What do a pacifist Quaker woman and a military weapons manufacturer find they have in common? Richard Brawer is here to discuss that and more as he tells us about his new book, Love's Sweet Sorrow, so give him a warm welcome.
What inspired you
to write your first book?
Becoming
an author was the last thing I thought I would ever do. I did poorly in English
in college, especially in creative writing classes. However, my first job after
college was in New York City. I commuted by train. I read newspapers in the
morning and to pass the time at night I read mysteries.
Then one day I read a horrendous article in the newspaper about a
father in Boston whose child was born with brain damage and he refused to take
him home from the hospital. He thought
he could return the child like a damaged piece of merchandise he bought in a
store. The nurses were outraged and their disgust was quoted in the article. The article never said what happened to the
baby. That’s when my imagination took over, and I asked myself, Was it
murdered? Was it secretly switched in the hospital for a healthy baby?
With mysteries being my favorite genre to read I took those thoughts
and began making notes. The notes turned
into paragraphs and the paragraphs into chapters. “Secrets Can Be Deadly” was born in 1994.
After that I was hooked on writing.
How long did you
write before you were published?
Being a complete novice, I did the usual things most new writers
do, for months I sent out query letters to agents and received a stack of
rejection letters. Lamenting my woes to a friend, he told me about a publisher
in a town near mine that specialized in publishing books about nurses. Since a
nurse played a prominent role in this book, I dropped in cold to their office.
Two weeks later they said they wanted to publish my book. Wow! (Unfortunately
the publisher of this book has passed away and the company has closed.)
Can you share a little of your current work
with us?
Love’s
Sweet Sorrow is a romantic suspense novel. This is the book jacket: It is said
opposites attract. There can’t be two people more opposite than Ariel and
Jason. Ariel is a traditional Quaker with an absolute aversion to war. Jason is
the lead council for America's largest weapons manufacturer.
Their
budding romance is thrown into turmoil when Jason uncovers evidence linking his
employer to international arms deals that could devastate America. His
determination to stop the treason puts Ariel in the middle of dangerous
territory.
As the chases to retrieve the evidence
intensify Ariel is forced to kill to save Jason’s life. She withdraws into a
battle raging inside her, unable to reconcile whom she has been to whom she has
become. Delving deeply into hers and Jason’s long-held opposing convictions she questions whether they are truly meant
to be together.
Who or what inspired your main characters?
What were the challenges you faced (research, literary, psychological, and
logistical) in bringing Love’s Sweet Sorrow to life?
Love’s Sweet Sorrow started as a
strictly suspense novel with a different title.
All my books have a strong female character who is more than
someone the protagonist has sex with. She has to challenge him to try and make
him a better person.
I was having trouble creating the female character so I put
the book aside and went to explore one of my favorite pastimes, local history.
Shrewsbury, NJ, a town twenty minutes north of mine, was having an Octoberfest.
One section of the town is on the National Historical Register.
In the historic district was a Society of Friends (commonly
known as Quakers) meeting founded in the 1660s. The festival was Saturday and
the Friends were giving a tour of their meeting house.
As I
listened to the guide explain the Quaker religion it hit me, why not make my
female character a Quaker. What could be more opposite and create more
conflicts between the two major characters than have one working in the
military weapons business and his love interest a pacifist.
Ariel
is a traditional Quaker with an absolute aversion to war and killing. She is an idealist who finds some good in
even the worst person. She believes in truth, honesty and whatever happens in
the world is God’s will.
Jason is a cynic who
believes that if this crazy world should blow itself up and only two
people remain, when they cross paths one would throw a rock at the other.
The
biggest challenge was to write about the Quaker religion without preaching and
the book being labeled a book only for Christian readers. I did that in
dialogue and the kidnappings and harrowing chase scenes where the characters
different philosophies continually clash.
For example when Jason and Ariel are locked in a
basement and he asks her to help him build a weapon from items laying around she
refuses. Until this point their relationship was working despite their
differing philosophies.
To paraphrase some dialogue this is their first verbal blowup:
“If I am not successful in making this weapon, we are going to die.”
“If that is God’s will.”
He jumped up.
“God’s will! That’s the excuse you Quakers use to let someone else do your
fighting for you.”
“I didn’t expect to hear that from you. I thought you were different.”
It was the first time he ever saw her angry. He hadn’t
meant what he said and wanted to suck it back into his mouth the instant it
came out, but he was so frustrated with her because she wouldn’t help him. “I’m
sorry.”
“No you’re not. You said what you thought.”
He started to reply.
She raised her hand to silence him. “You malign me
because I am true to my beliefs and the testimonies of my forbearers. In every
war this country fought Friends have been branded traitors and cowards because
we held fast to our beliefs that war and fighting and killing are against God’s
will. Yet we were there on the front lines, unprotected, helping the wounded
and those that suffered because of war.
The
book was originally titled The Bishop Committee because the leader of the
conspiracy was named Maurice Bishop. Once the novel became a romantic suspense
novel that title no longer described the story. I needed a title that would
reflect the conflicted characters.
I
had watched a few of the Hallmark Channel “Love” movies with my wife. I went to
google and searched all those titles. Naturally I did not want to use any of
them because they were already books that had been adopted for TV. But the
titles gave me ideas. I worked on it with the publisher tossing around a few
titles, Blessed Love, Love’s Enduring Courage, and Love’s Sweet Sorrow.
We chose Love’s Sweet Sorrow because it best portrayed the
characters’ love in turmoil.
After
we came up with the title, I checked Amazon to make sure there was no book with
that title.
