By Debby Giusti
“Who’s Rosie Glick?”
If someone had asked me
that question two years ago, I would have replied with a shrug, “I dunno.”
At that time, I didn’t
know Rosie would be the heroine in Amish
Christmas Secrets, the fourth and final book in my Amish Protectors series.
In fact, I didn’t even know Rosie existed.
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| An Amish farm in Holmes County, Ohio, similar to the farm where Ezra Stoltz lives. |
I had submitted a
proposal that featured three sisters caught in a human trafficking operation located
in the North Georgia mountains. Two of the sisters--Miriam Miller (Amish Refuge-book 1) and Sarah Miller (Amish Rescue-book 3)—were taken captive
in a carjacking on a desolate back road. Their estranged sister, Hannah Miller (Undercover Amish-book 2), travels to the
mountain area in search of them and ends up in danger as well.
Spoiler alert…although
we all know the stories have a HEA! Each sister falls in love with an
Amish, or soon-to-be Amish, hero who fights the bad guys in an exciting climax.
The heroes declare their love and the couples live happily ever after.
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| This is an Amish woman's wedding dress. Will Rosie Glick get her happily ever after? |
Emily Rodmell, my wonderful editor from Love Inspired Books, eagerly accepted the proposal, then added a fourth book to the contract.
Three sisters = three
books.
A four-book contract
was a good problem. I quickly decided the add-on book would begin a new series.
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| I love Amish buggies! |
But my plans changed when Rosie pushed her way into
the first book and showed up again in book 2 and 3.
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| This could be a photo from Ezra Stoltz's house. |
How?
An interesting phenomenon
happens when I’m writing. Often a character, plot twist or line of dialogue I
never planned to include in a story appears on the page. Early in my career, I
would roll my eyes and blame my typing error on fatigue or writer overload and
would immediately delete the material I had mistakenly added. Before long, I realized
that surprise character or new information was exactly who or what I needed later
in the story.
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| A small garden close to the house. |
In one of my earlier books,
a villain’s sister made an unexpected appearance. I didn’t even know he had a
sister, but she played a pivotal role in the intriguing climax.
Rosie Glick was born in
just such a way. She came to life when the sheriff in book 1 mentioned an Amish
women who had gone missing some months earlier and was thought to have run off
with her Englisch boyfriend.
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| I wonder if Ezra and Rosie are in that buggy? |
In book 2, Hannah
Miller and her cop-turned-Amish-hero, Lucas Grant, question Rosie’s
parents to find out if her disappearance has something to do with another missing
Amish girl. Rosie’s father is less than forthright, but her mother, in that
same unexpected way, shares the surprise clue I needed in order to discover what had happened
to Rosie.
By the time I wrote the
third story, Rosie was demanding her own book, and I could clearly see who she
was and what she wanted revealed.
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| A pretty view through the window of an Amish home, Holmes County. |
Over the years, I’ve
come to realize those unexpected elements don’t come from me, they come from
God. I start with
a tiny idea of what I want to write—a series about three sister caught in a
trafficking operation–and somehow the stories take shape and new characters appear that I never would
have imagined at the onset.
The process of creating
a story or a series from an initial idea is like the small mustard seed Christ
talked about in Scripture that grew to the largest of plants. The process is
bigger than I am, and I know the Lord provides the inspiration and I’m merely his
scribe.
Writers, have you
experienced a surprise character or an unexpected plot twist or bit of dialogue
that ends up enhancing your story? Readers, do you mind if a new character is
introduced later in the story or do you want everyone “on the page” in the beginning
chapters? Do you enjoy reading books in
a series, and if so, do you read the stories as soon as they’re released or do
you wait until the last book is published and then read the entire series
beginning to end?
Leave a comment to be entered in a drawing for Amish Christmas Secrets so you can learn
more about Rosie Glick, the surprise heroine in my Amish Protectors series.
Happy writing! Happy
reading!
Wishing you abundant
blessings,
Debby Giusti
AMISH CHRISTMAS SECRETS
By Debby Giusti
Safe Haven for the
Holidays
The thrilling Amish
Protectors conclusion.
Leaving the nursing
home where she works, Rosie Glick’s accosted by a man demanding
incriminating evidence her murdered boyfriend stole—until Ezra Stoltz
scares him off. Now with a killer dead set on silencing the Amish
single mother, Ezra must hide Rosie and her baby to keep them safe. But
can he expose a sinister conspiracy in time to save the woman he
secretly loves?
Pre-order here!
