As a missionary kid attending high school in Thailand, Karina Harris was like many teenagers, using her imagination to write short stories and poems to share with her friends.
She never dreamed her love of creative writing would turn into more than a hobby, but the five-time author has connected with readers through her powerful stories of mystery, romance and God’s amazing love.
Harris’ writing career took off in 2008 when she switched to a new teaching position at Albertville Elementary School. Serving as a reading intervention teacher allowed Harris a little more free time outside of school hours and she used that time to write. What had been just a hobby blossomed from there.
Her first novel, “Second Chance,” was published in 2009. A second novel, “Third Time Around,” was released in 2012. Next came the Elements of Change series with “And Then the Rain,” “Through the Fog” and “Into the Sun.”
Readers call Harris’ stories “powerful” and “real” with characters who “deal with real life situations in very human manners while still showing their faith in God and growth as they continue learning to walk with Him.”
Harris did not set out to write Christian fiction, however, and she is hesitant to apply that label to her novels.
Turning to Christ
“When I started writing ‘Second Chance’ I wasn’t planning to write a Christian novel. I wanted to write a clean story that people could enjoy. But about halfway through writing the book it became clear that some of the turmoil my character was going through couldn’t be solved without her turning to Christ,” Harris said.
At that point Harris was faced with a decision.
“I had to ask myself how I could ask God to honor this endeavor if I wasn’t willing to publicly honor Him in what I was doing,” she said.
As she continued to write Harris said she became more comfortable including faith in her stories, especially in her historical fiction.
“As these characters are struggling with whatever the situation might be, like feeling unworthy or unloved, the truths that are brought forth in the context of the story are that each person is worthy in God’s sight and that you can’t be or do anything that makes God not love you,” she said.
Harris emphasized that the spiritual truths must be organic to the story and characters, not tacked on or stuck in just to emphasize a spiritual lesson.
A great plot
“I have read books where the author’s purpose seems to be to preach a sermon and I never wanted my books to be that way,” she said. “I feel like you still have to have a great plot or readers won’t like the story.”
Harris said she spends a lot of time in the planning stages of a novel developing each character into a “real” person so readers can relate to them.
“If my characters seem like cardboard cutouts, readers aren’t going to be able to relate to them. I want them to be just like real people, with both admirable qualities and weaknesses. Just like there are no ‘super-Christians,’ characters can’t be perfect.”
Harris also likes to use a variety of settings in her novels, perhaps because she lived in many exotic locations herself early in life.
Her parents, LaMon and Pat Brown, were appointed International Mission Board missionaries to India when Harris was in third grade. Despite the culture shock Harris said she viewed the missionary life as a “grand adventure.” Later the family lived and served in Thailand and Harris still calls it the “home of her heart.”
Harris currently is working on a sixth novel and admits that making time for writing is challenging. She and her husband, Patrick, have two children, a daughter in college and a son in high school. Harris and her family are active members of First Baptist Church, Albertville, in Marshall Baptist Association, and Harris works in the nursery and sings in the choir.
She also has to fit writing in with her full-time job, but teaching third grade language arts fits right in with her love of writing.
“It’s wonderful to share my love for writing with my students,” she said. “They think it’s cool that their teacher is an author.”
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