Interview with Author Patricia Johns

Patricia Johns
https://patriciajohns.com/
Author of Through the Valley

T4JYM: Your book, Through the Valley, was released today. Can you tell our readers what they might expect from it?

PJ: This is a story about Beth Peachy’s search for answers. Her family wants her to make a stand for the church, but they won’t trust her with the whole truth about her family history, and she’s determined to find out why no one will speak about her father’s Amish childhood. She has a theory that her grandmother was an unwed mother, and she starts her search there. Her good friend Danny lives across the lake from her grandmother’s house, and he has his own troubles with his problematic brother who has left the Amish life and just won’t stop talking to anyone who will listen about his grievances with the Amish way of life.

You can expect a story with a quick pace, lots of secrets being uncovered, and an honest, hard look at what it means to live an Amish life… and maybe even a broader Christian life, too.

T4JYM: You have NUMEROUS books already published. Very impressive! Where do you get ideas for your books? How do you decide which to submit for publication?

PJ: I am a one trick pony. I’m really good at exactly one thing, and that’s spinning stories. So where do my ideas come from? I don’t even know! But thank goodness they pop into my head. As for knowing which ideas so submit, first of all I see which ideas I get really excited about. But I also have the firm opinion that it isn’t my job to turn me down. That’s an editor’s job somewhere. It might be the job of lots of different editors across the board! But there is no harm in trying. So just give it a whirl!

T4JYM: Why Amish characters? What about this culture do you find appealing? Along those same lines, why romance? Do you ever venture outside of romance and write in other genres?

PJ: The thing I like about Amish fiction is that it has all the trappings of historical fiction, but it’s still contemporary. The Amish have very conservative gender roles. They have very exacting expectations for proper behavior, too. But these are people who live here and now. They might not have TVs, but they are aware of the world around them. So I find that tension between living like it’s 1804 but also watching cars and trucks pass by you in the street really fascinating! And that makes me ask myself… what would I do if I lived in that culture? I’m opinionated, stubborn, and tend to want more than is right in front of me. How would I face those tensions?

As for romance writing, I’m just a die hard romantic. I believe in soulmates. I believe in love that can last for eternity. I’m also ridiculously optimistic and believe that there is someone for everyone—a lid for every pot. And that comes out in my writing.

I have ventured outside of romance writing! I wrote a cozy mystery that was a finalist for an Edgar award. Unfortunately, it didn’t sell enough copies for the publisher to want more of them. These things happen in this business.

T4JYM: What does the writing process look like for you? Walk us through the process and give our readers an idea of all that is involved.

PJ: Honestly, it’s not about coffee shops and cute notebooks. It’s about discipline and sitting down to hit word count deadlines. I know that sounds very unromantic, but it’s how the work gets done. When I come up with a story, the first step is to create a proposal that I pass along to my agent. Then we discuss if it could sell somewhere, and she takes over from there. When I get a publisher who is interested and offers to buy it, first I take a minute to be excited and celebrate, because this in itself is a huge accomplishment! Then I write out a complete outline of what happens in every single chapter, make sure the book looks the way I envisioned it, and I start writing! Every day I have a certain amount of writing I have to get done in order to complete the book on time, and I make sure that I hit that goal. Even when I don’t feel like it. Even when I’m tired. Even when I’m feeling really uncreative. But by sitting down and getting to work, I find my creativity opens up. They say it’s like a faucet. You have to turn on the tap before you a flow of water.

T4JYM: How much time and effort goes into editing a work for publication?

PJ: A LOT! First I do my own editing, making the book as good as I can make it on my own. Then a professional editor at the publishing house goes through it and does what’s called a developmental edit. That’s the big picture editing. They come back with things like, “What if we completely deleted these three characters, focused on this one character, and killed off the problematic uncle?” Those are the hardest edits! Sometimes that involves a lot of rewriting. Next come the line edits. That’s where they go line by line and ask questions like, “Why is he saying this? Forty-five pages ago, he said something very different. Which does he believe?” Once line edits are done, it goes to copy edits. That can be wording, typos, and few extra questions tossed in that the rest of us missed. After that is galley edits. That’s my last chance to go through the story and find typos, mistakes, fix any wording that sounds clunky to me, and just make sure it’s as good as it can possibly be. Another editor will go over all of those changes, add in a few of her own, and at that point the book is ready for you to see!

T4JYM: When did you begin writing? How has your writing changed as you’ve grown as a writer?

PJ: I’ve been writing since I was a little girl, so I’d say my writing has grown along with me. I’m a writer to my core. It’s just who I am! So I can’t really separate it out. It’s like asking how my hair has changed over the years! But my writing has grown, and developed, and deepened as I have done all of those things as a person.

 T4JYM: Let’s have a little fun… What is your favorite: Food? Drink? Color? TV show? Musician/Band? Hobby? Movie? Book of the Bible? Bible Verse? Worship Song?

PJ:

Food: pierogies
Drink: tea
Color: pink
TV show: Star Trek—whatever series is newly released!
Musician: I actually don’t listen to music. I know! It’s weird. I’ve accepted that. Music is beautiful, but my brain gets overwhelmed with it, and I prefer some peaceful silence.
Hobby: dollhouse miniatures. Give me anything super tiny, and I’m enthralled with it!
Movie: I don’t think I have one.
Book of the Bible: I always come back to the Psalms
Bible verse: 1 John 3:8

T4JYM: If you could have just 10 minutes with any person in the Bible, excluding Jesus, who would it be and what would it look like?

PJ: I’d choose Mary, mother of Jesus. She went through so much! She saw so much! And she was special to Jesus in a really unique way that no one else experiences. She was his mama. I’d like ten minutes with Mary.

T4JYM: What is the scariest thing you have ever done? Have you ever written about it?

PJ: Quitting my job when I was a young woman, working part time and being a starving artist, paying my rent and living on the cheap. I haven’t written about it, but it did give show me that I could live on very little if I was pressed, and that gave me a sense of security ever after. I knew that I’d be okay.

T4JYM: What kinds of books do you enjoy reading? What are you reading currently?

PJ: I love to read all sorts of different books from historical sagas to non-fiction books about topics that interest me. I really enjoy C. S. Lewis, sci-fi, romance, mysteries… I enjoy the classics, too, and am currently reading The Double by Fyodor Dostoevsky. I read pretty broadly.

T4JYM: What advice would you give to someone interested in publishing?

PJ: I’d say to write, write, write! Writers write. That’s the cold, hard truth of the matter. If you want to write, then sit down and start spinning a story! If you already do that, then continue writing. Write stories you love, stories that get you excited. Don’t be in a rush to get published—just start looking at the world through your own eyes, and write about it. When you’ve done a lot of writing, you’ll be much better than when you just started—trust me. Then if you want to get published, start submitting! You’ll get a lot of rejection—be ready for that. But it’s okay. Every writer gets lot of rejections. You’re holding out for one yes! And if you don’t give up, you eventually get it!

T4JYM: What advice would you give to the youth of this world?

PJ: I’d say to be brave. You are the future of this entire planet, and your ideas, your passion and your vision matter more than you might think. One day you’ll be in charge, and you’ll be the ones holding the gates and making the decisions. And that is coming sooner than you think! So stand for what is right. Stay close to Jesus and let him show you the adventure he has in store for you. It’ll be amazing.