Image Credits:-
Many thanks to Jenny Sanders for supplying book and author pictures. Other images from Unsplash and Pixabay (forwarded by Jenny Sanders). Other images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos.
It’s a pleasure to welcome Jenny Sanders back to Chandler’s Ford Today. Jenny and I are connected through the Association of Christian Writers. We have written for Mom’s Favourite Reads. We now write regularly for Writers’ Narrative (on which I am also a copy editor. Good news – it is free to subscribe to – see the link for more).
As well as her children’s fiction, Jenny writes articles on writing. She also writes non-fiction books (Christian devotionals) and her latest is due out today, 31st May 2024. Her Polished Arrows is a follow up to her first non-fiction book, Spiritual Feasting, (both published by Instant Apostle).
I’m always interested in how writers combine writing fiction with non-fiction. The disciplines are different so managing to meet the demands of both is an interesting challenge.
Blurb for Polished Arrows
Traditional arrow-making is a beautiful metaphor for how God works in our lives. Requiring great skill and artistry, elegant weapons are crafted from the rawest materials. Expertly guiding us through this process, Jenny Sanders astutely applies each step to our walk with God, showing how He deftly shapes us for His kingdom purposes.
Using reflective questions and rich biblical insights, Polished Arrows helps us respond well to these sometimes painful refinements, encouraging us that they are essential to us hitting our marks and fulfilling our callings. By trusting ourselves to the loving hands of our Master Craftsman and Archer, we will soon be ready for firing effectively into our culture and contexts!
So over to Jenny and welcome back to Chandler’s Ford Today.
Jenny: Thanks so much, Allison; I’m delighted to be with you again.
Jenny, for your fiction, you write humorous stories for the children’s market (7 to 11 year olds in particular). Polished Arrows and, indeed, Spiritual Feasting are in a very different area of writing. What made you decide to write non-fiction books, devotionals especially? How have you handled the vast change in audience requirements?
It fascinates me too, Allison! I had the ideas for my non-fiction books long before I fell into children’s fiction. I wrote versions of Feasting and Arrows about twenty years ago. Although I had the main ideas, neither were good then. I had a lot more learning to do about the craft of writing. They were clunky with too much religiosity.
In both, I wanted to stress I see faith as being different from religion. The former is about the privilege and excitement of a living relationship while all too often the latter can be dry and condemnatory. I don’t think Jesus was either of those latter things.
Allison: Agree!
Jenny: I‘ve had to learn to write fiction much more recently. Once my four children had grown-and-flown my husband and I began to spend more time in South Africa where, in 1998/99, we spent three and a half months on a sabbatical from leading a church in Hampshire. I knew this would be a new season of writing for me having left behind a monthly column for the local paper.
I didn’t know where to start, so I prayed. God speaks to me simply (just as well!) and I felt a nudge, or prompt, in my mind to ‘Look out of the window.’ We were in Cape Town and fortunate enough to have a view of the ocean across to Robben Island where Nelson Mandela was incarcerated for so many years. I could see the sea and it seemed the right thing to do to embark on producing a devotional using that as a theme in a similar format to the one I’d used for twelve years in writing for the The Andover Advertiser.
I ended up with six weeks of material which I edited, trialled with guinea-pig readers (as I called them), re-edited, printed locally and sold when I was speaking at events in the UK. It was so well received I wrote three more using the themes of The City, The Countryside (more my cup of tea), and The Mountains. I then felt it was time to tackle something more meaty and returned to Psalm 23:5 which is the basis for Spiritual Feasting.
2. What would you say were the joys and challenges of writing devotionals? Would you say writing these is harder or easier to do than writing short stories for children?
The joy is for what I call ‘seeing the lights come on’ for people as they pursue a life of faith. If I can put words to things they are reaching for, unpack some of the things they feel foggy about, or encourage them to press on and press in to the abundant life I believe God has for them, I’m thrilled.
The challenge is to not get bogged down in academic theology but remain true to what the Bible says without being over simplistic or patronising. Everything I write in non-fiction comes from the Bible so I have a solid source and plethora of themes to keep me going for life!
Allison: True story. I heard an interview many years ago with one of the scriptwriters for EastEnders. They said they often used themes from the Bible for their soap opera. I believe it too. I don’t watch soaps but from what I gather, EastEnders has used the theme of Delilah many times!
