Behind the Scenes with Lisa Harris and Lynne Gentry on their collaboration, Ghost Heart + Giveaway

By Ian Acheson

I was fortunate to be part of the street team that assisted Lisa and Lynne in promoting their new medical thriller, GhostHeart. It’s a tremendous story as besides being a thrill ride of a read it also explores topics rarely addressed in a novel. Topics such as heart transplants and the global black market for organs and albinos.

I’m always fascinated by collaborations, as I’m curious about the process two authors undertake to draft a story. I thought it would be fun to get some insight from the two ladies on how they tackled the story and some of the background behind it.

The two of you have been good friends for many years but many of us wouldn’t know how you met and how you’ve maintained such a close friendship at long distance?

LISA: Before we moved to Africa, we lived in south Dallas and went to church where Lynne and her husband were in ministry. While we were friends for several years, it really wasn’t until right before we left for the mission field that we spent some time together—with a mutual friend who was in her eighties and a lot of chocolate—sharing our ministry and writing dreams and experiences. I’ve always been grateful that our friendship has continued over so many years.

LYNNE: One of the blessings of working on this novel has been the chance for us to email and Skype on a regular basis and stay in touch. Over the years we’ve also had several mini-writing retreats when Lisa is back in the states where we brain storm and of course have a lot of fun!

Okay, thanks for that. Now to Ghost Heart. Where did you get the idea for this story?

LYNNE: Just over a decade ago, a newspaper picture of a terrified albino caught my attention. As I read about the horrors these fragile people face, I couldn’t believe such evil existed in the world. I called Lisa, who lives in Mozambique, and asked her to find out if what she’d read was true.

LISA: Until Lynne wrote to me about the article she’d read, I’d never heard of these barbaric crimes. But after doing some further research, I discovered that what she’d read was true. Once we learned that the witch doctors use the pale skin and hair of these fragile people to make good luck charms and potions, we knew we had to tell their story.  

Is the plight of albinos real or something you made up for this story?

LYNNE: Sadly, the atrocities committed against those born with this genetic mutation is very real. Less than 2% of Tanzanian albinos survive beyond their 40^th birthday.

Why did you feel that writing about the atrocities happening to albinos was a story that needed to be told?

LYNNE: We both have a heart for those suffering prejudice and discrimination. People with albinism are not ghosts. They are human beings.

LISA: And this issue goes far beyond the horrors facing albinos. All around the world people are discriminated against. Sometimes it’s for the color of their skin. Other times it’s for their faith or beliefs. But in the end, we are all human beings and we all bleed the same color.

Now let's chat about your writing process. How does co-writing a book differ from writing your own story?

LYNNE: There is a creative give and take that makes the storytelling process more difficult, but in the end we believe also makes the story more powerful. 

LISA: This was the first time I’d ever done anything like this, but while it was challenging, it was also a huge blessing to me. It allowed us to each take our strengths and put them together, while also learning from each other.

Can you tell us some about the brainstorming process of this book?

LYNNE: Since we live on different continents and in different time zones, we do a lot of the work via email. The skeleton of the story went back and forth between us many times. However, when we really need to solve a plot point we will set up a Skype call, which also gives us a chance to visit and reconnect. And since we really do enjoy each other, those calls are a win/win for both of us.

LISA: A project like this definitely was something I loved doing since I don’t have a lot of contact with other writers on a day-to-day basis. And having two people brainstorm ideas for a book is always a win-win situation.

As co-authors, how did you do the actual writing of the book?

LYNNE: First, we decided we wanted our hero and heroine to each have a distinctive voice. The easiest way to achieve their separate voices was for each of us to choose which one we wanted to write. Next, it made sense for Lisa to write the scenes involving African characters since she lives there. Because of my connections to the medical world, I did the research and writing for those scenes.  

LISA: Once we decided on who was going to write what characters, it allowed us to focus on that part of the story line, and on those specific characters backstory and personalities. Watching the story then come together was really exciting.

Besides giving readers a fast paced thriller, what do you want people to get out of this story?

