Jack Cavanaugh's The Making of Christian Historical Fiction

In this episode, author Jack Cavanaugh narrates the making of his historical fiction novel, The Pioneers, Book 5 in the American Family Portrait series. 

In this episode, Jack talks about the making of his supernatural suspense novel, Behold. While this is a departure from his usual historical fiction, this end times story allows him to flex his contemporary suspense skill while also relying on his historical fiction skills as his protagonist travels back in time. 

This episode is set during one of the most popular periods for historical fiction, the Civil War. As strange as it sounds, Chapter 15 is special to me because even though it is in Book 4 in the series, it contains the first chapter I wrote as a professional novelist. 

In this episode, I describe how, while mining historical research about the Revolutionary War, I struck character gold. I discovered Patience Wright, America’s first sculptress of notoriety.

The Revolutionary War. While we are proud as Christians of the role our faith played in the founding of our country, the decision to take up arms was not an easy one for Christians in 1776. A key question had to be addressed: At what point does a Christian take up arms against his own government?

A newspaper story of a stolen 300-year-old Bible brings to mind similar events in Book 2, The Colonists, and Book 9, The Guardians of Jack's American Family Portrait series. 

What does a forty-some male author do when called upon to write poetry for his 15-year-old female character? Jack takes a humorous look back at his dilemma. 

Jack takes a look at The Colonists, Book 2 in the American family portrait series. The colonies have prospered, but the dream of a city upon a hill has been replaced by dreams of personal wealth and power. 

In this episode, I take a look at one of America's forgotten founding fathers, John Winthrop, who sacrificed personally and financially helping persecuted Puritans escape England and "fly to the wilderness."

In this episode, I narrate why it took me 13 looooonnnnnnggggggg years to get my first book contract.

With all the Sunday distractions today, you’d think the problem of keeping the Sabbath was a modern struggle. Not so. In the days of the Puritans, King James’s Book of Sports required all Englishmen to play sports on Sundays.

In this episode I take a look back at the making of The Puritans, Book 1 in the American Family Portrait series. The legacy of these early founding fathers of America is one of faith and courage. 

In this episode I talk about a narrative technique that is so powerful, it changed my life. I no longer teach history, I tell hero stories. Good historical fiction transports readers back in time allowing them to experience the past for themselves.

In this first episode, Jack tells why he writes Christian historical fiction, and how the realization that history was a collection of epic stories well-told changed his life.