Francine Rivers

My job is to allow the character to live and breathe - and become as real to the reader as he or she is to me. ”

I actually worked in the general market for many years writing steamy historical romance, and I had more freedom in the Christian market than I ever did in the general market to write about any issue that I needed to write about. ”

My favorite book is 'Redeeming Love.' It was my first as a born-again Christian, my statement of faith, and the most exciting year I've spent writing anything. ”

When we love like Jesus does, lives change for the better. ”

The goal is to have every character take on a life of his or her own. Sometimes characters will come into the story that I haven't planned. ”

I became a Christian late, in my late 30s, so I had a lot of things that I was bringing into my Christian life that I regret. And I had a lot of questions about faith, so that's where I start when I write. ”

I'll often dream about characters before I start writing their stories. ”

I want to see Christian fiction speak to the hard and real issues that tear people's lives apart. ”

I had been raised in the church, but I wasn't a Christian. I had a lot of head knowledge but no heart knowledge. ”

Well, I always wanted to write from the time I was very little, and my mother encouraged me. She wrote a journal from the time she was 15 up until about the age of 76. ”