Interview with Seralynn Lewis

Seralynn, you have multiple books available on Amazon. What has been the most surprising thing about self-publishing?

First off, let me say I wanted to publish traditionally and even had an agent after I attended my first in-person conference back in 2018. But after lengthy consideration, I decided I had way too many stories I wanted to write and chasing after publishers who may or may not be interested, was a waste of my time.  Traditional publishing takes a long time to publish from the time a book is contracted. I was unwilling to wait two years for a book to be published, if at all. 

With my previous project management background, the most surprising thing about self-publishing was how many moving pieces there are to the process and how many things overlap. It is a long process, and it’s never easy, especially when a writer first starts out. However, once a writer gets a process in place and is well-organized, it becomes easier and easier to get a book out.  The key, I think, is to make sure all your ducks are in a row, that is, getting the timing for everything in place.

One thing I realized early on was that if I wanted to write a lot of books, I needed to have a way to keep track of all the little bits and pieces of each book. And there’s a lot! Using One Note, I developed a series of pages to keep track of links, metadata, series descriptions, favorite excerpts, ad copy and a host of other essential information I wanted to keep at my fingertips. I also use One Note to keep track of my book’s research and my author information and education.

I’ve been self-publishing since 2000, but there are still aspects of the process I need more education on, but like writing books, it’s a work in process.

Tell us a bit about how it felt to receive your very first rejection letter. How did that moment fuel your decision to continue writing and what were your next steps?

My first rejection letter came a very long time ago when I wrote a novel longhand. I typed that novel on my mother’s old electric typewriter and sent it to a publisher. In those days, a writer didn’t need an agent to submit a novel for publication. When I got the rejection letter, I was crushed. The letter recommended taking creative writing courses, something I knew my ex-husband would never pay for, much less allow. The rejection was pitched and the novel sat on a shelf (in those days, they returned manuscripts). My husband and I made several moves over a period of five years, I moved it from house to house until finally I pitched it. Every time I looked at it, it reminded me of being a failure.  

Life happened and I put away the dream of publishing until about ten years ago, it started with two things… I had more time on my hands and I went back to reading romance novels and I started a one-on-one telephone Bible study with my ex-husband’s niece (my writing inspired her to write a memoir about her cancer journey). Her sister became part of our Bible study a few years later. As I got to thinking about mentoring those young women, my heart wanted to mentor other young women with truths I learned from first and second marriages. But how?

That’s when the idea of writing romances with messages women could receive in a way that would make them look to God for help in their marriages and in their lives. But that meant I had to learn creative writing. I was used to business writing, but creative writing was an entirely different animal.  So I started with one online class. From that class, one scene was written from a story that had been floating around in my head.  From there, that scene became a part of the first book of my first series.

I continue to take classes and gain nuggets from each one and incorporate them into my writing process. Learning to write, publishing and marketing, interacting with fans is an ongoing process.

Seralynn, tell us about the “brain dump” phase of writing a book’s first draft. How much time does the editing phase take following this initial draft? How do you go about breaking it into manageable chunks?

It took several years to get a specific process in place and I’m still redefining it after every book I write. I’m what I like to call a “planster.” I define it as a writer who makes a detailed plan for a book, but if the story goes in another direction, the writer adapts and adjusts the plan accordingly.

I write sequentially so I don’t have to worry about piecing together the story at the end. Other writers may not like or want to do it that way, but it works for me.  Each writer has to do what is best for their writing style.

First, I determine the characters. Most of the time I write with an ensemble cast so I usually know as I’m outlining if I’ll need other characters and add them to the character list accordingly. The characters are interviewed and I use Debra Dixon’s Goal, Motivation, Conflict (GMC) chart to help define the characters so I can write the outline. Her book was a game changer for me and I adapted her chart to include a spiritual element.

Using the structure I already have in place, I create an outline of chapters and scenes. It’s not lengthy by any means. The outline contains the Point of View (POV) character, the timeline, the setting and a brief two to three sentence overview of what is going to happen in the scene. By outlining the story ahead of time (even if the book deviates from the outline) keeps me from worrying about what I’m going to write and not staring at a blank page. It allows me the freedom to just get in there and start writing.

Some authors say outlining stifles the creative juices. That may be the case for them, but it actually makes my creativity soar especially when I’m writing.

From the outline, I start to write. The first day, I write the first scene and/or chapter or multiple scenes and chapters. It depends on if I have the time and if the work is flowing. The second day, I will do a “soft” edit of what I wrote the day before and continue writing. Then I repeat the second day until the book is complete. I do not do any “heavy” or “deep dive” editing until the book is finished.

Since I use the 3-9-27 structure, I combine three chapters together to do the deep dive edit. Since the writing is done sequentially and the structure is in place, I don’t worry about moving scenes around in the story. They are usually good. I may add a small scene here or there but that’s never been the norm.  The “deep dive” consists of thirty key elements I look at… which means I read those chapters thirty times and look specifically at each element when I edit.

I’ve tried different methods of editing, but this works the best for me. My editor tells me she doesn’t have to do nearly as much on my manuscripts as others she’s had to edit.

