Interview with Romantic Suspense Author Jan Thompson and a Giveaway!

Welcome to Readers Write to Know! I asked you, my readers, what questions they would ask their favorite authors if given the chance, and the authors visiting my blog answered them! This week, my friend Jan Thompson is my guest. I’ve known Jan in the writing community for years and have been involved in group projects with her. I love that she is my guest this week. I hope you enjoy her interview as much as I did! Read on to see how you can enter to win a copy of her latest release.

Tell us a little bit about yourself: USA Today bestselling author Jan Thompson writes Christian coastal city and beach town romance with flavors of women’s fiction, Christian romantic suspense with elements of mystery, and inspirational near-future technothrillers with threads of sweet Christian romance. Jan’s books are for readers who enjoy stories of faith, family, and friends.

Tell us a little bit about your book: Once a Thief (Protector Sweethearts Book 1): Private investigator Helen Hu must team up with reformed art thief Reuben Costa to rescue her mother, who has vanished while trying to make amends for stealing some bejeweled eggs connected to the Amber Room. This book is Free on BookFunnel until December 2024 only: JanThompson.com/thief-free

If you knew ahead of time your book would benefit only one person on their spiritual journey, would you still write it? Yes. Absolutely. Once upon a time, I wrote a novel that took me at least ten years. Several years after His Longing Heart (Seaside Chapel Book 1) was published, a reader said that she had a bad week, read my novel, came across Proverbs 3:5-6, and God lifted her up. That verse was what she needed to hear that week. One reader can make an author’s day.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths.”
Proverbs 3:5-6 (NKJV)

Do you feel pressured to compromise your standards in order to reach a larger audience or be more successful? No. Unfortunately, this means that I might not sell as many books as the market expects. I just have to trust God to take care of my living expenses as I write for His glory.

One of the reasons I’m an indie author is to have the freedom to write what I want based on my own personal convictions and calling from God. I have to stand firm in this and be sure that my worldview lines up with God’s Word.

With all those characters in your head screaming to get out how do you write fast enough to get it all down? I don’t write fast. I have to think about every line, every scene, every chapter. For me, writing takes a lot of time. After 34 published books, I still have a lot more books in my head I need to write down.

Of course, I pray that the Lord would help me with time management so that I can write all these books that I want to write. At any given time, I have at least half a dozen books in the works at various stages of production: plotting, penning, publishing, publicizing.

What inspired you to start writing, or did you always want to write? My parents, avid readers both, instilled in me a love of reading from a very young age. After reading for a few years, I discovered my parents’ Olivetti typewriter when I was eight years old. Since then, I’ve enjoyed putting words on paper and I knew that I would be writing in some capacity in my life. In grade school, I wrote short stories, comic books, poems, and essays. Even though I majored in Computer Science in college, I took literature and journalism electives. And I read a lot of books. After working in the IT field for some years, I decided that the one thing I wanted to do the rest of my life was to write novels. So I returned to my love of reading and writing. And here I am.

Do you have per-determined length in mind when you first begin a book? Did you mean word count? This is the funniest thing. I often have an idea of how long the book should be, but then… I inevitably edit up. Lately I’ve also drafted up. That is to say, I sometimes write twice as long as I thought I would when I plotted the book. I am totally fine with this because I don’t paint by numbers, so I let the story go where it goes. I feel the freest in my writing journey when I tell a complete story from start to finish, no matter how many words, or how few, it takes.

What is your inspiration for writing? I always go back to the Bible. For example, my life verse is John 3:16. It’s why I write Christian books instead of secular alternatives, speaking for myself personally. It’s why I am not ashamed to mention Bible verses in my books, whether they are beach romance novels set on the islands or cyberpunk techno-thrillers set in the near future. My characters are imperfect humans who need a perfect God.

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

Find Jan online:

Website: JanThompson.com

Amazon follow: JanThompson.com/amazon

Find Jan’s book online:

Once a Thief: An International Christian Romantic Suspense (Protector Sweethearts Book 1)

Price: $3.99

1 used & new available from $3.99

Jan is giving away a copy of Once a Hero! Here’s how you can enter to win: