Character Spotlight — Abigail

by | Nov 13, 2009 | Uncategorized

From A Stray Drop of Blood

ABIGAIL


Abigail was orphaned at the age of eight. Her father had died the year before, and, with no other male relatives and a lot of debt, her mother was forced to marry their neighbor, though he already had a family. When her mother died as well, Abigail was sold to Cleopas Visibullis, the prefect of the Tenth Legion. She was to serve as a handmaiden to his Hebrew wife, Ester, who made it clear from the get-go that she was more interested in having a daughter than a servant.

After 6 years in the Visibullis house, Abigail has been well educated, her sharp, inquisitive mind finely hewn. She loves her master and mistress, appreciates their loving treatment, but still feels strongly that Jehovah wills she be a slave, that this is her lot in life. She clings to that humility with determined pride, refusing all of Ester’s attempts to raise her above her station.

Abigail has grown into a lovely young woman. Her hair falls in a cascade of glossy, darkest brown to her waist, and her eyes are a warm sienna. She has a face that her master’s Roman friends liken unto sculptures of Venus, and a curvy figure that draws more attention than she would like.

Though Abigail thinks of herself as the lowest of people, she is best summed up by an observation a minor character makes, which others later repeat.

“She was born free, and a soul does not forget that feeling.”

When I picture Abigail, I think of a young Monica Bellucci. It’s kind of tough, because she’s very young in the story by modern definitions, but wouldn’t have been deemed so at the time. Still, I hesitate to find a photo of a 15-year-old, so I chose one of not-a-minor Monica and will just say, “Use your imagination to make her younger.”

Thoughtful About . . . Gearing Up

Thoughtful About . . . Gearing Up

by | Nov 12, 2009 | Thoughtful Thursdays, Uncategorized

With the official release of A Stray Drop of Blood only two and a half weeks out, I’m getting pretty darn anxious and excited. And it occurs to me that I have lots of stuff to announce to my three faithful readers! 😉

First, Stray Drop is available for pre-order at CrossPurposes Books. Waiting to put it up on Amazon until we have the cover finalized. For all your crazy cats out there that have mentioned your plans to buy it, feel free to go ahead. =) And if you want it signed, just shoot me an email at roseanna [at] roseannawhite [dot] com and let me know, and I’ll sign it before it gets shipped out. (Sometimes it’s really handy to live with the publisher . . .)

Next up, cover should be finalized within a few days, and I am soooooo excited! Photographer David Schrott will be taking the photos, and the fabulous George Weis of Tekeme Studios will be turning those sure-to-be-amazing photos into a cover. There’s a story behind that, actually. Wanna hear it? If not, read no further, LOL.

At the ACFW conference, I got out the SuperShuttle at the hotel and saw a girl a little younger than me, who I’d spotted at BWI, sitting right across from me. So naturally, I said, “Hey, we were at the airport together!” As it turns out, we also had the same flight home, so we agreed to meet up and have someone to sit with and talk to. This girl is Ashley Weis, and as we got talking, she told me about her husband’s design company. I was at the moment trying to figure out how to get a new cover, so I asked her whether he did book designs, and she assured me he did. I had a gut feeling then and there that the Lord was answering my cover-prayers!

I’m very excited at how Ashley’s husband got the vision for the book; the design he proposed is exactly what I was hoping for, and I know the execution will be stunning. Interestingly, Ashley herself will be the model, and I know she’ll be a fantastic Abigail.

Anyway. Rest assured I’ll be posting the cover as soon as I have the file!

Moving on. In the weeks leading up to release and through the month of December, instead of My Friend Fridays featuring my author buds, I’m going to be featuring the characters from Stray Drop, starting tomorrow with Abigail. I hope y’all tune in to get a sneak peek at these guys!

Remember When . . . The Heavens and Earth Reacted?

by | Nov 11, 2009 | Remember When Wednesdays, Uncategorized

One thing I always found interesting when reading ancient histories is the records of nature’s response to someone important. We all know the stories surrounding Jesus–the Christmas star, the earthquake at his death. Accounts like that are actually pretty normal for ancient men of import.


When writing A Stray Drop of Blood, I had fun incorporating some of the phenomena that happened at the crucifixion. The sky turning dark, the earth quaking, the graves opening. (Don’t recall ever reading about that one in any other history!) And since writing it, I’ve done some Christmas research that piqued my interest in the star that led the wise men and the unique fulfillment of prophecy. It fit in rather perfectly with histories by ancient historians like Herodotus and Thucididies. They, too, tell about phenomena in the heavens and earth that herald the arrival of someone important.

As Christians, I think sometimes we jump up and down in excitement over the accounts in the Bible and then snarl at the other histories that say the same things happened for other people. But not me–I love seeing how God has his hand in ALL history. And since we firmly believe our heavenly Father has ordained every single event–since we firmly believe our heavenly Father put the earth on its axis and set the heavens in their orbits–why wouldn’t we believe that He, in His divine foresight set it up so that those two coincided, to shout the glory of His plans?

I especially love reading how His nature responded to His Son’s death. And so I had tons of fun finding ways to incorporate those events into my story. I hope everyone enjoys reading my take on it, too!