LYNNE: Beneath the color of our skin we are all alike. Because my novels always speak to the intrinsic worth of each of us, I long for the day we can all learn to look past outward appearances.

LISA: In most of my suspense novels, I turn to real life events that affect our world today. In highlighting things—like the issues facing albinos today, I hope that people will step up and get involved in their own communities and make a difference.

Thanks, Lisa and Lynne.

We hope this “behind the scenes” might have planted a seed of interest in Ghost Heart. Here are a couple other links that provide more details.

Ghost Heart Blogspot: The story behind the story

Ghost Heart Trailer: 

To celebrate the books release, we'd like to give away one ebook copy! Leave a comment below for a chance to win a copy and please include a way for me to contact you. I'll draw a winner Saturday, August 19th at 10 pm CST.

You can also find your copy at Amazon as an ebook and paperback, as well as your other favorite online vendors.

You can find out even more about Lisa and Lynne’s writing endeavours by popping over to their websites:

Lisa Harris: has written around thirty books. While Lisa started off writing romance novels for the Christian market, she now writes romantic suspense. Pop over to Lisa's website for more.

Lynne Gentry: has written ten books including, The Carthage Chronicles, a time travel series, and the Mt. Hope Southern Adventures, a humorous small town series. Lynne's website provides more information.

The Greenfield Legacy: Interview with the four Aussie authors and book giveaway

Left to Right: Rose, Meredith, Paula, Amanda. 

Narelle here. I'm delighted to welcome four talented Aussie Christian fiction authors to our blog today. ICFW member Paula Vince has collaborated with multi-published authors Rose Dee, Amanda Deed and Meredith Resce to write The Greenfield Legacy.

We are also giving away a copy of The Greenfield Legacy (world-wide, more details at the end of the post).

I will introduce these lovely ladies before we learn how they worked together to produce their collaborated novel, a first for the Australian Christian Fiction market. 

Award winning Australian author, PAULA VINCE, loves to evoke tears and laughter through writing fiction. She has a passion to provide inspiring stories that highlight her own beautiful country. http://www.paulavince.com

ROSE DEE was born in Ingham, North Queensland, Australia. Her childhood experiences growing up in a small beach community would later provide inspiration for her first novel. Rose, who holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree, decided to try her hand at writing two years ago. The result of that attempt is her first novel, 'Back to Resolution'. Her novels are inspired by the love of her coastal home and desire to produce exciting and contemporary stories of faith for women. 'Beyond Resolution', and ‘A New Resolution’ are the second and third books in the 'Resolution' series. Rose resides in Mackay, North Queensland with her husband, young son, and mischievous pup, Noodle. http://rosedee.com

AMANDA DEED grew up in the South Eastern suburbs of Melbourne in a Christian home, and found faith at an early age. She has followed her passion to serve the Lord through music and literature since her teen years. Now married, with three children, Amanda enjoys the variety of being a mother, finance administrator, musician and historical romance writer. Her debut novel, The Game, won the 2010 CALEB Prize for fiction, and Ellenvale Gold was a finalist for the same prize in 2012. http://www.amandadeed.com.au

South Australian Author, MEREDITH RESCE, has been writing since 1991, and has had books in the Australian market since 1997. Following the Australian success of her “Heart of Green Valley” series, an English Publisher has taken the first three books in this series, and has released them to the British and American markets. ‘The Greenfield Legacy’ is her 15th novel published. Apart from writing, Meredith also takes the opportunity to speak to groups on issues relevant to relationships and emotional and spiritual growth. Meredith has also been co-writer and co-producer in the 2007 feature film production, “Twin Rivers”. With her husband, Nick, Meredith has worked in the ministry since 1983. Meredith and Nick have one daughter and two sons.

Mattie was in love with Billy, but she was too young to wed. When Billy was conscripted to fight in Vietnam, they made a decision that affected their lives and their future. But so much pain resulted that Mattie never really healed. Every turn Mattie made affected her daughter and her granddaughter in ways she didn't even realise. But forty-six years later, is it time for things to be set right? 

