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About Eloise Schroder, Webmaster of The Christian Fiction Site:
Ellie has loved Christian fiction for many years, after being introduced to it back in 1990. She developed "The Christian
Fiction Site" back in 1998 under the former title "Ellie's World of Christian Fiction" after seeing the need for an online
resource site for readers to become more familiar with Christian fiction titles on the market. Since then, she has maintained
the site in her own spare time, as well as juggling a full-time job with GPH Wholesale, a distributor of Christian literature, and being
part of the worship team in her local church. Ellie lives in Palmerston North, New Zealand, with Dion, her husband of
more than 10 years.
1. Tell us a little about yourself. I’m still 19 in my heart, but the mirror says differently! I’ve been married to the same man for thirty-four years and have two great kids—Dave Jr, and Kara. I live in a small town in Indiana amid corn fields and soybean rows. I love animals and kids, and if my kids ever cooperate, I’ll be the best grandmother known to man. *g*
2. How did you become a novelist, and did you always want to write? I’d wanted to write since I penned my first story in 1st grade about a horse that had twin colts. Even then I had animals in my stories! The dream languished underground until the late eighties when God began to stir my heart after reading so much ABA fiction that assumed there was no God. I wanted to write great fiction that assumed God exists and he loves us. But no story came. Then just shy of my 40th birthday, I had a younger brother killed by lightning. It was a wakeup call and I began to seriously pursue the dream. My first book was my grieving book for my brother.
3. What do you think is significant about Christian fiction? We’re able to read about ALL elements of life, including the spiritual. I think it’s more rounded.
4. How do you hope your readers react to the stories you write? I want them to feel it’s a really good STORY first and notice that. I want the faith element to be subtle enough that it slips in naturally and makes them yearn for a closer walk with God.
5. What responses to your novels have affected you the most and why? The ones that tell me they’ve let their relationship with God slip and they’re getting back on track. Or the ones that say reading my book caused them to forgive someone.
6. How has being a novelist impacted your relationship with Christ? It’s deepened it as I’ve seen God work so miraculously in my life. And I generally write about a spiritual issue I’m dealing with myself so what I’m finding out ministers to me too.
7. Other than writing great novels, what other goals do you have for your life? To be the best wife and mother I can and to impact my friends and acquaintances for Jesus.
8. What do you like to do in your spare time? What spare time? *g* I love to travel and research my books first hand, and I love to read.
9. What can you tell us about your latest novels? Distant Echoes is the first in the new Aloha Reef series. It’s been flying off the shelves and features Nani, a wild dolphin. I’ve loved dolphins since the Flipper days! There’s great suspense and romance in a fast paced story.
10. What stories can your fans expect from you in the days ahead? Black Sands is the sequel to Distant Echoes, but it’s a spin-off not a true series with the same people as the main characters. Black Sands is set at the volcanoes and I particularly love Annie Tagama, the heroine. She’s a volcano researcher and has a lot of feelings of inferiority to overcome. I also have a Women of Faith novel,
Alaska Twilight, coming in Feb ’06. The heroine, Haley Walsh, has only one leg from an accident as a child. She teams up with a bear researcher to solve several murders.
