Story behind the Story | hoofbeats of history

Story Behind the Story: Dorothy Love

Posted by Nicole on May 9, 2011 in Story Behind the Story | 1 comment

I published 14 pre teen and YA novels at Random House, Holiday House, and Simon and Schuster, but a novel for adult readers, the story of Ada Wentworth, a young Bostonian hatmaker transplanted to southern Appalachia, kept swirling in my head. I first envisioned the story as The Sunday Hat Society, centering on the friendship of a group of women in the country church in Hickory Ridge, but the more I delved into it, the more I realized it was really about Ada’s struggle to forgive the two men in her life who had wronged her, and trust God with her future and her heart.

As I worked on this book, the voices of two supporting characters, Carrie Daly and Sophie, a mixed race orphan with no last name, became so strong that they needed stories of their own. Carrie’s story, A Measure of Grace is due to my editor Feb 1, and Sophie’s, The Measure of a Man, is due in November, for publication in 2012. What I love about writing is the way stories and characters speak to me. It’s such a joy translating them onto the page.

Find out more about Dorothy and her books here! Thank you for stopping by, Dorothy!

Story Behind the Story: Michelle Griep

Posted by Nicole on May 2, 2011 in Story Behind the Story | 3 comments

There’s an old family story my mom told me about my gramma, Clara Brekke. Sometime back in the early 1900’s, Clara’s father took her two-year-old sister and walked out the front door. Just like that. No bags packed. Not a word about where they were going or when they’d return. Nothing. No one ever heard from them again.

As a result, I’ve always been curious about missing people. Assuming they’ve not suffered with violence or are choosing to remain incognito, where exactly do they go?

And that’s the premise for my next book UNDERCURRENT, coming out May 1st by Risen books. Here’s a blurb:

People go missing every day. Many meet with foul play, some leave the social grid by choice, but others are never accounted for. Such is the fate of successful linguistics professor Cassie Larson. She leads a life her undergrad students hope to attain, until she tumbles into the North Sea and is sucked into a swirling vortex…and a different century.

Alarik, son of a Viking chieftain, is blamed for a murder he didn’t commit—or did he? He can’t remember. On the run, saving a half-drowned foreign woman wasn’t in his plans.

Ragnar is a converted pagan shunned by many but determined to prove his Cousin Alarik’s innocence. He didn’t count on falling in love with Cassie or the deadly presence of evil that threatens his village in Alarik’s absence.

I’m not saying my gramma’s sister is back in time with some pillaging Vikings, but hey…where did she go?

Thank you for stopping by Michelle! And congrats on your book release! Learn more here.

Story Behind the Story: Linda Rondeau

Posted by Nicole on Apr 1, 2011 in Story Behind the Story | 0 comments

I am currently rewriting my first novel. Though still unpublished, the novel concept grabbed the attention of an agent, and ultimately a contract. After ten years, I could readily see the flaws. Yet, if the story grabbed an agent, there had to have been something memorable about it.

The plot idea came to me after a contact with a cousin I hadn’t seen for nearly twenty years, a cousin I was very close to growing up. In our case, we merely drifted away. I wondered about what rifts might separate two teenage cousins who were closer than sisters.

Thanks for stopping by, Linda! Visit her website here!

Story Behind the Story: Marlo Schalesky

Posted by Nicole on Mar 23, 2011 in Story Behind the Story | 0 comments

Shades of Morning was a gift from Andy on one ordinary Sunday morning at church. I went not expecting to see anything different, or special, or extraordinary. But God had other plans. And so did Andy. In the middle of the third song, a noise came from the far side of the church. A loud noise. Strange, awkward, and off-key. Then, it grew louder. I furrowed my brow. Was that someone singing . . . badly? I stood on tiptoes and peeked toward the sound. And there was Andy. His arms were raised, his eyes closed. And he was singing to his God for all he was worth. Andy, in his middle teens, with blond hair, thick glasses, and small ears. Andy, with Down syndrome and a grin on his face big enough for the angels to see. Andy, shout-singing with all his might through that radiant smile.

Story Behind the Story: Shannon Taylor Vannatter

Posted by Nicole on Mar 21, 2011 in Story Behind the Story | 2 comments

Years ago, my dad started sending me and my mom Valentine’s gifts, either flowers, balloons, or candy. When my dad hit 60, it hit me that my parents were aging and I wouldn’t have them forever. Feeling melancholy, one Valentine’s Day, my flowers came and I wondered how I’d feel the first year they didn’t come.

My husband sends me flowers or gifts at other times of the year, but never Valentine’s Day. That’s Daddy’s day. I hoped that in Daddy’s future absence, my husband would continue the tradition. Then I decided I might go first and if that happened, Daddy would probably bring the flowers to the cemetery.