Fiction Writer – True
Believer
Take a heaping dose of the ability to twist a tale of
intrigue and suspense, infuse it with the Gospel and cram it into one sweet,
petite frame. That’s
Terri Blackstock: part Novel-Writing-Powerhouse, all
Dedicated Believer. Terri’s no stranger to the realities of living out authentic
faith in a fallen world, but she’s learned the art of drawing on her own
experiences to connect real people with a real Jesus. I chatted with her
recently about all-things-Terri.
JOHN: From your
bio I know that you grew up in a Christian home and eventually started writing
romance novels. How did you get into that genre, and what eventually led to your
transition into writing suspense?
Terri Blackstock:
I became a Christian at age 14 and walked with Christ through my teen years. But
when I was in my early 20s I started writing and was really trying to break
into the publishing market. At the time, the market was really opening up for
romance novels. I told myself going in that I would not write anything that
would hurt my Christian conscience – I would write clean love stories. But what
happened was that those stories didn’t sell. So eventually in order to sell, I
compromised and began writing more and more stuff I had said I would never
write. Finally over 13 years and (I think) 32 titles, I came to a place where I
was spiritually bankrupt. I was very miserable and almost hoping that the publisher
wouldn’t buy my next book (laughs) because I just felt this void. I knew that I wasn’t walking with
Christ because what I was doing was pulling me away from Him and pulling other
people away because I was creating stumbling blocks for them. I came to a place
when I started praying about that and over a number of weeks and months I just felt
very convicted to give this up. There was one day when I got down on my knees, repented
of what I was writing and asked God to help me to never write anything else
that didn’t glorify Him. So from that moment on I have been writing books with
a Christian message and, I believe, using my gifts the way God intended me to
use them in the first place.
JOHN: So did you
walk away from romance at that point?
Terri: I did. I
had some outstanding contracts I had to buy back – but that was a problem
because I didn’t have the money at the time to pay the publishers back, but it
turned out that they owed me more than I owed them, so it all worked out
beautifully! It was almost like the moment that I made the decision and told
God that I was going to surrender this last aspect of my life to Him, it’s as
if He took me by the hand and led me the rest of the way, because doors started
opening up into the Christian market. At that time I didn’t know anything about
the Christian market, but what I did know was that I was tired of writing romance.
I just wanted a clean break from that, so I didn’t want to write
Christian romance. I was reading mostly suspense
novels at the time so I thought, why don’t I try to write suspense and just see
if the Christian readers like it? And they did. So
Zondervan gave me a four
book contract before I knew it and I’ve been writing for them ever since.
JOHN: So you
wrote over 30 romance novels, wow. How many Christian novels have you written?
Terri: I think
I’ve written about 40. I’m [somewhere] over 70 – sometimes I lose count because
I have taken some of those earlier books and rewritten them, so I never know whether
to count them a second time or not. I did extensive rewriting on those. Any of
the books that you see from me that are romance novels; those are usually
rewritten from my earlier days, but the suspense novels are all since I came to
the Christian market.
JOHN: What a
wonderful story. I’m wondering if you could talk a little about your book, Intervention, as it was particularly close
to you. And were there any other books that were especially personal to you?
Terri: Well, the
thing about
Intervention is that it’s
really about a mother who is trying to save her daughter from drugs. And that came
out of my life because I have a daughter who has been struggling for years with
drug addiction. When we got to a place where she felt that it was fine for me
to write about it, I did. That was SO personal because I poured a lot of my
experiences into that book and into the rest of that series…
Disciple is the second book and
Downfall, the 3
rd book will
be out March 6
th I believe. I really think that there’s a little of
me in every one of my books, because what I find happening when I’m writing is
that I will come up with a plot and a story line and then God will do something
in my life during the writing of that book, or He’ll deal with me in some way
that I learn something and then I think that maybe I’m supposed to pass that on
to my readers. Almost every book has that sort of event happen. I can’t say
it’s always pleasant but sometimes I just really believe that God is working in
a certain way in my life, so I wind up incorporating all that it into the plot.
Then I know that the Holy Spirit uses [it] because I hear from readers that
those books touch them in a personal way. So it’s not just me being smart enough
to do that. It’s the Holy Spirit using what I give Him, multiplying it and
making it into something He can use.
JOHN: Have you
ever felt the need or had an opportunity to move outside of the book realm and
share your testimony in a speaking venue?
Terri: I have
done some speaking about it but [my daughter] is still struggling – she has her
ups and downs like any person with addiction. Until I know that we have had
this in our rear view for many years I just don’t think I would want to go on a
speaking circuit. Ya know, my dream is to do that with her someday – to have her give her testimony would really give
hope to families. But at this point we’re just not far enough out of it to be
able to do that and I don’t want that kind of thing to wind up being her
destruction – so I have been very protective about that. I do speak about it
sometimes. It was a very hard thing to write about, it drags up all those
memories. It was fiction, but very much of what is in the book really happened
in our lives. So it’s a painful thing to write and talk about.
JOHN: Of course,
and it’s good that you’re sensitive to what she needs first and foremost.
Switching gears a little, your suspense books certainly have the ability to pull
people in. Have you ever been so caught up in one of your own stories that you
felt frightened? Did you ever scare yourself?
Terri: (laughs)
Yes, that does happen. Ya know, I think one of the reasons I love writing
suspense is because I am so easily frightened, and my mind always goes to the
worst possible thing (laughs). Like, if I’m letting the cat out I’m thinking
someone could grab the door – I’m always on alert for that kinda thing. When I
was writing my book Predator, I was just
learning social networking and I was alarmed at the number of people who were
dumping so much personal information onto their Facebook and Twitter pages. So
I wrote a book that would deliberately scare them to death and understand how
dangerous this is. But I do have to say it scared me too (laughs), so I did
make changes to the way I was posting things and pictures – the kinds of things
that would give more information than I wanted to.
When I really decided to write [the book], I had been
working in prison ministry for many years. And one of the girls from jail got
out and posted on my Facebook wall how to reach her, what her number was, where
she was living. And I just almost had a heart attack. Of all of the people who
are so vulnerable – someone who just got out of jail. I quickly deleted it and sent
her a message to please be careful and then I thought, ya know I’m just going to
have to write a book about this (laughs), because that is really my way of
communicating with people. When I’m passionate about something I’m able to
convey it in a story and people really seem to get it. I did get lots of mail from
people telling me that they’ve changed their habits. So hopefully it will save
some lives.
JOHN: So are your
family members fans of your books?
Terri: Well, my
husband is one of those people that loves to read non-fiction, but when he
reads fiction he falls asleep (laughs), so he only ‘reads’ my books through
audio. That’s a good medium for him and he enjoys them that way. Two of my
three kids don’t read anything I write (laughs), but one of them does so, ya
know, what can you do? I think they grew up watching me do it and it’s kinda
like knowing how the sausage is made. You just don’t have an appetite for it
when you saw it all your life! (laughs)
JOHN: That’s a
great – and painfully true – analogy. Haha. So what do you do when you want a
break from writing?
Terri: Well, I am
very active at church – I teach a precept class,
Kay Arthur courses. I love
that – I’ve been involved in that for years. I also lead a support group for
parents of prodigals, so I’m busy at church a couple nights a week. I [also] love
home decorating. When I have time and want to do something different it’s
usually something related to my house or watching something on TV related to
decorating, so I guess that would be my hobby.
JOHN: So you’re a
Martha Stewart junkie?
Terri: Well, I
like to watch what she does, but I’m not really that organized. I can’t pull it
off myself, but I like to watch other people do it.
JOHN: So do you
read?
Terri: I do read.
It depends on what I’m writing at the time. When I’m writing a book I usually
try not to read fiction because it interferes with my voice. I find myself writing
the way that the other author is writing, so I mostly just read when I travel.
But I love Christian fiction and I have favorites that I like to read. While
I’m writing a book I’m usually reading non-fiction and doing research for that
book.
JOHN: Do you want
to recommend any authors you like?
Terri: Yeah! In
the suspense genre for the Christian market, I love
Brandilyn Collins,
James ScottBell,
Bill Myers,
Colleen Coble, authors like that. In women’s fiction I love
writers like Robin Lee Hatcher, Tamera Alexander, Angela Hunt, Mindy Clark –
just a ton of them. You can find anything in the Christian market today that
you can find in the general market. If you like science fiction, you can find that
in the Christian stores. We’ve come a long way in the last 15 or 16 years that
I’ve been in this market.
JOHN: For sure. Alright, really hard question next… Is it pumpkin
spice latte or peppermint mocha that you most go for this time of year?
Terri: Ya know what? Neither one! I am a tea drinker. So I would
probably go with an English breakfast tea or a hot chocolate, but I am not a coffee
drinker. Anything that even tastes of coffee I am not interested in.
JOHN: Would you consider yourself to be a Southern belle?
Terri: Yeah definitely. Anyone who knows me I think would say that.
JOHN: Well, I’ve really appreciated this chat. Thank you for taking
the time to talk with me, Terri. You do a fantastic job and I’m excited about where
you’re headed.
Terri: Thank you.
*Congratulations to Terri for
earning a spot on the
Library
Journal’s Top Ten Best Books List of 2011 for
Shadow in Serenity. What a great honor for a great author!
