Welcome to the Blog + Review Tour for Then Came You by Rachel D. Russell presented by Susan May Warren, hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours!
Title: Then Came You
Series: Deep Haven Collection #4
Author: Rachel D. Russell presented by Susan May Warren
Publisher: Sunrise Publishing
Release Date: July 6, 2021
Genre: Christian Contemporary Romance
He doesn’t need any trouble. She can’t seem to escape it.
Detective Daniel “Boone” Buckam is more than burned out. After fourteen stellar years on the job, one bad judgment call—and, fine, a whole lot of cynicism—has forced him into a mandatory vacation in Deep Haven. If he can get his head on straight, there’s a job as Police Chief waiting for him back in his Minneapolis suburb. And then, he meets Vivien.ALSO AVAILABLE
Susan May Warren is the USA Today best-selling novelist of 80 books. With more than 1.5 million books in print, she is beloved by reviewers and readers around the world. Visit Susan at www.susanmaywarren.com.
CONNECT WITH SUSAN: Website | Facebook | Instagram | TwitterRachel D. Russell is a member of Oregon Christian Writers and My Book Therapy’s Novel Academy, and is a regular contributor to the Learn How to Write a Novel blog. The mother of two teenagers, she often interrogates her husband on his own military and law enforcement experience to craft believable heroes in uniform. The rest of her time is spent cantering her horse down the Oregon trails. Visit Rachel at www.racheldrussell.com.
CONNECT WITH RACHEL: Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter
From Idea to Publication: On
Bringing a Novel to Life
Rachel D. Russell
Early in my novel-writing career, I
suffered from the fanciful view that good writers sat down and wrote well.
Like, on the first try.
Not with a variety of stops and starts
that would make a new driver in a stick-shift stopped at the light going uphill
look smooth.
My novel writing looked more like the
latter, rife with doubt and uncertainty in my skills. To be completely
transparent, I still suffer from those beliefs sometimes.
One great benefit of working with Susan
May Warren as a mentor is having that driver’s ed teacher in the passenger
seat. Someone who can speak direction and help you avoid any serious wrecks.
Someone who can say, “You’ll get it. This is a totally normal struggle. It’s
hard work.”
So, how exactly do I work through the
entire story from that initial idea to an actual published book in-hand? I’m
going to pull back the curtain a bit so you can take a peek at what my current
writing life looks like—how exactly the novel takes shape and form over time.
It starts with a vague idea and a loose concept of who
the characters are. I often come up with my meet-cute before anything else—the
“meet-cute” being the moment the hero and heroine meet. (I know that’s a really
funny phrase.)
From there, I fully flesh out the characters using a
technique Susan May Warren calls the “SEQ,” or Story Equation. It helps a
writer build a character from the inside. Those things that will motivate them,
character flaws, deep wounds, the lies they believe.
I need to know these things in order to understand
completely who my characters are and where the plot will need to take them.
Because a story is a character in a crucible. Tests
and trials that will shape them. Choices will need to be made.
Since I write romance, that means I also have the
tricky job of intertwining two characters into the journey of change. And,
let’s be real—they’re going to fall in love. They don’t know it yet, but I do
and the reader does.
I plot the journey using a technique that Susan May
Warren calls the LINDY HOP. That’s an acronym for the pieces of the story.
Life, inciting incident, noble quest, etc. Essentially, a ladder has to be
created, whereby these two characters enter the story at life—who they are on
page one, and then build in the pieces of the story by asking questions.
What happens next? Why? So then…but what happens?
By the time I sit down to write the story, I have a
map of where I’m starting, milestones along the way, a destination.
And a blank page.
Through those fits and starts, grinding gears and
killed engines, I work my way through the entire story. This involves a lot of
prayer and I’m not being facetious.
Let’s be clear—knowing the questions, the characters,
and the plot plan do not make the answers to those questions obvious. Maybe in
time it will be become more natural. Maybe with greater experience, I will find
the rhythm.
Right now, it is hard.
I keep writing. Deleting. Rewriting. Watching that
word count go from zero to sixty-thousand over months, and, in the case of Then
Came You, all the way to eighty-five thousand.
Then re-reading it. Adding layers. Filling in blanks
I’ve left behind.
I’m in regular contact with my fellow Deep Haven
Collection authors, Andrea Christenson and Michelle Aleckson. Because we’re
writing books simultaneous that affect each other, we need to connect to ensure
we have various details consistent throughout the series.
I’m also contacting my prayer warriors because, at
this point, I’m usually certain the manuscript is terrible and it will take a
bonafide miracle to save it.
Once I’ve cleaned up all those jagged edges, I send it
in. This may involve hovering my mouse over the “send” button for several
minutes before I can actually force myself to click it.
I’ll go to bed relieved, then wake up, remembering
something I forgot and make a note to fix it during the rewrite.
With the mentorship model on Still the One and Then
Came You, Susan May Warren conducted a macro-edit, helping me move big
pieces around (in Then Came You, I added three scenes and re-arranged
several more during the first rewrite). She showed me areas to go deeper, add
storyworld, add emotional layers.
Then, back for another review and on to the line
editor.
A line editor has very special skills in not only
seeing the details of the story, but also the overall picture.
At this point, I print a copy of the manuscript
because it helps me conceptualize the edits and keep track of physically where
each scene is in the story. Many authors have told me that it isn’t uncommon to
get a manuscript back and have to touch every page in some way or another.
I have found this to be true. Some of them are minute
details, like accepting a grammar correction. Other times, it might take a bit
more brain power to resolve.
Once complete, this is when the manuscript is really
starting to feel like the real deal.
Then, off to proofreaders, who catch any of those last
little niggling issues. By this time, the cover is done and it’s so close to
completion.
A few weeks later, I’ll get to hold a copy in my hand
and I think—Yep. It’s a miracle. I don’t know how I did this, but I didn’t do
it alone.
(1) winner will receive a $15 Amazon gift card + 3 Then Came You ebooks (one ebook for the winner and two to give to friends)!
Be sure to check out each stop on the tour for more chances to win. Full tour schedule linked below. Giveaway began at midnight August 3, 2021 and lasts through 11:59 PM EST on August 10, 2021. Winner will be notified within 2 weeks of close of the giveaway and given 48 hours to respond or risk forfeiture of prize. US only. Void where prohibited by law or logistics.
Giveaway is subject to the policies found here.
Follow along at JustRead Tours for a full list of stops!
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Sounds great, thank you.
ReplyDeleteLove this! Thank you!
ReplyDeleteSounds like a good read
ReplyDeleteIt looks like a good read.
ReplyDeleteI am enjoying this book! Hoping to finish it tonight :)
ReplyDeleteI've enjoyed this author before! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDelete