• Home
  • Blogs
    • Adults
    • Teens
    • Youth
    • Interviews
  • About
  • Contact Me
  • Disclosures & Policies
  • Other
    • Book Challenges >
      • Yearly Reading Challenges
      • Bout of Books
      • LDS Fiction Reading Challenges
    • Resources
    • About the Logo
Singing Librarian Books
  • Home
  • Blogs
    • Adults
    • Teens
    • Youth
    • Interviews
  • About
  • Contact Me
  • Disclosures & Policies
  • Other
    • Book Challenges >
      • Yearly Reading Challenges
      • Bout of Books
      • LDS Fiction Reading Challenges
    • Resources
    • About the Logo
Singing Librarian Books

Author Interviews

Check out the author interview index HERE.

Mother & Son Interview with Susan Page Davis & James S. Davis

2/27/2016

About the Authors

Picture
Susan Page Davis, James’s mom, is the author of more than sixty Christian novels and novellas. Her historical novels have won numerous awards, including the Carol Award, the Will Rogers Medallion for Western Fiction, and the Inspirational Readers’ Choice Contest.
GOODREADS | FACEBOOK | TWITTER
​AMAZON | WEBSITE
Picture
​James Samuel Davis is a writer who has traveled in Australia, China, Micronesia, and Alaska. He resides in rural Travelers Rest, S.C., with his wife and seven children.
GOODREADS | FACEBOOK | AMAZON

Interview

Picture
1. How did you get started as an author?  What or whom inspired you?
Susan (Mom): I’ve written stories since I was a child, and then I started writing nonfiction. I worked as a news correspondent and wrote magazine articles for several years, and then realized I had a novel running around in my head. I started writing fiction in 1999. Two years later, my short stories began to sell, and in 2004 my first book, Protecting Amy, was published.
Jim (Son): Well. . . . . it kind of runs in the family! I started writing books as a toddler, like many other members of the family, though naturally none of those early works were published, and few if any kept. The mere fact that books existed, and that I was able to write and draw (and scribble before that) inspired me to make early attempts, along with gentle nudges by my favorite author, Susan Page Davis. She has been my greatest inspiration and encouragement, but even without her I probably would have dabbled at it.  Other inspiration comes from practically every author I've ever read-- with the ones I like, I say, "wow, I would like to write something like this!" and with ones I don't like, I say, "Anybody could do better than that!"

2. How many books have you written and in what genres?
Susan: I have about 60 novels and novellas published. Many of them are historical romance. I also write cozy mysteries and romantic suspense, and I’ve done two chapter books for young people.
Jim: The Searfaring Women of the Vera B is my first book to be published, and it is inspirational historical fiction. Over the years I have written several yet-to-be published books in fantasy, speculative contemporary, apocalyptic, alternative history, and science fiction.

3. What writing projects are you currently working on?  What can you tell us about these projects?
Susan: I have two historical novellas about to release March 1. They are in collections called The Cowboy’s Bride (from Barbour Publishing) and Heart of a Cowboy (from Mountain Brook Ink). I’m working on a longer book for Barbour called My Heart Belongs in the Superstition Mountains, and I’m also working on cozy mysteries for Guideposts Books.
Jim: In addition to working on the next book in the Hearts of Oak series, I am working on a pulp fiction alternative history set in a diverged World War II, and a philosophical apocalyptic work in the approximate vein of Animal Farm, 1984, Brave New World, Atlas Shrugged, etc., but with a more positive outlook.

4. What does your writing process look like?
Susan: I usually start with an idea for a situation or event, and populate it with characters I think will make it exciting and fun. I begin with research, character sketches, and a detailed outline of the plot. Then I write the actual book, revise, revise, and revise.
Jim: I snatch minutes and hours from an incredibly hectic and demanding schedule, usually after everybody else has gone to bed. I almost always have as many tabs open as my browser will handle, where I conduct my research on the fly.

5. Where is your favorite place to write?
Susan: I am thankful to have a room which is my dedicated office. It holds my desk, printer table, four file cabinets, six bookcases (full) and piles of references for whatever I’m working on, usually on the floor around me.
Jim: I'm currently stuck with writing at my desk, where I have a laptop with a broken screen set up on an improvised life support with separate monitor and keyboard. Maybe one day I'll have a laptop that is truly portable, in which case I might start doing some of my writing at my favorite coffee shop, etc.

6. How important are the names in your novels? How do you choose names for your characters?  Do you have any name resources you would suggest?
Susan: They’re very important. I try to make them appropriate to the setting. Some resources I use are the US census lists of most common names in each year; the phone book; the book Character Naming Sourcebook, and baby name books.
Jim: Names are of a great deal of importance to me. I don't like to use names that are so commonplace as to be forgettable. If I must throw in some ordinary names like John, Tom, Mike, Anne, Jennifer, etc., I usually either, 1. make them minor characters, or 2. give them impressively memorable last names, or 3. Make the character so memorable in other ways that the reader has no trouble remembering who he / she is. I also like using extremely uncommon surnames, especially in historicals.

7. What authors/novels that you enjoy would you recommend?
Susan: I love mysteries and suspense. I recently enjoyed Stranded by Don and Stephanie Prichard. A few authors I like are Julianna Deering, Randy Singer, and Van Reid.
Jim: I would encourage people to read the Bible, and all the old works--let recent books be about 30-40% of what you read at most. I'm constantly digging up long-gone authors' works and reading them. I have enjoyed Kerry Nietz among Christian authors, and Suzanne Collins among secular work.

8. What period of history interests you the most?  Does this effect your writing?
Susan: I love learning about the past. The 19th century and medieval period are my favorites.
Jim: I enjoy writing about almost any period of history, but I have a real affinity for the 1840's through the 1940's. I enjoy writing about wars, conflicts, and other unbalancing historical events, such as gold rushes and new discoveries. I like to try to get a feeling of the "fervor of the moment" into my writing.

9. What inspired the idea for The Seafaring Women of Vera B.?  How many novels are you planning for this series?
Susan:
I had read about a real woman whose husband was a ship captain and died in a foreign country. She took the ship home. Of course, she had the original crew to do most of the work, but I wondered, what if the crew deserted her? I found the perfect situation: during the Australia gold rush, dozens of ships sat idle in their harbors while the crews flocked to the goldfields. We’re already working on book 2.

10. What other hobbies do you enjoy when you are not writing?
Susan: I enjoy reading, cryptograms and logic puzzles, genealogy, and needlework.
Jim: I enjoy reading and playing games with my kids, and inventing new games. I'm working on a board game now that involves international trade and warfare in colonial days.

Check out my review for
THE SEAFARING WOMEN OF THE VERA B.
16 Comments
Susan Page Davis link
2/27/2016 02:57:55 pm

Thanks for having us over, Sydney! We enjoyed talking with you about our joint effort.

Reply
Sydney @ Singing Librarian Books
2/29/2016 10:30:24 pm

You are welcome. Thanks for the opportunity to have you on my blog! :)

Reply
Renee Yancy link
2/29/2016 07:07:15 pm

Sounds like a great read!

Reply
Susan Page Davis link
2/29/2016 07:47:15 pm

Thanks, Renee! Glad you stopped by.

Reply
Lane Hill House link
2/29/2016 07:50:55 pm

YaY! Historical fiction is my very favorite genre. Thank you for your interview and... writing together! Kathleen ~ Lane Hill House

Reply
Susan Page Davis link
2/29/2016 07:53:18 pm

Aw, thank you, Kathleen! It was great fun writing this book together and researching all the "old time" stuff.

Reply
Sandra Robbins link
2/29/2016 08:11:36 pm

I'm reading this book right now and am enjoying it as I have all Susan's books in the past. This one is special, though. What a wonderful experience for a mother and son to collaborate on a project and produce such a good book. I'll look forward to seeing what you do in the future.

Reply
Susan Page Davis link
2/29/2016 09:27:05 pm

Sandra, thank you very much. I love to hear that people are reading this book, and that they like our story line. I have to say that you are an author whose books I love, and it's wonderful to have you here.

Reply
Pauline Osborne
2/29/2016 08:22:45 pm

Susan , Is this your first book with your son writing? The book does look different then what I usually see of yours but I would like to read and see how this compares.
I know you must be proud to have him want to write as you do. thanks for sharing in the interview and of this book.

Reply
Susan Page Davis link
2/29/2016 09:30:07 pm

Yes, Pauline, it's our first collaboration. I did three cozy mysteries a few years ago with my daughter Megan (Jim's sister) but this is a first for Jim and me. I think you might find a bit of a different voice to this one. Sometimes we had to put a lid on each other to keep a balance, but it was a lot of fun and so interesting!

Reply
Sydney @ Singing Librarian Books
2/29/2016 10:39:02 pm

Yes. This is a great read! I hope you all get a chance get your hands on it and dive in. :)

Reply
Susan Page Davis link
3/1/2016 06:03:19 am

Thanks, Sydney. I'm so glad you're enjoying the book.

Reply
Elizabeth
3/1/2016 08:28:17 am

Way cool to see a mother and son teaming up together to write.

Reply
Susan Page Davis link
3/1/2016 08:48:13 am

It was great, Elizabeth. Team writing brings a lot of headaches, but in this case it brought a lot of joy, too.

Reply
Robin Stevens
3/2/2016 05:45:13 pm

What fun! I love the idea of a mother and son writing together, and this is a fascinating plot. Can't wait to read it... and those to come.

Reply
Susan Page Davis link
3/2/2016 05:47:53 pm

Glad to have you here, Robyn. I love having done this with Jim and having something we can be proud of as a result.

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Request an Interview

    Hello and welcome to my author interview page.  Here there will be interviews with some fun and amazing authors.
    ​

    ​If you would like to request an author interview, please contact me via the contact page or email me at singinglibrarianbooks@gmail.com.

    ​Check out the author interview index HERE.

    How to comment on the blog due to weird theme issues: 
    -Name
    -Email
    -Website
    -Comments
    -Notify me of new comments to this post by email
    Need to search the site?  Use the search engine below...
    Follow the author interviews blog via email:

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    June 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015

Follow the blogs via email here:

adult reader blog
teen reader blog
youth reader blog

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner


Author interviews
slb tours landing page
CFSRS

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner


Search the site here:

follow or connect with me on:
​
​AMAZON | GOODREADS | BOOKBUB