The Rise and Fall of Miss Fanny's Biscuits: Wanda E. Brunstetter & Martha Bolton

Welcome to True Crime Authors and Extraordinary People, the podcast where we bring two passions together.

The show that gives new meaning to the old adage truth is stranger than fiction.

And reminding you that there is an extraordinary person in all of us, here is your host, David McClam.

What's going on everybody?

And welcome to another episode of True Crime Authors and Extraordinary People.

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All right, so if you're looking at your calendar, you know it is time for some authors.

And I say authors because we have two for the price of one.

Let me introduce you to who our guest is this morning.

She is a New York Times bestselling and award winning author.

She is considered one of the founders of the ominous fiction genre.

She has written more than 100 books translated in four languages with over 12 million copies sold.

Her stories consistently earned spots on the nation's most prestigious bestseller list and have received numerous awards and has been covered by national publications including Time Magazine, USA Today and the Wall Street Journal.

Her ancestors are part of the Anabaptist faith and her novels are based on personal research intended to accurately portray the Amish way of life.

Her books are read and trusted by many Amish people who credit her for giving readers a deeper understanding of the people and their customs.

She is known as Amish country's most beloved storyteller and the co author of the Rise and Fall of Miss Fanny's Biscuits.

Please welcome Wanda E.

Brunstetter.

Hey Wanda.

Welcome to the show.

Thank you for having me.

It's my pleasure to be here.

And our second guest today.

She is a prolific author of 89 books, an Emmy nominee, a Dove Award nominee and a co author on three New York Times bestselling books.

She was nominated for a Writer's Guild Award for her work on the Emmy winning Bob the first 90 years.

She was Bob Hope's first full time female staff writer and wrote for his television specials which is over 40 hours of primetime programming and 15 years of his personal appearances in special events.

As a staff writer for Bob Hope, she had the opportunity to write scripted lines for a virtual who's who in entertainment, sports and politics.

She is also a co author of the award winning Dear Bob, Bob Hope's Wartime correspondence with the GIs of World War II.

Her stage work includes writing the script for the Confession, based on Beverly Lewis's best selling Confession trilogy, co writing Half Stitched, based on Wanda E.

Brunstadter's bestselling book the Half Stitched Amish Quilting Club with director and composer Wally Nason, Josiah for President and the Home Game for Bluegate Musicals.

Both Josiah for President and the Home Game have accompanying novels penned by her.

She is the co author of the Rise and Fall of Miss Fannie's Biscuits.

Please welcome Martha Bolton.

Martha, welcome to the show.

Well, thank you.

We're thrilled to be on and talking about the book.

Well, we are thrilled to have you on the show.

You guys have definitely been writing some books.

The who's who.

I have never read an Amish novel of any kind until this one.

It is a great book.

So we can get all into that today.

I guess the first question I have on top of mine is how did you two meet and how long have you guys worked together?

We'll start with you, Wanda.

Okay.

We met when the Bluegate Musicals reached out to me.

They said they wanted to write, have a musical about an Amish culture and they wondered if maybe I would write a book about it.

And at that time I was on a deadline writing another book and I had to get permission from, from my publisher to go ahead and start that.

And so that's how Martha and I met and I met a lot of other good people that work for Bluegate Musicals also.

What was the second half of your question?

I think there was two parts that was it.

Just how did you guys meet and how long have you guys worked together?

Martha, you can tell us that part.

Martha, tell me.

Well, it was, it was, it was such fun working with Wanda because we're both used to deadlines and we're both used to meeting them and especially when they're short, which this one was.

But we just had fun.

We'd send it back and forth and, and she'd fill in places and I'd fill in places and just kept moving the story along and we just had fun.

And I hope the readers see that and have fun as they read it.

Now for what I'm getting, Wanda, you are Amish.

Martha, are you Amish?

I'm actually not Amish.

You're not Amish.

My great, great, great grandparents were part of the Anabaptist faith.

Now, there's many branches of that, and they were part of the Dunkards.

