Author Profile: Celeste Walker

For West Chester, Ohio, author Celeste Walker, creating fictional characters is like having a heart-to-heart with a friend.

The more you converse, the more you understand him or her.

That’s how Walker developed the authentic characters in her gripping mystery/thriller, “Treasure Heart.”

The book’s dramatis personae “have all been written from impressions I receive of them as I write their dialogue…,” says the author/licensed social worker with a bachelor’s degree from the University of Cincinnati. “The more they speak, the more alive and real they become to me. So, as I get to know them, I am able to anticipate and develop them more deeply.”

Add “deception, lies, murder and betrayal” to Treasure Heart’s cast of credible characters and you’ve got one exceptionally suspenseful drama on your hands.

In fact, the back-cover synopsis of “Treasure Heart”  should send shivers down the spines of parents everywhere:

“Imagine the horror to find your little girl has fallen overboard a cruise ship, in the middle of paradise. That's just what happens to Dave and Bren. The loss of a precious daughter and beloved little sister leaves the family's life shattered. And, the nightmare is only beginning. Deception, lies, murder and betrayal follow the family as they try to go on with their lives. Years pass and then, one day a startling discovery changes everything.” (*)

Captivating storylines like the ones above present themselves to Walker “during quiet times when I’m most relaxed,” she explains. “The plot of ‘Treasure Heart’ was the result of one of those quiet times. It was not based on my own experiences nor those of anyone I know.”

Research for the novel was “minimal,” she adds. “It focused primarily on the day-to-day operation of a magazine publishing company, which I achieved through phone calls to a couple of local publishers.”

Walker has also written “Los Regalos,” the story of a young woman who “becomes stranded in a small city as she is traveling back home. She must depend on the kindness of strangers and decides to make the best of the situation.” That book “is in the early stage of the production process and the cover has yet to be designed,” the author says.

Interestingly, Walker’s “favorite authors” are best known for their non-fiction work. Joyce Meyer, Creflo Dollar and Charles Stanley “don’t write fiction,” she states. “Rather, they write from a Christian foundation and perspective. It is that perspective we share that influences my writing.”

Process is important…

Walker says she loves to write and “as a result, I am always in the frame of mind to write.” The Cincinnati native  recalls that she “enjoyed writing as a child” but did not compose any fiction until young adulthood.

Most of Walker’s writing is done from home “at every available opportunity,” she says. “I’m a morning person and my energy level is highest before evening sets in. I often make notes on paper and transfer them to the computer to expand on the ideas.”

Her recent transition from full-time to part-time employment was an “excellent resolution” to the challenge of finding the time to write. “It allows me much more time to focus on writing,” she explains.

Walker says she prefers to keep a “hard copy/rough draft” of her manuscripts “at my fingertips” as opposed to saving them on a laptop. This choice “enables me to jot down thoughts on scenes, characters and dialogue during my breaks at work and come back to them later,” she explains.

Once a manuscript is written, Walker says she “reads, reads and reads it again” and spends “a lot of time re-writing it. I find reading dialogue over and over helps me to better understand and develop the characters in a story. While I do a fair job of punctuating, I also appreciate the feedback I receive from a professional editor on punctuation and flow.”

For Walker, deadlines are not the bane that many authors  consider them to be. Instead, she attests, “deadlines are very motivating. I have sometimes been most creative when facing a deadline.”

After researching publishing options, Walker chose a self-publishing company “whose values aligned with mine, offered opportunities for me to be involved in the process and a great support team throughout the publishing process and beyond,” she explains.

What does the future hold for Celeste Walker fans?

Part Two of “Treasure Heart,” for starters. Other projects include another work of fiction entitled “Firehouse” as well as “Van Acular, a non-fiction compilation of childhood sayings.”

“Each is a work in progress,” Walker says. “The timeline is undetermined at this point.”

* From the back cover of “Treasure Heart : A Child Lost at Sea, A Family Entangled in a Web of Murder and Deception” published in 2015 by Xulon Press. The book is available for checkout at MidPointe Library.

At MidPointe Library we’re all about local authors!

Celeste Walker was one of many independently published local authors who appeared at MidPointe’s popular “ReadLOCAL” event at its West Chester location last September. ReadLOCAL gives citizens a chance to meet and greet writers who represent many genres.

MidPointe Library is also proud to serve as a meeting place for local writers groups. Check out the MidPointe events calendar for times and locations : http://midpointelibrary.evanced.info/signup

Writers groups interested in reserving a meeting room at a MidPointe Library location can find information at:

https://www.midpointelibrary.org/page/meeting-rooms