Your new novel The Forecast sort of defies artistic labeling. You don’t classify it as Christian fiction, but the secular markets don’t know what to do with it. How would YOU define it? 

It’s sort of like asking a musician what kind of music he plays. I didn’t set out to package this book as a commercial enterprise. I’m a storyteller whose non-negotiable relationship with Jesus influences how I see the world. It’s as simple as that. If you really want to know what sort of thematic storyline it follows, I guess I could say Woody Allen’s Crimes and Misdemeanors meets Kate Chopin’s The Awakening meets Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter. On top of that, I called it a “counterfeit memoir” because the main character has such a strong confessional voice. Go figure.  

What is the story about? 

Well, the first page opens with a surprising detail about Willow, a woman in her early thirties. Her hand has been cut off, but we don’t know why. The rest of the story works its way back to that detail. It’s sort of a modern, suburban adventure that weaves the character’s past and present together in very complex ways. Willow’s faith has led her down some spiritual trails—some very authentic and some very misguided. Her naiveté about God has led her to believe that life should be very paint-by-number, but it’s never that way.  

So it’s a Christian book? 

If you mean that a Christian book is one that sees the bigger redemptive picture—and seeks to tell the gritty truth about mankind and his relationship to God with a lexicon that people of faith would recognize—then yes, it’s a Christian book. It definitely uses a biblical worldview as a lens. But if you’re asking if it’s an evangelical book, or a fundamentalist book, or a genre-formula book, then you’re out of luck.  

Do you think the book is controversial in any way? 

That’s a tough question because I am, by nature, a pleaser. I grew up playing it safe. But here I am with a story on my hands that has a strong sin content. I didn’t set out to do this, but I realize now that the book reveals some dirty little secrets about temptation and apostasy. Not to compare myself to C.S. Lewis, but there were times when it reminded me of The Screwtape Letters—a sort of expose about human nature, narcissism, and what it means to be fallen. Since Willow isn’t classically wicked—for example, she grows up in a Christian home—we might be tempted to think her impervious to sexual temptation, but she’s not. None of us are. But for the grace of God, this could have been my own story.  

We can often tell a lot about a book through its title. Why did you title it The Forecast? 

Willow has always been fascinated by meteorology, science, and cause-and-effect. The book explores the idea of God’s sovereignty. What are we supposed to do when life doesn’t play out like we predicted? Can we really control our own lives’ weather patterns through our behavior—or does God have everything to do with our success or punishment? That’s a fascinating question, I think. The ending of the book is very strong; it examines the relationship between our free will and God’s control over things.  

What do you say to people who claim that nobody under the age of 35 reads novels anymore? Aren’t you investing your talent in a dying art form?   

I don’t buy that argument for one second. Perhaps what those literary skeptics mean is that people aren’t buying books the way they used to. But as for stories, ideas, and the imagination, novels are a beautiful way of capturing our humanity. Unless humanity dies out, stories will always be told. I’m not afraid of people not reading books; I’m only afraid of people reading bad books.  

What do you mean by bad books? 

I don’t mean books with bad things in them. I mean books that are just bad—badly written with shoddy craftsmanship. Christians should be writing the best books of all; our art should never chase trends or follow some copycat commercialization. (I’ve joked with my husband about writing a book about a teen girl leading a hot vampire to Christ.) It’s a matter of both producing the best art, yes, but also consuming the best art. As long as people of faith keep consuming lousy art, there will be people making it for them. I’m not being a snob here; it’s just the truth. 

What do you hope to accomplish with this project? 

Even the question assumes too much, don’t you think? I don’t think books really accomplish anything large scale, and neither do their writers. If a storyteller starts out with a preaching agenda, he’s already in trouble. I chased the story first; the message sort of bleeds out without my having to cut anything open.  What good books can do, like any art, is cause a rumble in the spirit.  A story well told can get the soul stirred up, get the mind contemplating, get the heart pumping again. People are so accustomed to movies and photographs, but those artists have only a matter of minutes or hours to work you over. There’s something about written stories that burrow into your spirit over a longer period of time. So many people who have read this book confessed to me that they stayed up half the night with it. My wildest hope would be that when someone reads this book, he considers his own spiritual journey long after he’s done reading Willow’s.