It usually takes about a month to do the deep dive edit, then it goes to my editor. When the editor returns it, I make whatever changes she suggests (if I agree with them) and do a final read through. That’s when the publication process begins.

How did you go about selecting an editor to work with as a self-published author? Do you have any pointers to share with aspiring self-publishers?

This is an easy question. 

Before I learned to edit, I realized I needed an editor, so I developed a series of questions that would allow me to narrow down the editor pool.  First I had to decide what types of editing I wanted done. Then I recognized the editor had to be well versed in the genre I write. Not all editors do all four types of editing, and I wanted one that would.  Then I had to determine how much I wanted to pay for said editor. These things narrowed down the number of editors for the next set of criteria. Once I narrowed the number of editors I was interested in, I checked their website for reviews. If they didn’t even have a website or any reviews they were quickly eliminated. That left me with three.  From those editors, I chose one.

I sent her an email and asked her if she would edit a sample of my work. I sent her a short story I’d written (a prequel to my first book) to get a feel for her editing expertise. When she responded, she made certain I understood editing a short story was different from editing a novel, and I appreciated her candor.

My editor says that at some point, I should be confident enough in my editing abilities that I won’t need an editor. But for now, I continue to use an editor.  (I do use Pro-Writing Aid to help with the deep dive edit, but in my estimation, it wasn’t enough.) She traditionally published, then became a self-published author. She also became a mentor and friend. She has been with me for almost five years. At some point, based on her own words, I won’t need her as an author, but she will always be a friend.

I found my editor through Steve Laube’s website. It’s a resource called Christian Writer’s Market Guide.  There’s a cost to it, but it’s well worth it to not looking all over the internet for the perfect editor.

New writers sometimes dream about attending their own book signing. Seralynn, what is it actually like to attend a book signing? What has been the most memorable part about interacting with your readers?

There’s a lot of hype and excitement at a book signing. Being prepared is key. Having enough copies of your book on hand, signage, as well as giveaways are important. The venue, signage and promotion will make the book signing a success.  It’s fun to sign your name to copies of your book and hear firsthand what the reader loved about your other books.

The most memorable part about interacting with my readers was seeing how excited they were to read the new book. One of my superfans also sings worship songs and brought a CD with all her music on it. I was touched by the generous gift.

For budding writers, the idea of creating a full series of books is daunting. What were your first steps in order to write not just a book, or a book with a sequel, but a full series of books that are intricately entwined?

One of the first steps is to determine what the connection will be between the books in the series.  Will it be the location or setting? Siblings? Occupation? What will make that one story into a series? Sometimes a story has to stand alone.

Most authors use a series “Bible” where they keep pertinent information about the stories. I use an excel workbook to do that. I keep track of the settings and/or locations and their descriptions of each book (and use them over and over again) along with the list of characters. The settings and characters are listed in a chart by book.  That makes it easy to see who shows up in each book. Of course, the process of knowing these things is one of the “deep dive” editing processes, so I have the information for future books. It works. 

As an example… For my first series, the Women of Worthy, It is all about the women in the small town of Worthy, Ohio. Most of the women in the series are natives of the area, but there are one or two women who have either come back to Worthy after a long absence or have made Worthy their new home. I kept a series workbook, but didn’t plan out each story ahead of time. I used orbital characters to determine the main characters of future books and sometimes I just imagined new main characters and wrote their backstory so it would fit into the theme of the series.  The workbook became a monster since there are seven books in the series.

For my second series, a trilogy called The Cookie Table Chronicles, the connection between the books is my home town’s tradition of the Cookie Table and all the characters have some association with the local hospital and are either friends or are related. I also had a series workbook for this series, but the difference is the characters were planned out ahead of writing the first book. The storylines for the second and third book of the series came about because there is an epilogue scene at the end of book one and book two that leads into the next book. 

Seralynn, you have a highly organized process of detailing your characters, setting, and storyline in a customized spreadsheet across all the books you write in a series. From where did the workbook idea come? How much time do you devote to maintaining these workbooks while writing a series?

There are actually two workbooks.  The planning workbook (one for each book in the series) and the series workbook. The planning workbook contains all the information about the characters (including the character lists, interviews, goals, traits, and GMCs), the outline and other pertinent information I want to keep handy when I’m creating the story. All in one place, easy peasy.  It also contains the pages I need to do the deep dive edit. After I finish a book, I revise the workbook to add or subtract some things and make a new master copy for the next book. It usually takes me a day to do the revisions on the workbook and save it as a master.

The series workbook came about when other authors talked about them at conferences. I didn’t know what was in theirs, but I realized the two most important things about the series workbook was the characters and settings. Maintaining the series workbook takes very little time since I utilize the deep dive edit to make a list of all the characters and settings in the book, by chapter. (The reason for this is if I need to bring back a character from a previous book, I need to see what I wrote about them. Knowing the character appears in a certain chapter, makes it easier to find and read up on them.)  Once I do the deep dive on the characters and the settings, it’s just a matter of copying and pasting the characters and settings into the series workbook, then adding the book to which those characters and settings belong.

I can’t really say how much time the entire process of keeping track of the characters and settings take since the initial time of recording characters and settings are part of the deep dive, but copying and pasting the information into the series workbook takes minutes.

Your stories take place in a variety of settings, including workplaces, with characters who have unique circumstances. How do you go about conducting research for detailing the story’s setting? Do you ever write on-location?

Since my first series is set in the fictitious town of Worthy, Ohio, I needed it to be a vague area near Columbus, Ohio.  So, I used google maps to show me towns in the vicinity and their topography. I researched the cultural and business environments of the Columbus area. I also used Google images to find photos of houses, buildings and characters that I could use for inspiration.

My second series is set in my hometown of Youngstown, Ohio, so I drew on my personal experiences to write not only the characters but the locations, businesses, and settings in and around Youngstown.  Some of the businesses exist, others do not.

I’ve never written on location, but I’d love to do that someday.  I fully depend on internet photos and reading descriptions of locations. For instance, in the second book of the Women of Worthy series, Mia’s Irishman, the main characters travel to Ireland.  I had to research pubs, hotels, and distances to make sure the story had an authentic feel to it.

Do you have a go-to method for naming characters?

I actually have no rhyme or reason for choosing a specific character’s name. I do research them, though.  The social security database is a great place to go for common names in the year I believe my character was born. Ethnic names sometimes come from websites that I have bookmarked where I can generate them. Before I give a character a name, I also look at the name’s meaning and see if I can incorporate it into the story. But my hard and fast rule is that I try not to use the same first letter for my characters’ name in any one book, but it gets increasingly difficult to do as a series progresses. 

Seralynn, your character profiles go beyond the basics of age, vocation, and personality quirks. You outline internal and external struggles that each character must undergo in a story. Do you have any tips to share with fellow writers on creating a character workbook? Were there any areas, in terms of character development, that you overlooked at the outset of your writing career?  

The main characters are always together in the various tabs I have for them. From goals, to traits to GMCs to arcs. Since the workbook is a grid of sorts, it works. I like to keep all the orbital characters together on one tab of my workbook.  In the beginning I had about three hundred questions I answered for each of my main characters and about twenty-five questions for each of the orbital characters. It took forever to answer all of those questions.  I’ve whittled down the main characters to about seventy-five questions in three categories: Conceptualizing the character (which includes age, vocation, etc), the development of the character (which includes their backstory and information on their psyche), and character classification (which includes things I need to know about them for their character arcs).

I overlooked the character arcs as being a specific tab in my workbook. I’ve since added another tab that deals with the character’s arc.  I also wasn’t doing GMCs for my orbital characters and now I do. It has helped.  

Who are your all-time favourite authors? Which contemporary books do you recommend checking out?

Honestly, I read so many different sub-genres of romances that I can’t even name one I like more than the other.  For me, if the author tells a great story without story structure flaws and minimal grammar issues, I’ll read just about everything they write. I do love Jerry B. Jenkins style of writing but he doesn’t write romance. I’ve probably read his Left Behind series three, maybe four times.

Carla Rossi’s romances are books I’d recommend. I loved The Widow’s Christmas Ruse, book seven in the Cardinal Point series. It was hilarious. The author has a huge dash of humor in her stories that make me laugh out loud. Her duology Unlikely Praise and Unexpected Wedding were funny and had a deep spiritual message. Well worth reading.

Seralynn, what can we expect to see from you in the near future?

I’m currently writing a historical romance based on my grandparents’ love story. While I don’t have all the details of their love story that spans two continents, I have enough information to create a story from those bits and pieces my grandparents always talked about. I wasn’t planning on ever writing a historical romance, but their story was compelling in how my grandfather fell in love with my grandmother. And I polled my newsletter subscribers on what I should write next and they overwhelmingly wanted to read their story. So that’s why I’m writing it. By the time this interview airs, I hope to be through with the book and am awaiting publication.  

After that, I have at least three dozen or more ideas in my future projects folder. So I plan to finish a few stories that I started five years ago. They are partially written so my readers aren’t waiting too long for another release.

Is there anything else you’d like to share or promote?

I’d love to promote my two series: The Women of Worthy and The Cookie Table Chronicles. 

The Women of Worthy series: Single, divorced and widowed women who flourish in the small town of Worthy, Ohio, where their lives intersect with one another. Each woman must battle their fears and unforgiveness at the expense of their families, friends and the men who adore them to fulfill their greatest desires and destinies.  It is a seven book series and it’s on Kindle Unlimited.  Cassie’s Secrets is the first book in the series. 

The Cookie Table Chronicles: Set in Youngstown, Ohio, where ethnic ties run deep. From the wondrous Mill Creek Park to the many eateries throughout the area, three couples are linked through their heritages, friendships, and families to form bonds stronger than they’d ever imagined. This series is a small town Christmas romance trilogy. The first book of the series is A Wedding for Emily. All three are available on Kindle and other book retailers.  The boxed set is exclusively available on Kindle Unlimited.

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Find out more about Seralynn Lewis on her website.

Check out Seralynn’s The Women of Worthy series, and The Cookie Table Chronicles.