Several blogs back, I promised that I would tell you about my novel writing process and even why I write what I write. Well, after much thought, (and even some procrastination) here it is.

First, I would like to reemphasize the fact that I have always loved to read, As I mentioned in an earlier blog, I have averaged over a hundred books per year since I was in third or fourth grade. I love to read all kinds of books but over the past twenty years or so, I’ve read a lot more novels than anything else. Most of those novels have been mysteries or suspense with some romance added in to keep it interesting.

In a couple of weeks, my sixteenth novel should be published. Guess what? All sixteen of those novels fit the above description. I write what I like to read and the more I read, the better I think my own novels get.

That’s pretty much all I can say about why I write. Being a former English teacher, it hurts me to make the following statement but I’m going to bite the bullet and say it anyway. I write because I can’t not write! Sound familiar? I know I’ve heard a lot of other writers make very much the same statement.

Now, the most important part of this blog (at least to me). I not only write what I read, but I write the way I read.

Whoa! That is not clear! Let me explain. When I start to read a good book, I start out by getting to know the main characters. Then I move on to whatever problem or problems the main characters face. Then, as I continue to read, the plot develops and I’m trying to figure out how the hero and heroine are going to solve their problems and eventually come together. I like surprise endings so that when I look back at the book, I realize that I should have seen them coming.

As I mentioned above, I write the way I read!

I start out with a male character and a female character and I get to know them. I build relationships between them and other, minor characters. I begin to add in problems that each one of them must face before they can ever think of being together. As I go through the book, I drop little hints as to what the major problem may be. Then, by the time I get to the climatic part of the book, the major problem comes out. But, the way that my characters deal with and conquer this major problem doesn’t really surface until that point in the book.

If you have read any of my novels, you know that by the time the two main characters come together at the end, their lives have changed and they have come closer to God. This is a vital part of my novels, but it is usually (as in real life) only a byproduct of all the other events in the novel.

In another series of blogs, I am in the process of telling the story behind each of those stories. What I want to do right now is more or less tell you the story behind … me.

I think that for many people, me included, it is nice to know a little about the author so that I may better understand that particular author’s books. As you read the following, you will see where many characters, scenes and occupations came from in my novels.

So, here it is.

I grew up in a very small town in Southeast Missouri. That time of my life indelibly stamped me as a small-town boy. (You can take the boy out of the small town but you can’t take the small town out of the boy.)

The next significant event in my life was that in January of 1970, I joined the U. S. Army. I knew I was going to get drafted soon so I thought that it was best to join first. Man! Was that ever one of the best things I ever did. It sure made my two years in the Army so much better. The Army trained me to be a combat medic so they could send me to Vietnam in that capacity. But, God was with me then very much, even though I wasn’t with Him. Shortly before I was due to graduate from that training and go to Vietnam, I was given the opportunity to go to a year-long OJT (On the Job Training) to become an Orthopedic Specialist. I had to extend my enlistment for eighteen months but I figured that would be better than the alternative.

That was another one of those best things I ever did. Not only did I not have to go to Vietnam, but I met my wife Ann there and I still only spent two years in the Army due to an early out they were giving when Vietnam was winding down in 1972.

Well, the first job I had once I left the Army was bartender. Yes! One of my books has one of the main characters being a bar owner. How do you think I could portray that the way I did?

Next, I passed the Colorado Real Estate Exam and became a real estate agent. Notice how often that career pops up in my books.

Then I finally went back to school and earned my degree in education from Arizona State University with a double major in English and history. Notice how many of my characters are teachers.

Then, in 1983, God finally said it was time. I accepted the Lord on July 31, 1983. Two years later, I felt God calling me into the ministry so my wife, my two daughters and I packed up and headed for seminary in Fort Worth, Texas.

I pastored for ten years then I finished my Doctor of Ministry in Biblical Counseling. From there, my preparation to write really began to finalize. Over the next twenty years, I was a pastoral counselor, crisis counselor, hospital chaplain and police chaplain.

I must remind you that during all this time, I was reading. But somehow my reading material shifted somewhat during that time. I read a lot of books written by women. Wow! Did I ever learn about women as it read those books. In fact, I learned so much about women and the way they think and act that many times when I was doing marriage counseling, I would set the husband down, in front of his wife, and explain to him exactly where she was coming from. Not only was the husband shocked to finally be able to understand his wife, but the wife was shocked to hear a man voice her inner thoughts and feelings that way.

Disclaimer! I must admit that as a man trying to understand women, I still have much to learn. My wife, Ann, says that even after forty-five years, I still don’t understand her the way she would like for me to. Oh well! Maybe after another forty-five years.

Now you know, not only how I write my novels, but how I have learned to develop the characters that I include in my novels.

I certainly hope you have enjoyed reading this blog as much as I enjoyed writing it. I’m not going to take any of the credit for all of the things which have shaped me into the writer I am today.

No! Not me!

To God be the Glory!


Thank you and may God richly bless each and every one of you.

T. E. Killian