Objectionable language is never allowed even if a scene calls for it. I’ve had to soften language to make a segment acceptable. In one of my early books, I couldn’t make myself write the more tolerable version so I wrote the dialogue the way I knew the characters would say it. The editor cleaned it up. I knew she would. I really didn’t mind, though. I’ve chosen to write for the Christian market and I want to respect my readers.

I used the word "safe" earlier, but only in the context of sex and language. The Christian market allows more violence these days so readers need to be aware of that.

Another aspect of Christian fiction that I like is that stories frequently create opportunities for introspection. I enjoy challenging people to think and to examine their lives. I write uplifting stories, but that doesn’t mean they are always painless.

What technique(s) should a novice writer consider when incorporating a moral or family value principle(s) into her story to make it flow without being "preachy" or "pointed?"

Ooh, the "P" word—something to be avoided at all costs. I’ve been known to get on my soapbox and preach now and again, but I try not to. When writing a book for the Christian market it’s all too easy to sermonize. Creating characters who are real people (warts and all) will go a long way toward writing a moral story that flows naturally and doesn’t preach. Christians are like everyone else—flawed. And we don’t have all the answers to life’s questions, either. So when creating a story that carries a Christian or moral theme make sure things don’t come too easy to the people in your story. Life is a challenge for us all.

"For the Love of the Land"

Stay away from "Christianese." It can kill a good story. Christian terminology or clichés tend to creep in when a writer is using narrative to make a point. Avoid this. You want to walk readers through a story, not tell it to them (that’s true in all genres) and you especially never want to preach at them.

One other word of advice—if you’re going to write for the Christian market make sure you’re a Christian. Otherwise you’ll have a difficult time understanding your audience. Spiritual ideas are not necessarily applicable to Christian themes.

What three things do you enjoy about writing Historical novels?

Explaining how I feel about writing historical fiction is not easy, but your question touches my heart. I love history, and I believe if we paid more attention to our history we’d make fewer mistakes in the here and now.

Every time I set out to research a book I feel anticipation. There is so much to be discovered, including extraordinary people and places. Repeatedly I am impressed by the folks I dig up from the past. Life held perilous challenges, and I sometimes marvel that people even managed to stay alive. In spite of obstacles, people unearthed their lives and managed to thrive. They loved each other, could be brilliantly creative, and discovered joy and contentment plus so much more.

"The Heart of Thornton Creek"

One of the things I admire is the way people cared about each other. Oh, not always of course, but more times than not they made their way together. We’ve lost so much of that in our society. Not all together, but we’re often engrossed by careers and other interests and we don’t seem to have time for one another the way our ancestors once did.

And finally, there’s something special about an historical novel. It feels sturdy. Each time I write one I find inner, personal strength. The process of discovery and story telling in and of itself fortifies me.

One of the tough requirements I always face in successive books is the necessity to bring a reader up to speed. You have to reintroduce the main characters (and any important new ones) and you must remind the reader of past plot lines. All this must be accomplished in the first three chapters and needs to be done without intruding on the present story. Every time I sit down to write a sequel I wonder how I’m going to pull it off. Somehow or other I manage to come up with an idea that works well and feels natural.

Another challenge is keeping the romance alive. Generally in book one the hero and heroine meet and fall in love so that’s been concluded, which means that in following books you need to introduce new conflicts that might jeopardize the relationship. And of course the couple needs to continue to love each other passionately.

Dialogue can be a real bug-a-boo. I advise new writers to steer clear of accents and vernacular, and yet, I’ve been challenged by it from my very first book.

My most recent series, "The Queensland Chronicles" has been a true challenge in this respect. I needed to present reasonable Australian vernacular which included distinctions of class. It took a lot of research, but in the end it was great fun and when accomplished I felt a true sense of achievement.

The way a person speaks (choice of words, rhythm and tone) helps to distinguish class, education or lack of it, their background, age, and perspective. You must take your time and do a thorough job of creating each of your characters because who they are will affect the way they speak.

This is especially challenging when using vernacular or dialect. While doing research, I hunt for appropriate word choices, phrases, and sentence structure that fit the place and time period of my story. I make lists of words and phrases, and when I create my characters I write up the speaking styles for each of them and tuck them into my character profile charts. That way they’re close at hand so I can refer to them as I go along.

When I begin a book the vernacular feels a bit shaky, but as I work through the story the speech patterns become more comfortable. By the time I’ve made it a third of the way through a book I know my characters pretty well, and the way they speak "rolls off the tongue" pretty easily.

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