Lisa T. Bergren is our guest on the Writer’s Desk this week. I’ve loved her books for decades. Her Northern Light’s Series is one of my all-time favorite series. I love Lisa’s books because she writes so well in many different genres. Whether I’m on the ocean or on a bridge in Montana, I feel as if I am there. The Gifted Series is a mix of religious thriller / medieval fantasy/epic historical. The series of three books (Begotten, Betrayed, and Blessed) is about a group of men and women—the Gifted—with profound spiritual gifts. I love the way Lisa mixed Scriptural giftings with the historical events around the time of the Inquisition. I read a lot, and these are both highly engaging but also new and insightful. Within these pages is an exciting fight against good and evil that will make readers look at faith and miracles with fresh eyes.
Writer’s Desk with Lisa T. Bergren
Lisa Tawn Bergren is the author of over sixty books with a combined three million+ books sold. She writes in many different genres, from historical women’s fiction to illustrated children’s books to time travel YA and spiritual suspense. She resides in Colorado Springs, CO with her husband, an artist, and three gradually moving-out, young-adult children. Lisa’s dying to travel again when Covid relents and money allows…which currently seems a long way off. In the meantime, she aims to “travel” via her imaginative writing.
Be sure to stick around until the end of the post for more about Lisa’s Gifted series plus a chance to win one of three copies of any book in the series (open internationally)!
Writer’s Desk with Lisa T. Bergren Q & A
Do you have a writing routine? When/Where do you write?
My regular job is helping with my husband’s duck business (RMRustic.com). We make thousands of ducks out of cedar fence posts a year, and I match all the heads, keep track of orders, finances, etc. So I spend months researching and percolating and jotting down notes. Dreaming, letting characters and story, and setting percolate is a big part of my process. Then I buckle down, sequester myself away from home at the library or a hotel or a loved one’s guest room, and write like a banshee. (*Lisa pauses here to look up the meaning of “banshee.”*) Okay, not a banshee. The banshee is right behind me, shrieking to me about my impending doom/impossible deadline. And I write like a crazy woman. Thousands of words a day.
I usually read what I wrote the day before, edit it, and carry on. And soon enough, I have a fairly clean rough draft.
When are you most productive?
When I’m under deadline and feeling the pressure. But again, I do count the dreaming/percolating part as productivity too. It’s all a part of the process.
What do you snack on or drink while writing?
Water with lemon. Iced tea. Coffee. Almonds. Licorice.
How do you overcome writer’s block?
I take a walk. Read some nonfiction. Pray.
What is your outlining process? Are you a pantser/plotter or something in between?
I know where my characters begin, a few key things that will happen, and the likely outcome. But then I settle in for the ride. It’s kind of like watching a movie unfold, but with some frustrating intermissions. In other words, I’m a Pantser, through-and-through.
Best advice for someone who is just starting out?
Read back issues of WRITER’S DIGEST. There are SO many great articles there! That’s where I learned a lot as I was first starting out…
Quickfire questions:
Favorite thing to binge-watch: Brooklyn 99
What are you currently reading? Pike’s The Lost Queen (Scotland is calling me for a setting soon)
What is your favorite song? “Defender”
Favorite Thing to Order at Starbucks: Tall black iced tea.
Enter to win one of three copies of either Begotten, Betrayed, or Blessed (winner’s choice)* in the Writer’s Desk with Lisa T. Bergren
Be sure to catch the video interview with /// on the Avid Readers of Christian Fiction page on Facebook. If you haven’t already joined, be sure to join the Avid Readers of Christian Fiction group so you don’t miss any of our other fun LIVE author chats coming up!
More about The Gifted Series:
Many years before the Reformation and Renaissance, a group of people are called together to usher in change within the Church. But as they gather, so do their enemies and those who wish to control them, placing them in mortal and spiritual peril. This is their story…
Begotten
Their coming was foretold for centuries…
and their gathering threatens to change everything.
A portion of an ancient, beautifully illuminated letter—a letter believed to have been written by Saint Paul—has surfaced. The letter speaks of men and women with profound spiritual gifts and the illuminations bear a striking resemblance to those drawing together in medieval Italy.
Their gathering will strike fear in the heart of a Church dedicated to maintaining their considerable power. But there is another enemy on the hunt for them and he is darker still…
Betrayed
They have gathered. And now others gather against them…
An illuminated letter, long buried by the Church—prophesying a fellowship of men and women possessing powerful spiritual gifts—is the catalyst for a profound war that will bring either a new age of enlightenment or a darkness the world has never before seen. As the Gifted gather, gain strength, and follow God’s clues, their enemies grow determined to control them.
Watching the Gifted from afar is Cardinal Boeri, who wants to use the blessed power of the Gifted to secure his own place in the hierarchy of the Church, while the duke of Venezia has reasons of his own to seize control. But the greatest menace is Lord Abramo Amidei, driven to turn the healer, Daria D’Angelo, to his own fold—or to destroy her. And as he schemes to tear apart the fabric of her faith by preying upon those she loves, Amidei knows that together the Gifted are undeniably strong and growing stronger. But if he can succeed in dividing them, the Gifted—and then the world—will be his.
Blessed
The fellowship of the Gifted is thirteen in number—each in possession of a divine purpose, each forging ahead as catalysts in a war between light and dark. Among them are Sir Gianni de Capezzana and Daria d’Angelo, a couple in pursuit of new goals—to face the Church and avoid being burned as heretics. Trailed by the enemy, and on the run in an unpredictable land, they find respite and, at long last, love. Yet the enemy is closing in, hell-bent on their ultimate destruction…
Connect with Lisa T. Bergren
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