Ask the Author: Vicki Olsen
Answered Questions (12)
Vicki Olsen
Becky, Thank you so much for reading my book. I love hearing from readers-especially those that like the books- LOL. I would really appreciate a review from you here, on Amazon and Bookbub. It doesn't need to be long. My link on bookbub is https://www.bookbub.com/profile/vicki... I am working on a second book about Sarah, but put it aside for another project about the French Underground during WW2. I hope to have it published within the next 6 months. Then I can bring Sarah back into my life. It took me 5 years to write the first book and I have been working on the current project for 4 years. I do think I can finish Sarah's story much faster because I have already completed half. You can learn more about the current project here: https://www.vickiolsen.com/listing-02 Thank you for reaching out.
Vicki Olsen
Hi Marilyn, Thanks for reaching out to me. I am still working on the new book and hope to have it ready for ARC reviews by the first of 2023. That put me one year behind my original goal. Rest assured, when it is ready you will be on the list of reviewers. Thanks for your continued support. Vicki
Vicki Olsen
Hi Marylyn. I am so pleased that you are interested in reading the new book. I have been working on it for over 2 years now. I hope to have it finished and translated to French before the D-Day 80th anniversary in 2024. I am heading for France for research. This is the 4th time in 5 years!
YEA! I would love to have you on my Beta Reader team. I will PM you with more information later. If you have any other readaholic friends who might be interested in joining my street team/beta reader team let me know or tell them to email me via my website. Also, I need more followers here, on Amazon, and on Bookbub https://www.bookbub.com/authors/vicki... Thanks for your continued support Marilyn. I really appreciate it.
YEA! I would love to have you on my Beta Reader team. I will PM you with more information later. If you have any other readaholic friends who might be interested in joining my street team/beta reader team let me know or tell them to email me via my website. Also, I need more followers here, on Amazon, and on Bookbub https://www.bookbub.com/authors/vicki... Thanks for your continued support Marilyn. I really appreciate it.
Vicki Olsen
Laura, forgive me for the delay in responding to your question. Somehow I failed to see it until now.
To answer your second question first—there are few similarities to my own life other than I would be a contemporary of Sarah. I drew on my own recollections of life in the 50s and 60's to set the scene. I was not raised on a farm, and although I was born in a small town in Arkansas, I was not raised there. The atmosphere of the town, the school, and the periphery characters were created from a composite of the town in southern Arkansas where my grandparents lived and the small town in Idaho where I attended school. The experiences however are entirely from my imagination. I had an ideal childhood with nearly perfect parents and a good relationship with my brothers. Some aspects of Kenny are drawn from my own brothers, but they are both still alive and well. I was able to get some insight into the incestual abuse from a friend I had as an adult. I used her accounts to explore Sarah's emotional responses as well as her relationship with her parents. I did experience emotional and physical abuse in my marriage and used that to draw Sarah's journey into low self-esteem and the powers of forgiveness in one's personal growth.
The book came about from a joint effort with a writer friend of mine. He created the town of Tolerance for his first book. I had helped him edit the book and became interested in a minor character from that book. I suggested he write a book based on her because I thought her backstory would be interesting. He was working on another book at the time and suggested I write the book instead. I changed her name but kept the name of the town (with his written permission.) During the writing process, Sarah told me her story. There is little or none of the original character left in A Sparrow Falls. My friend had since passed away. His original book is no longer available and he never finished the second one.
Thank you for your question. I hope you will read the sequel when it is published. It is a continuation of Sarah's story set on a 70s Jesus Freak commune in the Ozark Mountains.
To answer your second question first—there are few similarities to my own life other than I would be a contemporary of Sarah. I drew on my own recollections of life in the 50s and 60's to set the scene. I was not raised on a farm, and although I was born in a small town in Arkansas, I was not raised there. The atmosphere of the town, the school, and the periphery characters were created from a composite of the town in southern Arkansas where my grandparents lived and the small town in Idaho where I attended school. The experiences however are entirely from my imagination. I had an ideal childhood with nearly perfect parents and a good relationship with my brothers. Some aspects of Kenny are drawn from my own brothers, but they are both still alive and well. I was able to get some insight into the incestual abuse from a friend I had as an adult. I used her accounts to explore Sarah's emotional responses as well as her relationship with her parents. I did experience emotional and physical abuse in my marriage and used that to draw Sarah's journey into low self-esteem and the powers of forgiveness in one's personal growth.
