FRANK PERETTI

I'm trying to move a little more toward literary fiction while still retaining a popular feel.

'Illusion' is a story of God's love and our hunger to find him when we're separated from him. If I can paint a picture of two people still in love after 40 years, that's a pretty good message.

At the bottom of a Peretti novel is the biblical view of things, the Christian message. Whether you're a Christian or not, you're still going to have to deal with good versus evil.

There are writers, and there are readers who want something more. They want to get at the grist of life.

I like doing thrillers.

I hear a lot of, 'I'm a writer because of you.' It's not a bad feeling, but it sneaks up on you. You don't ask for it.

Some folks run from the doubt and go backward. You try for all the spiritual Band-Aids you can find... when actually, what you need to do is press forward, to accept those doubts and work through them.

I'm just a slow writer. I'm picky and careful and fastidious.

I don't like to write boring books.

I'm given a lot of credit with opening the doors for Christian fiction. It was kind of a difficult field when I got into it... But I don't feel like a king.

I try to write cinematically. Let me define what I mean by that. First of all, I try to write in a visual way so that the reader can watch a movie in their head. And it keeps moving. I try to structure the stories like a screenplay may be structured.

Moviemaking is just really neat, and I really like doing that. I'd like to get into it more, but in terms of my role in all of this and in terms of the gift that God has given me, I had to come to the conclusion that my strength is as a storyteller, creating the story.

There's a reason evolution is a hot-button issue. It's not just a matter of science, either. It's a matter of the big questions in life - why are we here, what is truth, where is our moral basis?

When you are writing for the Christian culture, there is a whole gamut of expectations.

Just like all my novels, 'Illusion' is a good way to observe where Frank Peretti was in his life when he wrote it.

My main goal is still for the books to minister in some way, to teach a spiritual truth, to enlighten people.

I wanted to write a novel where the meaning is in the story and characters and the subliminal, in the shades and nuances. It's exciting to develop that as a writer.

Kids are not going to sit and read a slow-paced book. Neither are adults.

A good book or movie or screenplay should be emotionally satisfying. When they're done, you want people to breathe a deep sigh and say, 'Wow.'

When I first started out writing the 'Darkness' books, there was, at least in my mind, a certain sort of rulebook we had to follow.

The Gospel can stand up to scrutiny.

When you are making a movie, there are a zillion cooks in the kitchen, and you don't always get what you want to do. The story can always go in a different direction than what you would like. You compromise, and there is dealing and bickering.

I don't know what idea is going to hit me when.

The Lord God carries us throughout our lives just as a father carries his child. The Lord carried me, and He still is. He made you. He knows what you're good at. He knows what you can do and what you can become. Trust Him. Love Him. He'll always love you back.

I became very timid, very retreating. I wouldn't talk to anybody. I didn't look you in the eye. I just had that kind of personality as a kid that basically puts a target on you.