It is only recently that I became acquainted with the Dinah Harris Mystery series published by Master Books. The author behind these exciting books is Julie Cave. I was interested in learning more about the woman behind these books and was fortunate to be able to connect with Julie through her publicist at Master Books. Thank you Jennifer White for helping me to make the connection and thank you Julie for taking time out of your busy schedule as a mother of two to share about your writing with my readers.
Q: Welcome to Bible Geek Gone Wild, Julie. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and how long you’ve been writing?
A: Thank you for having me here! I have been married to my husband for 10 years, have two daughters, aged 3 and 3 months, and have been a Christian for six years. My family and I live in Brisbane, on the east coast of Australia. I have been writing since I could hold a pencil in one hand and form words. I used to take my stories to my teacher to show her in second grade. They were pretty obvious copies of the Enid Blyton and C.S. Lewis stories I had read, but we all have to start somewhere! By the time I was twelve, I decided to give writing a novel-length story a try. I was hooked, and spent my teens writing more ‘novels’, which were essentially an opportunity to practice my own style. It wasn’t until I became a Christian that I began to think seriously about writing in the service of God, and asking Him to show me if that was His will for me.
Q: Master Books published the three books in your Dinah Harris Mystery trilogy, can you share who or what was your inspiration for the character of Dinah Harris?
A: I wrote the character of Dinah Harris very deliberately. She was intended to be a flawed, fallible person just as we all are. Perfect characters need not apply in my books! She is a person who has a tough exterior to hide her vulnerabilities, a sarcastic sense of humor to cover awkwardness, and defensiveness to cover her flagging self-esteem. She often says the wrong thing and often gets angry too quickly. On the flip side, she is deeply empathic, focused on doing the right thing, willing to admit her mistakes, and struggling to make sense of her life. She is a mixture of personality traits I’ve observed in myself and other people over the years. Essentially I wanted to create a character who struggles with many of the same temptations and sins that regular people struggle with daily.
Q: In Deadly Disclosures, you masterfully weave in a defense of creation and intelligent design over evolution, why did you feel it was important to tackle this critical subject in your first novel?
A: One of the reasons I became a Christian was because of apologetics – a reasoned defense of the Christian faith. Central to that defense was the big question: evolution is so entrenched in the secular world, surely it must be right? If so, it means the Bible is wrong, and if that’s the case, then Christianity loses it’s credibility. It was through the testimony of Answers in Genesis that I came to learn that in fact, the scientific evidence we hear about actually confirms the Bible’s account of how life came to exist on the earth. Evolution has never been “proven” in the scientific sense of the word. As I came to realize that the Bible was trustworthy right from the very first page, I could believe the rest of the Bible – most importantly, the gospel message. Because it played such a big part of my own conversion, I wanted to share this with my readers. I also want to address the common misconception that to be a Christian means that you have to abandon your intelligence. I hope to challenge skeptical readers!
Q: Is Pieces of Light the last we’ll hear of Dinah Harris?
A: I have so many story lines in my head that seem to involve Dinah Harris – I hope not!
Q: Are there any upcoming books or writing projects you can share with my audience?
A: At the moment I’m not specifically working on a project – I’ve just had my second baby and I’m pretty busy trying to juggle two kids and the three books I have out! However, I can reveal that the next book idea I have will deal with the issues of vilification and bullying.
Q: What advice would you give to first time / aspiring authors?
A: Always keep writing; it is a great opportunity to further practice and hone your skills. Work out who your target market is and what your hook is – in other words, why your books will be different from anything else on the market. Begin to build a presence, particularly in the online environment, through social media. Think of your writing not just in creative terms, but in business terms too: how will you sell your books? To whom? Keep learning from authors you admire. Pray for guidance. Finally, never give up!
Once again, many thanks to Julie for taking the time to participate in this interview. Those interested in learning more about Julie and her writing can follow her on the web at JulieCave.com, facebook, and twitter.
Books by Julie Cave:
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[...] Below is an interview I just completed for Bible Geek Gone Wild and I wanted to share it with our Cross Focused Reviews Readers as well. You can see the interview in its original context here: LINK [...]
Julie, thanks for sharing some of your story with us! It has been fun to learn about your stories and characters a little more. I really appreciate what you said about keeping in mind the social media aspects of marketing your writing in addition to the writing itself. Shaun, thanks for the great interview!
[...] can read the interview in its entirety at Bible Geek Gone Wild. Those interested in learning more about Julie and her writing can follow her on the web at [...]
[...] Interview with Julie Cave [...]
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