Author interview: Robin Patchen

Intro: 

Robin Patchen is still a somewhat new to me author. The first book I ran across of her, didn't appeal to me....much to my shame. And I even admitted that to her. 😀 Then I ran across Innocent Lies, the 4th book in her Nutfield Saga, and it caught my eye. It was an amazing book, and I w started reading all of her books in print at that time (May 2022). Then I realized this was an author whose books I wanted to own in paperback, so I started buying her backlist and everything new. 

She has three series out currently:
#1 The 10 book Nutfield Saga, including a Christmas book with three stories in, published this past year. 

#2. The 11 book Coventry Saga Series.

#3. The Wright Heroes of Maine. This currently has 5 books out, including a prequel, with 5 more on the way. And in my not so humble opinion, this is her best series so far. My little sister, who used to be too squeamish to read suspense, said the first one was one of the best books she ever read. (Link to buy that here.)  I just read the 5th book, Protecting You at the beginning of this month, and it was amazing. 

She has quickly become one of my favorite authors, and graciously agreed to an interview. I sent her the questions, and she answered them and sent them back.

 Without further ado, here is my interview with bestselling author, Robin Patchen. (Author bio at the end.) 

1. Robin, I just finished reading Protecting You, #5 in the Wright Heroes of Maine Series – which was awesome by the way. This is my favorite of your three series, and I would say the first book, Running to You, is my favorite book of yours.

Do you have a favorite book and series you wrote, or is it like kids – you can't pick a favorite?

It is hard to pick a favorite. I think they’re all “favorites” for different reasons. For instance, I love Generous Lies, book 3 in the Nutfield Saga, because it deals with a teenage boy who gets addicted to drugs. Our son dealt with addiction, so I feel a special connection to Garrison as he fights for his son. I love A Mountain Too Steep for a similar reason—it tells the story of a car accident my other son and my nephew were in. (Though all the other suspenseful moments in that book are completely fictional.) I looked forward to writing Legacy Redeemed for years, and when it was finished, I felt such a huge sense of accomplishment. I was very proud of that book, which had a lot of heavy themes. I love Inheritance of Secrets because of all the snow. And then there’s Running to You, a favorite not only because the story is unique compared to other storylines, but because it was so much fun to write. 

2. Tell some of your likes and how you spend time when not writing?

I love to travel. I’ve always said I want to visit every place in the world, twice. Haven’t quite done that yet, but I’ll be crossing Hong Kong and The Himalayas off my bucket list this spring when my husband and I visit my son, his wife, and our two grandsons (one of whom we haven’t met yet—he was born February 12). When I’m not traveling or writing, I help facilitate Bible study at my church, have fun with my small group friends, cook, and work puzzles. 

3. Why do you write Christian suspense, and what kind of impact do you hope your writing has on your readers, especially in terms of their spiritual lives?

I write Christian fiction because I can’t imagine anyone trying to live their lives without God. I write suspense because it’s so much fun to put people through terrible danger and see how they react. I might be a tiny bit sadistic—but only with fictional characters. 😉

4. Tell us a little about your writing process. Where do you get ideas, character names, plots?

I’m laughing because, after thirty books, I’m not sure I have a process. I get the seed of an idea, and then I just keep asking myself questions about it until it starts to grow. Then I take that tiny story-seedling to my brainstorming group, and together, we turn it into a plot. I use lots of great resources to help, like Susan May Warren’s Story Equation, John Truby’s The Anatomy of Fiction, and Blake Snyder’s Save the Cat. I use the Enneagram website to help build personalities and various name-generating and baby-name websites to figure out what to call these random people.  I do a lot of wrestling with it, a lot of praying, a lot of second-guessing myself until I’m somewhat sort of happy with it. I never know how the climax is going to play out, and no matter what I plan, it never happens that way, so I’ve given up trying to see all the way to the end. A bunch of work goes into planning a novel. And then I have to write the thing. 

5. How does your personal Christian faith influence your writing and character development?

I cannot imagine living my life without Christ, which is why most of my main characters are Christians. I believe we can and should hang onto our faith through the trials of life. I read a lot of stories where the hero and/or heroine gave up on God because something didn’t go well. I get that, and it can happen, but I like to see characters who lean into their faith when life gets hard. I love showing those examples—and trying to live that example as well. Life is hard, God is good. Both of those things are true, and when we realize God isn’t a genie who’s there to grant our every wish, the trials are easier to live with. 

