Pump Up Your Book Chats with Alana Terry, author of ‘The Beloved Daughter’

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Alana Terry is a homeschooling mother of three. “The Beloved Daughter” is her debut Christian novel and won second place in the Women of Faith writing contest. Alana is also the author of “A Boy Named Silas,” the story of her son’s complicated medical history and “What, No Sushi?” a children’s chapter book about the Japanese-American internment.

Visit her website at www.alanaterry.com or connect with her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/aboynamedsilas.

Q: Thank you so much for this interview, Alana! Can you tell us where you are from?

I was born in California, in the Bay Area. I went to college on the East Coast and moved back to California when my husband and I got married.

Q: How did you come up with your title?

The Beloved Daughter is written from a mother to her daughter, and during the novel she often addresses her child. The Beloved Daughter refers to my protagonist’s little girl that she’s writing to, but I suppose you could also take it further and say the protagonist herself is the “beloved daughter” of both her own dad and of God.

Q: They say you can judge a book by its cover. Can you tell us a little about your cover and who designed it?

I designed the cover myself, which was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed doing two-page spreads when I edited my college newspaper. To make the cover for The Beloved Daughter, I was able to use some of these skills that I hadn’t practiced in about ten years!

Q: Can you tell us something about your book that would make me run out and buy it?

Well, it was a winner in the Women of Faith writing contest, so I know I’m not the only one who thought it was well-written! I’d also recommend it to anyone who is confused or worried about everything they’re hearing about North Korea in the news these days.

Q: Are there any messages in this book that you want the reader to know about?

That suffering is real. That horrible penal colonies are not by-gone artifacts of the 20^th Century. And that sometimes hope can triumph even in such horrific conditions. (But don’t expect a fairy-tale ending, either.)

Q: What was your most favorite chapter to write and why?

I can’t tell you about my all-time favorite chapters because it’d be a total spoiler. So I’ll just say that one chapter I like early on in the book is when my protagonist’s father is brought before an interrogator and displays tremendous courage.

Q: Why did you feel you had to write this book?

I think too many people live their comfortable lives without being stretched at all. They don’t think about what kind of oppression people living today suffer. I wrote The Beloved Daughter to make people uncomfortable, to show them that there’s more to life than the American dream.

Q: Now, some fun questions – What deep dark secret would you like to share with us?

Hmm… You can’t tell just from my author headshot, but I’m terribly short. I call myself four feet, eleven and a half inches, but I think that’s something of a stretch.

Q: If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?

I haven’t seen my grandparents in several years. If I could go anywhere, it would be to visit them and let them spend some time with their great-grandkids.

Q: Are you a morning person or a night person?

Mostly a morning person, but if I’ve got the writing bug you’ll find me at my computer at all kinds of strange hours, day or night.

Q: Are there any members in your family who also like to write?

Yes! My two oldest boys love writing. My seven year-old wants to be a newspaper reporter and always goes around with his notebook interviewing people. My five year-old doesn’t have great penmanship, but he’s an awesome speller and he types super-hero stories on the iPad.

Q: As a child, were you a dreamer?

I was really, really shy as a kid. Painfully shy. I was probably too serious to be a dreamer. I did, however, always want to be an author.

Q: Last but not least, the magic genie has granted you one wish. What would that be?

The ability to forgo sleep with no ill side effects whatsoever. That way, I could write hours and hours a day without jeopardizing any family time at all!

Q: Thank you so much for this interview! Do you have any final words?

I guess I should warn you that The Beloved Daughter isn’t what you might call light reading. One of my proof-readers had to take several extra days to go over the manuscript, because the story had her crying too hard to check for typos. It’s published as a Christian novel because the protagonist goes to prison because of her father’s faith, but I tried to write it in a way that would appeal to religious and non-religious readers alike.

Oh, and one more thing. If you want to order a copy of The Beloved Daughter AND you want your purchase to help support victims of religious persecution, please consider ordering directly from alanaterry.com. There’s details there about where the proceeds go.

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How do you make sales happen for you?

A lot of hard work! I sponsor a lot of on line parties, festivals and contests. Book sales don’t magically happen, believe me. An author has to work hard to earn her readers. And then she has to work hard to keep them by giving them something they’ll enjoy reading. I try hard to make my books worth a reader’s time.

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