Hi Friends!  If you're looking for the CARNIVAL OF CHRISTIAN WRITERS blog entry, see the entry below this one.  And now, here's a little something on the Power of Fiction:

THE POWER OF FICTION

By Marlo Schalesky

People often ask why I write fiction, especially since the one nonfiction book I’ve written has been my bestseller.  But despite that, I continue to be drawn to fiction.  And I think I know why.

      I love a powerfully told story.  There’s nothing better than a good movie, or a great book.  I love characters who show what truth looks like through lives lived and struggles fought.  I love to see through another’s eyes, feel what they feel, experience life in a new and different way.  I think we all do.  That’s why movies and TV dramas are so popular.  Fiction is great entertainment.

      But it’s also more.  It has the power to change lives, make a difference.  By seeing through the eyes of another, by living vicariously through the lives of characters, by encountering the true God even in a made-up plot, I am touched, challenged, changed.  I see God in new ways.  My vision is broadened, deepened.  And I discover truth with new clarity.  Fiction lays bare the imperfections of my soul, stirs my doubts and questions, and drives me into the throne room of God.  And that’s why I love writing fiction.

      Through writing my latest novel, Veil of Fire, I have come to understand more fully that God’s love can’t be measured by my successes and failures.  I’ve learned that my life, too, is a story that God is writing.  And since the best stories have conflict, disappointments, and plenty of action, I shouldn’t be surprised when my life takes a turn and my faith is challenged once again. 

      And so I hope that my readers, too, will be changed and challenged through the power of story.  I hope they will be encouraged to persevere through difficulties, to press closer to God, to not settle for the easy answers but wrestle with the tough questions of life and faith, to dig deeper with God.  And that’s why I write fiction.

To find out more about Marlo’s books, including her latest release, VEIL OF FIRE, visit her website at www.marloschalesky.com.  Or to order on amazon, visit www.amazon.com. 

            Here I am, staring at the empty page, ready to start my newest novel.  Of course, everything I write today seems like junk.  And so I must ask the question of myself again – what is good writing anyway?  What makes me say, “Wow, that was good!” when I finish reading a book? 

            Is it fine metaphors, a clever turn of phrase?  Or perhaps it’s just the right verb used in just the right place?  While I love metaphors and the right choice of words, these aren’t the things that make writing transcend the ordinary to become truly good writing. 

            Good writing, I have come to realize, is writing that gets out of the way and allows the reader to live the story, to experience the story from inside the characters’ point of view.  Good writing transports the reader in someone else’s mind, heart, life.  It’s all about seeing what someone else sees, feeling what they feel, living the story with the point of view character.

            That’s why good writing lets the reader interact with the story in a way that’s natural, that’s true to real life.  We don’t want to switch point of view from one character to another and back again in the middle of a scene because as people we don’t “head-hop” in our normal lives.  We try to eliminate speaker attributes such as “he said/she said” because in normal life there are no “said’s” – instead we watch people as they speak.  They fold their arms, or scratch their nose, or look away.  That’s how we normally engage in conversation – reading body language as much as we hear words.  And that, of course, is why good writing shows and doesn’t tell – because that’s how we operate in our everyday lives.  Someone comes in the room and slams the door – we know they’re angry.  They don’t announce they’re angry, they show us.  It’s no different in good writing. 

            So, next time you want to write something good, remember that it isn’t about words and rules, it’s about helping the reader to live the story, to interact with your characters in the same way that they interact in their normal, everyday lives.

            And when you get a chance, pick up my latest novel, Veil of Fire, and see which character you like to live in the most.  The mother who lost her daughter in the greatest fire in Minnesota history?  The farmer who saw his wife enveloped in flame?  Or the mystery character, burned beyond recognition, hurt and hurting, living as a hermit in the hills?  And maybe you’ll be able to guess, just by living in the hermit’s skin, who that person really is.  Or maybe you’ll be as surprised as I was.

            To find out more about Marlo’s books, including her latest release, VEIL OF FIRE, visit her website at www.marloschalesky.com.  Or to order on amazon, visit www.amazon.com. 

Hi Friends!  With less than a month to go for Cook's Summer Reading special (where Veil of Fire's price is slashed and they have a special deal for book clubs too), I thought you might enjoy a little sample taste of Veil of Fire (along with the "regular" blurb that I've posted before).  So see below for the sample.  If you want to read the full first chapter, you can get that on my website www.marloschalesky.com.  Enjoy!

VEIL OF FIRE

By Marlo Schalesky

Introduction:

A Raging Firestorm . . .

A Light in the Hills . . .

And a Mystery Rises from the Ash.

In 1894, the worst firestorm in Minnesota history descends on the town of Hinckley.  Heat, flame, and darkness sweep through the town, devouring lives, destroying hope.  In the aftermath, the town rises from the ashes, its people determined to rebuild their lives. 

But in the shadows, someone is watching.  Someone is waiting.  Someone who knows the secrets that can free them all.  A rumor begins of a hermit in the hills - a person severely burned, disfigured beyond recognition.  Doubts rise.  Fear whispers.  Is the hermit a monster or a memory?  An enemy or a love once-lost? 

Based on historical events, Veil of Fire beckons to a time when hope rose from the smoke of sacrifice, when trust hid behind a veil of fear, when dreams were robed in a mantle of fire . . .

Excerpt from Chapter One:

Sometimes, when the wind blows just right over the fields, I can still smell the spice of her perfume. Sometimes, when the dandelion seeds dip and twirl across the sky, I see the way the silk slipped through her fingers, how the needle flashed in her hands. In and out. In and out. The seam straight, perfect. I pause to listen to the warble of a common loon, and in it hear the soft echo of her laughter. Lilting. Faint. Fading.

Then the sky turns dark. The wind stills. The bird is silenced. And in that moment, I am returned to the day my world burned. The day that changed everything I am, everything I was.

Listen, the silence whispers.

See, the darkness beckons.

So I wait. I remember. And in that quiet, in-between place, she lives again.

***

September 1, 1894

Darkness oozed through the windows and settled in the crevices of the sewing room. It weighted Nora’s shoulders and pressed like a cloth over her mouth and nose. She straightened, drew a deep breath, and coughed.

“You okay, Mama?” Ellie shifted her feet on the chair.

The needle paused in Nora’s hand. She glanced up at her daughter, standing on the chair above her. “Hold still, punkin, or you’ll be tippin’ over like a kettle of tea.”

Ellie snickered.

Nora grinned into the gray-blue eyes of her daughter. “And no giggling either, or the hem will be crooked.” The gray fabric brought out the flecks of dark blue in Ellie’s eyes, making them appear old for a girl of twelve.

“You almost done?” Wheat-colored hair bobbed over thin shoulders and dropped over the dress’s front, still loose on a chest teetering on the brink of womanhood.

“Just a few more stitches.”

“You were giving me that look again.”

“Look?”

“You know.”

Nora smiled and lowered her gaze. How could she help but look? Among stacks of folded taffeta, Swiss muslin, and pongee, baskets of thread, drawers overflowing with pressed lace, Ellie was the only thing of real beauty in the room. But she didn’t know it. Not yet. Nora bent over the dress’s hem and pulled the needle through the soft fabric. The silk was smooth to her touch, like the feel of water lapping her fingers on a warm day. Warm, like today. Too warm for September.

The darkness deepened. She squinted at the seam and cleared her throat. “Strange day, ain’t it? Like the light’s a-choking on the air.”

Ellie let out a long breath. “Light can’t choke. That’s silly.”

Nora swallowed her laugh as the needle dipped into the hem. “Then you explain it. Was bright as a bead this morning.”

“Well, now it’s as dark as … dark as … well, it’s real dark.”

“Yep, dark as dead coals after a campfire. That it is.”

“And it stinks like old fire too.”

Nora sat back on her heels, flicked the bottom of the dress, and watched as the silk settled into elegant folds. “Probably just Mr. Strom clearing his land. Don’t pay it no never mind.” She turned her daughter toward the mirror on the far side of the room.

For a moment, they each stared at the dress’s reflection. Gray silk fell in a straight panel in the front and bunched in demure waves in the back. Simple, stylish, wasp-waisted with gigot sleeves.

“It’s beautiful, ain’t it?”

“The best I’ve done.”

“Is it a traveling dress?”

“Yep.”

“Who for? Not that snooty Mrs. Jensen?”

“Be nice.”

“Is it?”

Nora sighed. “Not this one, punkin. This one is for someone special.”

“Who? Tell me. Miss Winnie? Mrs. MacAllister? Miss Blackstone?”

“No.”

“Someone new then? Someone who can pay for an expensive dress like this?”

“This dress I’m giving away.”

Ellie gasped. “But Mama, the others, they won’t like that. They’ll stop ordering dresses if they know you’re sewing a dress for a regular person. You know they will. You always said …”

“I know what I said.”

“But … then who …”

Silence settled between them.

