Alison Strobel Blog Tour

Hi Allison and welcome. I am so pleased to host you on Patti's Porch today. I finished reading your wonderful book, the Weight of Shadows, in three days. What a riveting story! You really evoked deep emotion in me as you related the story of the women in your story and their struggles with secrets that led them to live with such feelings of guilt. My heart raced as I turned the pages, waiting for your heroine to get out of the desperate situation she was in. You crafted a very strong story that held my attention from page one to the very end. With that little introduction to your story, let me ask you a few questions.

Tell us about your writing journey.

I never in a million years thought I'd get to write as a career. I always loved doing it, but knew how hard it is to actually get published, and I didn't think I was good enough to garner anyone's attention. So I just wrote stories for fun and prepared for a career in education. (My degree is in elementary education.) In 2000 I moved from the suburbs of Chicago, where I'd been raised, to Orange County, California. The first time I drove through Hollywood, with Plumb's "Worlds Collide" playing in the background, I caught myself staring at the other cars on the freeway looking for celebrities. When it dawned on me that I could have gotten into a wreck from not paying attention to the road, my imagination took off. What if I ran into a celebrity? Would *I* become famous? Would *their* life change at all from encountering mine?

I couldn't get the ideas out of my head. I hadn't written creatively in a long time--this was just a year after I'd graduated college, and all the papers I'd written during those 5 years had sucked away any desire to write if I didn't have to. But as I started outlining the story--a practice I'd never attempted before--I found myself excited about writing again. I plotted out the story and started writing, and 18 months later I typed "The End." But I still had no plans to publish. I printed it out, stuck it in a binder, let my mom read it, then stuffed it into my closet, never thinking I'd touch it again.

About two months later my dad happened to be talking to an editor from Waterbrook Press. He mentioned to the editor that I'd just finished a book, and the editor asked if he could see it. I sent it in, we talked on the phone a couple times, and a few months later I was offered a two-book contract. I was a little wary at first, to be honest--I was concerned that it was more of an attempt to get my dad on board with publishing there than a real vote of confidence in my abilities, or their attempt to cash in on the Strobel name. But when I raised my concerns with folks there, they assured me they'd publish the book even if I used a pen name. Knowing that made me feel a lot better.

I was still teaching at the time. But a year and a half later God orchestrated things so that it was possible for me to quit teaching and start writing full time. It was such an amazing blessing. I still can't wrap my head around it sometimes, the fact that I get to write and that people actually want to read what I have to say. I love my life!

What is the most enjoyable aspect of writing for you?

From start to finish, my most favorite point in the creation of a book is the day I open a fresh new Word doc and start chapter 1. I get giddy, no joke. I use Randy Ingermanson's Snowflake Method to outline, and it's a very long and involved process--though also an invaluable tool that I will never again write a book without using--so by the time I'm done with it I am *dying* to start writing. I've been mulling over and working on various aspects of the story for a good 4-8 weeks at that point, and I'm mentally done with the whole planning stage. I want to start crafting sentences.

What do you dislike, if anything, about writing?

Research. I HATE research. I hate the time it takes, I hate worrying that there's something I've missed that readers will pick up on and that I'll look like I didn't do my homework at all. I hate chasing down details, or hitting walls because I can't find an actual person to talk to who is knowledgeable in a particular area when I'm not confident in the stuff I'm finding online. Going to the library to research just isn't possible for me, so the Internet is my main tool for research. Facebook has actually come through for me a few times--I've been able to connect with experts through my friends. For example, when I was working on The Weight of Shadows, I wanted to find someone who worked with abused women to make sure I was accurately portraying abusive relationships and also what women's shelters are like. A friend back in Chicago saw my note on Facebook about needing that type of information, and he told me he knew a woman who worked as a director for a women's shelter in the city. He got me in touch with her and she helped me with the details and even read the rough draft to make sure I'd written the abuse dynamic and the shelter scenes realistically. And, funny story: for my April 2011 release, Memory of the Heart, I needed to find a medical expert. I asked a childhood friend if her older sister, who had once been my babysitter, was still an ER doctor and if she might be willing to chat with me. In the end she helped me with a scene in Reinventing Rachel, as well as some other bits of Trouble Child. It was really weird to write back and forth about street drugs and ER procedure and mental illness with the woman who had once played "Taste Test" with my brother and I when my parents went to the mid-week service at church.

Are you a plotter or seat of the pantser?

Every story I ever wrote before Worlds Collide was as a panter. And that explains why all the novels I started before Worlds Collide never got past the first chapter. That book was the first one I'd ever outlined, and it was like unlocking my creativity to have a plan to follow. Even though the final story ended up straying from the outline, just having that list of "big points" gave me the direction I needed to keep working. And now, as I previously mentioned, I use the ultimate outlining tool--The Snowflake. I honestly think that anyone who is interested in writing novels needs to get Randy's lecture (only ten bucks, how could you not?!) and at least give it a good shot. I've heard people say it doesn't work for them, and even though I can't imagine that, I'm willing to concede that it's not for everybody. But I still think everyone needs to at least try it. :)

How much research have you had to do for your novels?

My need to research has increased lately--with Worlds Collide I barely did any and pretty much just relied on my imagination and what I'd picked up through Us Weekly Magazine and movies. :) I did a little more with Violette Between--researching comas--and then quite a lot more with The Weight of Shadows. Reinventing Rachel didn't need much, but Memory of the Heart needed a ton. I have dozens of emails from my ER doc babysitter, as well as a few books that I read. That was definitely the most research I've done for a book, and I really hope I don't have to do that much more for a long time. :) And of course, for all the books I do a lot of random fact-finding--Google Maps is one of my always-open browser tabs, so I can look up the towns in which I set the stories (or the real-life towns that the fictional ones I make up are modeled after) and figure out things like hospital names or distance between two landmarks or whatever.

Do you have any research tips?

Um, do it? Honestly, I don't think I'm good enough at it yet to be giving out advice! Though I will say this: check your sources, especially if you're researching on the internet. Make sure the sites are reputable. I know that sounds obvious, but sometimes sites *look* reputable but are really more about advertising than accuracy.

I understand you moved to Colorado within recent years. Is there a particular attraction in our beautiful state that you would like to see?

We haven't been to Garden of the Gods yet. I really want to go there. The sand dunes, too! It's hard right now because the girls still nap and also aren't fans of long car rides. But we're planning some little overnight trips that will allow us to set up a "base camp" and take day trips from there. I think we'll be hitting Garden of the Gods on our first one. I can't wait!

Alison, thank you for a wonderful interview. I would like to wish you continued success with your writing career. Hope you get to take some time off from writing to enjoy those camping trips and see the Sand Dunes and Garden of the Gods!

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