Okay, InspyPeeps,
They gave me the keyboard today (not a smart idea if you ask me but we’re not going to tell THEM that!), and I’ve been thinking about this since my last post over here. One of the things you guys said in the comments several times was: “I love learning about authors and how they live and what goes on behind the scenes” (paraphrase, so no copyright infringement intended!)
Also, I’ve been binge-living “The Greatest Showman” even while I write Book 3 in my upcoming series. I think it’s a combination of all of these plus one other thing that led me to this idea. You see, over on social media, it’s a thing to “Take Over” for a day or 30 minutes or whatever when another author is doing a promo. So I got to thinking, what would happen if we had a “Reader Take Over” Day here.
And you guys get to be my guinea pigs! We’re gonna try it and see what happens.
With that, I’m opening the floor, to you, my readers (and those who don’t know me at all!). You get as many questions as you want to ask, or comments that you want to make, about inspy romance, about me, my books, etc. What do you most want to know? What can I answer (or try to) for you?
Post your questions below, and I’ll do my best to answer them! Can’t wait to hear what YOU have to say… (And follow-up questions, comments are welcome and encouraged!)
Happy Reader Take-Over Day!
Ausjenny says
Ok my question is When did you first know you wanted to be a writer? Was it something you always wanted to do? Were you a child who loved to write stories?
Andrea Stephens says
What do you do when you are happily writing then hit a roadblock? I probably should have asked if you hit roadblocks but I have a feeling most people do, writers or not.
Have you ever walked away from a story that wasn’t working out how you thought? Or do you just keep writing and hope it will work out in edits?
Renate says
Hi Stacy from cold snowy Michigan. Yes, it is spring; but Mother Nature keeps getting mixed signals. We all have spring fever – grandparents, grandkids, dogs, squirrels, and robins. Flight 259 was the first compelling, gut wrenching, page turning story of yours I read. It is forever embedded in my mind.
My questions: 1. How do you receive your inspiration for your stories? News articles, people watching, blogs? 2. Are you a pantster or a plotter? 3. What part of publishing a book do you like the most? Writing the story, the blurb, creating a cover, etc? What part do you like the least? Rewriting, editing or writer’s block?
What a great idea to become better acquainted with an author. Best wishes and Happy Writing.
Staci Stallings says
When I was in second grade, I had a teacher, Sr. Adrian. Now Sr. Adrian was one of those teachers that could take you to the moon and back just by opening up a portal no one else knew anything about. She was a magical person. We wrote a lot of stories that year, and one of them I wrote at Christmastime was about Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. I have no more memory of what it was about, but at the time, Sr. Adrian wrote: “Wow! Great story! You’re going to be a writer someday.” Now, if Sr. Adrian said it, that was just…. she knew EVERYTHING!
Then in high school, I had another God-teacher enter my life. Her name was Mrs. Schulte. She had been in the newspaper business and had come into teaching. She was a phenomenal writing teacher. At the time she got the journalism contest program up and running in our school, and she wanted me to write both News & Feature writing. About 3 times a week, I would write one of those stories, and she would literally sit down with me and go through every, single mark she’d made on my paper to explain why it was wrong or how to do it better. She spent HOURS of her own time to teach me how to write.
Finally, I have two “issues”…. one, I have pretty close to a photographic memory especially for things I see. And two, I have a really hard time going to sleep. So when I was very young, if I watched something on TV that wasn’t great (and I had an older brother who watched cop shows), I would lay in bed for hours, trying NOT to think of what I had seen. One of my defenses that I learned was to “tell myself stories,” or more to the point, make up movies in my head (to cover the other images). So I would find a story I liked and “push play” in my head and watch the story until I fell asleep. I still do that without the falling asleep part now, I’ve just now trained myself to take the “movies” out of my head and put them on paper for other people to enjoy!
MFLiteraryWorks says
Staci,
First off, I need to say I LOVE reading your books. They are packed full and each one has a message/lesson I can apply to my life. Thanks!
Second, my question is: What, where, how, do you get the ideas for each one of your books? Does God just drop it in your head, or do you hear it on the street? What?
Third, I LOVE Greatest Showman! What was your favorite part, and what was your favorite song? I can’t wait to get my DVD next week. I listen to all the songs over and over! Fantastic movie!
Last but not least, When did God become personal to you? Were you a young child or older?
Have a blessed day!
