In a post of firsts, today we have a guest. I’m interviewing debut novelist Valerie Comer, here to talk about Choose NOW Publishing’s release of Valerie’s Raspberries and Vinegar.

Valerie, I’ve always enjoyed your work, and I’m so pleased to see you becoming published, first in last year’s geocacheing lead-off novella found in Rainbow’s End and now in this year’s release of Raspberries and Vinegar. First, I want to thank you for offering a review copy of the book. Being able to read before I can buy always feels special.

You’re so welcome. I’ve valued your friendship and encouragement over the years that we’ve both been working on our writing craft. Offering a review copy was the least I could do.

One thing that struck me about this story was how well you illustrated the challenges of faith.   Your characters have depth, humanity, and face real struggles as they try to find the right path for their lives using faith and God’s guidance.  How did you find that balance in capturing these challenges for your characters?

That’s hard to answer…or easy, I’m not sure. The best fiction reflects Real Life in some way. It has to resonate with readers or it fails to capture them. For that soul-echo to happen, the writer must find that balance you speak of, but some of it comes instinctively as we dig deep to get inside our characters’ skins.

Life is complicated. My character Jo is fond of black and white. She likes things to be clear-cut: right or wrong, in or out, yes or no. The nuances of gray are messy—she hates them—but simplistic challenges and easy answers aren’t true to life. They don’t provide a story that lingers in the readers’ minds.

The other aspect of this story that really makes it meaningful to me was your characters, when faced with choices, generally had a “right” choice and a “perfect” choice, making their decisions very challenging, because neither choice was clearly wrong.  Which choice was “right,” while fairly clear to the reader (because we know we want to get to a “happily ever after”), wasn’t clear to the character.  Putting myself in the character’s head, both choices were viable. What kind of challenges did you face getting them to the places in their lives where they could find the right choice for them?

I think that comes back to the whole black, white, and gray thing. Usually the story question isn’t, “Will he sacrifice himself to save humanity, or will he withdraw to save himself—and lose everything?”

Most of us never face that question in Real Life. Our crises have a narrower scope, and probably don’t affect those outside our home and close circle of friends. Unless we’re writing epic fantasy (which I’ve done, and it’s fun!) or thrillers (which I haven’t done, and don’t intend to…) we as writers need to dig deeper to discern the more human emotions and everyday crises. These are the tools we need to make our stories resonate deeply.

I’m delighted you feel Raspberries and Vinegar plumbs that depth.

And finally, I remember the days of my twenties where I viewed things in pure black and white and the challenges I faced learning that life isn’t black and white but shaded.  Someone wisely helped me make the transition when they suggested that black and white choices made a lot of sense when I was a child, but as an adult, life didn’t lend itself to that.  I think the idea was that right and wrong choices are more clear cut when you have a simpler view on life’s events, but as you move into adulthood and you’re facing the complexities of life without having your parents filter them for you, the decision waters get muddied.  I think that’s the time when the training you had as a child becomes valuable in helping us extrapolate the challenges, but that’s also the time when that foundational relationship with God becomes very valuable as well.  This book shows how that relationship can be tapped into.  Will any of the other books in the series deal with a character who didn’t have that foundational relationship with God from childhood but came to it later in life?

I was raised by loving Christian parents who were perhaps too non-confrontational. Instead of methodically teaching me to make decisions, they held out the ideal and prayed I’d grab for it. Praying is great, but reality and teaching are also very useful. As an aside, that’s one of the things I value in my new publisher, Choose NOW Publishing. The model for the entire ministry it’s part of, Choose NOW, is about helping people to make good choices—and not by closing our eyes, saying a quick prayer, and hoping for the best. Instead, Choose NOW is dedicated to providing head-on material (fiction and nonfiction) for teens and to teaching parents how to talk to their kids. The thrust of the publishing arm is to evaluate today’s issues in fresh ways from a biblical standpoint and help readers think through the angles, because real life happens.

Because people come to faith from so many backgrounds and directions, I try to make sure my characters do, too. In Raspberries and Vinegar, Zach had been raised in the church and drifted away, where Jo had been to Sunday School as a child but had come to faith in college through a friendship. In the second book, Wild Mint Tea, neither character had a deep spiritual background, and in the third book, Sweetened with Honey, both had a stronger foundation but found it challenged.

I didn’t lay the series out that way on purpose from the beginning. I look at the themes that will be prevalent in each individual story and figure out what will make the playing field the most interesting…and true.

Thank you for joining me here today and providing your insights on Raspberries and Vinegar.

Thank you, Jean! I appreciate questions that make me think in meaningful ways.

I hope you find Raspberries and Vinegar intriguing and enjoyable to read.  Here’s a little more information about Valerie, the Farm Fresh Romance series, and where you can purchase the book.

Biography

Valerie Comer’s life on a small farm in western Canada provides the seed for stories of contemporary inspirational romance. Like many of her characters, Valerie and her family grow much of their own food and are active in the local foods movement as well as their creation-care-centric church. She only hopes her characters enjoy their happily ever afters as much as she does hers, shared with her husband, adult kids, and adorable granddaughters.

Valerie writes Farm Lit with the voice of experience laced with humor. Raspberries and Vinegar, first in her series A Farm Fresh Romance, released August 1, 2013. Visit her at http://valeriecomer.com.

Release Copy:

 Breaking ground with the Farm Fresh Romance series, Raspberries and Vinegar finds Josephine Shaw and her friends renovating a dilapidated farm with their sights set on more than just their own property. Transforming the town with their sustainable lifestyle and focus on local foods is met with more resistance than they expected, especially by temporary neighbor, Zachary Nemesek. Jo needs to learn that a little sweet makes the tart more tasty.

Buy Raspberries and Vinegar: (includes links to various stores/versions)

http://valeriecomer.com/bookshelf/fiction-2/raspberries-vinegar-farm-fresh-romance/

Buy through Choose NOW Publishing: http://www.choosenowpublishing.com/posts/books/raspberries-and-vinegar-farm-fresh-romance/ (includes various links)

 http://choosenowpublishing.com

Connect at:

·      Website: http://valeriecomer.com

·      Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/valeriecomer.author

·      Twitter: http://twitter.com/valeriecomer http://twitter.com/towritestory

·      Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/valeriecomer

·      Blog: http://valeriecomer.com/blog

·    Writing Blog & Free eCourse: http://towriteastory.com  (Want to be a novelist but aren’t sure how? This comes to you via email. No pressure.  Work at your own pace.)

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