Welcome back for the second week in this 3-part Interview with an Author series! Today we hear from Alexandra and Joyce about their writing habits and some of the influences on their lives regarding writing, including their favorite authors. I think you will enjoy learning more about them by reading their answers to the following questions!
1. Who is your favorite author?
I don’t have just one. I have favorite books. I love A Tale of Two Cities and Les Miserables, and when I was a teenager I wanted to be able to write books that affected people the way those stories affected me. I really like a lot of Frank Peretti. His book “The Oath” still remains one of my all time favorite books. I love the allegory aspect of it. I love C.S. Lewis. I have not read a whole lot of Ted Dekker, but I have seen a movie adaptation of THREE which I thought was very interesting. I also enjoy Joel Rosenberg; he writes very suspenseful fiction. For the fifteen years that I was in financial services I read a lot of non-fiction and industry-related work so being able to get back to reading fiction and discovering the new (to me) authors has been one of the real treats of being able to do this type of work.
2. Is there anything you find particularly challenging about writing a book?
Actually I find everything about it challenging. Every book is different; every story evolves differently. When you write with a partner you have to really work together to make sure that the ideas mesh. Joyce and I try to each write certain characters so that we can keep the “voice” the same. As the story evolves, we have to keep going back and looking at them and asking ourselves, “How would this person react to this situation if this were real life?” “Are we keeping the character consistent?” The Force was very challenging because we had already established who the main characters were in The Fourth Kingdom, so at each stage we had to look at ourselves–particularly with Josef–and ask, “What would he do in this specific situation?”
3. What did you learn from writing your latest book?
Writing The Force was an amazing experience. Mother and I spent a lot of time really thinking about it and praying about the story. When we were finished we looked at each other and asked, “What do you think?” This was a very emotionally difficult year and writing The Force had a lot of emotional ups and downs.
Be sure to come back next week for my review of The Force, and news about what may be up next for this mother/daughter duo!
Following In His Footsteps 
I’ve heard of authors collaborating and writing a book together, but I think that would be harder than writing a book on your own, where you can make decisions without being shot down. I actually saw a couple writing a book once, and they kept arguing!
I agree, Susan, I think that would be difficult! 🙂 Alexandra and Joyce seem to have done well with it, and I’ve read the Left Behind series, which was also a collaboration, right? So sometimes it works.
Thanks for interviewing Joyce and Alexandra. My wife and I have been big fans of both of them for years since the first edition of “No Regrets.” Throughout the years they’ve continued to set the bar extremely high for those of us enamored with the virtues of home schooling. Joyce, Alexandra and their entire family are heroes and role models for all of us who have home schooled and will home school youngin’s in the future. They’ve inspired many and I count it a blessing to be acquainted with them via their books and the internet.
More recently I’ve been following them both on FaceBook and Twitter and I identify very closely with their politics. Although I’ve only read one of their fiction books, (Alexandra’s, actually…The Planner), I plan to read all of them even though I’m not a huge fan of fiction as there is so much “real stuff” to read. I really enjoyed this AND the first part of your interview with them and I look forward to part III.
Oh, I am so glad you’re enjoying the interview series! It’s been fun, and I have loved learning more about them and their books. I also read The Planner, The Chosen, The Fourth Kingdom, and Looking Backward. All have been great, in my opinion. Please do come back to read part III next week!
I will, thanks!