Diana says
Our weather is still not convinced it’s spring. We had a freeze last night and possibly light snow tonight. I’m amazed by how many stories authors come up with. Is your mind constantly in overdrive thinking up new plots?
Staci Stallings says
Roadblocks…. GRRR. I am a recovering control-freak, so let’s start there. There was a time when I thought MY way was THE way. That was a disaster waiting to happen. What I’ve learned is that my characters cannot or will not be forced into what I want them to do. I have to let them work things out for themselves. So sometimes, roadblocks happen because I’m trying to control something that is not mine to control.
The other type of roadblock is when there is a piece I am missing to something that needs to be in the story. These are harder because I have no control at all of when, where, or how a missing piece might appear. So like the other day, I hit a monumental roadblock. There were some things I knew about the story, but I was missing something, something major, something key, and because of that, I literally couldn’t think or see what came next. Because I’m “pushing” on this story (most of the time, I’ll just let it be for a while until the piece shows up), I just kept asking, “What am I missing? What am I not seeing?” Come to find out, it was a piece of the hero’s life that he had not yet told me about. Once that dropped into place, the scenes came super easy and they are awesome.
Over the years, I have stopped on stories with roadblocks many times. In fact, the series I’m working on now…. I wrote the first book in 2009, and started the second book in 2009 as well. I wrote about 100 pages and then roadblock. So I put it aside and wrote a bunch of other stories. Then about 2 months ago, I picked this one back up, and the timing for finishing it is right now. I don’t know why. I can’t explain that, but I now have pieces of it that were simply not available back in 2009.
As for walking away because it wasn’t turning out like I thought… HAHHAHA. NONE of them turn out like I “think.” I’ve learned these are the characters’ stories, not mine. They have things to work through and they will if I will just get out of the way enough and let them. For a control-freak, that is not easy, but the more I do THAT, the easier this gets.
Staci Stallings says
Renate, I’m so glad you liked/loved “Flight 259.” “embedded in my mind” is a good way to describe how people get with the books of mine they read–probably because the stories are so vivid to me in my mind, and my goal is to make it that vivid in yours.
(P.S. I’m jealous of your snow. We are so dry and dusty here, it’s crazy!)
1. I get my inspiration wherever God happens to give it. I’ve gotten it in dreams (“Flight 259” started when “I” opened the hotel room door and saw Scott standing there and I shut the door on him! From that one, ten second snippet, I worked forward and backward through the story to explain how that meeting came about.) I’ve gotten inspiration from bands (98-Degrees and the Jonas Brothers) as well as television shows and movies (The Dukes of Hazard, She’s All That, and Pride & Prejudice). I’ve also gotten some of it from real life (like Whisper if You Have to and The Price of Silence).
One of them, all I started with literally was a name when I woke up…. that one became “Deep in the Heart,” my most read book.
2. Total pantser. Okay, maybe not “total” in that as I get pieces of a story, I will put them in a doc so I don’t “lose” them in my mind, but I don’t write from a plot or outline. I write and let the story be whatever the story is.
3. The part I like the least is whatever part I’m doing at the moment. Whatever part I’m doing seems to be the hardest, most frustrating part. So if I’m writing, “Ugh. I don’t know HOW this is ever going to work, or IF it will work at all.” If I’m editing, “How much more do I have to do?” If I’m writing a cover blurb, NOTHING sounds right…. Maybe I’m just a drama queen. I don’t know. But whatever part I’m on, I get so frustrated with myself because “I’ve done this before. WHY is it so hard now?”
What part do I like the most? HAHHAH…. reading something I’ve already written that I can just read and enjoy. I was reading “A Moment Like This” the other day just because, and it was SO good. I think that’s part of it for me, capturing the stories in my head so they don’t get lost like they used to before I wrote them down. Now I can choose one and go back and “relive” it any time I want.
I don’t do a lot of rewriting. I find that for me, the way a story comes out is often how it stays …. for better or worse. When I start monkeying with a story, I mess it up. So I write it, edit it for OBVIOUS problems and grammar stuff, and then it’s pretty much done unless someone else catches something I didn’t.
Staci Stallings says
I’m so glad you enjoy reading my books. That’s awesome! To me, they are a cross between parables and stories because a lot of people can’t pick up a nonfiction religious book and get much out of it, but when they read it in a story, they get it in a whole different way than before.
