Rachelle J. Christensen

Romance, Suspense, Mystery Author

An Interview with Me

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For Writers:

Here’s an interview that I did years ago with author Renae Weight Mackley. It was so much fun to stumbled across this again and think about my early years of writing. Enjoy!

I really enjoyed reading Wrong Number, a Whitney finalist, and thought I’d have a chat with Rachelle Christensen, award-winning author of “Wrong Number” and “Lost Children: Coping with Miscarriage”. I like to ask authors three critical fundamentals in writing. Let’s start with . . .
Plot—Your plot kicks off strongly from page one. Did you struggle to keep the momentum going? How much of the story was plotted out or outlined before you started writing?
Rachelle: My character, Aubree Stewart, sometimes had a mind of her own and that led to more tension. But I also went back through each chapter during revisions and looked for plot development, tension, etc. to make sure the pacing of the story would keep the reader turning pages.
Character—I liked how you showed character growth from a wife dependent on her husband to a woman who takes charge of her situation. Was this something you strengthened during revisions or did you plan her character arc from the beginning?
Rachelle: Thank you! It was fun to see Aubree’s character development. A lot of that happened naturally with the paths she took in the novel, but I also tried to refine that during revisions. Something I tried to keep in mind was that the character needs to have faults and flaws so they are progressing with the plot as well.
Renae: It was fun to discover who Aubree could or couldn’t trust. Any tips on keeping a secondary character mysterious while showing their development?
Rachelle: Red herrings are a wonderful tool to make anyone seem mysterious. I’ll admit I find it tricky to keep the bad guy a secret because obviously I know who he is while I’m writing 🙂 so I’m always double-checking my writing and asking myself, “Are they going to figure out the bad guy?” and then adding in subtle movements, red herrings, and foreshadowing to keep the reader guessing.
Conflict—There were lots of conflicts along the way culminating to the biggest one where there was no escape. Where do your ideas come from?
Rachelle: My ideas usually come from something that sparks my interest like a news story and then I start asking, “What if?” For example, we all get wrong numbers and I’ve had plenty where people just start talking (this especially happens on my voicemail) and I’ve had to correct them and tell them “I’m sorry you must have the wrong number.” So what if someone called the wrong number by accident and gave out information about a murder?
Renae: It always exciting to win awards. How different was the final product from what you submitted to contests?
Rachelle: Wrong Number won second place in the LDStorymakers contest in 2007 and I had another novel (one of my many work-in-progress) win first place in 2009. The first chapter didn’t change much, other than being tightened up a bit and some extra scrubbing and polishing. But the first draft of my novel was right around 50,000 words. By the time I finished re-writing and revising for several months, the final word count was nearly 72,000 words and that doesn’t account for all the words I cut during revising.
Renae: Did your marketing or publishing strategy change by going from a non-fiction book to suspense?
Rachelle: Definitely. I found it much easier to market my fiction book because it was for anyone. Whereas my nonfiction book was written for a specific niche of readers.
Renae: What else would you like to share about yourself?
Rachelle: I’m a stay-at-home mommy of four beautiful kids. I love to play the piano and sing. I enjoy anything creative, especially making cards, creating photobooks, sewing, and gardening. And right now I’m counting down the days until sunny weather when I can go running any time of day while listening to my iPod and thinking of ideas for my next novel.
Renae: What are you working on now?
Rachelle: I’m currently revising the spin-off from Wrong Number. The working title is Caller ID and I’m excited about the plot in this story. I came up with the idea by combining the elements of two different stories I saw on the news a few years ago. I think my readers will be excited to see who the main character is in Caller ID. I’ll give a hint, it’s not Aubree.
Renae: Do you have any advice for other authors?
Rachelle: If you’re serious about writing, attend writers conferences and classes, join a great critique group, read novels in your genre of interest, and write, write, write! Also, learn how to take criticism and know when to apply it to your writing and when to chuck it out the window.
Renae: Where can we find your books? (BTW, I can personally recommend Wrong Number!)
Rachelle: Anywhere books are sold. If you don’t see it, ask for it and they can order it in. Available wherever books are sold: SEE HERE.
If you’d like to get a sneak peek at Wrong Number, check out the book trailer—it’s awesome!  You can see it HERE. Stop by my website  to see what I’m up to. Thank you so much for this interview! Happy reading and writing.

