BIOGRAPHY
Melissa Lea
Leedom is a native of New Orleans, and has also lived in Florida,
Virginia, Alabama, and Maryland. She holds degrees in English and
Professional Writing from Troy State University at Dothan, Alabama, and
Towson University in Maryland.
Ms. Leedom was
single-again for over five years and was a member of Single Adult Sunday
School classes in New Orleans and the Metro-D.C. area. She lives in a suburb of Austin, TX.
INTERVIEW with Melissa Lea Leedom
1. What do you
hope to accomplish through your writing?
Jesus said that
we are to be "salt and light" to the world around us. I want the
characters in my stories to embody those Christian characteristics. I want
to show real, everyday people striving to live as Christ would have them
live, and have them interact in stories where their relationship with
Christ affects their relationships with each other. When I decided to
write my first novel, I knew I wanted to write a love story, but I decided
there were enough writers out there writing the amoral stuff. I thought it
was time somebody wrote stories about Christian singles and showed that it
is possible to operate within the Christian set of values in a modern
setting. I hadn't seen very much of that in novels when I started
writing.
2. Are any of
your characters based on real people?
Yes, a few. I
actually did know a woman in her early thirties who had been widowed with
two young children, and I often wondered what it would be like to be in
her position, how long it might take before I would be ready to see
someone new. That provided the germ of a story idea for To Forgive,
Divine. Also, when we lived in Alabama, I was on a local board of
directors of a Habitat for Humanity chapter. That was the idea behind the
Chandler City Benevolent Council. I have been blessed to have known
several wonderful pastors. Jeff Wells is a composite and a tribute to
these wonderful men. There is a little bit of my grandmother in Ruth
Newton, a little bit of my own best friend in Cheryl, and a little bit of
me in several of the characters!
3. How do you
create a story?
The characters come first. I think of
people I'd like personally, who'd be in a situation to which I'd be
sympathetic, like Bonnie Callaway's. Then I start playing "What if?" "What
if such-and-such a person entered her life?" "What roadblocks could be
thrown in the way?" "What situations would bring this couple back into
each other's company?" The complicating situations are what created the
subplots and what helped to enrich the story in To Forgive, Divine. But it
also served the purpose of showing Bonnie and Jeff at work in their
Christian lives. In Book II (no title yet), we'll see Carolyn Perkins and
Jenny Pierce in their own stories.
4. At what age
did you decide you wanted to be a writer?
I've always
liked to write, since about the fourth or fifth grade. But I don't think I
was really aware that a writer was something you could "be" like a teacher
or a nurse or a pilot, until I was well into my 20s. I guess I never
really gave much thought about where books came from. It wasn't until I
was browsing in a bookstore when I lived in Washington and stumbled onto
Writer's Digest that I got the idea that you could do something with the
stories you scribbled down (I used to like to write long-hand!), and that
perhaps you could even make a living at it! (I've heard that some
do...)
5. What advice
would you offer to a beginning author?
Read as much as you
can of the genre you'd like write. Try to internalize the patterns in the
plotting--see how things fit and flow together, see how the author uses
foreshadowing.
Assess your skill level. If you weren't good at
spelling and grammar in school, enroll in a community college course and
brush up your skills. Invest in a couple of good reference books to have
handy as you write.
Write. Write as much as you can. Don't edit as
you go. Get your story out of you on paper. Let your characters live their
lives, be who they are. Write your story or your book, then set it aside
for a month. Then go back and begin re-writing. If you have the benefit of
a critique group of one or two other knowledgeable people, take advantage
of it. But follow your instincts about your characters.
6. Who do you
think are your greatest influences?
Without a doubt, the
Sunday School teachers, youth ministers, and pastors I had as a teenager
were my greatest influences. I am grateful to have been the recipient of
so much love and dedication. As the song says, "I am a life that was
changed; I am so glad you gave."
7. What do you
think it means to be a Christian writer?
I can only say
what it means to me, or what I think it should mean. C.S. Lewis said,
"Everything I write is evangelistic." That should be the goal of every
Christian writer, that somehow, through his or her work, the saving
message of Christ would shine through and that readers would know that
Jesus Christ is Lord.
8. What is the
single greatest mistake you think authors make
today?
Christian authors or secular authors, or both? If I
had to narrow it down to Christian authors, I have to say I see a tendency
in many books to "secularize." Stories are "clean," in that there is no
overt immorality, but there is little or no mention of Christ, so that
"inspirational" stories are more palatable to a mass audience. I think
that is a mistake. We cannot be salt if we have lost our savor.
10. What do
you think is the most rewarding part of your work?
I
always enjoy speaking to groups and seeing the response of Christian
singles to a book about "them." I think (and apparently so do many of
them) that they are the most underrepresented group in Christian fiction.
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