2. Yes, I feel like God does kind of “drop” ideas in my head, and oftentimes not at convenient for me times. Like “Dance with Me,” I was in the middle of writing The Grace Series, and I had a very vivid dream about “Dance.” At first, I was just going to write a little bit of it, but it kind of grabbed a hold of me and wouldn’t let go. Ironically (unless you know how God works), I NEEDED some of the wisdom from Dance in order to finish The Grace Series. I still get frustrated with things like that, but I’ve learned that’s the way God works and to just trust it and go with it.
The other “dropped” in my head one was “To Protect & Serve.” I had a friend at the time who was interested in how I wrote. I was showing her pics of a band I was using as inspiration for one of my characters. The thing was, she didn’t like the guy I had chosen, and she kept saying, “Yeah, but what’s THIS one’s story? I want to know what story you would write about him.” She just kept it up, so one day in frustration and to have something to tell her (sorry, God hasn’t told me that story yet), I said to God one day, “Fine, if I was to write his story, what would it be?” And God literally dropped “To Protect & Serve” into my lap almost fully formed. (Be careful what you ask for!)
As for “The Greatest Showman,” OH, MAN, I AM OBSESSED! My favorite part…. hm…
“Men suffer more from not having enough imagination than having too much.” PT to Bennett
I love, love, LOVE “The Other Side.”
And “Rewrite the Stars.”
Love the idea of coming together to love each other into being who we were always meant to be, not hiding, not being ashamed. “This is Me” is like my anthem.
I’ve done a lot of “From Now On” in my life since I watched it. Something new in my life “starts tonight.”
When I get the DVD, I may never get anything else done!
As to when God became personal to me…. when I was 35, I had a husband, 3 kids, a house, 2 cars, my own business, etc. and I found I was miserable. I literally had everything I’d ever thought would make me “happy,” and I wasn’t. That made no sense to me, so I started a quest that started with God like shattering what I’d always thought my relationship with Him was supposed to be about and starting all back over. I read a couple books “Grace Walk” and “The Ragamuffin Gospel” that really hit me over the head about my legalism and perfectionism and how those were killing me, and I found God’s grace and mercy and that I could be weak, and that was okay, that God loved me anyway… no matter what. From that, I started trying to teach others to be like that, to do that, and 13 years later, that’s still what I’m trying to do.
God bless!
Staci Stallings says
Everyone freaks out about my poor computer. Most days I have about 40 tabs on two screens open and I have to scroll through my list of Word docs to find the right one that’s open. I take multi-tasking to a whole new level.
Yes, my brain is like that too. Let’s see…. there’s a story I haven’t worked on literally in about 15 years. It’s about a girl who plays basketball, and basketball is her life. She’s got a friend who is a friend of her brother (Ryland, don’t know why I remember his name, but that’s it). Anyway, something tragic happens and her basketball career is cut short in a really bad way. Everyone is trying to “help.” But it’s Ryland, who doesn’t realize he likes her, that steps up and together, she learns that life is about more than basketball.
I have another one that I started…. eek! Like 17 years ago, he is a wealthy guy trapped into marrying for the family. At the beginning, he literally jumps out a window and runs. He flees to New York where his friend from college has become a preacher in a really rundown, ramshackle “church.” But the friend has his feet on the ground more than Quinn (HAHHA. That’s his name.) As the story goes, he meets Maria, a super headstrong Latina young woman who works at her family’s grocery store in a super bad neighborhood. She is studying to be a doctor and barely making life work. He needs a job and her brother hires him because he’s friends with the pastor. They meet and she doesn’t want anything to do with him, but as it goes, he falls for her, and then things get complicated.
I have at least 4 others that I have started and could probably pick up and start writing on today without much trouble at all, but first I have to finish these three in this current series, and then one more in another series….
There are times when I’m like, “Stop God! I can’t open even one more tab in my head!” But that’s usually about the time He yanks me the other direction into a totally new story…. I’m weird. I’ve just learned to run with it and not question it because that takes energy away from dealing with it! (AHAHHAHH!)
Thanks for stopping by!
Anitra Parmele says
What a great reminder that something that was a challenge has become a vehicle for you to express your gifts!
Marylin Furumasu says
Staci,
Thanks for being so transparent! I love how you answered all the questions!
I love how God directs you to the subject of your books.
I so totally understand ALL your comments about The Greatest Showman. I feel the same about the songs!
Thanks again for your answers!
Anitra Parmele says
Staci-
Thanks for chatting with us! The chance to hang out with you is so fun.
After working with musicians for awhile, I realize the parallels in our responses as fans. So often, a song or story reaches right into our heart and establishes a connection between us and the creator (and the Creator lol). When we have the chance to “meet” them, sometimes words fail to express just how deeply their work has impacted our lives.
I LOVE The Greatest Showman! For me, it’s been Never Enough as I realize that all the money, acclaim, relationships that the world offers pale in comparison to my relationship with God.
As a creative, do you ever struggle with switching gears from right brain to left brain as you balance marketing and royalties and all the “business” stuff? Do you outsource any of it?
Thanks again for being so generous with your time and life!
Colleen P says
Writers I believe put a lot of work and passion into their writing. And before it’s published it has to be proofread and edited. I figured a writer with good common sense and a good publisher wouldn’t publish a story that’s bad. So with all the hard work comes those negative comments. How do you or would you handle negative review?
juliearduini says
Staci,
I love this idea. How fun! I just wanted to say I absolutely love your books. I finally saw The Greatest Showman a couple weeks ago, really loved it. Have a great weekend!
Staci Stallings says
God works with a lot of things in ways we often do not see nor understand at the time. I’m writing one right now about a guy who grew up with ADHD, but because of the choices he and his mom made, it has become an asset rather than a liability…. though it is very clear throughout the book that those choices were not easy, and he felt very defective growing up. It’s a great reminder because none of us are “perfect,” and we all have things that make us feel “weird.” But I’m convinced that God can and does use those things to His glory!
Katie Andersen says
What is your favorite book? And what book did you read recently that was the best book you read in a long time? I love to hear what authors like to read!!
Staci Stallings says
Thanks so much for stopping by and chatting! Have a wonderful and blessed day!
Staci Stallings says
The right brain/left brain is less of an issue for me as the “this realm” and “that realm” is.
The book I’m writing right now has a way of entangling me so deeply that I’m having a really hard time functioning in “both realms.” So when I go into that realm (i.e. to write), I have a tough time coming back to this one. It literally takes me some time to adjust back to reality, and vice versa. So sometimes I find myself not “wanting” to write because I know once I do, I will let go of this reality, and when I come back, all kinds of chaos can have happened–dishes, laundry, bills, taxes, business stuff, kid stuff, family stuff. It’s like trying to “live” three lives at once.
Worse with this set, I know this book and the next two, and for whatever reason, I keep getting more and more pieces of the next two as well. So I’m trying to sort out and keep track of what goes where when–while I’m trying to keep up with my own crazy life. Oh, and did I mention I’m marketing and publishing a new one and putting another one up for pre-order…. Sometimes I’d either like to be 3 people or turn OFF the “ability” to be in two realms at the same time.
I have, however, just learned that’s one of the prices of being gifted with creativity, so I wouldn’t trade that for not being creative, but sometimes, it’s a real challenge.
And yes, I do outsource some of it–like covers. I’m not good at those, I don’t have the skills for that. I also outsource some of the marketing I can’t do by myself because of time limitations. But generally speaking, I learn to do it first cold before I ever outsource any of that.
Staci Stallings says
Boy, I would LOVE to tell you that they don’t affect me, but yes, they do. Some more than others. I think sometimes it’s where I am with life and the writing. Like if I’m stressing about something or questioning if this is even worth it…. a bad review can really knock me hard.
I have learned over the years that bad reviews for me come in four flavors:
1) Too many grammar errors (often with grammar and spelling errors IN the review), and I have to remind myself that God didn’t call me to be perfect only to do my best and keep working at it.
2) Too long. Yes. I write long. If you don’t like long, there are a million other authors out there, don’t waste your time with anymore of mine… PLEASE!
3) Too preachy. For me, the story is what it is. If you don’t like that, please see #2
4) Not preachy enough…. for the SAME book. I think this is what broke it for me. When different people wanted the books to be what THEY wanted rather than what the story was. For way the most part, I gave up trying to please them because they can have their opinions, but that doesn’t mean I have to follow them.
I said 4. There are 5.
5) The hateful review that doesn’t really give a reason just that they hated the book. Okay, again, please see #2.
But I think you learn these reactions only as you meet with the reviews/resistance. It’s going to come. You do ANYTHING worth while in this world, someone is going to come along and tell you that you’re doing it wrong. I’ve had to kind of take stock in that, go to God with it, and then make the decision to do it anyway…. my way, God’s way, and they can either like it or lump it. Their choice.
(However, I DO have to say in all honesty, that every time I put a book out there, I want to go hide under a rock until some nice reviews come in because…. it’s tough!)