Finally, Nora stood and touched the silk with her fingertips. “You’ll know when the time comes, child.” Her voice lowered. “Everybody will know.”

“If you say so, Mama.” She rubbed a bit of lace between her fingers. “Anyone would be beautiful in this dress.”

Nora’s gaze rose to capture her daughter’s. “Clothes don’t make the person, Ellie Jean. But people don’t know that. Sometimes it’s just the clothes they see. Sometimes they see truth only if it’s dressed up pretty.”

“Is that why you make dresses, Mama?”

Nora laughed. “Come here.” She lifted a hand and helped Ellie down from the chair. Then she brushed back a stray hair from her daughter’s forehead. “I make dresses so we can eat, and keep this house, and live. But this dress is different. It’s special. And it’s worth the risk.”

Ellie’s brows drew together in a knot. “Why?”

Nora ran her fingers over the dress’s scalloped collar. “Because this here’s a freedom dress. For someone who needs to be free.”

Ellie pulled out of her mother’s arms. “A dress can’t set no one free.”

“And air can’t choke.” Nora’s eyes narrowed as her gaze traveled out the window. “But it does. It does today.” She reached out and touched her daughter’s chin, raising her face level with her own. She studied the clear blue eyes, the wrinkled brow, the bottom lip caught between her teeth. “There are times you see a hurt and make it better. You can be a friend. You can do for another, make their burden a wee bit lighter. But there are other times, dark times …” She paused, allowing the silence to grow long. “Sometimes all you can do is give someone a dress. You remember that, Ellie Jean.”

“Okay, Ma—”

A sharp cry sliced through the window. Piercing. Fierce. Inhuman.

Nora spun toward the door.

Ellie grabbed her sleeve. “What’s wrong with Meri, Mama?”

The horse screamed again.

In five long strides, Nora reached the front door and flung it open. She rushed onto the porch. A hissing rumble, like a thousand cats spitting from fence posts, assaulted Nora’s senses. Flecks of gray floated in the dark air. For a moment, Nora stared at the gray specks, spinning, thickening, drifting onto the porch, the railing, her arms. She touched a flake, rubbing it between her fingers. Dust? No. Ash.

Another shriek pierced the air. Ellie grabbed her arm. Fingers dug into Nora’s flesh.

“Mama, look.”

Nora whirled. Burning heat slapped her face.

Fire charged across the western field toward her. Like a herd of stampeding bulls it snorted its smoke into the nightlike sky. Bucking, twisting, consuming the stalks of wheat in its path until she could see nothing but the flames and the blackness beyond them. Acres of burning wheat. A hundred acres. A thousand, devoured in a sea of undulating red.

Nora stared into the advancing darkness, smelling the bull’s bitter breath, captivated by its glowing eyes of flame. Suffocating warmth squeezed her chest, drove the air from her lungs. She gasped for breath and stumbled forward. The fire leapt higher, closer, red tongues licking clouds of ash . . .

What Others are Saying about Veil of Fire:

Reading Veil of Fire is like feasting on a banquet of rich words and vivid images.

─Tricia Goyer, award-winning author of five novels, including A Valley of Betrayal

Moving. Heartbreaking. Compelling. This beautiful, sensitive story of pain, loss, and, ultimately, healing touched the deepest parts of my heart. 

 ─Laura Jensen Walker, author of Miss Invisible and Reconstructing Natalie

A truly gifted storyteller, Marlo Schalesky has woven a beautiful tale that confronts readers with truth and the character of God. Her lyrical style and deep characterization will transport you into a story populated with unforgettable characters.

─Judith Miller, author of the Bells of Lowell, Lights of Lowell, and Freedom’s Path series

Veil of Fire is a lovely, well-crafted story of love and loss, redemption and restoration. Marlo Schalesky has written an original, unpredictable story that will stay with me for a long, long time.

─Annette Smith, author of A Bigger Life

For more information, a preview of the entire first chapter, and discussion questions for groups, please visit www.marloschalesky.com.  Special incentives for book groups also available at www.cookministries.com/readthis.

Veil of Fire may be purchased at www.christianbook.com, www.amazon.com, www.bn.com, (links available at www.marloschalesky.com) or at your local bookstore. 

Copyright 2007, Marlo Schalesky

Here are some thoughts about the power and purpose of fire in our lives.  It may surprise you!

