 | |  | |  | |  | |  |
Sharon Hinck
Featured Books:
Author Interview:
novelinspirations: Your brand is “stories for the hero in all of us.” How did you come up with this motto? What does it mean to you?
Sharon Hinck: I’ve always believed that the journey of following Christ is an epic adventure – disguised within our sometimes ordinary lives. I love exploring characters who don’t look like heroes on the outside yet make brave choices.
novelinspirations: What is your favorite Scripture verse? Why?
Sharon Hinck: 2 Corinthians 4:7 - “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all- surpassing power is from God and not from us.”
I love that God is able to share His grace through unlikely vessels who are flawed and broken. In fact, He amazes me in His ability to not only use us in spite of our weaknesses but even through our weaknesses.
novelinspirations: I read somewhere you that teach writing and say that there are two vital qualities: availability and authenticity. What do you mean by that?
Sharon Hinck: To write (or serve God in any capacity) we need to show up. Each morning when I sat at my desk to write these novels, I battled some very valid-sounding thoughts. “Who are you to try and write a novel?” I’m sure the widow with her two cents and the boy with the few loaves and fish felt the same. “What impact could I possibly have?” But as we meet with God each morning and say, “use me as You will” and offer Him the small gifts, He can transform our humble efforts into a means of blessing others. That’s what I mean by being available.
I also found it tempting to wait until I got my act together before seeking to serve or share through my writing. But God challenged me to allow my characters to wrestle with questions, reveal their honest flaws, and reflect some of the struggles of their “still-a-work-in-progress” author. The Psalms are a favorite example for me of what it means to be authentic in writing. There is a range of emotion – not all of it pretty. But the writers also persistently come back to glorifying God in the midst of the honest pain.
novelinspirations: The Restorer was my first taste of your fiction, and I was absolutely drawn in to the storyworld of Lyric. How did you come up with such an intricate and detailed setting?
Sharon Hinck: I’m so glad you were drawn in. One of the joys of writing fantasy is the chance to play with imaginary story worlds. I didn’t want to revisit classic fantasy or sci-fi type worlds that have been done so well by other authors. I looked for ways to have some unique qualities to the society – even while it was loosely inspired by Israel at the time of the Judges. As scenes unfolded, I asked myself questions about the world - why don’t they ever see the sun? What sort of climate and geography do they have? How did this affect the scientific developments of the culture? How do they worship? I had pages and pages of notes about the history, development, and theology of the world – but then tried to keep that as a backdrop and not slow down the story with too much explanation.
novelinspirations: Both Susan and Kieran are so real in The Restorer’s Son. How much of yourself do you put into your characters? Do you have real-life inspirations that you see in your characters?
Sharon Hinck: I think all my characters (including icky ones) reflect some aspects of myself, stretched into new shapes. Friends who’ve read The Restorer saw a lot of me in Susan. But honestly, I think Kieran is a character that is most closely drawn from my own volatile relationship with God. And I loved getting a sense of God’s deep love as I worked on that novel and saw the story unfold. I was reassured of God’s willingness to pursue us, forgive us, and use us in spite of the times we’re surly, rebellious, and stubborn.
novelinspirations: What can readers expect from The Restorer’s Journey?
Sharon Hinck: This is the third in the Sword of Lyric Series. A new, young Restorer has to confront the temptation to flee his destiny, while Susan, our modern-day heroine, faces her most challenging adventure yet. The story was more difficult for me to write, because it goes to some darker places. But as always when the One shows up amid our struggles, we find He’s doing more things than we could have imagined.
As with the first two books, there is plenty of adventure, relationship conflicts, spiritual struggle, and some dry humor. I hope readers will have an entertaining experience but also come out the other side of the story feeling a new determination to face their own battles with courage and hope.
novelinspirations: Do you have any words that might inspire those of us who are still on the road to publication?
Sharon Hinck: In The Restorer’s Journey, a character feels called to go to a certain battle. He is told that if he goes, he’ll die and his life will have been wasted. The character says, “My life is His to waste.” That character taught me a lot about the writing journey by that comment he made.
Writing can take huge sacrifice and commitment with no guarantee of getting published (and once you are published, no guarantee anyone will read your books!). But there is something joyful about the kind of obedience that says, “This is what God is asking me to spend time on, and my time is His. My life is His.” Of course, God doesn’t let it go to waste. But we might not see the results in the way we hope.
I confess I’ve often felt like I was nuts during the time I’ve spent writing novels. I had to come to a place of believing it was worth doing for the audience of One.