6. Do you ever struggle with incorporating your faith into your writing without being preachy? How do you navigate that?

I hope my stories aren’t preachy. In Sheltering You, the heroine, Jasmine, was a very strong believer. She came from a strict household in Iraq where she had to hide her faith. All she had was a Bible—no church, no music, no internet access. Just a Bible. Her faith was based on what she read. I had a blast creating conversations between her and the hero, who grew up in an American church. I loved comparing what she’d learned from the Bible to what he’d been raised to believe—and watching them wrestle through the differences. That was probably my “preachiest” book, but I think it worked because they were talking about God, not just telling readers what to believe. 

7. Is there a character in your current series - or any of your books - that you found the most challenging to write? Why?

Probably Jasmine, whom I mention above. She was introduced in Rescuing You and was the heroine in Sheltering You. What do I know about growing up in Iraq? (Spoiler alert: almost nothing.) That book took a lot of research. And I had to differentiate her family from other Iraqi families, make it clear that how she lived wasn’t the norm. I needed her to not be free for the story—to be a sheltered captive of her family, but that’s not how most Iraqi women live. I had to delve into Islam, which also took massive research. I worried when those stories released that they would offend people. So far, I’ve had no complaints—as far as I know. (But I don’t read my reviews, so maybe I did and I’m just not aware.) 

8. OK, this is something I have wanted to ask an author, even if it might be a silly question: How did it feel the first time you saw one of your books come up on Amazon, or other retail websites, and has that feeling changed all of these books later when you see your books on those sites?

The first time I saw my name on a book on Amazon was so exciting. It all feels so real when there’s an actual buy link—almost surreal. And then people start buying, and it gets even weirder. (Of course, the sales come in slowly in the early days.) I think one my favorite early moments as a writer came when I saw my first two-star review. I thought—Oh, my goodness. Someone I don’t even know read my book! I mean, I hope it wasn’t a friend. 😉

9. Do you have any favorite books and authors you like to read and have read? Is Christian suspense your favorite genre' to write and also read?

I have so many favorite authors, both in Christian fiction space and not. I like to read general market suspense, and my favorite authors are Harlan Coben and Robert Crais. (If you read them, remember—they’re general market. The language isn’t always up to CF standards.) Christian authors… There are too many great ones to list. Misty Beller, Lacy Williams, Tracy Higley, Hallee Bridgeman, Susan May Warren, Sharon Srock, Charles Martin, Becky Wade… Gosh, I could do this all day. 

10. You have two more books slated in the Wright Heroes of Maine series: Capturing You in June, and Defending You in October (that is too long to wait!) Do you have anything in mind beyond that? 

As a matter of fact, yes! I’ll tell all the Wright sisters’ stories. Protecting You featured Alyssa; Capturing You will feature Brooklynn. Cici will be the star of Defending You. Then, I’ll tell Delaney’s and Kenzie’s stories—they don’t have titles yet. And there will be one more Wright Hero after that, but the main character is a secret. Altogether, there’ll be ten books in the series. (I am definitely intrigued - Mark)

11. Every author gets bad reviews. Do you pay much attention to reviews, and how do you handle negative ones you run across?

I have never been one to read all my reviews. I find it steals my time and can, if I come across a negative one, steal my joy. When my reader team leaves reviews, I want to know what they have to say. The first few reviews that come in on release day, I’ll skim. But after that, I pay them no mind. The only exception is when I have a book that isn’t selling as well as others in the same series or doesn’t have as high a rating. I’ll skim the low-star reviews to see if there was something I could have done differently to connect with readers. 

Thanks so much for agreeing to do this, Robin. I found your answers quite interesting, and am looking forward to more from the Wright family. Wishing you a lot of book sales, and hopefully there will be people who read this who have not tried your books, and do so. 😎

Author bio:
Robin Patchen is a USA Today bestselling and award-winning author of Christian romantic suspense. She grew up in a small town in New Hampshire, the setting of her Coventry Saga books, and then headed to Boston to earn a journalism degree. Working in marketing, she discovered how much she loathed the nine-to-five ball and chain. After relocating to the Southwest, she started writing her first novel while homeschooling her three children. The novel was dreadful, but her passion for storytelling didn’t wane. Thankfully, as her children grew, so did her writing ability. Now that her kids are adults, she has more time to play with the lives of fictional heroes and heroines, wreaking havoc and working magic to give her characters happy endings. When she’s not writing, she’s editing or reading, proving that most of her life revolves around the twenty-six letters of the alphabet. Visit robinpatchen.com/subscribe to receive a free book and stay informed about Robin’s latest projects.