(copyright: Marlo Schalesky, 2007)

AUTHOR INTERVIEW

For VEIL OF FIRE

By Marlo Schalesky

Hi friends!  I thought you would enjoy this interview for VEIL OF FIRE, talking about the book and what God is doing in my life!  Here it is:

1. Where did you birth the idea for this book? When? How did it come about?

            People often ask where I get my ideas for my books.  My answer?  You never know!  For Veil of Fire, the idea was birthed at my favorite Mexican restaurant in the mission town of San Juan Bautista.  There I was, sitting with my family, nibbling chips and salsa, when a wedding party came by.  The bridesmaids were dressed in beautiful turn-of-the-century style gowns.  As they passed, my mother-in-law began to tell me of the dresses that her great grandmother, who lived in Hinckley, used to sew for the rich ladies in Minneapolis and St. Paul.  From there, came the story of the great Hinckley fire and the rebuilding that this woman, my husband’s great-great-grandmother, was a part of.  And finally, I heard the tale of the mystery figure in the hills, a person burned beyond recognition.  A person never identified, living as a hermit until one day he just disappeared. 

            At that moment, the first inklings of the story that would become Veil of Fire were born in my heart.  Who was the hermit in the hills?  What happened to him?  And how would I solve the mystery if I could?  As I pondered those questions, I knew that I had to write the hermit’s story.  Had to explore what it would be like to lose everything, even your identity.  Had to hear the hermit’s voice in my mind, and hear the story for myself.   

            So, the writing of the book became for me a process of discovery, as I hope it will be for my readers.  I hope that as the mystery of the hermit drew me, so too it will draw others to this story of how fire can change you, take from you, and in the end, may just set you free.

2. Can you explain the research process, since this is such a historical novel?

            The research for Veil of Fire was particularly fascinating not only because of its link to my personal family history, but also because of the incredible first-person accounts of the fire that were written by people who were actually there.  These stories are compiled into a book written entirely by survivors who recount their personal experience of living through the firestorm that swept through their town.  I read about a man whose hat lifted from his head and exploded above him as he ran through wind and fire.  I read about another whose horse raced beside the Eastern Minnesota train as fire billowed around him.  The horse swerved into the smoke, and the man was never seen again.  I read about a boy racing down the tracks, falling, and surviving as the fire roared over him.  I read about fire on the surface of the Grindstone River, darkness broken only by bursts of flame, the St. Paul and Duluth engine backing up to Skunk Lake through blinding heat and smoke.  I read about a train trestle disintegrating into flame moments after a train passed, about Jane Tew praying on that train, and the brakemen who saved them all. 

            Those eyewitness accounts, as well as information gathered about the fire from other sources, created the realistic feel of the fire and its aftermath in Veil of Fire.  Plus, you can be sure that if something seems almost beyond belief in Veil of Fire, it will be drawn from an actual account that came directly from the research, so amazing were the real stories of the fire on that day!

            Today, a number of books about the fire, as well as artifacts, photos, and other articles can be seen at the Hinckley Fire Museum in Hinckley. 

3. What takeaway points do you hope your readers pull from this book?

            Once, when we were children, we believed in miracles.  The impossible was only a prayer away.  Fairy tales were real, and dreams were free.  Where did we lose the ability to trust?  When did we stop daring to believe?  What happened to us? 

            Life happened.  Failure, discouragement, pain, loss.  Somewhere, somehow, life burns us all.  And we realize that this life we live is not the one we once dreamed.  The realities of life scar us.  Doubts rise.  Fear whispers that hope is gone.  And what was once a simple faith can fail in the face of that fear. 

            In the midst of life’s disillusionment, choices appear.  Do we retreat?  Hide our hurts far from probing eyes?  Do we embrace bitterness and cynicism?  Do we use deceit to try to obtain our goals?  Do we give up, give in, forget that we ever dared to dream? 

            Or is it possible to reach the high places of faith in the low valleys of life’s reality?  Can we still live a life of bold faith, of fierce hope, when fairy tales don’t come true?  How do we live this life that God has given us when it’s not the life we dreamed?

            These are the questions I wanted to explore in Veil of Fire.  These are the questions which underlie each character’s journey in the aftermath of the great fire of 1894.

            So, for those burned by life, for those who carry scars that cannot be seen, for those who have retreated for fear of more pain, this story is for you, this journey from the hidden places of pain to a new hope in the unhidden truth of Christ’s love. 

4. Can you share with your readers something God has been teaching you lately?

            Through some recent tragedies and through writing Veil of Fire, God is showing me  that I cannot measure his love by my successes and failures, or even by my happiness.  Who I am on the inside, how I am being shaped into the likeness of Christ, the character of my life – the color and beauty of it – are what are important to God.  And to create that color and beauty, sorrow is necessary.  Hurtful things happen.

