BOM: Q&A

And now, to answer your questions . . . :

Kathy asked (I think it was a question!):I think this would be a hard book to write. If someone read The Note and then The Note 2 without knowing about the movie I wonder if it would be confusing since they made changes to The Note for the movie and then those changes are reflected in the second book.

Most of the changes were minor--setting, names etc., so they aren't the sort of changes that would affect the plot. Some of the name changes might throw people for a moment, but not long.

Clyde said: I kept waiting for a link between Eve, the artist, and David, the developing artist. Is that a question?

LOL! There wasn't a link, not really. Maybe it was more like a reflected theme of "the arts."

Linda said: I had been trying to remember what was in the first book about Peyton's first husband!"

Yes . . . according to the first book, Peyton and her husband had a happy marriage. In our podcast, Genie mentioned that the change in the second movie threw her, too. I think they added it for conflict, but the conflict wasn't really between Peyton and her hubby, since he was long gone. It was more about her feelings, so I think we could have had her feeling conflicted without the husband's issues. After all, one of Peyton's primary characteristics is fear--she's afraid to risk her heart again. But I went with the script, and I think it worked. Hope so.

Stacey asked: Was it frustrating for you to take the characters to a place you may not have wanted them to go? Did you have trouble adding the spiritual element to a script that was largely secular (even though i know you said it was written with a secular audience in mind)?

It wasn't really hard to work with the characters and the predetermined plot, because I didn't really have a problem with where the characters were "going." As to your second question, however, yes, that was harder. The Note, the first novel, was a parable--a prodigal daughter story, and it was all about reconciliation with God the Father. There was no overarching parable structure in the second story, so I had to add elements that were more overtly spiritual without going overboard--because too much wouldn't have been true to the character or to the story. And, bottom line, life isn't about following your head or your heart. It's about exercising wisdom and using both head and heart to be what God intends for us to be. I really wanted that message to come out at some point.

And the winner of the free book is (drum roll, please): LuAnn! Please drop me a note with your address through the website contact page and I'll get a copy right out to you.

~~Angie