The Things I Do For Research.

Patricia Davids here. Happy Spring. 

If you want to be a writer, or you are a writer, you have to be prepared to do some research. I always knew that. Happily for me, I love research. Hours and hours in the library, pouring through old books. Finding out wonderful facts. That is fun.

As it turns out, sitting in the library will only get you so far when it comes to writing realistically about something you aren't familiar with. Take the Amish. There is still a lot I don't know about the Amish even after 12 books in my Brides of Amish Country series. Their culture is so diverse that what works for an Amish romance set in Ohio won't necessarily work for a story set in Pennsylvania.

 Because I didn't want a dozen books about farmers and quilters, I had to investigate business run by Amish families. There are many. I've been to visit an alpaca farm, ridden in a buggy, sat behind a draft horse in a wagon, took a tour of a printing press company and museum. I've visited a fabric shop and quilt store in an Amish community, visited with Old Order Mennonite women at a family run café, spent hours talking to my nephew's wife about being nurse-midwife, and I even interviewed the cutest small town sheriff ever. (If I get arrested, it will be in Council Grove.) I have watched a buggy wheel being made in a blacksmith shop and seen a huge sewing machine for making leather harnesses. In all, less than one tenth of what I've learned goes into any given book. But they don't call me the trivia queen for nothing. Just ask me. I'm sure I'll have an answer and if I don't, I will make one up. I write fiction, you know.

For my latest book, THE SHEPHERD'S BRIDE, I have the privilege of visiting a sheep farm during lambing season. Talk about hard work, awesome dogs and cute, cuddly baby lambs. I will admit that alpacas have won my heart, but a baby lamb comes in a close second.

So I'm going to open it up to questions here. What would you like to know about the Amish, sheep or even alpacas?

Did you know sheep can be buried under the snow for nearly a week and survive? The heat from their bodies will melt breathing holes. They'll dig down to grass or eat each other's wool for food and they can get enough water by eating snow? Boggles the mind.  

Why the popularity of Amish books?

Patricia Davids here.

Why the popularity of Amish books?

My advance copies of my March release arrived yesterday. Katie’s Redemption is the first book in my new Brides of Amish Country series. It wasn’t until I started doing research for these books that I realized how popular Amish stories had become. Why is that? What is it about that culture that intrigues people?

I will admit the research is fascinating. I had no idea there were such differences among Amish churches. Some don’t allow indoor toilets while some allow members to own automobiles. That’s quite a difference in attitude. For some, cell phones are okay, but land lines are not, or the phone can only be in the barn or in a shack to be shared with other families.

My favorite story was about a busload of tourists who asked an Amish man what it meant to be Amish. He asked who had a TV in their homes. Every hand went up. He asked who thought their families spent too much time watching TV and that it was bad for them. Every hand went up. He then asked, who was going to go home and get rid of their TV. No one held up their hand. He said, that what it was to be Amish.

I get it. To see that a thing is bad and say no, we will not allow it. That’s a hard thing to sell in modern America where every freedom must be protected.

Why do you think Amish stories are gaining popularity? Because the Amish are devout? Because they are quaint? Or because we all long for a simpler time when home and family was the focus of our lives?

A New Book from Marta Perry

From Marta Perry:

I'm so delighted to announce the release this month of LEAH'S CHOICE, the first book in my Pleasant Valley Amish series, which is being published by Berkley Books. I'll still be writing my Love Inspired and Love Inspired Suspense stories, but it's exciting to venture into a new field, as well. The books for Berkley are being published in trade size, and they are longer stories then the ones I write for Love Inspired.

Here's a little about Leah's Choice:

All of Pleasant Valley seems to think the newcomer from Lancaster County would make a perfect husband for teacher Leah. After all, so few new families come to their seaparate Amish community, and few still unmarried men. Daniel Glick is a widower with three young children--clearly he's in need of a wife.

Daniel's past haunts him. Though he cannot miss the beauty in Leah's bright eyes and patient ways, he also see a reminder of his pain-filled marriage. Leah Beiler, too, has a burden to bear. Years ago, she was engaged to be married to Johnny Kile, and she was heartbroken when he decided to leave the Amish community. Since then she has immmersed herself in teaching, forgetting any hope of having her own family. When Johnny returns, seeking reconciliation, Leah must decide between two paths and rely on her faith to show the way.

Please visit me at http://www.martaperry.com/ and http://www.booksbymartaperry.blogspot.com/. And if you'd like to receive a signed bookmark and my free brochure of Pennsylvania Dutch recipes, just e-mail me at marta@martaperry.com.

AMISH APPEAL by Marta Perry

Awhile back, in the course of my Flanagans series for Steeple Hill Love Inspired, I introduced some Amish minor characters, wondering what my editor would say about that. She responded, “You know that Amish thing? Do that more.” So, since I’m in the habit of saying yes to editors, probably in reaction to all those years when they were saying no to me, I agreed. It wasn’t difficult to write about the Amish, since I’ve spent my life in rural Pennsylvania, where the Plain sects are very common. I also have several friends who grew up Plain, and I welcomed the opportunity to showcase that world in my fiction.

Next up came a three-book suspense series for Love Inspired, set in Pennsylvania Dutch country with, again, Amish minor characters. The art department did a lovely job—buggies on every cover. Then, through a series of events that had to be experienced to be believed, my agent made a three-book trade-size deal with Berkley books. The first book in the Pleasant Valley Amish series will be out in November, and Berkley has already contracted for another three books. I’m also writing another three-book suspense series for Love Inspired with Amish characters, which I’m working on now. It was definitely a case of being in the right place at the right time!

The Amish romance flood started, as these things often do, with a single author. Beverly Lewis has been quietly selling her Amish stories for a number of years, with no one in publishing apparently noticing, until she began appearing on the Times list. In short order, Wanda Brunstetter followed her to the list, and then Cindy Woodsmall. Suddenly every publishing house wanted its own Amish author, and Amish series are popping up like weeds in my flower bed.

Why are they so popular? That’s the million dollar question. Based on the letters I receive from readers, I’d say that the books help feed a longing for a simpler lifestyle. Haven’t you ever wished you could get rid of the constant pressure and demand for interaction posed by e-mail, Facebook, cell phones, twenty-four hour news channels, and all the rest? The books allow readers to live for a few hours in a society which gets along very nicely without all those things.

It’s also a society where families tend to live close together, and one in which there’s an instant support system in time of need. With families in contemporary society spread around the globe, that has its own appeal.

The oddest thing about the craze for Amish books, though, is the fact that this genre has grown up around a culture which does its best to stay out of the spotlight. Maybe that’s why people are so interested in knowing what goes on there. The challenge for me has been to write it real and in a way that I trust will cause no offense to a group of people I admire.