An Interview With Emily & Bethany Acker

Today, please help me welcome Emily & Bethany Acker, sisters and co-authors. They have been writing together for several years, and enjoy crafting characters who people can relate to. They especially enjoy writing about faith, family, and forgiveness.

Their contemporary Christian fiction novel, No Longer Broken, was released on July 26th, 2016 through eLectio Publishing and we are going to talk about that today and more! 

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Welcome ladies! For those who aren't familiar with your work, can you tell us a little about the two of you?

We began writing on our own when we were just kids, and when Bethany was in her teens and Emily in her early twenties, we decided to see how it would be to write together. We have been at it for several years now, and we love the way that we can combine our ideas and characters to create a novel.

What is your latest book about?

No Longer Broken is about two brothers and the hurt between them. The younger brother, Isaiah, comes back to make things right with Jack after spending fifteen years away. They and their children struggle through this time, but with God's help they learn to forgive.

Is there a message in your book that you want your readers to grasp?

Everyone has some kind of hurt in their past. We hope that our readers relate to the characters in No Longer Broken and find inspiration and the courage to forgive.

Which do you enjoy more – reading or writing?

That's easy. Although we both love reading and would never want to give it up, writing is our passion. We get to develop characters and connect with them in a whole different way in writing than we do when reading, and neither of us would be able to live without it.

What is your favorite time of day to write?

We would write all day long if we could - and we have done that at times - but our favorite time to get some good writing in is late at night. We write until one a.m. or later pretty much every single night, and we love those late night hours with no interruptions.

What authors have inspired your own writing?

There are many great inspirational authors out there with books that we love. Two who come to mind right away are Susan May Warren and Denise Hunter. We like the way that these authors give each of their characters heart and a backstory that is interesting.

As a team, how do you work out the logistics of writing a story? For example, does one person concentrate on the antagonist in a story, while the other works on the hero? Do you each write separate story lines and then somehow bring the characters together? 

Great questions.
 
The way that we go about writing together starts with Bethany coming up with a bit of a backstory, and then we each develop our own set of characters and work together in the actual writing process. In No Longer Broken, for example, we were each one of the brothers and were able to get into character as they interacted with one another and eventually found healing. I think that the fact that we're not only sisters but also really good friends helps to make the whole process go smoothly.

That's very interesting! Thank you for stopping by and sharing not only your book, but your writing process as well. ​

You can follow Bethany and Emily at: 

Website: http://www.ackerbooks.com/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/ackerandacker
Twitter: @ackerandacker