As far as some practical tips for the road of writing, I have a page on my website under “Encouragement for Writers” with resources that helped me, as well as some devotional thoughts born from the struggles of the writing life. Visit anytime at www.sharonhinck.com and explore. :)
Thank you SO much for inviting me to visit!
Sharon’s novels include The Secret Life of Becky Miller (Bethany House, 2006), Renovating Becky Miller (Bethany House, 2007), The Restorer (NavPress, 2007), The Restorer’s Son (NavPress, 2007), and Symphony of Secrets (Bethany House, 2008), with more releasing soon. Her undergrad degree is in education, and she earned an M.A. in Communication from Regent University in 1986. She spent ten years as the artistic director of a Christian performing arts group, CrossCurrent. That ministry included three short-term mission trips to Hong Kong. She has been a church youth worker, a choreographer and ballet teacher, a home- school mom, a church organist, and a bookstore clerk. One day she’ll figure out what to be when she grows up, but in the meantime she’s pouring her imagination into writing.
When she isn’t wrestling with words, Sharon enjoys speaking to conferences, retreats, and church groups. She and her family make their home in Minnesota.
In April, 2007, she was named “Writer of the Year” at Mount Hermon Christian Writers Conference.
She’s been featured in major media outlets including the Associated Press program Everything Sacred; television broadcast outlets KARE-TV, Mpls., WACT-TV, Atlanta; radio interviews for KTIS, CWAHM, KREJ, WWJC, WQFL, WGSL, WLBF; print features in Minnesota Christian Chronicle, St. Paul Pioneer Press, Alexandria, VA Gazette, and others; reviews in Romantic Times, Booklist, and Publisher’s Weekly; and a wide range of online interviews, reviews, podcasts, and features including INFUZE magazine, Christian Women Online, and Novel Reviews.
Order The Restorer's Journey
.
Visit Sharon's website:
http://www.sharonhinck.com/
--------------------------------------------------
novelinspirations.com review of The Restorer's Journey
Reviewed by Lacy J. Williams
At the end of The Restorer's Son, Susan, Marc and Jake Mitchell have just returned to their home from Lyric, following closely on the heels of Cameron and Media who have somehow managed to slip through the portal unnoticed.
The Restorer's Journey opens a few weeks later, with Susan watching over her shoulder for the bad guys that haven't yet shown their faces. Unfortunately for her, they do show up and threaten her life before Marc fixes the portal so they can return to Lyric. They grab Susan and rush through the portal before Marc or Jake can do anything about it.
Marc and Jake quickly gather supplies, but when they try to go back through the portal to rescue Susan, only Jake arrives in Lyric. Now the eighteen-year-old must make a choice - go back for his dad, or go find his mom. He moves forward to try and rescue Susan, but everything in Lyric has changed since Jake's last visit. Who can he trust?
Susan finds herself taken captive by Media and her Rhusican friends. Can Susan survive the mind-torture that they intend to inflict on her? Can she find the One's purpose in the midst of the darkess hours of her life?
This last installment in Sharon's Sword of Lyric series is a marvelous finish. Readers will be on the edge of their seats nearly the whole book - I know I was.
Sharon has done a great job with her characterization throughout the series, and The Restorer's Journey is no exception. Readers feel acutely Susan's distress, depression, and fight to live. Likewise, they cheer for Jake as he begins to follow the path God set for him, and groan when he diverts from that rocky road for awhile.
As in both other books in this series, good overcomes evil in the end. However, this ending is a touch bittersweet... but I won't spoil it for you. It certainly makes a poignant and memorable ending.
The one thing I was disappointed in during this book was that Kieran didn't show up at all. I'll admit that the fiery crusader won my heart in The Restorer's Son and I wanted to see him in this book. But, to be fair, I didn't miss him WHILE I was feverishly turning pages.
I highly recommend this book to those who enjoy fantasy, and those who don't. If you love good writing and a story of triumph that will draw you in to the book from page one, this is the book for you.
--------------------------------------------------
Other Reviews of Sharon's books:
Review of The Restorer's Son in Afictionado
Review of The Restorer at Armchair Interviews
Review of The Secret Life of Becky Miller at Armchair Interviews
We are giving away ONE copy of The Restorer's Journey during the month of March.
HOW TO ENTER:
- join the novelinspirations newsletter list
(winner is drawn from all subscribers at 3/31/08), or
- email Lacy
Drawing winners will be drawn on or around March 31.
Other books by Sharon Hinck: