Book Referees: For The Love of: Vanessa Davis Griggs

I Love Writing!

By Vanessa Davis Griggs

I just sent back the finished copyedits for my sixteenth novel, The Other Side of Divine, set for release July 30, 2013, to my editor at Kensington/Dafina. When I look back over my years on this earth, I’ve had an interesting life, to say the least.

I’ve had a love fest with words since I was a young child. I loved to talk (so much so that I recall my father once asking me if I ever stopped talking). I loved to read, English when I was in school, and creating stories (whether a short story, a play, or my early attempts at writing novels). I love stringing words together and creating worlds and people who by, sanity standards, don’t really exist but become fully alive because words have that kind of power.

I write many books that play off each other as well as novels that stand alone. I see my characters in 3-D, most times before I ever even pen their stories. I admit: Some of my characters just pop up in a story that even I didn’t see coming. My characters tend to take on a life of their own, even coming to me when I’m not writing to plead their case if they feel another character has misrepresented them in some way. What may originally start out as one book with no intentions of ever being a sequel (as was the case with a book entitled The Rose of Jericho), may indeed birth a sequel (Promises Beyond Jordan) and continue birthing others, as was the case with Wings of Grace. Who knew (one would think I should have but I didn’t) that following Wings of Grace, The Blessed Trinity Series would be the “grandchildren” next to be born. This series includes Blessed Trinity, Strongholds, If Memory Serves, Practicing What You Preach, Goodness and Mercy, The Truth Is the Light, The Other Side of Goodness, The Other Side of Dare and The Other Side of Divine. My stand alone novels are also fun to write. Ma Ray, from Ray of Hope has her own fan page as does King d.Avid from Redeeming Waters. Before I ever typed the first words in Forever Soul Ties, the main character blew me away with the words I heard.

Once I'm writing a new book, I tend to fall in love with that book. My characters don’t always follow the script of the submitted outline, but they are who they are. There are times they cause me to laugh, cry, want to reach out and hold them, or slap a few of them (at the very least, shake them until they come to their senses when they’re going the wrong way). If what I’m writing doesn’t move me, then I don’t expect them to move a reader. My characters, as well as my books, are similar to having children. If you were to ask me of my works which is my favorite character…favorite book, I’d tell you that I love them all the same. The truth is: each has their individual purpose. As long as they’re doing what they were created to do, I’m a happy “mama.”

I love writing novels because I get to create a world that, in truth, doesn’t actually exist except for in my mind. But the words I pen and release has the power to create a world that others can see when they’re exposed to it. I’ll continue doing this for as long as God says so. And between me and you: I'm excited to see what God has in store. Just like the surprises that may take place in my novels, I know that whatever God does is going to be good. And I look forward to turning the page to find out what’s coming next!

For more info on me and my books, visit. www.VanessaDavisGriggs.com