Vicki Wilkerson
http://www.vickiwilkerson.com/
Author of ILLUMINATED
T4JYM: Your book, ILLUMINATED, released in November 2025. Can you tell our readers what they can expect from it?
VW: ILLUMINATED is a pro-life novel about a woman who meets her unborn babies in Heaven and is charged with reconciling with them so that she can discover her eternal fate. The novel is also an allegory about The Christian Journey and encourages readers to examine their own lives.
T4JYM: What is next for you? Are you working on something new? Anything different?
ILLUMINATED is the first novel in a series titled “A Heaven and Earth Novel”. The series will include scenes set on Earth and in Heaven and will expose the veil between the two. I have two additional novels in this series planned.
T4JYM: Your website says you have outlines for about 30 projects. Where do you get ideas for your books?
VW: Great question! I don’t lack ideas for novels because I have notebooks on every table in my home. If I have an idea for a theme or a character or a setting, I jot that idea down in one of my notebooks. Occasionally, I sit down with those notebooks and flesh out some of those ideas. This practice never leaves me without something to write about when I want to begin a new project. I can, however, see a pattern emerging as my writing career progresses. Time may prevent me from writing novels for all my ideas, so my tendency these days is to lean toward deeper, Christian themes instead of the lighter inspirational stories. I understand that both may feed people where they are; however, the deeper stories strengthen my faith as l am writing them, and these days, I long to draw closer to God.
T4JYM: Can you tell us a little about some of your other works – both the published works and the works in progress?
VW: The ideas for my previous series, The Summerbrook Novels, were garnered from problems that I saw Christians struggle with as they grew in faith and maturity. Those novels could be categorized as clean, inspirational rom-coms. I derived the concepts for them from the small town in which I grew up and from the people I knew. ILLUMINATED, however, is a much deeper novel, and the idea from it had been percolating for a long time, and I just didn’t know the direction in which the idea needed to head. Then, one day, I feel that God gave me that direction. In my head, I saw a young woman, surrounded by tiny lights that were supposed to represent her unborn babies. That was the central idea that became the novel.
T4JYM: Will you describe your writing process, from the spark of an idea through writing, editing, and then publishing?
VW: Well, I am a former senior English teacher, and I taught the formal writing process to my students. Not only do I not skip a step, I rely heavily upon editing every draft over and over to try to reach some level of perfection. As I stated before, I brainstorm ideas in notebooks that I leave around my house. I even keep one on my nightstand, and if I wake up at night, I note those ideas, as well. No thought is too small for the brainstorming phase. I organize those concepts in a working outline for the story, and then I write a first draft with abandon. Everything goes into the draft (I usually delete large portions later). I can write an entire first draft of a novel in about a month. Then the really tedious work of editing begins, and that can take months or years.
I used to work for a publishing house as a managing editor, and I ran authors’ manuscripts through a three-step editing process with an assigned editor—big changes, smaller changes, and then line edits. I would then send the manuscript to a copy editor, who would polish the manuscript. The final step before publishing was sending it to a proofreader, and, of course, I would proofread the final product before beginning the publishing process. I don’t skip any of these processes; however, because I ushered so many novels through the publication process, I am now able to do much of it myself, but I never underestimate the value of additional eyes on the project.
T4JYM: When did you begin writing? How has your writing changed from your first work to now?
VW: My entrance into the world of writing began when I was a teenager, and I started writing poetry. I feel that the experience garnered during those years was very important. Poetry required some kind of brevity. I knew I had to condense my thoughts onto as few lines as possible in order to hold the interest of the reader. Each poem had a theme. In college, I turned those themes into short stories, and after I graduated, I began my first novel. As my walk with Jesus has become closer, my writing has incorporated more Biblical themes. At this point in my writing career, I could not even think about writing anything that does not explore my deep faith.
T4JYM: Besides writing books, tell our readers a little about you and the things that keep you busy.
VW: I have been a freelance editor for many years (after I left my publishing job); however, I have recently finished those projects, and I am not planning to take on new ones right now because I have been very busy with marketing my most recent release. To get a break from writing/publishing/marketing, I enjoy traveling and camping. This year, I cruised to Alaska in the summer, and I cruised to the southern Caribbean for Christmas. The great thing about being an author is that you can work while traveling!
T4JYM: Let’s explore a few more favorites… What is your favorite: Food? Dessert? Drink? Color? TV show? Musician/Band? Hobby? Movie? Book of the Bible? Bible Verse? Worship Song?
VW: Okay, these are my favorite things! I love lobster, chocolate, and sweet tea. The color black is a great anchoring color for interior decorating (I call myself the Decorating Dictator), and black can also be used as a neutral to bring together a classy outfit. I watch movies only because they are the closest thing to the kind of storytelling that comprises a novel. It is great training for young novelists. I am a prolific crafter. I paint (I painted the cover for ILLUMINATED), sew, smock, crochet, and quilt. I love listening to KLOVE Radio, and CeCe Winans’ song, “Goodness of God” is my favorite. I cry each time I hear it because God has been so good to me. My favorite book of the Bible is the Psalms because I love the poetry of it!
T4JYM: How have your college degrees and years teaching helped you as an author?
VW: My bachelor’s and master’s degrees in English have helped me tremendously as an author. I learned to analyze literature—to break it down into its component parts. I have heard it said many times that to teach is to learn twice. Well, teaching eight classes each day for twenty years adds up to a lot of learning! I used to love to teach literary devices to my students because they helped students unlock the many layers to poems, short stories, and novels. I didn’t realize it while I was teaching, but the repetition ingrained literary devices into my writing. I see metaphors, symbols, motifs, and allegories everywhere in everything! That internalization of all I’ve learned and taught is naturally expressed in my writing.
T4JYM: What kinds of books do you enjoy reading? What are you reading currently?
VW: I used to write book reviews for local newspapers, so my reading was limited to local, southern authors, like Dorothea Benton Frank, Anne Rivers Siddons, and Mary Alice Monroe. These days, however, I have returned to the classics once again. I am currently reading The Complete C.S. Lewis.
T4JYM: Please tell us how you came to be a Christian and how this has influenced your writing.
VW: I grew up attending a small, southern church, and I became a Christian at age ten. Christ is the center of my life, and I feel He inspires my writing. I pray that He uses my stories to help others with the issues I address in my novels.
T4JYM: If you could have just 30 minutes with any person in the Bible, other than God, what would it look like?
VW: I would love to sit on a bench, overlooking the lake at sunset, with John the Baptist because I want to know how he overcame his fears in the face of persecution.
T4JYM: If you could meet any 3 people – past, present, or future – who would they be and why?
VW: Because I am an author, I’d love to meet the great writers of the Bible. David, Solomon, and Paul would be my three guys.
T4JYM: What advice would you give to someone interested in publishing their work?
VW: Read the types of stories you wish to write to get the flow of them (also, reading is one of the best predictors of intelligence, and it helps you to write more eloquently). Write prolifically—every day, if you can. Take writing classes, if they are available. Sign up for Yearbook and Journalism because you will learn to write well in those courses. Join writing groups and critique groups to learn what others think of your writing and to help you edit and proofread your writing.
T4JYM: What advice would you give to the youth of this world?
VW: When you find an honest, true friend, nurture that relationship, and never fall out of touch. Good friendships will anchor you and will feed your heart and mind for your entire life. In addition to finding your best friend as a young person, allow Jesus to be your spiritual best friend in all you do, and in that way, no matter what you do or where you go, you’ll never have to face the difficulties of life alone.
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