Interview with Alana Terry + Birthday Giveaway

An Interview with
award-winning inspirational suspense author
Alana Terry

#1. What first drew you to writing stories that draw attention to the persecution of Christians in North Korea?

I read the book Jesus Freaks, put out by Voice of the Martyrs and DC Talk, when I was a teenager. Something about the stories of martyrs really inspired me, and that was the beginning of my prayer burden for the persecuted church. The more I studied Christian persecution in general, the more North Korea came up. (Open Doors consistently ranks it the worst persecutor of Christians in the world.) So eventually my general prayer burden for persecuted believers morphed into a prayer burden for North Korea. I’ve wanted to be an author since before I knew how to read, so I guess it was just a matter of time before God combined these two passions of mine.

China/North Korea Border - pixabay.com

#2. All of your books, from The Beloved Daughter to Unplanned to Flower Swallow, are tied together. Did you plan that or did it come as a surprise to you?

No, I can’t say I really planned on it. Honestly, after I wrote Beloved Daughter, I wasn’t planning on doing any more North Korea stories, but readers wanted to know more about the characters. Then, as I got further into my North Korea series, I started to dabble in the idea of writing Christian suspense set in the States. That’s how I decided to take Kennedy, who grew up with missionary parents near the North Korea/Chinese border, and gave her a spin-off series of her own. It’s been very fun connecting each novel. I sort of see myself doing the same thing Pixar does with some of their films, offering small “Easter eggs” where you see characters from one book pop up in another when you weren’t expecting it. It wasn’t planned that way from the beginning, but it’s been very fun.

#3. Flower Swallow is very different from your other books. How so, and what inspired the change?

Flower Swallow is told from the perspective of a young boy, which is one aspect that makes it so unique from my other books. I also think it’s different because even though it deals with tough issues (famine, homelessness, life as a street urchin, etc.), the main character is so hopeful and optimistic. My North Korea books are very heavy (another reason I decided to write a series set in the States), but I would be comfortable letting my fourth-grade son read Flower Swallow because the tone is so uplifting. Woong, the main character and narrator, is very spunky and mischievous. I really loved giving him his voice. I don’t know if as an author I’m really supposed to admit this out loud, but I enjoyed writing Flower Swallow more than any of my other novels. I think a big part of that is how fun it was to get into Woong’s head and tell his story in his own words.

#4. What do you want readers to come away with when they read your books?

When I wrote The Beloved Daughter, my first novel, my goal was to encourage people to pray for North Korea. That still is one of my primary goals today as an author. Whether you’re reading about a boy who grows up on the streets in North Korea or an American college student struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder, I want you to finish my novels with a deeper prayer burden for others.

I also like to raise questions in my books. In Unplanned, my first Kennedy Stern book set in the States, the main character has to decide how she feels about abortion when the mother is far too young to carry a child in the first place. While I don’t enjoy reading (or writing) preachy fiction, I do hope that my books will inspire readers to look at some gritty issues with their eyes wide open. My goal is that these books will foster discussions and help people take their own convictions to a deeper level, even if we don’t always agree on the issue.

#5. You don't shy away from difficult topics in your books. How did God lay each of them on your heart?

It’s so different with each book, really, so it’s hard to say exactly how that works. Sometimes the issue is one I’m already passionate about, like the persecuted church. It just makes sense that those themes will come up in my books. Other times, the seed for a novel begins with a question. “What would I do if my ten or twelve-year-old daughter was pregnant and I didn’t think she could safely carry a baby to term?” Of course, I know what the right decision would be, and there’s no doubt my husband and I would make that decision based on our pro-life values. But does that mean it would be easy? Absolutely not.

So sometimes the issues come from things I’m already spending a lot of time praying or thinking about. Other times, though, it works the other way around. For example, before I wrote Slave Again, I had a pretty basic understanding of sex slavery. I knew it happened. I knew it was bad. And that was about it. While I researched the true horrors of the sex industry while I was working on the book, God used that research to make me more passionate about a subject I had shied away from for most of my life.

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#6. Give us a brief synopsis of your writing process.

Great question! Each book is a little different, but it usually starts with a premise (“I want to write a book about a street urchin from North Korea.”) I’ll do some research, which of course varies from book to book. I particularly appreciate memoirs. Before I wrote Flower Swallow, for example, I read books by people who grew up during the North Korean famine in the 1990s. The more I research, the more ideas start to shape in my head. (I want my character to be from this region. I think he should have this experience, etc.) I usually do a lot of note-taking at this point. I start with the basic premise (Woong will be born in this village, travel here after the flood, spend most of the famine in this place, and then eventually find his happy ending). I like to see at least a few chapters ahead when I write, so then I’ll go and make more detailed notes for the first few chapters. Then it’s the writing part!
There’s really no way to tell you how long it takes me to write a first draft. Flower Swallow was the fastest first draft I’ve done. On the other hand, I’m currently working on a project I started a whole year ago, and I’m still only about two-thirds of the way finished.
After the first draft, there’s edits, edits, edits, and some more edits. And as important as that is, it’s probably not the most exciting process to read about, so I’ll leave it at that for now!

#7. Tell us something funny, sad, embarrassing, whatever, that happened in your writing life.

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I’ve gone to a few book-signing events, and it’s always surprising to me how many times I get asked if I wrote the books I’m selling. I say it’s funny because right in front of my booth is a picture of me with large letters saying, “ALANA TERRY: Signing Books Today!” I also often wear a name-tag.
Funny as it is to get asked if I’m really the author, I’ve gotten quite used to it. I think for some people it’s more of a conversation starter than anything else. But the funniest question I got asked came when I was sitting at a booth with at least eight of my books in front of me. Someone came up and asked me, “Wow, that’s a lot of books. Have you read them all?”
Half a year later, I’m still working on the perfect comeback.

Bonus:

I hear from a lot of Christians who feel guilty for enjoying fiction so much. It's like they're worried that God will be mad at them if they read novels more than they read their Bibles. What I find is that the better reader you are, the more you're able to understand God's Word. I also think fiction can help us feel more compassion and empathy for others. Novels boost imagination, and I think part of prayer is being able to imagine God's kingdom truly coming on earth and praying toward that end. So read on, and the enjoy the ride!

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Alana Terry

Website

Alana is a pastor's wife, homeschooling mom, self-diagnosed chicken lady, and Christian suspense author. Her novels have won awards from Women of Faith, Book Club Network, Grace Awards, Readers' Favorite, and more. Alana's passion for social justice, human rights, and religious freedom shines through her writing, and her books are known for raising tough questions without preaching. She and her family live in rural Alaska where the northern lights in the winter and midnight sun in the summer make hauling water, surviving the annual mosquito apocalypse, and cleaning goat stalls in negative forty degrees worth every second.

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It's Time For A Giveaway!

Alana Terry
is graciously giving away
an E-Book copy of Unplanned to everyone that enters
AND
1 Winner will receive an Audiobook of their choice from Alana's titles

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Giveaway runs from 12 am February 25th, 2016 through 12 am March 2nd, 2016.
Winners will be contacted by the author who will send the books out.

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