Staci Stallings says
Thanks for stopping by Julie!
I’ve now seen TGS 8 times (7 in the theater), and I may never get anything else written when it comes out on DVD. :)
Have a great weekend!
Staci Stallings says
Best book I ever read was called “Grace Walk” by Steve McVey. It helped me see that God wasn’t interested in legalism or perfectionism, and letting those two go changed my life.
Right now, I’m reading about 8-12 books at the same time (don’t ask). Some of the really good ones are: one about growth mindset vs. fixed mindset, Power vs. Force, Why by Simon Senek, Chasing the Lion by Matt Batterson, and If You Were More Like Me by John Ortberg.
Unless I’m reading or editing my own or for friends, I don’t read fiction. It’s too jarring to my mental processes because I want to fix it all, so I mostly stick to nonfiction.
Colleen P says
It’s tough to digest a bad review and it’s like being on The job and getting a bad evaluation. But when u know you did your best and your boss tells you it’s not good enough, then you take a look back and think to yourself, who am I trying to please here, is it God or man? Did my message come through in what I wrote and the person missed the point. Most time to me, they missed the point regardless of how poorly the grammar might be. So personally before I write a bad review, I rather not write one at all. But that’s a personal personal preference for me.
Katie Andersen says
Interesting! Thank you! What a fun post this has been!
Staci Stallings says
One thing I’ve learned is that everyone is in a different “place.” Some people write bad reviews because they see authors as “fair game.” They want to take them down a peg or make themselves appear superior. You just have to get to the point my mom always said:
“Give me your opinion, just know before you start, that I don’t have to take it or change anything I’m doing because of it.” That has helped me a lot with reviews!
Staci Stallings says
Thanks so much for coming by, Katie! Have a great weekend!
Winnie Thomas says
Hi Staci. What are some strange things you’ve come across while researching subjects for your books?
Staci Stallings says
I think, for me, it’s more the strange things that have HAPPENED while researching and writing. There might have been a time I believed in coincidence, but I’ve seen too much to think things just “happen.”
Great example, a couple weeks ago, the books I’m writing now are inspired by the Jonas Brothers — Kevin, Joe, & Nick. I started this series back in 2009 when they were super popular, and just started writing on them again. Well, the other day I needed a secondary character, just a toss-off, but I couldn’t quite picture her. I knew a couple things about her: she was blonde and she wore her hair in a ponytail. So I went and Googled (literally): Blonde actress with a ponytail.
Of course, Google came up with like 500 little thumbnails of all of these blonde actresses. I started through them…. no, wrong, too old, too young, not right, not her…. I went through about 1/2 of the list at least until I came to one, and I was like, “Hey, it could be her.” So first, I clicked to make the pic bigger. Yeah, this one was a real possibility. Then I had to dig a little farther to find out her name. I typed that in, and literally the third picture that came up was her walking and holding hands with… JOE Jonas.
I was like, “Huh?” That’s weird. Okay. Whatever. She was what I was looking for, so I pulled several photos of her (not the one with Joe) and put them on a page. I also put her name down so if I happened to need more, I would remember who she was.
Later that night, I got into a discussion with a friend of mine who is reading these (she is a HUGE Jonas fan from way back when). So I was telling her about this weird thing that had happened. She said, “Oh, was it…?” I was like, “No, it was…. hang on, let me look…. her name is Sophie Turner.” My friend came back with, “Uh, Staci, you do know they are engaged, right?”
I was like, “Who?”
She said, “Joe and Sophie. They got engaged back in like October….”
So, out of a Google search for “blonde actress with a ponytail,” somehow I “randomly” chose Joe Jonas’s fiancee! I ask you, WHAT are the odds of that happening?
And those kinds of weird things happen ALL the time. I’ll be writing along and one of the characters says something not common. Three days later, I’ll be watching random video of them, and that PERSON says the exact same thing.
I can’t explain that. All I can say is my life is often weird, and sometimes it’s even weirder than others!
Rachael Birch says
I just wanted to make sure you know how much I enjoyed this. I was only able to read a couple of questions and answers, but the way you answered, made me feel like I know you. I especially loved that little quirk about “making movies” in your head or however, you said it. I have to say, that I have been doing my own version of that since I was a kid, too! You just gave it the words I have never quite able to say.
Staci Stallings says
I’ve actually wondered how many people do that too. I can’t be the only one!
Thanks for stopping by and have a GREAT week!