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Let's welcome back fellow Ambassador International author Joanna White and see what she's been up to.

Hi, Joanna! You have a new story being released soon. Tell us about it. Is it completely new or is it related to Hunter in any way?

I’m glad you asked! Shifter is new but it is a part of the same series as Hunter. It’s Book Two of the Valiant Series. But Shifter is new because it takes place in a completely different world from Hunter with brand new characters. In the overall arc of the Valiant Books, darkness is taking over the galaxy and Radon is searching fo the Chosen to help defeat it. Shifter is the second world Corrupted by darkness, so we’ll have to see what happens with it. 


That's an interesting premise! I was wondering, do you have any core methods/practices when you craft your tales?

Firstly, I always talk to my husband because he helps me with ideas. Even if I have an idea to start, he’s really good at combining it with other ideas to make it better. That, and God. If He doesn’t inspire me to write a story, then the story will not get written. I like writing after my mom and sister are sleeping,  while my husband is still at work. So, I’ll sit in the living room at the table with my computer. I'll write usually  between 7:00 pm and 11:30 pm (when my husband gets off work) and then later after he and I have our dinner and split up for a few hours, around 1:00 am to 3:00 am. 


So you're a night owl. I used to be one of those, actually for most of my life. But now, I get up early to do my writing. Speaking of differences, how do you approach writing supporting characters and antagonists, as opposed to the main protagonist(s)?

With all my characters, I try to let them have some freedom. I’ll usually have an outline. I see where they’re starting and where I want them to go, along with a few core ideas I love about them or what they'll go through. I’ll stick with those. But in-between, I try to let the characters come alive as I “feel” what they’re going to do.

That happened a lot with the Valiant Series when I wrote it – moreso than my works today. So, the Valiant characters -- both main, side, and especially the antagonists constantly “ran away from me” (did things that were not planned)! 


That sounds like a lot to keep up with. A lot of writing, even before you get to writing the story itself. What’s the most words you’ve written in one sitting? What were the circumstances?

Haha! Oh, man this is such a good question! In the Valiant Series, I wrote one of the prequel books called Paladin, after I had it outlined (all 200 pages of it) in a 24-hour period. Then I sat and wrote for a long time one day, went to sleep and wrote a long time the next day and finished it. It was 27,000 words.

Just recently, I wrote a 50,000 word novel in a six day period. The second to last day, I wrote 12,000 words between 7:00 pm and 11:00 pm. Then, from 1:00 am to 4:00 am. The next night, when I finished it, I wrote the last 15,000 words – again from 7:00 pm to 11:00 pm and then from 1:00 am till sometime after 5:00 am.

That’s definitely the most I’ve written in one setting. My back hurt from sitting in a hard desk chair and my wrist was killing me from typing for so long,  Haha! 


I can only imagine! I've done some long writing stints but I think I made myself get up and walk around from time to time. You mentioned your husband before. He seems very supportive of you being an author. Can you tell us about him and the role he has in your writing?

I want to say that I wouldn’t be a writer without him -- even though I wrote way before I met him, ever since I was ten. I only wrote what I call modern Christian dramas. That is, until I wanted to write an epic franchise like Star Wars and make it more fantasy style. But I didn’t know how to write fantasy.

While he and I dated, he helped me so much with ideas. He was the first to edit Hunter and without him, all of the fight scenes would have made one of the main antagonists seem pathetic!

I’ve learned so much with him. I can’t say that the Valiant Series is mine alone. First, it’s God's because He worked with my husband and I on it but it’s also partially Michael’s – my husband’s. Every time I needed ideas, he was there and we basically worked on all the ideas and concepts together. Some of the characters are also ones he came up with, so I can’t take all the credit.

He’s also the most supportive I’ve ever seen. He works so I can stay at home and be a full time author, doing what I love and what I’m passionate about. Michael is absolutely fantastic and so good to me. 

Having such a supportive spouse is super-important. My wife and I have that kind of relationship, too. I believe having your life partner be your creative partner is a natural extension of the husband-wife relationship. Not everyone gets to experience that but it's wonderful when it happens. So, what are some projects you have in mind for the future?

Funny you ask! As I mentioned before, I just finished writing a novel in about six days. It was my first time writing a romance and a Biblical fiction, so I basically combined two genres I had never written before.

I have a ton of story ideas and other short stories I want to flush out and add more to them. One is called Beside Still Waters and it’s only 30,000 words.

I had beta readers who helped me think of more ideas and things that need to be addressed with it, so whenever God inspires me, I’ll be working on it.

I also have two other stories I’ve started that are unfinished until inspiration hits. One is a modern Christian romance called The Plans I Have For You about a man in a rock band who falls in love with a Christian teacher and he has to overcome his abusive past to move on with his life. The second is a modern fantasy called The Book Whisperer about a girl who can talk to book characters. That’s one I’m really trying to work on. I am interested in writing in new genres to gain experience and challenge myself – to see how many different types of books I can write.

Other than that, because I just finished a novel, I’m at that post-book stage where you get that weird I-don’t-know-what-to-do-with-my-life feeling until you find another book to write. Or maybe it’s just me who gets it because I write so much.

Until then, I’m focused on Shifter’s launch and hopefully publishing the other Valiant Books. I do have a lot of family who have encouraged me to edit and submit Born of Sand – the Biblical romance I just finished – for publishing. So basically, I’m waiting for God to tell me what He wants me to do, write, work on, publish, finish, etc. 


That's quite a lot on your figurative plate, but I know from experience, that also keeps one's life interesting. I'm delighted you've been able to join us today. Is there anything else you’d like our readers to know about you, your books or in general?


I am so passionate about writing. I don’t read much anymore, but I can live these stories as I’m writing them, which is why I do it so much. I want to use these stories, worlds, and characters I’ve created with God’s help and Michael’s to inspire and encourage others, to give them good, clean books to read made and created with God and His Word in mind so that they can read a book without worrying about something bad being in it.


Here is the Shifter synopsis: 
Beroan is a shapeshifter, part of the dragon clan. His clan’s Alpha, Sirath, wants to watch the world burn.

For ten long years Sirath has attacked villages, killing thousands of humans and burning towns to the ground. Beroan has had enough, but his resistance will only end in suffering.

Nsi is a human living in a small village with her grandmother and cousin. Her ignorance about the existence of shifters won’t protect her for long. Her family was killed in a dragon attack when she was younger, and now dragons have come again. Now she will stop at nothing until the dragon shifters are stopped, to save humans from suffering the same fate as her family.

Together, Nsi and Beroan will risk everything to save humanity from Sirath.

Darkness is spreading through the galaxy, Corrupting one world after another, and now it has come for theirs. Sirath already belongs to the Corruption of darkness.

He will not stop until he burns down the world and leaves it covered in fire and ash. 

Shifter pre-order link 

Shifter giveaway link 

Joanna White's website
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Coming soon -- the 2nd Summer Fiction Blast from Ambassador International -- Monday July 1st through Saturday July 6th!

Join Ambassador International and its fiction authors for this fun summer fiction blast. We will be discussing our 2019 new releases!

I will be debuting Jordan's World during the event - on July 1st! I will also be the primary point of contact for this event. More details soon.

Click the link below for more information:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1173254799548374
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Here it is! The cover for Jordan's World. Coming July 1, 2019 from Ambassador International.

You can also now pre-order Jordan's World on Amazon for $15.99 HERE!
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Jordan's World now has an official release date: July 1, 2019! In addition, I will be having the Cover Reveal on Monday, May 27, 2019. Stay tuned for more details!
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This week, please enjoy guest blogger Joanna White. She is a fellow author with Ambassador International. She will share with us about her debut novel Hunter.

What does Hunter mean to me? That’s a question I’ve never asked myself and one I feel deserves an answer. 

Hunter​ is my first. 

Sure, before Hunter I’d written lots of books; after all, I’ve been writing since I was ten or eleven and I first wrote Hunter when I was seventeen or eighteen. But it was my first fantasy novel. It was the first in what became a seventeen-book, epic series. It was the first novel I wrote after I got serious about writing and wanted to turn it into a career. It is my first published novel. It was the first book where I’d written major fights and action scenes. It was the first book where I’d created my own world. It was the first book that had names I’d made up on my own. It was the first book that ever had a direct Biblical parallel - until then, I’d always written Christian dramas with Christian themes, not direct parallels. 

Hunter reminds me there’s always room for improvement, but that doesn’t take away from the original story.

After Hunter, I just continued writing. Onto Experiment, working on Mortal, then Assassin and Shifter, Samurai, Survivor, Remnant, Warrior, Enslaved, Rogue, Raider, Wicked, Paladin, finishing Mortal, Immortal, Valiant Part One, Valiant Part Two. After Hunter, I spent the next several years writing one book in the Valiant Series after another until the seventeen-book series had been completely finished. Throughout the years, my husband and I edited a few books in the Valiant Series together, including Hunter and I went through it again after the series finished, when we realized it paralleled with the Bible, so I could add a few more scenes to make it better. But for the most part, as soon as the Valiant Series was over, I started another series and wrote six books in it before I took a break. Then I started another one and wrote three books in it and in between wrote various novels, novellas, and short stories.

Then Hunter was accepted by Ambassador International, so I went through it and the first book in the Valiant Series, Shifter, with my editor. There were a lot of things to be edited and changed. Seeing the final product - all the edits, the smooth structure, the added scenes, the better pacing and development - it really showed me and made me appreciate the concept of revising and editing your work. I’m a writer and I’ll always be a writer, not an editor, but now I understand that sometimes editing my work and polishing it doesn’t take away from the original story. Hunter is still there and the original ideas I had back when I was senior in high school (and a much younger writer back then), were still good ones.

But over the years, all the writing I did - seventeen books, then six, then three, then several standalone ones - gave me experience as a writer and matured me as one too. That showed me that while my original ideas for Hunter were great and super creative, it could use a touch and polish. What Hunter is now, is smooth, better, improved, and still sitting on the platform of the original ideas and the book that was there before. 

Hunter gave me my favorite characters, ones that have stuck with me over the years, through so much of my life.

