7 Deadly Questions with author Joanna Penn

1.  Your debut thriller PENTECOST has been widely lauded and even compared to a Dan Brown adventure. Talk to me about the inspiration for Pentecost.

 

I had been blocked for years by the thought I needed to write literary prize-winning fiction, but NaNoWriMo 2009 helped me get over that. I looked at my bookshelf and found that my obsessions are religion, psychology and fast paced thrillers and so I decided to write in that genre. I am an obsessive traveler and so wove my travels in Israel and Europe into the book as well as researching other fantastic locations. I have plans for at least six more in this series investigating religious mysteries in exotic locales with a lot of action and adventure along the way.

2. With the religious overtones and sweeping setting of PENTECOST, I can imagine that the research for PENTECOST was quite extensive. How did you manage tackling that aspect?

 

I do have a Masters in Theology and a degree in psychology and Pentecost wove many of my ideas from these subjects into the text. The research was more to refresh my mind, rather than to start from scratch. I did find some amazing synchronicity when I started to research though, like the painting in Carl Jung's Red Book from the 1920s that exactly matched the Pentecost stone and pillar of fire. Most of the locations are ones I have personally visited, so descriptions like the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem are from my own notes, diaries and photos. The places I hadn't been to I did have to research but I knew why I was going there, for example, the bones of St Andrew in Amalfi and James in Santiago de Compostela. This research led to some brilliant story events, like Jake's escape from the Thanatos agents by riding the giant thurible which sends waves of incense over the pilgrims. I only discovered that when I researched the cathedral and it seemed just made for the story!

3. You've created a strong yet vulnerable heroine in the character of Morgan Sierra. Any concerns about a female lead in a thriller genre packed with strong male characters?

 

My model for Morgan Sierra is really Lara Croft, a woman in all senses of the word who can also fight and have great adventures. She's smart and has wounds from her past, but can still kick some serious butt! There are overwhelmingly male writers and heroes in this genre but I have been told that I write like a man, which in this case I shall take as a compliment. Many female writers in the genre use their initials instead of a first name and I shall probably do that in future books, but Morgan is definitely as much of an action hero as Cussler's Dirk Pitt, but she won't be having quite so much of a love life! Interestingly, I have recently read Brad Thor's The Athena Project which has an entirely female group of agents so male writers are seeing the benefits of women who can fight.

4.  The secretive ARKANE group plays a pivotal role in PENTECOST. Any chance we'll be reading more about their involvement with world affairs in future novels?

 

Absolutely! ARKANE stands for the Arcane Religious Knowledge and Numinous Experience Institute andI see the series as Morgan Sierra/ ARKANE novels going forward. They really they are the access Morgan needs into a world that is generally closed to the rest of the 'normal' world. In the ARKANE crypt under Trafalgar Square are all manner of mysteries and I'll be using them as a way into plotting the next set of novels. I have so many interests that intersect with religion and theology so this is a great way to have an organization powerful and rich enough to enable further adventures. The next book, Prophecy, will use the ideas of obedience to authority figures as studied by Milgram and Kierkegaard as well as the neuroscience of belief, with a little eugenics and apocalyptic excitement thrown in.

5. For many in the field of publishing you are mostly known as the force behind THE CREATIVE PENN – a website/blog dedicated to writing, publishing, and book marketing. Please share a little about THE CREATIVE PENN and how you were able to use your own advice in bringing PENTECOST to print.

 

I first self-published four years ago and wasn't able to sell many books at all because at the time I knew nothing about marketing, the internet or how to build an audience. I also knew very little about publishing and even writing, so when I set out to learn for myself, I also decided to share what I learned along the way. I'd really like to save people time, money and heartache on their own journey. So that's why I started The Creative Penn and it has now evolved into my own author platform for selling my books, online mini courses and also my speaking as well as helping others with lots of free articles, audios and videos. The launch of Pentecost was the culmination of everything I have learned in the last few years and it's been more successful than I thought it would be. You can read about it all here and find tips for your own book launch. Pentecost has been in the Amazon bestseller ranking Top 100 for religious fiction since it was released and is now in the top 100 for action-adventure on Kindle (although rankings change every hour!)

6. The world of publishing is evolving. What advice would you give to those authors who are just now setting out on their path to writing and publishing a novel?

 

If you want to successfully self-publish a book, or sell it to a publisher, you need to know who you are writing for. You can write for yourself which is fine, or you can write to a market segment. I don't mean write what's trendy but understand the readers and how you can find them. I read primarily religious themed thrillers. I have probably read thousands of them, so I know what I need to do to satisfy that market. Romance writers need to know the formula to please those readers and so on. You just won't sell otherwise. That doesn't mean your writing has to be formulaic. You can be endlessly creative within the boundaries of genre. Or you can write literary fiction if that is your love but that seems to be harder to sell and also hard to get a success.

I also think you need to start building your audience as soon as you can. For me, blogging has been the most effective method of marketing and it takes a long time to build but it's so worthwhile. I'd continue writing thrillers and blogging if I won the lottery!

7.  Where can readers go to learn more about you?

 

You can find articles, audios and videos on writing, publishing and marketing at TheCreativePenn.com. You can find Pentecost and my other books on Amazon and other online bookstores in print and ebook formats. You can also connect with me on Twitter @thecreativepenn and Facebook/TheCreativePenn. I also have a thriller and mystery video book review blog, MysteryThriller.tv .

Thanks so much for having me on!

About Joanna

Joanna Penn is an author, blogger, speaker and business consultant based in Australia. She always dreamed of writing her own books, and spent many years thinking about it before she actually took the plunge.

Joanna self published her first book  How to Enjoy Your Job in 2008 and learned a lot about the process along the way. Then she wrote "From Idea to Book" and "From Book to Market" in 2009 to share what she had learned. 

In Feb 2011, Joanna published her first thriller novel 'Pentecost' available on Amazon and other online retailers.