Now, my husband grew up in a Mennonite church, which is also part of the Anabaptist faith.

And I'm not Amish, but the gentleman who owns the theater where we're doing the plays, he grew up Amish.

And so he's our go to, you know, person to.

To let us know if we've need to fix this or change this or whatever.

So he's been our reference guide on.

On that.

And then Wanda is so familiar with that world as well.

So it was very helpful, both of those.

Yeah.

We have.

My husband and I have Amish friends in every community that I write about, and Indiana is the big one.

We have so many Amish friends when we go there, we can't hardly get around to see them all.

They all want to have us for supper or let's go somewhere together or whatever.

So it's just so much fun to be with the Amish and get to know them.

Well, that kind of brings you to this question.

I don't have many people on my show that is Amish or has any connections to Amish.

So I'll ask you this so that we can clear some of this up, being that you guys have Amish ties.

As you know that there has been a couple of hit shows that's come out about the Amish over the years.

One's called the Amish Mafia.

The other was calling Breaking Amish.

And Breaking Amish is people that is deciding to leave the Amish life right around Raum Springer, when the youth decides they want to take off.

Amish Mafia is actually supposed to be about the bad side of Amish life, where they're out here just like, doing all kinds of crimes.

I'll start with you, Omartha.

From what you know and the people that you were with in the Amish, how do you feel about these shows if you've seen them and how do you think they feel about them?

I've always been fascinated and really impressed with their lifestyle and their.

Their faith, beliefs of.

Of how they, you know, regardless of.

Of any outside influence, they stay true to their beliefs.

And when we moved from LA to Tennessee, I had visited an Amish community.

Just in the back of my head, I.

I just thought that, you know, that it.

I was fascinated and always kept that interest.

And then when I met the producer who.

Who became the producer of the plays.

And he asked me if I would be interested in writing an Amish play.

And so it was right.

It just felt right.

I, I already had the interest in learning about them and then now close to 15 years later and, and a whole lot of musicals, we've, we've gotten to know Amish and a lot more familiar with their customs and just feel right at home whenever we go to an Amish community.

Highly recommend visiting it.

So in regard to the reality shows, I actually know an Amish person who was on one of those shows and she told me that they're very scripted so the Amish don't just come on there and start burying their souls necessarily.

They are told what to say and, well, that's a reality show, Right?

Right.

That's pretty much what most of them are about.

So you can't take what you see on a show like that at face value.

You have to actually get to know the Amish.

And I'll be honest with you, all the communities are not exactly the same.

They have the same faith base.

But as far as some of their customs and even the way they dress, it can be different from community to community.

So you really have to get out there and personally know them rather than just taking everything at face value for what you read or what you see.

Yeah, I agree because, I mean, I watched these shows and I was like, yeah, I mean, if you really look into.

And I used to live in Indiana, so I know a little bit about the Amish.

We used to have an Amish culture that lived in the, in the neighborhood.

You can pretty much tell what's far fetched and what's not.

I mean, because this show just went totally off like the deep end.

At some point, some of it may have been true, but when you start digging into it, you're like, yeah, maybe not so much here.

And people's about to get divorces and I mean, it was just crazy.

So I just wanted you guys take on that being that you guys are connected to the Amish way that you are.

Yeah.

I had an Amish friend in Pennsylvania and he said, I'm.

I'm afraid to go out in public.

I said, what?

Since when?

He said, since they started playing that show, the Amish Mafia, they heard about it.

I'm afraid people are going to look at me and think I'm part of that.

And he said, as far as I know, there is no Amish mafia.

So it kind of did have a bit of a feedback against the Amish when that came out, because they're not stupid.

I mean, they read papers and they talk.

And so I assured them that most people, when they watch a show like that, know that only about half of it is even true.

Now, as we get into your book, Wanda, I have to ask you, because, you know, Amish people, too, they have to be kind of guarded because of how they do live.

But they gave you a big title, and they put a lot of faith in you by calling you Amish country's most beloved storyteller.