Story Time . . . ESCAPING THE VAMPIRE by Kimberly Powers

Story Time . . . ESCAPING THE VAMPIRE by Kimberly Powers

by | Nov 10, 2009 | Uncategorized

I found it somewhat ironic that while I was reading (and loving) the firs two TWILIGHT books, I got a Christian book in the mail to review called Escaping the Vampire. I had agreed to review this book before I’d cracked the cover of Twilight, but now that I had a more vested interest, I was terribly afraid that this was going to be one of those books that says, “Yes, this thing is popular, but don’t let your teens read it!” If that was the case, I was fully prepared to fight tooth and nail.

It didn’t look promising when I opened this non-fiction book up and saw that her introduction was that she was watching the movie, not reading the book. (I hadn’t yet seen the movie, though I just did the other night.) Especially since the first question the author asks is answered right away in the book. I was already groaning, but I kept flipping through. And with each page, my groan eased, turned into a sigh, and then a nod. This wasn’t an “answer book.” By which I mean, “The Christian answer to the Twilight series.” It didn’t condemn. Instead, it examined the appeal the Twilight books have, pinpointed the things that young girls dream about, and expounded on how Jesus meets and exceeds every single one of them. I got no beef with that, LOL.

The author, Kimberly Powers, is a well-established speaker to teen girls, so in a lot of ways this book is just an expansion of the ministry she already has. She takes those qualities of Edward Cullen from Twilight that has girls going ga-ga and goes through a step-by-step study of why we want it, where we often look for it, and how we’re generally disappointed. In a way it struck me as an argument I’d heard before concerning romance novels in general–not that we shouldn’t read them, but that we need to understand the appeal and recognize where reality and fiction diverge. Powers does a great job of examining that, of encouraging her readers to ask questions of themselves, to try to understand their own thoughts, feelings, and motivations, and then to extent their realizations outward.

What the book comes down to is a really good analogy. That, just like in Twilight, we are all somewhat awkward girls who want to belong, want to be loved. And just like in Twilight, there is evil out there hunting us–Satan, whom she calls the Ultimate Vampire. But, just like in Twilight, an immortal hero waits to rescue us. One who is stronger than us, without our frailties and limitations, one who would sacrifice himself for us and love us unconditionally. Jesus.

This strikes me more as a book that parents would pick up for their daughters than that teens would pick up themselves, but the truths within are well set up and presented. It appeals to what they already love instead off attacking it, and takes a frank and fresh approach to an age-old dilemma.

(As mentioned above, I received this book as a free review copy.)

Modern . . . Versus Historical

by | Nov 9, 2009 | Uncategorized

Since my Biblical fiction, A Stray Drop of Blood will be releasing in four weeks, I’m going to use the month of November to build up to it as much as possible. So while I’ll still try to stick more or less to my setup, much of it’s going to be getting a Stray Drop spin.

One of the big differences between historicals and contemporaries are the characters, and how the settings and cultures of their times affects how they must act or respond. The ladies on my historical loop have had many a conversation on how frustrating it is to read a historical where it feels like the author took a modern woman and plopped her down in Regency England or whatever–the fact is, women had been raised very differently then, and they therefore didn’t look at things the same way.

This is without-a-doubt true, and I strive to make my characters have outlooks consistent with their times. On the other hand, basic humanity hasn’t ever really changed. People still have the same yearnings, the same instincts–just hewn by different tides. One of the things I most love about writing is putting myself into their heads and seeing how they will act in a situation.

I have no doubt that Abigail, my heroine in Stray Drop, will be understandable to modern readers. At her heart, her core, she is a woman like any woman through history. But I also hope it’s the differences that draw you in–the way she must act because of her station, the fact that her very pride must take the form of humility. In all her life, she is only given one choice that she can make for herself–to believe that Jesus is the Christ.

Can you imagine how important that decision is when it’s your first?

My Friend . . . Miralee Ferrell

My Friend . . . Miralee Ferrell

by | Nov 6, 2009 | Uncategorized

I can’t believe I’ve yet to highlight Miralee Ferrell on here. Unbelievable, because I worked quite closely with her two years ago, and she was one of my first writing friends. So I’ll make up for that oversight now!
Many moons ago, a request came through the ACFW loop asking for endorsers. By this time I’d appeared in a book or two, so I figured I’d volunteer. A while later I received Miralee Ferrell’s debut novel, The Other Daughter. It’s an engaging women’s fiction novel about a family nearly torn apart when a girl shows up on their doorstep claiming to be the husband’s daughter.

I met Miralee at the ACFW conference in ’07, after reading and endorsing the book, and enjoyed getting to hug her and talk about some promo for her book. We ended up planning an online scavenger hunt that went really well, was a ton of fun, and which helped me get to know this awesome lady even more, since I read through about ten different interviews with her to get the questions and answers for the hunt, LOL.

Between the time when the scavenger hunt was held and a wedding I was in, I got a small package in the mail from Miralee. Inside, I found that she had sent me a tube of colored lip gloss, perfect for the wedding. A small token of her appreciation for my hard work, but it was something that really touched me. Not just because I love lip gloss (I’m such a girl), but because I’d worked with a lot of authors, and she was the only one who had gone that extra step to say thank you. To me, it spoke to a generous, gentle spirit that makes Miralee the insightful writer that she is.

More recently she had a historical romance come out from Summerside Press, Love Finds You in Last Chance, California. I loved this book even more than her contemporary women’s fiction–ah, historicals! And I was thrilled to learn that there will be a stand-alone sequel to Last Chance coming out from Summerside too. Bring it on, Miralee! Finding Jeena, the sequel to The Other Daughter will be coming out from Kregel in spring of 2010 too. And I for one cannot wait to see what she has in store for her readers.

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