Today we have with us author Vannetta Chapman. Please give her a warm welcome as she tells us all about what she's been up to.
Kari: Can you tell us a little bit about where you're from, what you do for a living, and your family?
Vannetta: I was born in LA, spent a few years in Connecticut so we could be near my father's mother, then moved to Texas so we could be near my mother's parents. We've been here since. I teach high school and college English, so I do have a full time job plus my writing. My husband and I have 4 children between us - a 31 year old daughter, 27 year old twins, and the youngest is 22. We recently just celebrated our final college graduation, which wrapped up 14 years of college tuition. I wanted to dance across the stage, but my family held me back.
Kari: Before you started writing novels, you wrote over 100 magazine articles. What first got you interested in writing books instead of articles, and what sparked your interest in writing about the Amish?
Vannetta: When I finished my graduate degree in English I did first start on the road to publication through freelancing for Christian magazines. You can still find links to some of those articles on my webpage at http://www.vannettachapman.com/Articles.html. I very much enjoyed that and even had some short stories published, which of course led to longer short stories, which led to NOVELS! Give a writer an inch and they're going to, well, you know . . . My agent had several clients who were already published in the Amish genre (including Amy Clipston, Beth Wiseman and Mary Ellis), and she encouraged me to try my hand at it.
Kari: Your inspirational novel A Simple Amish Christmas just came out October 1st. Can you tell us about it?
Vannetta: I started this story with the conviction that Amish families, and Amish women in particular, face the same problems that we do. They suffer the same heartbreaks, feel the same joys, and work just as hard every day. What is different is the community they live in and the way they approach some of those problems. I knew there were already quite a few books out there about Amish women who had left there community, but I wondered about a woman who never intended to leave. Who loved her faith and her family, but also loved to read, loved to learn, maybe even loved to help others who were hurting. How would she satisfy that desire in her heart to help others and still find a way to use her talents within her community, because surely God intended for her to do both. That's the story of Annie, and I very much enjoyed writing it.
Kari: You have a new cozy mystery series coming out in September 2011 called the Shipshewana Amish Mystery Series. Can you tell us about this series and what drew you to writing mysteries?
Vannetta: I do, and I'm very excited about this series with Zondervan. I have always loved suspense. I read a lot of suspense and I've written a few contemporaries that my agent is still shopping around. When Sue Brower received my Amish romance proposal, she liked my writing, but didn't need another romance writer - she had Amy Clipston. (I love you, Amy!) Sue called me and asked if I'd be interested in writing an Amish mystery series. I'll be honest - I thought it was a prank call. I kept checking my phone screen to see if the call originated from Grand Rapids! The series is set in the town of Shipshewana, Indiana and will center around an Amish woman and an English woman who form a friendship. At first they do this in order to keep a quilt shop in business, but soon they're deep in the midst of a murder plot. It's a wonderful stroy and was fun, fun, fun to write. I'm working on book 2 now, and I'm surprised at the situations these two keep finding themselves in.
Kari: Who are your favorite mystery authors?
Vannetta: As I said above, I read a lot of SUSPENSE, so I've had to learn to tone it down a bit for mysteries. : ) I did peruse a lot of cozy mysteries before I began writing this one, and the one that I adored the most was Alexander McCall Smith's "The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency." I've now read almost all of them - they're often my reward at the end of the day when I've reached my word count. This is also a good example of a book that isn't necessarily a CBA book but is an excellent, clean read. I know these have been out a while, but I had never read them before. They're very well crafted stories, and I think it helped me that they're set in a different country. I was able to see how he used setting to enrich his stories, and the characters are beautifully drawn while not detracting from the plot at all.
By the way, my links are as follows - - and of course I am on FB.
13 comments:
Hi Vannetta! One of my crit partner's is Shelley Shepard Grey and I find it facinating how Amish lit has become so popular. I love reading it. Shelley has really done her homework in the Ohio area with the Amish community and they love her. Did you also visit an Amish community to get your research?
Welcome, Vannetta! I too am interested in how you conducted your research. Readers today are so particular about accuracy in the details. Was this a hard process for you? Glad you joined us on M&M!
Thank you so much for being with us, Vannetta. Very interesting post.
WElcome to M & M, Vannetta (waving at you form Dallas!)
I am intrigued by thee Amish mystery series. Can you tell us a little more about that? When is it coming out?
Welcome Vannetta, Thanks for visiting the M&M blog. I think it's fascinating that so many people are writing about the Amish, what is the attraction?
Hi Tonya. I adore Shelley. We met at ACFW this year, and she is such a sweetheart. I did visit Shipshewana, Indiana to research the Amish community there - since my 3 book series for Zondervan will be set in the area. For A Simple Amish Christmas I did a lot of on-line researching and a lot of reading!
Hi Cassy. You're correct about authors needing to respect their readers, especially in our internet-age. I was amazed how many people have been to Shipshewana, and also how well-read my readers are. So yes, I felt the need to be knowledgeable about my setting. Amish lit is no different than any other genre in that respect, but it is still a challenge.
Kari Lee, you're so welcome, and I'm glad you enjoyed the post!
Liz, waving back wildly. I'm coming to Dallas (Lewisville) on Saturday to sign at the Mardels (and to see the Cowboys play - my FIRST in-person Cowboy game ever).
I'm intrigued by the Amish mystery series as well. They let me KILL people. Oops. That came out wrong. The first book debuts next fall. All I can really tell you right now is that the story line centers around two women - one Amish and one Englisch. I've turned in book one, and my Englisch character is single, with 3 possible love interests, although that's a very small subplot. We'll see if my editor (the great Sue Brower), lets all 3 of the guys remain. : )-
Hi Mary. My husband shares your sense of "intrigue." In fact, he didn't quite believe it until I took him to B&N and SHOWED him. : )
I think it's a fairly natural reaction to our overly hectic lives, combined with the fact that we are saturated with technology. Many of us would like to "get back to nature" but haven't a clue how. The Amish provide us something or a road map . . . in my opinion.
I have a harder time idealizing the Amish after I learned of their strong ties with puppy mills. It just doesn't seem to fit that a culture that values purity and simplicity could treat animals so cruely. I also understand that the dogs are sold over the internet--that somehow as long as electricity is used in the barns and not in the homes that it's okay. Have you run across that dark side? I'm wondering if that's just pockets and not widespread. Do you think this is a carry-over from the year of permitted sin?
Google search on Amish and puppy mills:
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=ie7&q=amish+puppy+mills&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-Address&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&rlz=1I7SMSN_en___US373
Marilyn, I'm glad you brought this up. I certainly share your concern about puppy mills, and perhaps I should address this in a book! I haven't come across them in any of the communities I visited, and yes I looked! What I do know is that the Amish don't treat "pets" the way we do. I did not see anything approaching cruelty AT ALL, but they treat the family dog as my granddad did - in other words, animals sleep in the barn with the horses. It's a far different attitude. I'm sure there is cruelty in every culture though, and we shouldn't put any group on a pedestal.
Thanks for commenting, Vannetta. I have no problem with dogs being treated as working animals--certainly healthier for dogs, probably, than many pet owners who try to humanize their dogs. It's horrifying, though, to see how these dogs in puppy mills are treated. (The cow, pig, chicken, turkey treatment that has been largely accepted in mass production settings is also horrifying, but for those of us who have bonded with dogs, those images are unforgettable.) I just can't fathom this compartmentalization. It would be great if you could bring this issue into one of your books.
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