Navy is a young woman who has never known her family. But what could be a wonderful opportunity is met with jealousy and apprehension from her cousin Brooke and her aunt Connie, especially with handsome Aidan around. Each must look past their struggles and find forgiveness and trust and perhaps even love. 

This absorbing family drama, set in South Australia's beautiful McLaren Vale wine region, is written by four of Australia's outstanding Christian fiction authors who have brought you best-selling and award-winning novels.

Narelle: What was the inspiration for writing The Greenfield Legacy? Who came up with the story idea?

Meredith: I think Paula came up with the idea, but our brainstorm Skype session helped to let it grow and take shape with all four of us giving input.

Rose: It was Paula’s idea. She contacted each of us with the concept and we had a Skype discussion about how it all would work. The story came to us quite easily. We started with a general outline and it just rolled from there.

Paula: I was scrolling down through my Face Book news feed and saw that four American Christian Fiction authors had collaborated on a novel. As well as being interested to read it, the idea that something similar should be done for the Australian market wouldn’t leave my head. My family thought it sounded far too hard but I still didn’t want to let it go. I finally sent messages to Meredith, Rose and Amanda, to ask if they would be willing to join me in giving it a try. All three ladies were enthusiastic about the idea and the rest is history.

Narelle: How did the four of you manage to brainstorm the story, considering you all live in different parts of Australia? How did you collaborate to put together the story outline?

Meredith: We had the one long brainstorm Skype session, which was loads of fun, with ideas flying around left, right and centre. It was really great how the story could take different turns here and there from the separate characters’ points of view. We just agreed on the one solid storyline thread around which we each hung our own individual ideas.

Amanda: Skype is a great tool for communicating these days. Apart from a first group phone call discussion where we brainstormed the story outline, we emailed back and forth quite a lot during the process, clarifying as we went.

Rose: Once we had a general idea of the four characters, we all drew up a character analysis. I feel as though the story unfolded easily. I had some great ideas on where my character was going just by reading what the other characters thought of her, and how they interacted with her. We mainly conversed through e-mail. Once we started, our keyboards were hard at work and we had a first draft within months.

Narelle: I’m curious to learn the logistics behind four authors writing the same novel. Did you each write different characters or plot threads? Did you all write at the same pace? Did you revise and critique each other’s writing as you wrote the story or did you revise at the end?

Amanda: I think I was the slowest of the group, having to fit the writing in around many other demands, but I loved that the other authors’ parts inspired some of my ideas as I went. Then there were the, ‘Oh, I didn’t see that coming,’ moments, where I had to figure out how I would fit some new scenario into my own part of the story. I really enjoyed that part of the challenge.

Meredith: We each wrote a different character, and the main plot was agreed upon from the brainstorm, but there were subplots that added to the story and built each individual character. We each wrote a character profile for our own character and secondary characters, so that if one of the others of us had to write our character into their part, they knew pretty much how each would act/respond. We wrote like a tennis match. One would serve a piece, the next would take and develop the next point in the story via their character’s point of view, then hit to the next writer, whose character needed to emerge at that point. We batted it back and forth between us and it grew exponentially. It was very exciting going to the email next day and finding the story back in the inbox, but it had grown and developed so much. We did critique each others’ writing. I might have been more harsh than the others, but hopefully it all turned out well. I believe the readers will really engage with it.

Paula: I was the one who tied all the different chapters together as I received them in my inbox and it was great fun. I enjoyed the jigsaw puzzle aspect of that job, figuring out where each bit would have happened chronologically and slotting them together until they worked as smoothly as possible. I always got a kick out of seeing how ‘my’ characters appeared in the other ladies’ sections. We left our critiquing until towards the end, but by then we were all so emotionally involved in the story as a whole, the input from outside editors was definitely appreciated.

Narelle: Was it difficult to pull together four different writing voices and writing styles to create a cohesive story?

