At the 2016 ACFW Conference, author Kate Breslin took a moment to chat with us about how her faith has impacted her writing, and her upcoming project for 2017.
Kate, tell us about your journey in publishing.
Well, I’ve been writing now for about 25 years. I started out writing in the general romance market. At the same time, the deeper I got into my faith, the more I realized what I was doing wasn’t really what God meant me to do. As far as what I was putting out into the world.
So your writing was changing as well as your faith?
Yes. It was growing. I do believe all in God’s time, because I finally, when I did get the idea for For Such Time, my first book, which was a retelling of the story of Esther. I started to develop that book and I kind of grew in my faith and what was important in parallel with my characters. I made the step into writing inspirational fiction and it just felt so right for me. The doors just started to open. I got an agent right away.
That’s amazing.
I got a publisher right away. All these doors opened for me and I just felt right inside, what I was doing.
I have another book I’m getting ready to start for them. It’s another book connecting to Not By Sight. More action adventure, I hope.
Was your first book, For Such Time. a book that you had written and sat on for a while, or was it something you freshly wrote and put out?
No, that took a long time to write and I did sit on it, because I went back and forth. I was still kind of going back and forth with what I wanted to write, as far as inspirational. In the meanwhile, I have two stories in the drawer that will maybe never see the light of day. I might redeem those books, because they were part of my craft and growth.
How have your books been received by readers?
I’m just thrilled. They seem to really enjoy them. I’m so happy and I get a lot of nice feedback in the form of reviews or email. That makes me really feel good. I got one the other day from someone clear across the world that said that they read For Such a Time and they said it really helped strengthen their faith. To me, that was just the
ultimate compliment.
You mentioned your new project might have more action-adventure? Can you tell us a something about it?
There’s a little more romance and intrigue. It’s called High is the Heavens. My hero is a pilot. I can’t give too much away because —
You’re still working on it?
No, but there’s some surprises. I don’t want to give it all away. I will tell you that it does take place in German-occupied Brussels. It takes place in 1917 during World War I. It involves spy craft — I will tell you about her. She’s a nurse and also does some work for the underground.
You’re a historical writer. What does your research process look like?
I start my research and that helps me plot my story. That, usually, for me takes a couple to three months to do that. I like to plot my story out ahead of time. I plot that out and then I, intermittently, will do research. I have some wonderful critique partners. If I run into a snag —
They ask you all the hard questions?
Yes.
Do you enjoy the research process?
Oh, I love it. I have to put myself on a timer.
That’s so funny. A lot of historical authors say that.
It’s fascinating to find little pieces of history that maybe aren’t well known. A lot of things I find, you know, people back then a hundred years ago weren’t much different than we are today. They learned their lessons and maybe we’ll learn from ours.
How do you like to research your material?
My very first book — which was a
while ago when I started writing — I did a lot with library books, videos. Those are so good. Books are still great to go to. With the internet now, you can find out so many things. You just double or triple check your sources to make sure it’s accurate, but it goes so much faster. The first book took ten plus years to write. My second book, I had to write in a year and so the internet was just so helpful in that regard.
High Is The Heavens comes out next summer?
It should be out, I think, next July. There are some characters from Not By Sight in the new book. I’m very excited about it.