If you've not seen the beginning of this week's post ~ check out DAY ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR, FIVE, and SIX first and come back to this. Worth your time, I promise.
STRANDED
by
Don and Stephanie Prichard
A Marine Corps reservist sets sail on an anniversary cruise with his
wife but ends up shipwrecked and bereaved on an uninhabited jungle island where
he must protect the lives of three other survivors, unaware that one of them is
responsible for his wife’s death.
DAY Seven ~ November 17 ~ Interviews With The Helpers:
Dr. Betty Ray
AUTHOR: Dr. Ray, you supplied valuable medical advice for the
book. What kinds of medical challenges did the castaways face on the
island?
DR. RAY: Dehydration, diarrhea, sunburn, immersion
foot, snake bites, wounds from animal attacks, knife and pistol wounds, land
mine explosions, infections, shock—that pretty well covers it. Survival was an
intense struggle for them.
AUTHOR: I guess so! What did you like
about Stranded?
DR. RAY: Initially I
read short isolated passages in the book relating to medical issues and wasn’t
that impressed. Then you gave me the privilege of reading the entire book and
it sprang to life. I was enthralled. I didn’t want to put it down. Catastrophe
followed catastrophe but in a very believable way. It was so exciting I hurried
through to find out what would happen next. Then I read the book a second time
but much more slowly. What a wealth of detail I had missed in my eagerness to
see what would happen next! This is an extraordinary adventure story with many
thoughtful treasures waiting to be discovered and pondered along the way.
AUTHOR: The book would have had a few gaping wounds without
your medical intervention, Dr. Ray. Thank you for all
your advice, both on the medical front and with other insights as well. Your
enthusiasm for the book has us walking on clouds!
Brenda Bryant Anderson
AUTHOR: We met Brenda at Don’s
and my very first writers’ conference and were fortunate to form a critiquing
partnership with her a few years later. In fact, Brenda taught me more about
writing than any class or workshop or person. Big hug to you, Brenda!
This year you published your
debut novel and a prequel to it. What are their titles and what else is coming
up?
BRENDA: Chain of Mercy
came out in September. That's book 1 of the Coming Home series. The prequel, Pieces
of Granite, released on November 11. Two additional books in the series, Memory
Box Secrets and Finding Home will come out in 2015.
AUTHOR: Brenda, you’ve been
very patient and flexible working with my sporadic schedule over the years.
What did you particularly like about Stranded?
BRENDA: There are a number of
things I love about Stranded, but one
of my favorite
elements is the true-to-life
detailing. The book is obviously written by someone with military and
post-Vietnam era knowledge. And it's those little details that give the story
depth and believability.
Besides that, I love the
characters. Since the book is written by a husband-wife team, the reader gets a
more authentic feel for the female and male protagonists than books written
solely by a man or woman. Another plus of having you two as co-authors is that
the story appeals across gender.
And then there's the story
that you don't want to put down, which made critiquing difficult. I always
wanted more!
AUTHOR: Thank you. All I can
say is that your critiquing was an amazing help, and Don and I can’t thank you
enough! Readers, be sure to check Brenda out at brendaandersonbooks.com.
Natalie Hanemann
AUTHOR: Natalie is a former
fiction acquisition editor for Thomas Nelson Publishers, who
"retired" to face the full-time challenge of raising four lively
children. She now does freelance editing, so we hired her to do two edits for
our finished manuscript: a developmental edit and a line edit. Natalie, please
explain the difference between the two edits.
NATALIE: A developmental
edit looks at the story from a more broad perspective, examining the
overall plot (does the story hold together, does it resonate, is there enough
tension to hold our attention, do we care about what's happening), characters
(do we relate to them, do they grow, are they dimensional, are there too many,
too few), themes (spiritual growth, shown in multiple ways).
A line edit happens once the
story is intact and we're done slashing and adding. This is a much closer
examination of the story. At this stage, I cut extraneous sentences, trim
redundant words, clarify murky sentences, fix grammar, align the text to match
CMS (Chicago Manual of Style) standards . . . along with a thousand other
little things.
AUTHOR: Natalie's advice on
the developmental edit helped us make several significant changes, while her
eagle-eye on the line edit saved us from--oh my!--many embarrassing errors.
Pats on the back weren't lacking either. With her permission, here's a taste of
the encouraging comments she wrote in her editorial letter to us:
"Your level of research
and detail really makes this story sing. I enjoyed experiencing island life in
all its glory (or gore!). The four characters of Jake, Eve, Betty, and Crystal
were unique, relatable, and easy to visualize. No one will ever say, after
reading this book, that you have cardboard characters! You have a true talent
for developing characters.
Another obvious talent that
was evident was your ability to maintain tension in the manuscript. You would
raise us up to a moment of extreme stress and then let us recover, just like
the characters did."
AUTHOR: Natalie, your edits were a blessing to
us--sort of like the cherry on top of a hot fudge sundae that brought it to
completion--and we thank you for your excellent help! Writers, you can check
Natalie's website at nataliehanemannediting.com or email her
at nathanemann@gmail.com.
THANK
YOU, JOY, FOR FEATURING US ON YOUR BLOG! AND FOR ALL THE COMMENTS FROM YOU
READERS.
CHECK DAY ONE'S POST to find out how to win this e-book or get an exchange for another on Amazon. . .DRAWING TO BE HELD TONIGHT ~ After 10PM
Last opportunity to enter drawing ~ SEE BELOW DIVIDER ~ POST A COMMENT ~
~ Thank you coming to Journeys To Joy for this special week with this great couple ~
THE PRICHARDS
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