Talkshow Thursday: Welcome back, Thomas Goodman!
What was your inspiration for the story? I was astonished no one had turned the true story into a novel before. The story is based on a real-life Methodist minister who moves his young family to the timber boomtown of Groveton in East Texas in the opening years of the 1900s. He expects to lead a church, not a war, but he finds a town where bootleggers operate with impunity and powerful men have little interest in enforcing the law. A corrupt sheriff, an indebted lumber baron, and a cold-blooded enforcer help keep the criminal operation intact. As threats turn to violence, the preacher begins carrying a Colt revolver and eventually places the loaded pistol on his pulpit each Sunday. He must decide how far a man of faith can go when the law refuses to act and the people he loves are in danger.
What sort of research did you do for your story, and was there an exceptionally interesting tidbit
Tell us about your road to publication. When I was unable to find an agent for my debut novel, I researched all I could about independent publishing. The book won a 2024 Spur Award from the Western Writers of America as well as a 2024 Will Rogers Medallion, and it is selling well. With that reception, I decided to stay on the indie route for the second novel.
This is the second book in a series. Did you set out to write a series? Why did you decide to write a series? While researching independent publishing, over and over I ran across advice to write in series. Since my first book was based on a true crime, there was no way to turn it into the kind of series where a protagonist or an ensemble of characters returns in later books. But I decided that turn-of-the-century Texas had enough material to create a series of standalone novels based on true stories. So, the series I’m developing is called “Texas Tales.”
If you were to write a spin-off book about one of your secondary characters, which one would you choose and why? I had a fictional character in the closing chapters of my first novel I enjoyed creating. Vivy is a widowed boarding house operator in her 70s who shows tremendous grace to the main character. After the book was published, I got curious about what her young adult life would have been like in the late 1870s, early 1880s. I actually wrote a few chapters of a novel entirely about her and her tragic life, but I decided to file it away and work on this other story that became Through Many Dangers.
Why do you write in your particular genre? When I spoke to a Rotary Club about the true crime my first novel was based on, a man was just incredulous as to why a pastor would have any interest in writing about true crime. I said, “Well, our faith is based upon a true crime, isn’t it? Christianity is based upon the greatest injustice in human history, so why wouldn’t a pastor be attracted to true crime stories?” He seemed to appreciate that answer. It’s true that crime fiction portrays some bad people, but it’s against that dark backdrop that good qualities like heroism and repentance and grace shine even brighter.
How does/did your job prepare you for being a novelist? A big part of being a lead pastor, of course, involves writing—especially sermon preparation. Of course, there’s a huge difference between a sermon and novel, but through 40 years of sermon prep, I have honed the ability to stick to the keyboard and write on a deadline.
What is your advice to fledgling writers? It’s vital to learn all you can not only about the craft of writing but the business of writing. The more you learn about how to publish and market your books, the more confident you’ll feel that all your hard work of producing the book has an actual outlet at the end. And, though I highly recommend that new authors in the 2020s seriously consider the independent route as I have, you need to know as much as you can about the business of writing even if you’re hoping an agent and publisher will pick you. The hard truth is, most publishers will not provide the marketing your book deserves—and publishers are even cutting back on the editing services they once promised authors. More and more of the success of your book falls on you, so you had better learn some strategies for success.
What is your next project? The third novel in my “Texas Tales” series is also based on a true story.
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About Thomas: Tom Goodman was born in 1961, and has lived in Alabama, the Philippines, Virginia, Maine, Louisiana, the Cayman Islands, and Texas. He is a graduate of Baylor University in Waco, Texas (BA ‘82), Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas (MDiv ‘86), and New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary in New Orleans, Louisiana (DMin ‘92). He has been the lead pastor of Baptist churches in Louisiana, the Cayman Islands, and Texas, for over forty years. He currently serves as the pastor of Hillcrest Church in Austin, Texas, where he has served since 2003 (https://hillcrest.church/). Tom is the author of Broadman & Holman nonfiction books and he is the contributor to a Broadman & Holman Study Bible. He has written hundreds of articles for Lifeway publications, and he is the author of several independently-published nonfiction books. Lately, he has begun to write a series of novels called “Texas Tales,” all based on true stories from turn-of-the-century Texas. Tom has been married to Diane, his high school sweetheart, since 1980. They have two adult sons. Tom enjoys fly fishing, scuba diving, and puttering around his woodworking shop.
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Photo Credits:
Author Image and book cover: Courtesy Thomas Goodman
Keyboard: Pixabay/Simon
BiPlane: Pixabay/ArtsyBee
