Today my guest blogger is award-winning author, Paula Vince. A wife and homeschooling mother of three, she resides in the beautiful Adelaide Hills of South Australia.
Her novel, Picking up the Pieces, won the religious fiction section of the 2011 International Book Awards. Her novel, Best Forgotten, was winner of the 2011 CALEB Award in the fiction category and also recognised as the best overall entry for the year, chosen over memoirs, devotionals and general non-fiction. Paula’s books are a skilful blend of drama and romance tied together with elements of mystery and suspense. Find out more at www.justoccurred.blogspot.com
Paula is the author of Picking up the Pieces, The Risky Way Home, A Design of Gold and Best Forgotten. Her new novel, Imogen’s Chance, was published in April 2014.
Paula is also one of the four authors of The Greenfield Legacy.
Paula is giving away a copy of Picking up the Pieces to someone who comments on this blog. Leave a comment below and you will go into the draw to win.
My first published book was Picking up the Pieces. It is still one of my personal favourites, even though I wrote it such a long time ago.
At the time, I’d been reading several novels with villains who were easy to hate. They came across with no conscience and seemed to love committing crime for the sheer pleasure of doing harm. In each case, they were condemned by the heroes and brought to justice. I had the impression that we readers were supposed to cheer about the removal of a menace. The repetition of this pattern started to bother me a bit, because it seemed to promote the sort of sad, vicious circle nobody wants to be part of. Condemnation for actions committed may add to a person feeling worthless and bitter, which in turn, may make them more likely to commit further crimes in the future.
I wanted to see another sort of story, where the perpetrator of a vicious action is treated with love and understanding. I wished somebody would write one, but as the idea stayed with me, I thought I’d make it my hobby for that year. I wanted to explore the notion that an essentially good-hearted person may snap and commit a horrible crime, totally out of character, on the spur of the moment.
I had two little children at the time. I’d drop my son off at kindy, drive my baby daughter to sleep, then park somewhere nice and quiet to work on it until kindy pick-up time. The main theme was a date rape situation and my mission was to get people feeling equal sympathy for Claire and Blake, the two main characters. I remember anxiously asking my earliest readers, ‘How do you think Blake comes across?’ I wanted to hear that, although he’d committed an unthinkable crime, they loved him. I wanted the nature of God’s forgiveness and embracing love to shine through.
There have been several ‘moments’ on the journey of Picking up the Pieces and I’ll share a few.
Coincidental Moment
After writing the novel, I had no clue how to set about getting it published. I’d read the books of another South Australian author, Meredith Resce, and thought she would be interesting to talk to. I took my courage in my hands because she was a stranger, found her number in the public phone directory and gave her a call. She was willing to advise me and thought my name sounded familiar. After thinking about it, she realised she’d already read some of my writing, which a friend of a friend had lent to her. Meredith asked me to let her read Picking up the Pieces. Two days after dropping the manuscript off to her house, she phoned me, equally as excited as I was to see it in print.
I call that a serendipitous moment. We’ve been good friends ever since and even worked on a collaboration together with two other Australian authors in 2012.
Funny Moment
That first print run of 2000 copies in the year 2000 sold out and the novel was unavailable for almost a decade. In 2010, my new publisher decided to re-publish it with a brand new cover. When I read through the story searching for possible changes to make, I didn’t expect to find that technology needed to be updated often. In 1999 when I wrote it, I still had characters walking around looking for public pay phones and listening to cassettes which they had to manually turn over.
Shocking Moment
A lady came past a book stall I’d set up, looked at Picking up the Pieces and said, ‘That’s the book that almost split our church in half.’ It seems her pastor, who hadn’t read the story but knew its theme, wanted it off their church library shelf. ‘We just want good, wholesome books. We have to draw the line somewhere,’ he and his supporters said. The church librarian and her supporters were convinced that it was a sound, convicting, deeply touching and life-changing story which everybody should read. At first, I was horrified to think it caused divisions among church members, but friends suggested that good Christian novels with challenging themes cannot help doing that very thing. They draw the best and worst from their readers and help reveal what may be in people’s hearts.
Proud Moment
After being out of the market for all that time and freshly published, Picking up the Pieces won first prize in the religious fiction section of the International Book Awards for 2011, an honour won by a Karen Kingsbury novel the following year.
I think all of this is what helps this book keep a special place in heart. I like to think that people may still be reading it for many years to come.
Hi Paula
I love your books and am glad your looked beyond the cardboard villains that so often feature in books and films.
Thanks for sharing your coincidental, funny, shocking and proud moments 🙂 And thanks Lynne for hosting Paula and this series of author interviews.
Hi Jenny,
Thank you. I do appreciate your encouragement. They were a bit cardboardy I thought at the time. I’ve been enjoying the series too.
No worries, Jeanette! 🙂
Sounds a lovely book Paula. I love the theme you’ve chosen. And well done for splitting a church in half! 🙂 That sounds like great writing to me.
I do enjoy your books and look forward to reading this one too. Blessings as you continue to shake and bless the world with your writing! 🙂
Hi Anusha,
Thanks 🙂 The splitting in half bit was unintentional, but it’s not the sort of thing we’d dare set out to do if we tried. I hope you get a chance to read Picking up the Pieces.
This book sounds fantastic! It was definitely a God-inspired theme and needed to be written. Well done, Paula, for having the courage to write it, and making it a strong enough novel to almost split a church! (Loved the bit about the technology!).
Blessings, Helen
Hi Helen,
Yes, that just goes to prove that we’ve come a long way since the 90s. That theme definitely gripped me at the time.
I hope you get a chance to read ‘Picking up the Pieces.’
Great post full of your excellent writing and wisdom, Paula. When I first read this book I thought it was one of the best Christian fiction titles I’d read. A lot of that due to your willingness not to brush issues under the carpet but to tell an honest story with genuine characters. I enjoyed Best Forgotten too and now realise I haven’t read your latest!
Hi Rosanne,
I was very grateful for your kind endorsement too. It was a long time ago now, and so much has happened since then, but I’ve enjoyed returning to those days. Thanks for your support 🙂
‘Picking up the Pieces’ wasn’t the first of your books that I read Paula, but when I got to it I was so impressed. The topic you tackled surprised and delighted me at the same time. I’ve loved that you don’t shy away from tough topics and handle them with such grace. I look forward to your next book. (hint, hint):)
Hi Lesley,
I’m so glad to hear it. Feedback like yours is such an encouragement. Even though it was quite a long time ago now, I always love hearing about people’s reactions to ‘Picking up the Pieces.’
If you win the book Helen Curtis can i read it after you. lol.. The book sounds amazing.
One thing i have been amazed with since joining the online group “Christian Writers Downunder” is the talent and skill, passion and devotion that so many Christian Aussies have to writing, and how they encourage and motivate each other. I’ve never been a good reader… very slow and takes me ages to finish a book… so anyone who can actually write one is a hero in my eyes… and a book that wins literary awards too… well.. congratulations on using your God given ability to challenge and inspire.
Hi Brian,
It’s great to hear from you. There is certainly a variety of passions and genres represented in the Aussie Christian writing groups. Like you, I love trying to keep up with it all. I hope you do get a chance to read Picking up the Pieces one day.
Such a great publication journey, Paula, and inspiring how you creatively made use of your time to achieve your dream, even as young mother. Love that connection between you and Meredith. A classic ‘God-incidence’. 🙂 I truly believe powerful stories are the ones that come from the heart and you’ve done this in a way that connects with and challenges your readers, unpacking issues that others have been reluctant to broach. Well done.