Q: Tell us about the research work on your book.
A: I started with research on angels, their names, functions, and classes. I also researched the meaning of names for the characters. Then, I analyzed character virtues and chose several for Phase 1 of the young warriors’ training. Next, I read and selected quotes from different faiths pertaining to the virtues I selected. I researched anything factual that I put in the book, like facts about butterflies, dragonflies, hummingbirds, cats, composer Cohen, sunflowers, and medical information pertaining to each character’s cause of death.
The time this all took was too many hours to count, but I wanted it to be accurate.
Q: What about the editing?
A: I used 6 early readers, who gave me suggestions about things to clarify. These early readers helped a bit with grammar corrections, but the primary person for that was Dorothy Caldwell Minor, a retired college English teacher. After, many revisions, I searched for a professional editor. I chose Jennifer Rees. She was primarily positive and encouraging, but recommended cutting the length. I did cut about 20,000 words, which was very difficult. But, it tightened up the writing significantly. The revisions took as much time as the writing. In fact, putting a book together is so much more than the writing. I thank all those that participated in the editing.
Q: What are you doing to sell your book, in other words, how are you building your platform?
A: So far, it’s been Facebook, the Facebook group and book page, my website, Amazon’s author page, e mail blasts, and I will soon work with a PR professional and editor of many local newspapers, Shelly Talsma Everson.
Reviews that people post to Amazon will be crucial. And, the good ones hopefully will help sell some books or at least move my book higher in the Amazon pecking order.
I hope readers will have their own ideas, and share those ideas with me.
I am researching other means, and will use the ones that make sense.
Q: So, how did you come up with the story?
A: Well, I've never read a fictional book about the reason why young people die, but I have known a number of people who have faced the death of a child. I’ve also known students who lost a sibling or a parent. I prayed about it every day. At times, I felt driven to tell the story. I hope it can help people who live with this lifelong grief. Sometimes we all encounter people that are in the throes of grief. Hopefully, this story builds empathy and gives comfort. I hope it’s emotionally captivating for everyone. There are plenty of commonalities among different faiths. People are really more alike than they are different.
Q: Tell us about the book cover. A: I researched graphic artists and decided Asya Blue was a good fit for my project. We collaborated via the phone, texts, and email. (She is in New York and I am in Arizona.) She listened to my vision and info about the book’s content and brought it to life. I told her I liked black silhouettes and sent her a poster I thought of as inspiration for my cover. I informed her about the main characters: two teen girls, one teen boy, and a Jack Russell terrier who were athletic and being trained to be angel warriors. I also said trees were important in the story, as were butterflies, dragonflies, and hummingbirds. I let her know that the team’s colors were blue, black, and silver. She took all of that and sent me three cover designs. I shared the designs with about twenty people and surveyed which one they liked best. Fortunately, most people liked my choice, too. Asya made some tweaks and dressed my book beautifully. Q: Besides writing the book, research, and editing, what other things must authors do? A: You have to be prepared to do many revisions. It’s an ongoing process. Choosing a title is a very important and difficult step. It is recommended each book have 6-10 early readers, sometimes referred to as alpha readers. You wait anxiously for them to finish reading and send their feedback. After tweaking the manuscript from this feedback, you have to decide if you are going to hire an agent or forge ahead independently. If you seek an agent, there are query letters and book excerpts to be submitted. You face lots of rejection along the way. Again, it’s part of the process. You have to copyright your work, buy ISBN numbers, hire a professional editor and do another revision, hire a cover designer, format the manuscript for print, add interior design, and do another proofreading expedition through the entire book. Then you reach the actual publishing step and are thrust into the realm of getting the word out and marketing. Q: Why use Amazon as opposed to other publishing venues? A: This is a personal choice. I explored other methods of publishing and kept circling back to Amazon, where I retain control of my book. Currently, Amazon produces nearly half of all print books and 90% of ebooks. Sadly, brick and mortar bookstores are declining in numbers as more and more people purchase online. It just made sense to my husband and me to launch my debut book on Amazon. Amazon offers an Authors page and ways to promote your book on their site. They publish much faster than other places, too. Q: What does the future hold for a sequel? A: I am currently writing a sequel. I have about 85 pages so far and have introduced several new characters. It might sound strange, but Dina, Jo, Gabe, and Bruno are important to me and I hope the new characters become as beloved as these four characters are to me. I now feel I have a clear direction for their mission and have been doing lots of research and language translation for the sequel.
Q: What does the title “The Chosen’s Calling” actually mean? A: The teens were chosen by the Divine Council to train as warrior angels and fight burgeoning evil in the universe. They were called into service, resulting in their earthly deaths and transition to everlasting life. I think (hope) the introductory chapter makes that pretty clear. Q: Which character did you like the most? A: I don’t have a favorite. The story started with Dina as the protagonist, being transitioned by Gavreel. I wasn’t too far into the writing when I realized I needed more depth in characters. I developed Jo and decided I need males in the mix. Gabe and a male trainer, Kirron, joined the troupe. The characters evolved as I continued writing. Adding Michael and canine Bruno just seemed natural as the words mounted on the pages. I really, really like every character I created. I feel like I really got to know the characters as I developed them and their stories. Q: Do you think someone could be a writer if they don’t feel emotions strongly? A: Yes. There are many kinds of writing. Strong emotions have nothing to do with technical writing and most nonfiction. Fiction is another story. Creating characters, situations, and their reactions requires understanding and feeling emotions. Your goal is making the characters and plot believable. It’s sort of embarrassing to admit, but I still cry every time I read certain parts of my book. It doesn’t matter that I’ve read it dozens of times. When I read the death scenes and visits, I get teary. The characters became that real to me. I am emotionally invested in the people I created. Q: Can you tell us how long it took to write the book? A: This is a complicated question to answer. The short answer is almost two years from start to publishing. That’s not a truly accurate picture though. I had about 40 pages written when I made a trip to Anchorage the end of May 2018. I had my son and several friends read what I had so far. They all encouraged me to keep going. I only wrote a few pages while I was there (in longhand because I didn’t take my laptop). So those two weeks didn’t add much to the book. I revised and typed what I had handwritten when I got home. I wrote several days and was up to about 60 pages when I went in the hospital for the start of my cancer battle. There were several weeks I didn’t write. I started writing again in August. I remember being excited when I passed 70 pages because the book passed the length of my master’s research project and became the longest thing I’d ever written. Trips and holiday demands resulted in several stretches of no writing along the way. When I finished the first draft it was about 113,000 words. Lots of revisions filled more weeks. So did researching editors and corresponding with the one I chose. I waited three months for the editor to get to it on her schedule. She took six weeks and I had to do another huge revision and cut about 20,000 words. Then there were days of researching artists and beginning that selection process. The cover and interior formatting took five weeks, and three more proofreads. Mixed in with all of that was getting the copyright and ISBN numbers, setting up a website, and researching where and how to publish. I started writing the sequel while this book was being edited, so I think #2’s development will be much shorter.
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