Leigh Bale is an award-winning, multi-published novelist who won the prestigious RWA Golden Heart in 2006. More recently, she was a finalist for the Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence. She is the daughter of a retired U.S. forest ranger, holds a B.A. in History with honors and loves spending time with family, weeding the garden with her dog Sophie, and watching the little sagebrush lizards that live in her rock flowerbeds.
Married in 1981 to the love of her life, Leigh and her professor husband have two wonderful children and two grandchildren. But life has not always been rosy. In 1996, Leigh’s seven year-old daughter was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. In the dark years that followed, God never abandoned them. After six surgeries, two hundred and eighty-four stitches, a year of chemo, and a myriad of other difficulties, Leigh’s daughter is now a married woman and considered less than 1% survivorship in the world for her type of tumor. Life is good!
Truly the Lord has blessed Leigh’s family. She now transfers the love and faith she’s known into the characters of her stories. Readers who have their own trials can find respite within the uplifting message of Leigh’s books. You can reach Leigh at www.LeighBale.com.
What time of the day do you write best and why? –
In the morning and afternoon.
How long do you write every day when you have a deadline looming?
Until I’ve met my page count for the day. Whether I’ve got distractions or don’t feel like writing, I have to do it. Writing is like any other job. You have a contract and get paid for it, so you must produce the work.
How long do you write every day when you don’t have a deadline looming and why?
These days, I always have a contract looming. But when I don’t, I’m working on a new proposal package, so I tend to keep writing my same number of pages, as if I were on contract. This is because I’m eager to get the proposal finished and sent off to my editor, so I can get under contract again. That’s how you make your money. 🙂
How do you begin writing a novel?
I tend to need the first 3 chapters to be completed and in good order before I can proceed with the rest of the book. Every once in awhile, I’ll write a scene out of order if it’s good and I know what I want to do. But I really need those first three chapters to set the stage for the rest of the book. Then, I write the synopsis, to give me the full picture of main turning points and the ending. I don’t bury the synopsis in tons of detail as that is also my selling tool to give to my editor. Just the core happenings of how the book will go, including the internal and external conflict, the romantic conflict, and the faith conflict (because it’s generally an inspirational story with a faith element in the book). Once I have those first 3 chapters written and have sold the book, I use my synopsis as the road map; because my editor bought that. So, I stick to it unless a new and better way of ending the story comes to light. Then, I call my editor to tell her about it. That’s happened once or twice, and both times, my editor said to go ahead and make the change because it would make the book stronger.
If you aren’t a planner, is there a point in writing the novel that you stop, look back and plan? If so, what is your method for doing so?
Again, my 5-9 page synopsis is my road map. Because I’m on deadline, I don’t have a lot of time to go back and plan each and every chapter. But the synopsis is my basic guideline and then I just write the book according to the twists and turns I included in the synopsis. Occasionally, I’ve written too long a book, or too short. I’ve learned not to panic about that. I’ll fix that when I’m completed the full book and then go back through in my revision process. I’ve learned to trust myself on that. Once I have a finished book, I then put it aside for 1-2 weeks while a critique partner reads through it. I then go and start working on the next book. And when I come back in, I just start reading from start to finish and editing anything that isn’t smooth, doesn’t make sense, is in the wrong place, should be clarified more, etc. And every time, the book ends up falling within the correct word count my editor needs for the pre-shaped cover flats to fit around the book. I think sometimes as writers, we tend to over-compensate in our process and it confuses and muddles us. If we just trust our gut, write and then revise the book, don’t panic, just duck your head and do the work, it all comes out okay. But that said, it does take work. 🙂
Where did the idea come from for the novel you are working on right now?
I’ve just finished the 8th book in a series of Forest Ranger stories. This book will be coming out in October 2014 and is titled “The Forest Ranger’s Christmas.” My father is a retired forest ranger and has served as my consultant on these books. It’s been a blast writing them, although a lot of heavy research. I was in the shopping mall one day and saw a billboard about a man who was 70 years old and had just learned to read. I also happened to be wanting to write a Christmas story with a forest ranger in it. And voila! I came up with the idea to put them all together. It’s a poignant, sweet story I think anyone can relate to. Stay tuned and check out my website in October. I’ll be doing a Goodreads giveaway and some other giveaways. If you like, feel free to sign up for my newsletter over on my website and I’ll give you more information as we get closer to the date. But most of all, enjoy!
Do you use any visuals for inspiration? (or anything else!)
My visuals tend to be actual forest rangers, wild horses, herds of domestic sheep, wild Big Horn Sheep, Sage Grouse, Hotshot Wildfire fighters, etc. My stories have dealt with a variety of very real life situations. It’s been a blast.
How do you get through the “murky middle” of your novel?
I try to remember the natural flow of events and how my story will need to roll out in order to reach the satisfying ending I have planned for the book. I’ve fought that a time or two, but have to bring myself back to what needs to happen. By the time I’m in the middle of a book, the characters have made themselves known and I just know they would or wouldn’t do certain things. I sustain the friction between them, find ways to deepen that, to bring other elements to light, or to show them experiencing a very difficult situation where they need help. I try to remember that the middle of the book is what must be very grueling on my hero and heroine, so that by the end of the book, they can reach a “growth” point to have an “ah-hah” moment and “grow” and become the best person they can be. Because I write romance, the characters always recognize that they’re a better person because they’re with the hero or heroine. Love is what makes them a better person.
Do you revise every day? If so, how do you organize your revising? What is your revision technique?
I tend to write a chapter, then read back over it, chip away, clean up, add texture such as sight, smell, touch, hearing, etc., then I move on to the next chapter. So, by this means, you could say I edit as I write. But once the book is complete, I put it aside for a couple of weeks as I stated above, then I come in with “fresh” eyes and revise the entire book. Since I’m on deadline, I don’t have time for more than that. But I am a fairly clean writer. That saves a lot of angst when I have to revise. The book is already fairly free of spelling errors and mucky punctuation.
If you don’t revise every day, when do you revise and why?
I revise at the end of the book, when it’s all done and my critique partners have taken a look through. They see things I may not catch. At this point, I also like to print out the entire book in a hard copy and read through that. I don’t know why, but for some reason you can really pick up on problems when you’re reading from a paper manuscript versus reading from a computer screen. I also read some passages out loud to myself, to see how they sound. Your ear can really pick up on problems, too. These are a variety of techniques I go through before I say “it’s as good as I can get it at this point,” and I then email it off to my editor. And then, of course, she and a copy editor will each edit the book and send me back lots of suggested changes to make the book even stronger. So, before my books hit the shelves for readers to buy, it’s gone through a lot of revision work. Only the best will do for my readers. 🙂
Do you have a writing group, or a trusted reader for your novels? If so, how does that work? Do you meet weekly, or only when you have a novel due? Do you share your materials online or in person? –
Ages ago, I had multiple critique partners. I just don’t have time for that anymore. Now, I have a couple of critique partners to read for me whom I really trust. If I’m working on a particularly difficult book, I have another very professional critique partner I can go to for help, but she usually doesn’t have time to read through the entire book. Just some big trouble spots, or the first three chapters, to ensure I’m on target. I’ve learned how to critique for myself…that just happens over time as you get to be a stronger writer, but there are always things I can’t “see” because I think I’m too close to my own project. So, I always have my book read through by at least one of my close critique partners. They’re fast and can get the book back to me within a week, so they are gems.
What have you learned about your method of writing after publishing your book(s)? Has it changed? If so, how?
I used to be what I call a “plodding plotter.” i.e. I plodded along cumbersomly by plotting every little thing. But then, once I was on contract, I was also working a day job, had a family and home and church obligations to tend to, so I couldn’t plot anymore. I had to hit the floor running. Hence, I learned to get my first 3 chapters formed very nicely, then get the synopsis in very good shape, and then write as a pantser, going along logically to build the emotion and angst of my characters as they find their own happy resolutions. Sometimes necessity forces us to develop a more efficient process. I didn’t have a choice. If I want to write books and have at least 2 new books out per year, I’ve got to jump in and just write.
What advice about a writing method would you give to any new writer?
Trust yourself more. Trust your instincts. Trust that, after you’ve written the book and go back through to revise it, you’ll know what isn’t working. And remember: No lazy work. If any part of you clenches and says, “Oh, I think that will be okay.” Stop right there! That is the moment you know it isn’t okay and you need to change it. You can make this better. You can write it a different way. Take the time to clean it up, make it stronger, do it better, before you send the book into your editor. I guarantee that will pay dividends when you get another contract, or your first contract. Because you have no lazy writing.
Is there anything you would like to add about writing?
It is the most amazing, grueling, cruel, beautiful, hard, wonderful, satisfying, depressing profession a person can ever have. If you stay in the business long enough, you’ll earn it. I guarantee. But I think you’ll also look back and say, “Yes, the price I paid to be an author was so worth it.”