Jenny: Everything I write for children comes from my imagination. The challenge there is when I run out of ideas or hit a wall and can’t resolve a situation that had great comic potential. That’s frustrating. There have been times when I’ve wondered if I’ll ever have a good idea again, but when it flows, it’s great fun and gives me a break from serious topics.
3. What led you into writing devotionals? Which devotionals inspired you? You usually write what you love reading. Having already written one, did you find writing a second one came easier or was it just as demanding as the first?
I spent my teenage years in Sunday Bible classes, Jucos, and then, as I turned fourteen, Covenanters. Like the Guides, there were badges to be earned, which included one for Bible Study. I thought that would be a breeze as it was based on daily reading notes for my age group which I did each night anyway.
It was demanding to get through it all every month but as I’m naturally competitive, I stuck with it and gained the badge. I was all for those badges! It undoubtedly built on my Bible knowledge and understanding, which has stood me in good stead since.
One of my favourite devotionals is Oswald Chambers’ My Utmost for His Highest. It’s old school (100 years old this year, I believe), but it’s solid gold, pulls no punches, and is as challenging now as it was then. I love the writing of Elisabeth Elliot whose husband, Jim, was a missionary killed by a tribe in Ecuador he and his team were trying to contact. Amy Carmichael and Dr Helen Roseveare are also inspirational and uncompromising in terms of radical faith.
Polished Arrows was easier as I felt more confident about the process of completing the manuscript so it would appeal to the publisher. I knew how they liked to format things, the process of gaining permissions for quotes and citing them correctly etc.
Allison: No matter what you write, knowing these things is invaluble. The last one is so important for any non-fiction work. A publisher will want to know where you did your research. Keep records as you go. It will make your life easier.
Jenny: It’s still a brutal process to dismantle an old manuscript, find the gold, discard the rest and then unpack it so it connects with readers. Once I’d done that, I realised my word count was low and there was a missing ingredient. It took a while, more praying, and several long walks to realise what that was. Once I saw it, I needed to write several thousand more words but it was worth it.
4. How have you found working with Instant Apostle? Can you share with CFT readers a little on how they operate, what books they look for etc?
Instant Apostle have been great and it’s lovely to work with them again. They are a hybrid publisher which means writers contribute to some of the costs and to purchasing a number of copies of the book at cost price which we sell on ourselves. I have been fortunate to work with the same editor on both books so the second time around the process felt more comfortable.
Editing is a challenge. We all want our typos and inaccuracies corrected but sometimes statements need clarifying since readers may come from a spectrum of traditions, so what is familiar to the writer may need more explanation for a reader.
There have been things I was questioned about, some theological points which needed verifying, and things I didn’t want to budge on but that’s part of the healthy development of a manuscript. Both books are far better for the scrutiny by a conscientious editor.
Allison: Indeed. We all need good editors, regardless of what we write.
Jenny: The cover design for Spiritual Feasting wasn’t originally to my liking. I didn’t think it communicated the content clearly, but the designer offered an alternative which I loved. The image they’ve chosen is great. They have used a similar font for Polished Arrows as for Spiritual Feasting which gives cohesion to the books.
Someone else is in charge of back cover copy (the ‘blurb’) and we went back and forth collaborating to agree on something within a specific word count to summarise the book to our satisfaction and, hopefully, to intrigue a reader.
Allison: Note what Jenny says about word count for blurbs here. I remain convinced flash fiction writing is excellent training for this kind of tight writing too.
Jenny: Instant Apostle publish a range of books: memoir, historical fiction, contemporary fiction, humour, as well as meaty non-fiction. The common element is the spiritual one. All their writers are unapologetically active in their Christian faith.
Conclusion – Part 1
Next week in Part 2 of the interview, I’ll be talking with Jenny about her launch plans for Polished Arrows and she will be sharing useful tips on marketing. She will also discuss the usefulness of a good writing group.
In her case (and mine) this is the Association of Christian Writers but all writers need support and encouragement along their writing journeys. So do look out for Jenny’s thoughts on what you could achieve by joining a writing group appropriate to you.
JENNY SANDERS – SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS
Related Posts:-
Crossing Paths with Jenny Sanders – Flash Fiction, Devotionals, and Short Stories- Part 2
Read interviews with Chandler’s Ford writer Allison Symes: Part 1 and Part 2.
Read blog posts by Allison Symes published on Chandler’s Ford Today.
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