This Month's Mocha Q & A - Lynn Bulock

Q. Do you get your ideas from real life?

A. Sort of, but with a twist. The idea for LOVE THE SINNER is a good example. I started with real-life happenings: in 2000 my family moved from Missouri to California. In our case this included two teenagers, a dog, a cat, and two households worth of stuff because my mother-in-law moved with us. That's where the similarity between my book and real life ends. In real life we all hope for smooth, pleasant experiences and good times for the people we love. But that would make for boring fiction. So one day I was reflecting on our situation and decided to turn it upside down. For my fictional family I took one of the many things my mother-in-law and I had in common-the fact that we both thought very highly of the same guy that she'd given birth to and I'd married-and turned it into the only thing that Gracie Lee and Edna have in common. When life throws them a curve that takes away that common ground, they have a difficult time dealing with it.

Q. Do you ever base characters on real people?

A. I've never based a character on one single live person. First off I'm married to a lawyer, and he would warn me about all kinds of libel and slander laws if I did that. Secondly, real people aren't nearly as much fun as characters. Fictional characters can contain the traits of a variety of people, and react in a way you want them to (well, most of the time) instead of being the stubborn, unique individuals you already know.

Q. Does that mean you're not Gracie Lee Harris?

A. Exactly. Gracie Lee is younger, skinnier, and has a ton more problems than I do. We don't share all our opinions, and she's in a whole different place spiritually than I am. Of course that has a lot to do with her being younger and having all those problems. I actually have as much in common with her friend Linnette Parks as I do with Gracie Lee. That's the fun of creating fictional characters…every writer puts a little bit of themselves in almost every character, hero or villain.

Q. Where can I find a Christian Friends group to join?

A. You can't. I made them up because the real Christian support programs I know the most about operate in different ways than I needed the Christian Friends to work. If you're looking for a real program that's one-on-one Christian Caregiving, look for a Stephen Ministry program in a church near you. They're about the best I've found anywhere, and I believe in them so much that I've been a Stephen Leader for about eight years now. If you're looking for a small group of supportive Christians that help each other along, look for a church with strong small group ministries, like the Christ Care series run by the same folks that do Stephen Ministry or other good, Bible-based small groups.

Q. I'm thinking of writing a book. What's the best advice you can give me?

A. Stop thinking. At least stop just thinking and write! For every twenty people who say they're "thinking" of writing a book, maybe one will put words on paper, and even fewer keep at it until they have a book. Whether it's in a notebook, on a computer, with a typewriter, whatever you want to use, write something every day. If you keep at it long enough, there's a book there.

One of the things that drove me to write my first book is a three-ring binder my grandfather left me. He was an insurance agent, a strong Christian, a great family man and one of the best story-tellers I have ever known. He found something to learn from every human being he met. He died when I was sixteen and one of his possessions that I wanted the most was a notebook I found on his bookshelf.

On the spine and cover were written "Eines Tag Ich Will Ein Buch Schreiben" which, in the Americanized German that was his family's first language means "Someday I will Write a Book". When I opened the book, wondering which of his fantastic stories he started with, I got a shock. All the pages were blank. At first I was very sad, but then I realized that his stories were inscribed on many hearts….mine, my mother's, my grandmother's, and dozens more from his family, his church and the places he'd worked. One of the first short stories I ever had published was a retelling of one of his boyhood stories about sleeping in the attic with his brother, listening to rats skitter across the floor until they were caught in an ingenious trap his father made. It sounds gruesome here, but listening to him tell it was hilarious.

So if you're thinking about writing, start doing it. The only way to know if you have a book inside you is if you let it out.

Blessings,
Lynn