As I graduated high school, then went to college online, got my writing degree, started my writing career, got married, moved away, started my life…I was writing the Valiant Series. Jared and Averella were my first two major protagonists. Hindah was my first villain and Radon…well, he was still being developed, but he was there. Jared and Averella, however, stuck with me and kept showing back up throughout the series as major protagonists in the Valiant Series. They were my first, so above all the other characters, they held a special place in my heart.

Even Hindah, who had been the first major villain in the series, stayed with me, so much so that I had to recreate that original conflict again and drive the stakes higher the second time. Now, as I look back at Jared and Averella, I see their development and overall character arcs throughout the entire Valiant Series and it inspires me to create more characters with their stories and arcs and make them grow and change as much as Jared and Averella did. 

Hunter taught me how to write good, intense, action scenes

Since all I wrote before Hunter were Christian dramas, at most before then, I’d only ever written a fist fight here and there. Maybe the occasional car accident scene. Needless to say, I was not prepared for enhanced assassins tracking down and killing prisoners inside a multi-biome arena with medieval weaponry.

That was where my husband came in at, during the time we edited Hunter. Phew, there was so much that needed fixing, but it gave me all the lessons I needed; the proper words to use in a fight - slice, dodge, twist, smack, slam, pound, jab, lunge, drove, darted, sped, dashed, pierced, swung, etc. It taught me to picture the fight in my mind and clearly visualize it, then slowly describe what I’m seeing in my mind, even to the point of acting it out if I have to in order to see it properly. It taught me to know the characters and the environment they’re fighting in. How would they use it against their opponent or to their own advantage? What would they notice? What would they use? How would their body react with their weapon? 

Hunter showed me I can create an epic world and intense survival scenarios to go with it. 

I didn’t world build the entire planet itself - Averell - much, but I did world build the prison, Zagerah, since that’s mostly where Hunter takes place at. I created different biomes scattered all around the map - volcanoes, swamp, the shadow forest, ice caves, caverns, the mist, and even tried to make a few non-natural structures too such as the glass pyramid and the invisible maze. This allowed me the freedom to create survival scenarios that would naturally arise as the characters traveled to these dangerous biomes. 

Hunter showed me that I can write in genres I’d never tried before.

With Hunter, I literally went from writing Christian dramas, to epic Christian fantasy novels filled with action, suspense, romance, drama, tragedy, and more. 

Most of all, Hunter showed me to never give up.

I cannot tell you how many times Hunter has been rejected by publishers. I also self-published it first and it only brought me in about ten bucks a month. I submitted it to publishers over and over again, so much so that I doubted it would ever be accepted. And yet, it was. Hunter is going to be my first published novel and thus, my dream of becoming a published author will be fulfilled through Hunter. I started writing it in high school for fun and in the end, I created a career and now, Hunter is going to kick-start that career. 

Never, ever give up on your dreams. God has a very special plan for your life and no one and nothing can change that. He has your back. He gave you the gifts and talents He gave you for a reason and He has plans to prosper you and not to harm you (Jeremiah 29:11). Nothing is impossible with God (Matthew 19:26) and no giant or storm can stop Him. I hope Hunter can remind you of that, too. 

So today, I’ll leave you with a short excerpt from Hunter: 

Slipping one of his arms around my shoulder to steady him, I stopped short, feeling someone watching me from ahead. The clicking noise echoed again and barely had time to shove Wexx to the side before I was pierced by something sharp and knocked to the ground.

Pain exploded in my lower left shoulder. I groaned, practically a scream. I bit my lip to try to keep from screaming as loud as I could. 

“Dalex!” I heard. 

We were both dead.

Synopsis: 
A reckless young woman named Averella does what no woman has ever done.

She disguises herself as a man and purposefully gets herself arrested and thrown into Zagerah. Her brother Gabriel was taken, and with his disease, he will not survive on his own. She has no idea what to expect inside the prison; all she knows is that once men get taken, they never come back.

The Hunters will find her.

Genetically altered to be faster and stronger than humans, the Hunters use their powers to find and kill every prisoner who enters Zagerah. The only ones who can defeat them, are in fact, themselves.

Jared is a Hunter. It’s all he’s known, all he remembers. He kills ruthlessly and without regret, one prisoner after another. When a new prisoner Dalex shows up, everything begins to change. Jared goes undercover to make Dalex and the other prisoners believe he is one of them, a prisoner himself.

No one knows the truth.
He will trick them.
Toy with them.
Then, he will kill them.

Link to Pre-Order:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07NCM7XXF/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i1
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On March 18, 1995 I married my best friend, Angel. She has been my first editor, my strongest support and the one who understands me better than anyone else. She is the mother of our three children and I think she's a wonderful, beautiful person.

This is footage from our wedding which I edited down to 16 minutes. I also added sound and some subtitles for the hard-to-hear moments. Please enjoy!

About the author

Allen Steadham is a nondenominational Christian. Happily interracially married since 1995 and the proud father of two sons and a daughter. He and his wife have been in the same Christian band since 1997. He plays electric bass, she plays strings, they both sing. It's all good.

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