Behind the Story

Q&A with Frank Peretti and Ted Dekker

Co-Authors of House

What’s it like for two best-selling and successful writers to come together and write a major work of fiction?  Well, here is the inside scoop of the story of House (WestBow Press, April 2006), the new novel co-authored by Frank Peretti and Ted Dekker.

Q:         This was the first time the two of you have worked together to write a novel.  How was that experience different than writing a novel by yourself?

Frank:   Co-authoring a novel required a whole new set of rules that we had to make up as we went along: who writes what, who gets to do the rewrite and how much rewriting will he be allowed, what's too important to throw out, what needs to be added, and so on.  Ted and I were two creative minds coming from opposite directions with different approaches to writing trying to find some common ground around an idea.  Obviously, there was a lot of give and take, and it got complex at times.  Writing a novel by yourself is much easier.

Ted:      The old adage, iron sharpens iron comes to mind J

Q:         Tell us a little about the collaboration process.  How does "co-authoring" actually work?

Frank:   When you've figured that out, you'll know more than we ever did.  We don't know if there's a right or wrong way to go about it.  Ted and I both wrote different parts and we relied heavily on a wonderful editor to help make the two pieces flow together with continuity.

Ted:      With much hard work. Frank and I are both full on storytellers with our own unique styles and visions that had to be melded into a cohesive whole. It’s not really a matter of which vision is better, it’s a matter of preference. Naturally two true creative forces would prefer their own vision for any particular scene, requiring give and take for a true co-authorship.

Q:         How did you guys first meet?  What did you learn about each other while writing this novel that you didn't know before?

Frank:   Many years ago – before he was ever even published Ted just called me out of the blue and wanted to meet me. Eventually we got together at my place for an afternoon.  It turned out he wasn't as crazy as I feared he was.  Of course, that was before we tried to do a book together!

Ted:      When we first met years go, I remember loving the fact that Frank had such a passionate, even crazy spirit that I found unpredictable. Then we spent six months writing a novel together and it gradually began to dawn on me that I was arguably crazier than he. In fact, very little argument was needed. Frank, as it turns out, is very reasonable and gracious, and the voice of calm in this union. A man of utmost integrity and funnier than all get out. But, yes, calm, quite calm, next to me J

Q:         You both obviously believe in the power of story, because you both chose writing fiction as your career.  How has story impacted you throughout your life and how do you hope it will impact your readers?

Ted:      Life is story; story is real. All of our hopes and dreams are products of the imagination until the day they become reality, at which time they almost immediately become memories. Story, story, all story!  I use story to explore life in all of its struggles and joys through characters subjected to imagined yet similar struggles and joys. As such it’s far more real than non-story. Is there really a Barsideous White hunting me in a house of my own making? Yes and no. Yes, of course there is! He is the embodiment of all of our struggles. No, of course he’s not real. Yet by being really not real, he is more real than most of what we generally consider real. Really.

Frank:   Story is an integral part of the human experience.  Everyone of us tells stories every day— "Hey, guess what I saw on the way to the grocery store this morning!"  "How did you two first meet?"  "How was your day?”  "Did you hear what happened to so-and-so?"  Stories will make any talk or sermon far more interesting and easy to remember; every culture embodies its values and teachings in stories, myths, and legends.  Movies and books, all built around story, sink or swim depending on the quality of the story and the message it carries.  The Bible is full of stories and Jesus used parables to illustrate spiritual truth.  I've always enjoyed telling stories, even when I was a little kid telling stories to the other kids in the neighborhood under our back porch.  Stories light a spark in my spirit; God made me to be a storyteller

Q:         You both write about the supernatural and the surreal.  What was your favorite scary movie or novel growing up?  Why? 

Frank:   The Hound of the Baskervilles, one of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes adventures, was one of my first introductions to intriguing thrillers.  Of course, I was heavily influenced by television and motion pictures.  I don't necessarily enjoy being scared, but I do enjoy intriguing flights of imagination.

Ted:      I grew up as the son of missionaries in the jungle without any television or movies. For me it was all novels, all the time, and the most impact novel of my youth was The Stand by Stephen King. The struggle between good and evil in that most inventive tale swallowed me for a week. I immediately made the connections between this story and the spiritual realities that surround us, and I have never stopped thinking about them.

Q:         Who came up with the initial idea for this story?  How did this idea grow and change as you worked together?

Frank:   Ted came up with the initial concept of a haunted house empowered by a serial killer.  I think between the two of us we came up with the idea of the House being a reflection of the inner lives of its "guests."  The concept went through several "test variations" to end up where it did.

