Q1 When did you decide you were going to write a book?
A. In 1969, In St. Petersburg Jr. College, FL, I submitted one of my stories, A Biblical fiction short story set in the time of Christ, to a magazine contest and it won 2nd prize. In 1974, after graduating from college (Clearwater Christian College) and Seminary (Biblical School of Theology in Hatfield, Pennsylvania) I went back to that prize-winning story and decided to expand it into a novel by adding more characters and drawing out the plot. Thus, my first book began. Shortly after starting this book I got the idea for my second book, a purposeful time-travel novel. So I started work on both.
Q.2 how did you come up with the name of your books?
A. Naming my books came somewhat naturally, Since my first book is a Biblical novel, it was natural to choose a title from the Bible, and, since my novel contrasted the earthly kingdoms of the time with the kingdom of God, I chose the phrase which Jesus spoke in Mark 10:14-15 concerning the necessity of childlike faith to enter the kingdom of God: Of Such Is The Kingdom. Later, my wife told me of a dream she had which related to the title. It's in the dedication.
My only non-fiction book is linked to my first book, Of Such Is the Kingdom since I use illustrations from the novel to highlight various points in the self-help book. So I wanted to keep the word "Kingdom" to tie together the two books and, since the self-help book is about Biblical success principles, I called it Principles of the Kingdom and subtitled it God's Success Principles.
The title of my second published novel was also a no-brainer: By journeying in time, my characters try to accomplish something which is impossible-thus, the title, Impossible Journey, I then came up with the subtitle: A Tale of times and Truth.
As to the title of my last book, that was easy as well. The book developed out of a sermon I preached called "The Christmas Victory," and I titled the book by the same name. The subtitle took a little more thought, but since my original publisher came up with a cover with a bow on the front, I decided to make the subtitle" "A Gem of a Sermon, All Wrapped Up in a Historical Novel."
Q. 3 what are you working on now for 2018?
A. The first six months of 2018 (Jan.-June) were spent editing, revising and expanding my books, editing them with pictures and different fonts, re-doing the covers and making additional editions of two of them. I am planning promotions and worldwide presentations, and also to submit to make movies. Right now I am trying to set up a book signing event in Pembroke Pines, FL.
Q 4. how long have you been writing? I felt that I wanted to serve
A. the Lord as a writer Since my teenage years. I started writing the--poems, articles and short stories.
Q 5. What advice would you give other authors?
A. Follow your passion, pray for guidance, and don't give up.
Q 6. where can people find you online?
My Author's Den page:
A. https://www.authorsden.com/jamesmbecher
My Bublish profile: http://bit.ly/1QoXm2N
My Facebook Author page: https://www.facebook.com/JamesMBecherAuthor/
My FaithSpace profile: http://faith-space.com/profile/JamesMBecher
My Twitter profile: https://twitter.com/ChristsWriter
My Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/James-M.-Becher/e/B008CI93FU/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1538430512&sr=1-2-ent
My "My Unique Novels" blog: https://jamesmbechersuniquenovels.blogspot.com/
My "Evangelistic Fiction" blog: https://uniqueevangelisticnovels.blogspot.com/
Q7 Do you plan on making more books in the future?
A. If it's the LORD’s will. At present, I have no plans to start another book, but, with God, you never know. I had no plans to write my last one. My plans now are strictly for promotion
Q 8 how many books have you written?
A.4 main books (3 novels and a non-fiction self-help book), but this year the LORD led me to make more editions of two of them. "Of Such Is The Kingdom" is in 3 parts, and each part is published separately, but there is also the complete 3-part edition, thus giving buyers a choice. I also made a special Christmas Gift Edition of "The Christmas Victory." with red ribbons at chapter heads and pictures scattered throughout, so now the total is 8 books
Q 9 Did you go to college to be a writer? Not really. I took a one-
A. semester creative writing course, in Jr. college, but that's all. It was not my major.
10. What is your purpose in writing? My main purpose in writing is
A. to reach non-Christians with the saving good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Thus, even my non-fiction book has the gospel message, and I prefer to think of my novels as being "Evangelistic fiction" rather than "Christian fiction." For the difference, see my article on the last listed blog above. It is my hope that Christians can catch the vision of using fiction as an evangelistic tool to reach their unbelieving friends.
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