            So, I’m starting to understand that my life, too, is a story that God is writing.  And since the best stories have conflict, disappointments, and plenty of action, I shouldn’t be surprised when my life takes a turn and my faith is challenged once again. 

            And yet, my sorrow matters to God, my tears are counted by him as precious.  He does not leave me alone in my hurt.  He touches me, he heals me, he creates beauty from the ashes of my pain. 

            So I’m learning to walk through the fires in my own life.  And to dig deeper – not to answer the question of why but the question of who – who is God really, who am I, and who is he making me to be?  Those are the questions that matter.  Those are the things that help me to face my own fires, accept my own scars.

5. What book are you currently reading?

            Why, the New Testament, of course . . . in Greek!  Now, before you start thinking that loving Greek makes me too scholarly to write a decent novel, you should know that even though I just completed my Masters at Fuller (that’s a Masters in Theology at Fuller Theological Seminary – so cool!), it wasn’t my desire for an “A” that made me fall in love with New Testament Greek.  After all, most students get through Greek class as fast as they can and then forget it.  I might have too. 

            But one day, as I was sitting there in class, learning forms and tenses, my professor happened to mention something interesting.  “Did you realize,” he said, “that the Greek word for truth and the word for unhidden share the same root.” 

            Ah, in that moment an idea came to me, a little whisper from the heart of God.  Truth.  Unhidden.  Truth.  And I began to see the connection between truth and what it means for those who hide in their pain. 

            That idea became the basis for the theme in Veil of Fire.  So you see, I can’t help loving the Greek.  I can’t help wanting to read the New Testament that way.  After all, who knows what I might discover next.

6. Which character in Veil of Fire do you most relate to, and why?

            Even though  I base no character on myself, they all reflect a little of me – my questions, my struggles, the issues that have shaped and molded me.  In Veil of Fire, this is particularly true for the hermit in the hills.  Just as the hermit questions God’s love, believes “I am Esau, unchosen, unloved,” so I too have struggled with those same feelings, doubts, and questions.  I, too, have cried out to God, “Why don’t you love me?”  For the hermit, it was a question born out of fire, abuse, and disfigurement.  For me, it was a question that came out of failure, infertility, and miscarriage.  So, in many ways, the hermit’s questions were my own, the answers mine, the external scars reflections of my internal ones, and in turn, I think, symbols of the scars of us all.

7. When writing Veil of Fire, did you plan the plot before sitting down to write the story, or did the plot develop as the story progressed?

            I am a “headlights” writer, which means I can see the chapter I’m writing and a few chapters ahead.  I may also glimpse a few “signposts” in the distance.  The funny thing about Veil of Fire is that I wrote three quarters of the book thinking the hermit in the hills was one character only to find out as I neared the end that I was wrong!  And the impact of that discovery was both a shock and a delight.  Suddenly, I understood what God was getting at through the theme and nuances of character in the book.

            And truly, while I may complain that it would be easier to write a book if it were all mapped out (it certainly would be quicker!), this sense of surprise and delight is one of things that I love about the writing process.  I love when the story and characters take on a life of their own.  I love to discover what God has been planning for a story all along.  And I love to be surprised by a sudden turn of events.  And I know if I’m surprised and delighted, my readers will be too. 

8.    What book project can we expect from you after Veil of Fire? Can you give us a sneak peak of the storyline?

            After Veil of Fire, I’m writing 3 contemporary novels for Waterbrook-Multnomah.  All of them are “Love Stories with a Twist!,” a new type of story that I think will knock readers’ socks off.

            The first, Beyond the Night, releases in May 2008.  With groovy 70’s trivia and a whopper of an ending twist, this one was as fun to write as it will be to read.  Here’s a blurb about it:

            They say love is blind.  This time, they’re right.

                        A poignant love story  . . .

                                    A shocking twist . . .

                                                Come, experience a love that will not die.

Nicolas Sparks (The Notebook) meets M. Night Shymalan (The Sixth Sense) in this moving story of two people trying to find love in the dark.  A woman going blind, a man who loves her but can’t tell her so, a car crash, a hospital room, and an ending that has to be experienced to be believed. Watch for it next May!

For more information, a preview of the entire first chapter of VEIL OF FIRE, and discussion questions for groups, please visit www.marloschalesky.com.  Special incentives for book groups also available at www.cookministries.com/readthis.

Veil of Fire may be purchased at www.christianbook.com, www.amazon.com, www.bn.com, (links available at www.marloschalesky.com) or at your local bookstore. 

Copyright 2007, Marlo Schalesky