Ted:      Guilty. The whole concept I first pitched Frank was a simple one: “What do you think about writing a story with me about a serial killer who traps his victims in a haunted house that he’s manipulated so that it reflects the very hearts of all those who enter it?” It’s an idea that’s been knocking around my mind for several years now, along with a dozen other concepts that call to me. Frank, was intrigued and suggested I write a treatment for the novel, which I immediately did. A day later he said, “let’s do it,” so we did.

Q:         What is the main point you hope readers will understand when they finish House?

Frank:   The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, but God's grace is sufficient.

Ted:      House is perhaps the simplest and yet most profound thematic material I’ve yet written about. Simple in that it personifies the most fundamental truth in this universe: The wages of sin is death BUT the gift of God is eternal life. Our hearts are blackened by evil and no amount of work or correction on our part can satisfy the demands of that evil or repair the damage caused by that evil. ONLY a gift offered to us by God can do that. Embrace that truth and live. Reject that truth and die.

Q:         Some readers say that they don't like villains who are too evil or too dark.  How would you respond to that?

Frank:   This is a pitfall in storytelling that I'm trying to grow out of.  I hope that, as I mature as a writer, all my characters—including the villain—will have more depth and more dimension.  However, our villain in House would be an exception to that rule because thematically he represents the very embodiment of evil.  He might have a human side, but as far as I'm concerned, that is very much in doubt.

Ted:      I would say that any attempt to white wash evil in a story such as House, which is written to speak the truth about the struggle between good and evil, is misguided, regardless of any good intention. The stories chosen by God himself, and expressed by his prophets throughout the Bible, are far uglier than any I would dare put on paper today. If you doubt me, pull open that dusty book, open to the section that is called The Old Testament, and search for phrases like, “Your sin is like…” The descriptions which often follow will offend you as they are certainly meant to.

House may be the darkest novel I’ve written for the simple reason that we were tackling a dark theme, namely, the condition and redemption of the human heart. To whitewash this theme so as not to offend a few would do grave injustice to it and to the hero in whose honor it was written. Remember, this is based on a true story, in which a man died over 2000 years ago to redeem similar houses of darkness throughout the ages. Thank God!

Q:         You both tend to write books that include a supernatural element.  What draws you to include that in your stories?

Frank:   What draws you to read about it?  It's fun stuff, right?

Ted:      The supernatural is as real as the natural and has yet to be fully discovered. I am simply an explorer.

Q:         What aspect of creating a story is the most rewarding for you?

Frank:   Finishing.  It's like coming to the end of a long, arduous journey.  The journey was exciting, captivating, always surprising, often frustrating, but as any craftsman will tell you, there's no feeling quite like reaching a point of completion and looking with pride and satisfaction on the work of your mind and hands.  And learning.  With every new project I learn more about the craft and stretch my capabilities, which provides a marvelous incentive for doing it again.

Ted:      Starting. The idea. Plotting. The countless hours of getting lost in a world that keeps me on the edge of my seat for the many months it takes to write a novel.

Q:         Where do you get the ideas for your stories?

Frank:   I belong to a book idea club.  Upon enrollment, I receive six ideas over the first six months absolutely free, and then, one fresh idea per month for only $29.99 a month.  If for any reason I'm not satisfied with an idea, I can return it for a full refund or a credit toward the next idea.  And here's the good part: for every friend that I enroll in the program, I get two bonus ideas absolutely free plus bonus points toward the next International Writers’ Caribbean Cruise in 2010.  I'm kidding.  I just don't have a definitive answer to that question.

Ted:      From my mind.

Q:         Both of you have seen your novels turned into movies.  What is that experience like?

Ted:      Ask me in five years when I have more than one movie and can respond with some intelligence.

Frank:   You'd better be ready to have a zillion cooks in the kitchen, all poking, tweaking, and meddling with your story.  It's a collaborative process, which means you need to learn to give and take, usually more give than take, which is not such a bad thing providing most of the cooks share your original vision.  I've been blessed to work with Namesake Entertainment, a film company that shares my vision and always lets me be a major contributor to the process. 

But it's special, no question about that.  To see your characters, your story come alive before your very eyes is an indescribable experience.

Q:         When a reader finishes House, what do you hope to have accomplished?

Ted:      My accomplishment is realized when I finish writing a book, not when a reader reads it. What they take away is up to them. Entertainment is very subjective. If they can find the same light which has dispelled darkness, that’s a good thing, but it isn’t part of subset of things called “Ted’s accomplishments.”

Frank:   If a person can enjoy a story….and learn something in the process….then that would be a good story—don’t you think?