follow the link below to check it out:
If you're intersted in purchasing her novel The Wishing Well Curse (how could you not be after reading its descritpion!?) you can find it at the link below:
I'm excited to say that I'll be reviewing The Wishing Well Curse on the blog soon!! Happy Wednesday :)
The Wishing Well Curse 
