We're thrilled to have editor and encourager extraordinaire Ellen Maze join us at the Southern Christian Writers Conference this year. Ellen will present two workshop sessions--"Creating Amazing, True-to-Life Characters" and "Self-Editing Tips for Writers"--and will also be available for one-on-one sessions with beginning writers who need advice on projects.
Ellen is the editor at Little Roni Publishers and also the owner of The Author's Mentor, where she directs and encourages writers in helping their writing dreams come to fruition. She's also an accomplished novelist of Christian supernatural thrillers.
I had the chance to talk with Ellen about her writing, her faith, and her plans for her time at the Southern Christian Writers Conference.
Question: Tell me briefly about how you got started as a writer.
Answer: I’ve found that a person writes because they can’t NOT write. (See Jeremiah 20:9, wink-wink) As early as 3rd grade, I began putting stories to paper. My first book (written in pencil on wide-ruled notebook paper, complete with wax crayon illustrations) was entitled, “Mrs. Frog,” which my mom still treasures to this day. Later that year, I began a panel cartoon series entitled, “Unicorn Unique,” where in the first episode, a silly unicorn (who, of course, lives in the sky) needs a bigger room. He stitches two clouds onto his single-cloud apartment and is all set!
So, to answer your question, I began writing as soon as I understood how sentences are formed. From there, I wrote short stories throughout school and into college, always with an idea to one day be a published writer. It was not until I was forty years young that I “received” an idea for what later became a novel. I wrote my first novel over 12 months and began querying it to publishers. During the two years of attending writers conferences, meeting other authors, editors, and agents, receiving their helpful criticism and instruction, I honed that novel and continued to submit it. I also wrote a second novel while I waited for the first to be contracted.
The second novel entitled, “Rabbit: Chasing Beth Rider,” was self-published during this time and immediately became a #1 seller on Amazon. As I was thrilling through these weeks, a small publishing house in Ohio offered me a contract for my first novel and I accepted. Now, I had two novels out, and as it happened, they represented two separate series’. From there on, I was a published writer, and have loved sharing my books with the world.
Q: What are you currently working on, from the writing side?
A: Thank you for asking about my favorite topic! Ten years has passed since “Rabbit: Chasing Beth Rider” hit the shelf, so in March 2019, I hired a company to produce and market a “Special Anniversary Edition” re-edited with additional material. This will promote the other already-published books in the series, of which number five--CONUNDRUM-- I am currently writing. “Conundrum” deals with themes of redemption and discovering God, within an allegory using spiritual warfare and a Genesis 6:4-inspired vampiric race (Nephilim, sons of God).
In previous installments, Canaan (Conundrum’s main character), used his supernatural talents to help the godly character reach her end-goal; this he did selfishly and for his own purposes. By Book Five, the Maker (one of the names Canaan has for the Creator) is trying to get his attention, encouraging him (through events and the other characters) to drop his evil ways and submit to the Truth.
I absolutely love writing characters who struggle with Truth, faith, their sin / short-comings, because everyone experiences these trials at some point in their lives. All of us are working out our salvation individually (and with fear and trembling, Philippians 2:12), so when I write fiction, I will always write a character who is working his or her way to the Truth—as we all are in real life.
Simultaneously, I am writing a stand-alone novel that will use spiritual warfare to bring a nonbeliever to the Truth, while at the same time, end the evil workings of a demonically-empowered demigod. This will be my first “young adult” novel and incorporate biblically-accurate angel and demon characters with the protagonists aged 16 to 21.
Q: You are also known as a writer's mentor; you love to encourage people. How did that come about?
A: In 2004 (as I was busily writing what later became my second-published novel), I began helping a small publishing house format their contracted books. When she no longer required my services, I helped a church friend “figure out self-publishing,” which ended up with him hiring me to design and publish his four-book series. Then I assisted in getting them set up on what was then called CreateSpace (Amazon’s printing company). After that, people heard about my work and asked for help. When I realized I had a true business going, I called it “The Author’s Mentor,” with the tagline, “Free advice for writers, low-cost book services.”
Another big reason I do this is because of the “pay it forward” principal. In 2004, two famous Christian fiction writers took time out to encourage me. Eric Wilson, who penned the novels for Facing the Giants and Fireproof, and Bill Myers, the author of literally dozens of Christian fiction thrillers, encouraged me and listened to my book-pitch, telling me to keep at it. Eric actually read my Rabbit novel and gave me a blurb for the cover! Because of their selflessness, I determined that I will always share any publishing or writing information for free. Thankfully, plenty of folks also hire me to produce their books!
I started out charging $300 to design their book inside and out, using my then-teen daughter to make their covers with Photoshop. That was 2005. This young lady is now a professional graphic designer with a degree from Montevallo and we have published more than four hundred books for nearly that many authors. Because my staff is small, my rates remain low—in 2019, a person who has a publish-ready manuscript (meaning they do not need editing) can hire us to design and publish their book in softcover and Kindle for $550.
I still rarely advertise—word of mouth keeps me plenty busy, for which I am forever grateful!
Q: What is your greatest piece of advice to new writers?
Gosh and golly, Cheryl, must I narrow it to one?
My number one rule for all writers is this: Ignore anyone who says writing is a waste of your time. The desire to write comes from the Creator—you won’t be able to ignore it, and if you suppress it, you will suffer (in some way) for pushing it down (see again Jeremiah 20:9).
Secondary rules, which are still important include:
1. Know your audience (and write to and for them).
2. Write what you know (research what you don’t know—your reader will notice any lazy writing).
3. Let it flow (…and only when done, proof and edit it a zillion times).
Q: How does your faith life intersect with your writing life?
My faith is indistinguishably woven into my writing, as well as into everything I do. Does this mean my books are kid-friendly? Well, maybe...if your kid watches PG-13 movies or TV-MA television programming. My novels contain violence, mild profanity, and non-graphic sexual situations, and adult themes, yet people mature-13 and up can be edified by the message hidden inside the fiction.
The Bible is full of violence and mankind suffers violence on the path to purity and salvation. What does God do but sharpen and cleanse us with trials? Do not despise the chastisement of the Lord, remember that one? Satan desires to kill, steal, and destroy us that one, too? In all of my novels, these themes will play out in different ways to show my readers that (1) there is a Creator, one God who made Heaven and Earth who loves us and desires to spend eternity with us, and (2) anyone can be redeemed if they will submit to God and accept His Gospel.
For me, there is no greater calling than to bring people closer to their Creator by the written word, and for a world where millions of people read more fiction than they read the Bible, if we stick the Bible into our fiction, the Holy Spirit will do the rest (and lead them to His Book).
Q: What do you hope to impart to the attendees of the SCWC this year?
A: I am excited and honored to be teaching two sessions. Through these teachings (and any one-on-ones the attendees request), it is my intention to not only encourage and edify each attendee, but also give them real-life tools to use in their daily writing that will propel them toward publication. I love people, I love God, and I love teaching, so I hope to see many of you in my sessions!
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