Visit Rachelle’s For Writers Page to find more resources HERE

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Network at LDStorymakers Conference

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For Writers:

I wanted to tell you about the most amazing writer’s conference coming up in May. The LDStorymakers conference is what I credit for getting me on the right track to becoming a successful author. I attended my first writer’s conference with LDStorymakers in 2006 and found the most amazing and professional insight into my writing. Even though I had read writing books and owned a few copies of the coveted, “Children’s Writer’s and Illustrator’s Market” I decided I didn’t know beans about writing and soaked up every last tip and detail.

Each year, the conference has improved and I have learned more and more to help me on my writing path. I’ve met some incredible authors and aspiring authors and everyone is so helpful and encouraging.

I love entering the first chapter contest in conjunction with this writer’s conference because it’s a great way to get a detailed critique on my writing and a chance to win some awesome awards! It’s helpful to think about this after opening those special little self-addressed-stamped envelopes with form letter rejections. And on the topic of rejection, it sure helps to have a network of friends to encourage you in the face of rejection. Writing or specifically submitting should be listed as an alternate definition for REJECTION in the dictionary or at least a synonym. If you are serious about writing and publishing a book, then you must be ready to open many notices of rejection—hey at least you get some mail once in a while! But back to what I was saying—attending a writer’s conference is important because you can find a network of support.

I am still learning and honing my writing skills and look forward to many years of successful writing.

I’ve already had some friends ask me about writing and how to write a book and I’ve told them I’m not an expert, but I think you should attend a writer’s conference—specifically LDStorymakers.

I believe that attending writer’s conferences have made all the difference in helping me to achieve my goals. So if you’re in Utah on May 9-11 and you would like to attend a premier writer’s conference, check out www.ldstorymakers.com and register. I think the classes are full, but you can get on a wait list. Be sure to sign up early next year!

It’s a wonderful way to network with other writers, editors, publishers, agents and have an amazing time too!

Visit Rachelle’s For Writers Page to find more resources HERE

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Stand Up For Your Dreams

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For Writers:

I really love music! I especially love songs with a message of motivation and inspiration. I wanted to share one of my favorites by Rascal Flatts. Songs like these help me keep my chin up when things don’t go exactly as planned. As a writer, I get to deal with lots of rejection in the form of emails, letters, etc. but I’ve decided that with every rejection, I’m one more closer to my goal of publishing a best-selling novel.

With that attitude I’ve had some great successes that I’m going to be featuring soon.

Some things that I want to write, others might not feel as strongly about, but I’m going to write them anyway because that’s who I am and that’s what I stand for. So for anyone out there trying to achieve a dream in the face of difficulty, this one’s for you!

Here’s the lyrics to the song:

STAND

You feel like a candle in a hurricane

Just like a picture with a broken frame

Alone and helpless

Like you’ve lost your fight

But you’ll be alright, you’ll be alright

Chorus:

Cause when push comes to shove

You taste what you’re made of

You might bend, till you break

Cause its all you can take

On your knees you look up

Decide you’ve had enough

You get mad you get strong

Wipe your hands shake it off

Then you Stand, Then you stand

Life’s like a novel

With the end ripped out

The edge of a canyon

With only one way down

Take what you’re given before its gone

Start holding on, keep holding on

Chorus:

Cause when push comes to shove

You taste what you’re made of

You might bend, till you break

Cause its all you can take

On your knees you look up

Decide you’ve had enough

You get mad you get strong

Wipe your hands shake it off

Then you Stand, Then you stand

Every time you get up

And get back in the race

One more small piece of you

Starts to fall into place

Ooohhh

Cause when push comes to shove

You taste what you’re made of

You might bend, till you break

Cause its all you can take

On your knees you look up

Decide you’ve had enough

You get mad you get strong

Wipe your hands shake it off

Then you Stand, Then you stand

Here’s the link to the video. It isn’t the most fantastic music video ever done, but at the end I really like how they show people who they’ve featured throughout the video trying to accomplish something with these words.

PASSION

DETERMINATION

COURAGE

GRACE

DESIRE

EXPRESSION

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Writing Compelling Characters

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For Writers

Years ago, I visited my one of my writerly friend’s blogs and found a fun challenge. Elana Johnson is an amazing writer. She challenged everyone to write on the topic of “Writing Compelling Characters” to show how diverse each and every person is when they are creating something of their own. Here is what I came up with:

Writing a compelling character is as multi-faceted a topic as the character itself can become. There are so many points to concentrate on developing to make your character come to life and compel your reader to continue turning those pages. Here’s a few of my ideas.

When I’m writing and reading, I need to see the character–their movement, general appearance, mannerisms. I also need to hear them. How do they talk? What happens when they enter a room?

To write a compelling character, you first need to create the character by answering some of the above questions plus a few more. When I’m working on a novel, I use a character note document where I write the name of each character, age, hair color, eye color, height, striking factors in their appearance, where they live or where they are from, some of their hobbies, what type of work they do. The list can go on and on, but it’s important for each character to be different, not cut from the same cloth. I need to have identifiable differences between the characters and so I’ll make notes of how I can show that to my readers by certain mannerisms, speech, and specific appearance points.

Each character must sound like himself. This means if I pull out a string of dialogue from a novel, it should be indicative of the character speaking. If all the dialogue sounds the same, then a reader will not be able to differentiate clearly between the characters. You have to know your characters so well when writing, because your reader will know them and will pick up immediately if the character says something that is out of sync. You don’t want your reader thinking, “He wouldn’t say that.” You also don’t want them thinking, “he wouldn’t do that.”

So, writing compelling characters is all about making the characters REAL, making them come to life and step off the pages of the book. One of my favorite tips that I heard several years ago (sorry, can’t remember who said it) was, “You should know your character well enough, that if you passed them on a busy street you would recognize them.”

That’s just the tip of the iceberg on writing compelling characters, but it’s a great starting point.

Think of your favorite books. Are they your favorite because of the plot or the characters? Who are some of your all-time favorite characters?

Some of mine? I love Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery. Melinda from Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson definitely stays with you. Katniss from The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins. All of these characters are so well-written, I feel like they are my friends–especially Anne!

Okay, your turn to share. I’d love to hear some of your favorites.

Visit Rachelle’s For Writers Page to find more resources HERE

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Thought on Writing

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For Writers

I had the chance to attend an LDStorymakers writing conference about six years ago and around that time, I read an excellent quote from the League of Utah Writers newsletter. These conferences and newsletters give me so much inspiration and motivation as a writer and I can always find great writing tips.

You must keep sending
work out; you must
never let a manuscript
do nothing but eat its
head off in a drawer.
You send that work out
again and again, while
you’re working on
another one. If you have
talent, you will receive
some measure of
success – but only if you
persist.
— Isaac Asimov

This is excellent advice and something I’ve been thinking about with a few projects that have been waiting for me to come back to them and let them see the light.

What about you? Are you working on your talents?

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Purple Prose Contest

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For Writers

I had so much fun entering a contest about ten years ago over at Query Tracker. It was called the Purple Prose contest and to enter you had to write one sentence of purple prose. Now, purple prose means that the writing has been overdone, overwritten, way too many adjectives and overkill in the descriptive sense, so much that the reader can get lost in the purpleness of the prose.

I had a blast making up my sentence and it was selected as one of 15 finalists out of over 100 entries. Then people voted on their favorite. And guess what? My very purple sentence took first place.

I thought you’d like to see how fun it was for me to be a “bad writer” so here’s the sentence that won, and yes, it’s an incredibly long run-on sentence that would make my high school English teacher cringe and pull out her fully loaded comma splice assault weapon and start firing.

When he heard about the empurpled contest on Query Tracker, the coils of dark, multitudinous hair which made up his eyebrows knit together in fury, like a spry grandmother’s knitting needles, clicking incessantly and rapidly, the sun’s rays illuminating them with a silver gleam, like the gleam of a young child’s brand new bicycle bedecked in all its glory with lemon-colored streamers and chiffon paint with stripes of lavender that shimmered like the violet hue of his eyes which were now thoughtful; the wrinkles around his wide, pupil-inhabited orbs seemed pensive as he considered how he might win Query Tracker’s contest and emerge a champion like a magnificent Olympic sports-star—but not like Greg Louganis because he hit his head—instead his own powerful kind of win—the kind to fill a man’s soul with joy to overflowing like a large bowl of Rocky Road ice cream with ostentatious helpings of steaming hot fudge, but not butterscotch because it would contrast with the rich hues of the chocolate which was so sweet as would be his joy when he won—like a bareback rider in the National Rodeo Finals hanging on for dear life to a fraying strap of yellowed rope—he imagined this with fervor, gripping the gleaming pen in his hand as he began to write.

Too much fun and I won a great prize to boot! A critique of one of my query letters by a real live agent, Jon Tienstra!

Check out Query Tracker, it’s an excellent website/resource for all you publishing people and they have fun contests and info too!

Visit Rachelle’s For Writers Page to find more resources HERE

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