The book came about from a joint effort with a writer friend of mine. He created the town of Tolerance for his first book. I had helped him edit the book and became interested in a minor character from that book. I suggested he write a book based on her because I thought her backstory would be interesting. He was working on another book at the time and suggested I write the book instead. I changed her name but kept the name of the town (with his written permission.) During the writing process, Sarah told me her story. There is little or none of the original character left in A Sparrow Falls. My friend had since passed away. His original book is no longer available and he never finished the second one.
Thank you for your question. I hope you will read the sequel when it is published. It is a continuation of Sarah's story set on a 70s Jesus Freak commune in the Ozark Mountains.
Vicki Olsen
It is half-finished, but I have put it aside to write the French Resistance book. I hope to publish both in 2020. I may post some of the Sparrow sequel chapters on my website soon. www.vickiolsen.com
Thanks for asking.
Thanks for asking.
Vicki Olsen
Consider yourself counted! Thank you so much. Check my website vickiolsen.com to follow the progress.
Vicki Olsen
Marilyn, sorry for the delayed response. I just returned from my 90-day visit a couple of weeks ago. What a whirlwind that was! I came home with over 50 pages of handwritten notes that I have now transcribed to my computer. I met with families of 5 of the individuals who will be represented in the book, including the families of 2 of my father's crew-mates. I stayed in the home of the family of one of the Resistance Cell leaders for 2 months. They took me to Normandy and other places of interest. They make me eat stinky cheeses, snails and other things they refused to reveal. But best of all I have all the material I need for the book and now have the first 3K words of the first draft. The plane was shot down after they bombed the train station at Creil- just north of Paris. Three were captured and 3 spent 4 months evading capture in small villages around Beauvais. I can hardly wait to share the story with readers.. Vicki
Vicki Olsen
Hi Marilyn. Yes, I saw your reviews. I am flattered by your comments and do so appreciate you taking the time to read A Sparrow Falls and write the reviews. I means so much to new authors to get reviews. I hope to have the new book published in early 2020. I have put it aside briefly in order to plan a trip to France. I will be there for 3 months researching a new project—a novel about the French Resistance during WWII. My father was one of the Allied Airmen rescued and hidden by the brave men and women. I will be interviewing the son of one of these heroes and the grandson of another.
Thank you for your offer to do an advance read, I will take you up on that offer and will be in touch with you when I return from Europe. All the best, and thank you for your support!
Thank you for your offer to do an advance read, I will take you up on that offer and will be in touch with you when I return from Europe. All the best, and thank you for your support!
Vicki Olsen
About ten years ago, my friend B.R. Harwell, an 80-year-old retired actor asked me to do a beta read and edit of a novel he was working on. Helping him re-write scenes got my juices flowing. We decided to collaborate on a book. A few chapters in, he lost interest in the story and moved on to another project. Sarah was a minor character in that book. She had a different name and a different story-line, but I kept her essence. She insisted that I tell her story her way.
Vicki Olsen
Right now I am getting book 2 of Sarah's story on paper. But in my head I am working on Sarah book 3 and sorting out 3-4 story-lines for other books. I really liked the Boyd character in A Sparrow Falls. He had a very small role, but he keeps bugging me to tell his story.
Vicki Olsen
I have always enjoyed solitary time. Writing is a solitary endeavor, requiring hours of sitting alone in front of a keyboard leaving the real world outside your window and letting your mind take over. I love it.
Vicki Olsen
When I get stuck I grab a steno-pad and a pen. I just start writing for ten minutes without stopping. No thinking, no editing, no going back allowed. Just stream of consciousness writing. That shakes the cobwebs loose. Most of it goes in the thrash—but there are usually a few nuggets worth keeping.
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