The cover was easy. Ariel in tears because she was
distraught at losing her faith. The cover was designed by the publisher.
Is there anything you find particularly
challenging in your writing?
Rewriting to please editors and publishers.
Here are a couple of examples that I faced. I received two
requests from publishers to publish Love’s Sweet Sorrow. One publisher sent me
a list of things she wanted changed in the book. I thought it ruined the story
and explained that to her why. She wouldn’t listen so I declined her contract.
The second publisher, Vinspire Publishing, was concerned with a
sex scene and said they don’t publish explicit sex scenes. That was not a
problem. Turning it to implied sex didn’t affect the novel.
Then the book went to the editor. After the implied sex
I put in Ariel’s feelings in Ariel’s point of view. The book is mainly in
Jason’s point of view but in a few places I had switched to Ariel’s. The editor
said in this case I didn’t need Ariel’s POV. I told her, she was a virgin. How
can she have sex for the first time and not express how she feels?
The only comment from the editor,
“Oh, yes. Of course.”
In conclusion, the first thing you have to remember
when someone requests a rewrite is that it’s your story. You have to examine
the criticisms. If they don’t make sense you have to say no. If the editor and
you disagree then you have two choices, make the changes or don’t sign.
What sort of research did you do for your
book?
The
tour of the Quaker meeting house was interesting and they handed out brochures
to visitors. But there was not enough depth in them to create my character. The
internet was not really helpful in giving me insight into the Quaker philosophy
so I went to the library and read non-fiction books on how the Society of
Friends came to their convictions. One book that was especially helpful was A
Procession of Friends, Quakers in America, by Daisy Newman. It gave
historical prospective into the creation of the Society of Friends.
Did you learn anything from writing your
book and what was it?
I had my protagonist living in Nevada until he was
twelve. His best friend was a Paiute native American. I researched the Paiutes
and learned about the Ghost Dance the native Americans developed to chase away
the “white man.” I put a small piece of it in the book. To make it fit I
related it to Ariel’s faith. I think readers will find it interesting.
What genres do you write besides suspense
and mystery novels?
In
2004 I wrote an historical fiction novel titled Silk Legacy. In 2010 I also
wrote The Nano Experiment, a novel with a black female protagonist. I am a male
white man so this was a bit challenging. However it turned out to be my most
widely read novel with 71 reviews on Amazon with a 4+ average.
Do you have any advice for other writers?
Creating characters and scenes: The first thing I think
about when creating characters and scenes is conflict. Characters in conflict
and how they resolve their conflicts keep the readers turning the pages. So
when creating a scene I ask what will be the conflict of the scene’s feature
character.
For example, this is what one reader said about Love’s Sweet
Sorrow: “I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough to see
if they were able to resolve their differences or if they would split up.”
Conversely, this is what can
happen if your characters are not conflicted: My wife was having a weekly Mah
Jongg game at our house. I overheard the ladies talking about a book. One said
the characters bored me so I stopped reading after 100 pages.
Conflicts don’t have to be
knock-down drag-out fights. They can be scolding, bickering, differences of
opinion, veiled threats, hurt feelings, sarcasm, warnings, inner torment,
silently question a person’s veracity, loyalty, truthfulness. Conversations can
start out congenially and up in confrontations. I have many of these in Love’s
Sweet Sorrow.
Once you begin your writing try to find a critique group that will give
you honest feedback on character development, dialogue, voice, plot, conflict
and setting. But don’t automatically take anyone’s critique as
gospel. Refer to what I said about, it’s your story. Analyze the critiques
to see if they have merit. Say you have a six person group. If one
person criticizes something then it may or may not be valid. But if three
or four in the group say the same thing about a segment then you should take it
under serious consideration.
Do you have anything specific that you want
to say to your readers?
If
you are thinking about becoming a writer you can read books about writing, but
I think the best thing you can do is read books by major authors. Once you have
decided you want to write, you will analyze how the authors create characters,
scenes and conflicts.
What readers have said
about Love’s Sweet Sorrow:
“Excellent writing, impeccable plotting, and nicely developed characters.
Shoshana Hathaway
“Your writing is very strong, and you have developed a gripping story.” The
Writer’s Edge
“The characters and the plot were both extremely well-crafted.” S. Lynn
Read the full reviews at Richard’s website: www.silklegacy.com
or on Amazon.
Published by Vinspire Publishing. www.vinspirepublishing.com, Love’s Sweet Sorrow is available in a trade
paperback and e-book wherever books are sold and can be ordered by title or ISBN: 978-0-9890632-7-2
E-book: $2.99
Trade Paperback: $11.99
Richard Brawer writes mystery, suspense and historical fiction novels.
When not writing, he spends his time sailing and exploring local history. He has two married daughters and lives in New
Jersey with his wife.
Visit Richard online at any of the following locations:
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/richard.brawer
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/richardbrawer/
This sounds like such an intriguing story! Enjoyed reading the interview and snippet and love the cover! Thank you both for sharing :)
ReplyDeleteHugs
Roz
Thanks for dropping by and commenting Roz. Always love it when you visit.
DeleteThanks Roz for your comment.
ReplyDeleteRichard Brawer
Thank you Kathryn for that wonderful interview on your blog.
ReplyDeleteRichard Brawer
Thanks for dropping by, Richard.
DeleteThat was an excellent, interesting interview. I'd never heart about you before, Richard, but now I'm really intrigued. The conflict between the main characters in your book sounds very compelling. Thank you for sharing your experience and insights.
ReplyDeleteTrish, I'm so glad you could drop by and comment. I really appreciate your visits and insights.
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