INTERVIEW WITH MARGIE VAWTER

I am delighted today to welcome one of my critique partners and dear friend, Margie Vawter, to my blog. Margie and I go way back. She’s been an influence on my writing, and since she also works as a freelance editor, she has been my copy editor and content editor on three of my books. Our entire group was tickled pink when Margie got her first contract for her novella, A Shelter in the Storm. What made it even more fun was being part of the novella team with her. Our novella collection, Sundays In Fredericksburg, is scheduled to release in April of 2013.

Welcome, Margie! Can you give our readers a short blurb of your novella?
My main character, Mildred Zimmerman–a nurse in World War I Europe–returns to Fredericksburg, Texas, which is dealing with an outbreak of Spanish influenza. Drawn into the hometown battle, Mildred opens her family’s Sunday house as an overflow to the small, overcrowded clinic. Death seems to plague those she loves, and she is determined not to allow herself to fall in love, afraid that man, too, would die. Nelson Winters, a newcomer to Fredericksburg and the protégé of the town’s doctor, succumbs to the flu, and he is placed in Mildred’s care. The war hero, rejected by his fiancée because he returned from the war crippled, both challenges and disturbs Mildred as she nurses him back to health. In order for them to have a future together, they must learn to accept their humanness and allow God to make them whole.

Since I’ve already read this novella, I can guarantee your readers will be pulled into this story.
I like to hear from other authors how they approach the construction of their stories. Can you tell us, are your stories character-driven or plot-driven?
Probably more plot-driven as I tend to come up with the story line first, then go looking for characters whose personalities will fit. Minor characters not so much either way. I tend to get to know them after I start writing.

Do you have any favorite or unique ways of coming up with story ideas?
I love to go back into my family history to come up with story ideas. For example, A Shelter from the Storm is loosely based on my paternal grandparents, Mildred and Nelson Geary. I borrowed my grandma’s first husband, who actually died during the Spanish influenza, paving the way for Nelson to marry Mildred. But the names and how the Spanish influenza touched their lives jumpstarted the story. I have several other stories that borrow from family history as the seed to either the characters or the story or both.

How much time do you spend getting to know your characters before you actually begin writing the story?
I really can’t write a story without knowing my characters fairly well. But even then, they surprise me with new information and character traits somewhere after I start writing. I like to use Jeff Gerke’s Character Creation for the Plot-First Novelist.

Some writers love research. Others, not so much. How do you approach research?
I LOVE research. My problem is when to quit and start writing the story. When I can I love to research “on site.” Historical places, historical societies, bookstores that carry history books of the area are all things I like to visit to get a flavor of an area. It’s great that my hubby loves history, too. So I get his insights into events and people I might not be interested in knowing in detail but that appeal to him. Within the last year, we’ve moved to SW Missouri, so once again I’m diving into the history of the Ozarks to learn the background as well as generate some story ideas. Last June, Connie came to do research here, and that got me started. I love to gather as many books about the history of any place I visit, talk to some of the older generation at the historical societies or restaurants. Thanks to my daughter in London, I also have a means of doing research in the UK as well. One day I plan to set a series of stories in England and Scotland. Maybe Cornwall, too, since that’s where hubby’s family originates.

Has anything you’ve found during the research process caused you to make major changes in your story, or in your characters?
Not really. But when I was researching the history of military nurses in the US for A Shelter in the Storm, I discovered the woman who was instrumental in getting navy nurses in the field hospitals in Europe during World War 1. I was totally shocked to find out that her last name was the same as the one I’d chosen for my hero. She’s now Nelson’s sister-in-law, even though I didn’t know he had a brother at the time.

LOL  I love the way fascinating finds can enhance our stories–even provide family members for our characters!
Do your characters ever take over your story and do things you hadn’t planned?
Oh yes. In every story I’ve written I have at least one character who take over the story as I write. Even though I have a pretty good idea of what happens in each chapter and I usually know the ending (how everything wraps up and ties together), I still allow enough room for revelations from my characters. In A Shelter from the Storm, I didn’t have a strong plot point to carry the story through the middle of the book. Even when I started writing the pivotal scene, what I had planned went out the window when Nelson revealed a very important secret to Mildred—one he refused to tell me until then but made perfect sense once he told Mildred. It filled in his character nicely and carried the story through to the end. I love it when my characters do that!

Have you ever served as a judge for a contest? What is the best advice you can give to an unpublished writer entering their story in a contest?
I judge in several contests throughout the year, for both published and unpublished fiction. I often wish I could sit down face-to-face with the unpublished writers, but I have to settle for giving short comments and advice. The best advice? Enter with a teachable spirit. Be willing to learn from the comments the judges leave on your entry, even if you don’t entirely agree with their assessment. Study the fiction writing craft, especially in those areas that you are weakest. The best writers are those who continue to learn how to improve with each book they write. And have plenty of chocolate on hand to sooth you as you read through the comments when they are returned to you. *wink* (Actually, chocolate is a good idea any time!)

I’ll say AMEN to that! In case anyone is interested, my favorite is Ghiradelli’s Dark!!
Thank you, Margie, for letting us peek over your shoulder and enter your world of creating fictional characters.

Marjorie Vawter is a professional freelance writer and editor who proofreads for CBA publishers, edits for individual clients, and does a little writing in her “spare” time. She has several devotionals published in Barbour collections, two nonfiction books releasing in 2013: Calming the Storm Within: God’s Peace for Depression and Anxiety (OakTara) and Encouraging Words for Women: Hope (Barbour), and her first fiction: A Shelter in the Storm in Sundays in Fredericksburg (Barbour, April 2013). She serves as conference director’s assistant for the Colorado and Greater Philadelphia Christian Writers Conferences and is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers and The Christian PEN (proofreaders and editors network). A founding member and first president of ACFW chapter HIS Writers in Denver and former area coordinator for Colorado, she is now part of an ACFW pre-chapter forming in the Springfield, Missouri, area. Marjorie and her husband currently make their home in SW Missouri (but they still have their family cabin in Colorado!) and have two adult children and a daughter-in-love. You may visit Marjorie at her blog, The Writer’s Tool at www.marjorievawter.blogspot.com.

There are several places readers can look for Margie:
www.marjorievawter.com
The Writer’s Tool blog: http://marjorievawter.blogspot.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/marjorie.vawter
Twitter: @MarjorieVawter
LinkedIn:
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/marjorie-vawter/11/524/385

♥♥♥

This entry was posted in ACFW Author, character's occupations, creating characters, historical fiction, new release, Spanish Influenza, World War I. Bookmark the permalink.

4 Responses to INTERVIEW WITH MARGIE VAWTER

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *