

This week I’m happy to be able to post an interview with Brandilyn Collins. She’s one of the giants in the field of Christian fiction, and I’m privileged to call her my friend. Brandilyn’s new book,
Coral Moon, has just been released, and we’re all looking forward to seeing how she’s going to keep us on the edge of our chairs this time. I’ve just started reading the book and I’m already hooked (and about to start sleeping with the lights on). Let’s find out more.
RM: Among all the mysteries you’ve written, what’s the most unique or exciting thing about
Coral Moon?
BC: Okay, here’s the secret. It’s my ghost book. First time I’ve ever gone there. Didn’t know I ever would, even when I sat down to write this story. God apparently had His own plans. It happened in the strangest of ways. I needed a real twist hook for a certain chapter about 50-60 pages into the story. So out popped something about ghosts. I stared at the screen and said, “What in the heck am I gonna do with that?” And from there the book went on. I went back into the pages before that and made some necessary additions to lead to that twist. Remarkable, really, as I look back on the process. Because reading the finished book, you’d think—how could this story be written without the subject of ghosts? God took me totally where I didn’t expect to go, and He made it work. Now that it’s all said and done, I really like this book, and I think readers will too. It’s quite a story. But while I was writing it—man, this was a tough one. I just thought the thing was terrible.
Now, you might ask, what’s the difference between
Coral Moon as a ghost book and many other suspense novels that include ghosts?
Coral Moon tackles the subject from a Christian perspective. And it doesn’t just take the presence of a ghost for granted. It asks questions. What are ghosts? Can they be real? What does the Bible have to say on the subject?
This book is gonna lead to some very animated book group discussions, methinks.
RM: When I once teased you about non-fiction vs. fiction, you reminded me that you’ve been published in non-fiction. Actually, you told me your first published book was in that genre. What can you tell us about your non-fiction?
BC: I was working on my first novel,
Eyes of Elisha. To research all the trial scenes, I visited two trials in the Bay Area of California. Both were high-profile cases. The second was the so-called “Diary Girl” case, in which a teenage girl wrote in her diary that she’d killed her four-year-old sister, who had died two months previously during the night. I sat in the courtroom that first day, my antenna waving all over the place. Something did not jibe… I ended up with the exclusive story from the family and defendant, and wrote the book about the case. This was the famed Melvin Belli’s last big criminal case before his death. Talk about a story! I could not have written it as a novel—too unbelievable. So I put aside my novel, wrote this true crime, then went back to my fiction. Writing this true story taught me so much about the legal system and how murder trials go. I was able to use much of this in Eyes of Elisha.
If you like true crime, you can try to get a copy of
A Question of Innocence (published by Avon in 1995) through amazon.com and other online places that sell out-of-print books. It really is an amazing story. Even though it’s all true, I wrote it with fiction techniques as much as possible, so it tends to read like a novel.
RM: Do you do anything special to get yourself in a dark and stormy mood to write your “seatbelt suspense?”
BC: Nope. I’m just naturally warped.
RM: When you “get away,” do you still write? Do your fingers itch for your laptop, or are you thankful for the rest?
BC: My fingers rarely itch for the keyboard, unless I’m deep into the crisis/climax. I’m very happy to “get away” when I can. But mostly those times come in bulk. July, for instance, is not a writing month due to family obligations, ICRS, and my Idaho writers’ retreat. I also take off a couple weeks around Christmas.
RM: What advice do you have for the unpublished writer of Christian fiction?
BC: Oh, my, lots of it. I can’t possibly put it all here. The best thing I can recommend is to read my blog,
Forensics and Faith., because that’s where all the advice is sitting. The blog has a good-size archive on lessons in the craft. We also discuss what’s going on in the industry—marketing, bestseller lists, trends, controversies, etc. Best of all, the information is free, so be my guest and take advantage of it. Forensics and Faith exists for the encouragement, education, and entertainment of Christian novelists.
RM: Any last words? (That sounds like a line from one of your books, doesn’t it?)
BC: If you like
Coral Moon (and of course, you will), tell the world what a terrific writer I am. If you don’t like it (which I can’t imagine)—tell the world Deb Raney wrote it.
Thanks, Brandilyn. I hope everyone out there will check out Coral Moon. And we all hope that you heal rapidly and completely from that ankle fracture.