Rose: You would think it would be incredibly difficult, but I found that the process flowed smoothly and the ‘voices’ complemented each other. I think this is because we all write specific characters, so although each voice is different – they all really suit the characters.

Meredith: Surprisingly, no. The four different voices definitely reflected the four different characters’ points of view as they emerged. It actually made it just a tad more realistic.

Amanda: Getting it all to flow together seemed to be rather easy, I think. I have since read other co-authorship stories which make it sound a lot harder than our first experience of it was. Perhaps we were just a good fit.

Paula: We are quite confident that readers may have a tricky job telling who was who. Our minds gelled together so smoothly, we believe it may as well have been written by just one person. I enjoyed my experience of everyone else’s working styles. Meredith would come up with plot twists and email them to us with headings such as, ‘Breaking News.’ Rose got so enthusiastic about the different characters, she’d infect us all. Amanda would work with spurts of amazing energy, when we’d receive two or three really poignant chapters that made us ‘oooh’ and ‘aaah.’

Narelle: What advice do you have for other writers who may be thinking about collaborating to write a novel?

Paula: Start with a basic plot in which you are all firmly agreed on. Then you’ll be less likely to annoy each other with ideas the others just can’t buy. Keep your approach to working together lighthearted, even at moments when the story itself isn’t.

Amanda: Be open-minded. I think if you have narrow expectations of what it should be, you might struggle to make it work. There needs to be a lot of give and take.

Meredith: If you find other authors who seem to think like you do, and who you respect as a writer, and who is willing to have a go, why not?

Rose: I think that you have to have similarities in taste. Although we are two contemporary and two historic fiction writers, we still all like a bit of romance and drama. Common ground helps. I can’t imagine it would have worked if we had to accommodate an author who wrote science fiction or someone who wrote thrillers. Other than this – I think you just have to give something a go. We had no idea how this would work, or even if we would produce anything good enough for publication. But The Greenfield Legacy is a story we are all proud of. It’s a great read.

Narelle: Ladies, thank you for a fascinating and insightful interview. I'm looking forward to reading The Greenfield Legacy and trying to guess who wrote each character. 

By commenting on today’s post you can enter the drawing to win a copy of The Greenfield Legacy. The drawing will take place on Friday, November 2 and the winner announced on Sunday, November 4. Please leave an email address [ ] at [ ] dot [ ] where you can be reached. 

"Void where prohibited; the odds of winning depend on the number of entrants. Entering the giveaway is considered a confirmation of eligibility on behalf of the enterer in accord with these rules and any pertaining local/federal/international laws."

Australia's first collaborated Christian novel

I was happy to have spent last weekend on Australia's Sunshine Coast in Queensland. Several writers from Australia and New Zealand were there for a Getaway in which we attended workshops and listened to interesting seminars. A variety of brand new books were launched, one of which was "The Greenfield Legacy", a collaborated novel I've written with fellow authors Meredith Resce, Amanda Deed and Rose Dee. It's a project we've worked hard on this year and it was wonderful to be able to answer questions about it on a panel and sign several copies with the others.

We were each keen to bring our passions into the story. Therefore, it encompasses a few generations and contains some Australian history, several unexpected twists and shocking family revelations. We were all unanimous in wanting to include satisfying romances and a sensitive plot which we hope will bless and touch the hearts of readers. With four main characters to follow (one written by each of us), we wouldn't be surprised to hear that readers, with their diverse backgrounds, may choose different ones to especially relate to.

I've found that working with others on a novel is a really rewarding and interesting experience. It's helped me to stretch my creativity and learn how others go about the writing process. Seeing the result of our equal input for the first time was great. It's a composite that I was proud to be a part of. Later this week, an interview about our process will be published by Narelle Atkins but for now, I'd like to share a glimpse of our story in this trailer.

    Paula Vince's youth was brightened by great fiction and she's on a mission to pay it forward. A wife and homeschooling mother, she loves to highlight the beauty of her own country in her stories. Paula's books are a blend of drama and romance with elements of mystery and suspense.