Talkshow Thursday: The Latest from Terri Wangard

Talkshow Thursday: 

The Latest from Terri Wangard

I am thrilled to welcome back Terri Wangard who has recently released the third and final book in her Promises for Tomorrow series. It's an exciting conclusion, and you'll want to pick it up. Meanwhile, grab your favorite beverage and read on to learn more about Terri and her book.

Linda:  The third book in your Promise For Tomorrow Series has recently been released. Did you set out to write a series or did it just sort of happen?  

Terri: At an ACFW conference, an editor told me I would be likelier to get a contract if my Friends & Enemies was part of a series. I’d already started a contemporary story. That got shelved and I jumped back into World War II.

LM: Where did you find your inspiration for this story?

Terri: I wanted something different. Friends & Enemies featured a German widow and No Neutral Ground had an American woman working with the OSS in Sweden. At first I thought about the train canteens, but that would be difficult since the main characters would meet once and then be separated for the rest of the war. Plus, Cara Putman did a canteen story. While I was researching the canteens, I discovered the Red Cross clubmobiles. That’s it!

LM: You obviously have a love for the WWII era. What draws you to that time period?

Terri: Friends & Enemies was inspired by a batch of letters written by distant cousins in Germany to my grandparents in the postwar years. My grandparents sent them care packages while Germany was destroyed and the population desperate. Once West Germany turned an economic corner, the cousins no longer needed help and contact was lost. Using those letters, I crafted a story about their lives during the war.

LM: Lots of research goes into each story to ensure historical accuracy. What is your method for researching a story, and how much time goes into that before you begin to write?

Terri: I read memoirs. Lots of memoirs. People telling of their experiences offer lots of ideas for my characters. Often, I buy used books so I can refer to them throughout my writing. I have notes all over the place, and usually can’t find them when I need them. I tend to obsess about getting everything exactly right, which slows me down. My first book took about a year to write. Later, I had to go back and rewrite much of it to a narrower time span. I’ve also gotten ideas from WWII TV shows, like Hogan’s Heroes (No Neutral Ground) and 12 O’Clock High (In Soar Like Eagles, the ditched crew uses a Gibson Girl radio with balloon to hoist the antenna).

LM: Have you ever experienced writer’s block, and if so, what did you do to push through it?

Terri: I’ve never had anything long-term. If I can’t figure out how to move a scene forward, I’ll leave it. Go for a bike ride or use the treadmill and let ideas percolate.

LM: What is your next project?

Terri: I have a stand-alone WWII book, Wheresoever They May Be, coming out late this year with Celebrate Lit. That will be my last WWII book. My current series project takes place thirty years earlier, and I have an idea for something thirty to forty years before that, inspired by my family tree again.

LM: Where can folks find you on the web?

Terri:  My website is www.terriwangard.com, and you can also visit my Facebook or Pinterest pages.

Linda: Thanks for stopping by, Terri. As always it's a pleasure to chat with you.

Readers be sure to stop by CelebrateLit Publishing to pick up Terri's latest: Soar Like Eagles.

Talkshow Thursday: Meet Terri Wangard

Talkshow Thursday: Meet Terri Wangard

I am very excited to introduce you to debut author Terri Wangard. Terri has won numerous contests, and her first novel Friends and Enemies came out on January 5, 2016. It is a fascinating story with characters who will stay with you long after you've turned the last page. You can pick it up on Amazon.

LM: Terri, you've been writing for a while! Your website indicates your first Girl
Scout Badge was the Writer. When did you realize you wanted to write
Christian fiction?

TW: I read a lot of the early Christian romances that came out in the 80s. Many seemed so similar, like they were written according to a formula. I decided to see how I could do. My first manuscript was with Heartsong for a year in the early 2000s before they said, “No thanks.”
 

LM: How did you get interested in WWII?

TW: The first Christian WWII stories I read were in Davis Bunn’s Rhineland Inheritance series. Loved them! I also enjoyed Michael Phillips’ Secret of the Rose series and Judith Pella’s Daughters of Fortune series.

LM: I loved those books. Where did you get the idea for your story?

TW: When I decided to write again in 2008, I thought of those WWII books. MyFriends and Enemies. I used what I gleaned from the letters: they lived in Hagen, owned a factory that made heating and air conditioning apparatus, the ancestral town of Bickenbach, and a brother who was a POW in Russia.

LM: Are any of your characters based on real people?

grandparents had been sending care packages to distant cousins in Germany, and a series of postwar letters from them gave me the idea for

TW: The letters came from a brother and sister. He and his wife had three children, one son and two daughters. I used that family, but made the children older. The sister and her husband spent three years in Canada in the mid-30s. That allowed my family to spend three years in Milwaukee. I gave them a stronger reason for returning to Nazi Germany; his father died and he had to take over the business. In real life, the couple returned because she was homesick. An editor said that wasn’t believable that they would go to a worsening police state for such a flimsy reason.
 

LM: The age old question about writers - are you a plotter or a pantster?

TW: Mostly pantster. I’ve been trying to start out with better plotting, but then I reach a point and just start writing. A fully plotted outline would have helped with my current work in progress due to the interruptions as I edit the books in my series now being published or work on promotion.
 

LM: I was intriqued to hear that part of your research included flying in a B-17. Tell us about that.

TW: I was the only woman in the group. Two of the men were WWII veterans who flew on B-17s. My biggest impression was the noise. In TV or movies you see the men casually talking to each other without headphones. Forget it. I couldn’t hear someone who stood right in front of me. The second impression was how cramped those planes are. To get into the navigator’s compartment in the nose, you have to crawl in. I banged my head. The airmen must have suffered lots of bruises to their heads, shins, arms, everywhere. I went home and changed my manuscripts to reflect the true nature of flying in B-17s.
 

LM: What an amazing experience! Besides writing, what other passions do you have?

TW: Sea shells. I love going to the beach, particularly Florida’s Gulf Coast, and searching for shells. I’ve done a bit of craft work with them. I used to do a lot of cross stitch, but in my pre-bi-focal days, I had to give it up. Now I could manage again if I had the time, or more wall space to hang my “masterpieces.”
 

LM: You've got two more books coming out this year - what are you working on
now?

TW: It’s another WWII story about a sailor, his Rosie the Riveter wife, her WAC sister, and a grasshopper pilot.
 

LM: Anything else you want folks to know about you?

TW: Since I don’t have a family of my own, I’ve been sponsoring children for years through Compassion International. Presently I have three girls in Central and South America. And one former sponsored child is now a Facebook friend. I wholeheartedly recommend Compassion.

LM: Thank you so much for stopping by and sharing a bit about your yourself and your books. I look forward to your next release in May! To find out more about Terri and her stories visit her website.