When you hear that, how does that make you feel?

And does it put any pressure on you when you're writing your books?

Not really pressure, but I do want to make sure I'm always accurate, so I'm always checking facts with them.

If I don't know, I will say this.

When my first book came out that was Amish themed, I had some Amish coming to my book signings, and I was thinking, why are they here?

Well, they were curious.

They wanted to know, what is she writing?

Is it accurate?

And one lady came to me and said she wanted the book signed to her husband.

And then she said, he's the bishop of our community and he reads all your books.

I was just like, wow, that's.

To me, that was like a stamp of approval.

But it hasn't gone to my head in any way, shape, or form because I'm not perfect.

No one is.

And I could make a mistake in anything I write about the Amish.

But I do try really, really hard to be accurate and back it up with facts directly from my Amish friends.

And then I'll ask you, Martha, because you are very prolific author yourself, 89 books.

You do a lot of work in stage plays, so you're also very great.

How does it feel to be a co author of a great book, as well as doing stage plays and stuff of that nature?

Being a co author with Wanda has been just.

It just felt right.

We had number one.

You know, she's obviously the.

The queen of Amish fiction, for sure.

It just was a nice fit, and it flowed.

Like I said, where her strengths, which are many, many.

And then I would supply a lot of the humor, and so did she.

And we just.

We just bantered back and forth and.

And would enjoy the process.

It.

It really was a fun process.

And she broke her arm in the middle of it, too.

Her shoulder.

Oh, wow.

We had a deadline, and poor Wanda had to.

Had to type with probably one finger.

One hand for a while.

I'm back to both hands now.

Yeah.

And, you know, speaking of the queen.

Martha is the queen of humor, and she thinks up things in the stage plays as well as in the book that I would never have thought of.

And they're hilarious, and the audience love it.

And the readers, I'm sure, also will love it.

Well, I'll tell you, I'm loving it.

I haven't finished it quite yet.

I'm almost done, but I thought it was one of the funniest books I've read.

Plus, there was a serious side.

I mean, you guys hit every side of that, so it was a great book.

So these next questions for both of you guys.

You guys can pick who wants to answer first.

So my first question about the book is, can you tell us a little bit about Fanny and what she means to you two?

Well, Fanny was my character in an earlier book.

That's how she kind of came into play.

She's really, really sweet.

She's a quilter, but she's also a wannabe detective, and sometimes that gets her into trouble.

And that's the part of her that Martha really extended.

That wasn't my idea to make her the detective in my earlier book at all, but the soul of her is my creation.

But the humorous part and the part about wanting to be a detective is Martha all the way.

And she did a great job.

I had to laugh so many times when she would send me something, and I was reading, oh, Fanny did this or Fanny said that.

Well, I'll tag on to that question then for Martha, because that was actually my next one, because I did find it.

I'm like, all right, so we're dealing with Amish life, but now we're solving mysteries.

Martha, what made you think of that?

And what gave you the idea to make Fanny a detective?

Fanny was Wanda's character, and then we did a play which I created.

Foster the detective.

The.

The two of them playing off of each other just was such fun, and the audience really loved it.

So when we thought about bringing them back for another show, then it was.

We just had fun.

We just.

The relationship is building.

I.

I kind of.

It's like the.

The old Moonlighting.

If you remember the movie, the television show Moonlighting, and the banter between the two, it reminds me a lot of.

Of that Moonlighting kind of thing where it's.

You could just tell they're.

They're really good friends, and.

But they only, you know, they've got to stay friends.

And we had fun playing around with that whole situation there.

Now, I know in the book, Fanny is entering the contest, the local Baking contest there has a $25,000 prize.

She's cooking up a storm.

I do know that on Wanda's site that we can get a free Amish kind of cookbook.

So are all of the recipes in the book something that we can all cook?

There's a lot of recipes in that book.

Not particularly the one that we included in the book that we wrote, though.

The cookbook has many, many recipes.

But the recipe that we included in the cookbook was actually one that my aunt gave me.

She taught me how to make buttermilk biscuits.

A little bit of a trick to it because I messed up quite a bit before I could actually master the technique.

So almost every book I write has a recipe at the back, something that was mentioned within the book.

So everybody buys my book.

They not only become entertained, but they get a free recipe.

So I don't want to give the whole book away, but just to kind of give people the premise.

And then I'll let you guys speak on how you came up with this idea.

Baking contest goes on, people starts mysteriously disappearing.

Fanny hooks up with her old friend Foster Bates, and they start to investigate to find out what's going on around the town.

How did you guys come up with this overall story?

What process did you go through to put all this together?

Well, I had had an idea for the bank contest and.

And to have the contestants disappearing, and then that brings in Fanny and Foster, and.

And I just thought, you know, it'd be fun if Wanda was.

Was interested, you know, that we could write the book of this, of that, and take it wherever we take it.

You know, that I just had the idea, and I met with Wanda up in Shipshewana, Right?

Yeah.

And.

And then presented it to her, and it was just, you know, a page.

Page and a half idea.

But she was on board.

She thought it sounded like fun.

And.

And I was.

I was just thrilled.

And we amazed ourselves that we got it done, and.

And.

And that we're just thrilled that it's doing so well.

And.

And it's really accepted.

People just love these two characters.

So.

Oh, yeah, I just got an email today, this morning from the lady who had read the book, and she said, are they going to get married?

Now, Wanda, you have many Amish books under your title or under your belt, from what I'm understanding.

Fannie is a standalone book, so you don't have to go back to read any of your other books to not be lost in this one, correct?

No, you don't.

I mean, even if you had read the book where she started, you wouldn't probably connect the two.

Okay, that makes sense.

Yeah, it does, it does.

So I like to point out to all to the audience because when someone has as many books as you do, they're like, well, where do we begin?

Where do we start?

What am I going to miss?

I ask myself that every day.

I have books deadline stacked up like dominoes.

So I'm like, sometimes, you know.

So I asked both of you this, this question as well.

Will there be a part two to the rise and fall of miss Fanny's biscuits?

Would you guys like to write that?

If it, if you do, what would that look like?

What would it look like?

A lot more humor.

Again.

You go on.

Good start.

Martha, what's your thoughts on that?

Oh, well, I will probably discuss that, but it may, it, it would probably be a different crime that they get called in on.

I would think Wanda probably is of that same feeling that the same two characters, but a different crime and different mystery.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

I don't think we could carry on from what's there.

Well, I know Fanny's appeared in your other books, Wanda, but I think that this one could actually be a good series.

And this is coming from someone who's never read this genre before.

When Sharon sent me the information on the book and I started reading, I'm like, you know, I've never read.

Didn't even know, to be honest with you, that there is an Amish genre for books.

And I was like, you know, I've always real skeptical when I go into new genres because I'm very picky on what I read.

And so usually if the book can grab me within the first page, I'm hooked.

And your guys book grabbed me within the first page of that and I'm like, okay, I gotta, I need to keep going on to find out what happens to this.

So I think that this would be an excellent series.

My plan is to go back and read some of your other books too that is out there.

My other books that are just by me are a little bit different than what Martha and I wrote because I have some mysteries.

Actually I'm just finishing up with one right now.

But it's not the same kind of a mystery.

There's not a lot of humor.

I always throw some in because you need it for pacing, but I don't.

I am known for my emotionally gripping novels and that's just the way it is.

Sometimes people say, well, I gotta have a box of Kleenex with me when I read your books.

Because they're based on everyday life and things that people actually go through.

And they all have a meaning to them that can help people.

I've had so many people tell me, here's an example.

I wrote a book where an Amish man perishes in a fire.

And it was very dramatic, but I had to deal with how his fiance dealt with it.

And so I did a book signing once and a lady came up to me sobbing.

I thought, oh, that's what's going on here.

And she said, I want to thank you for that book because it helped me.

I watched my son burn in a fire.

And she said, this book helped me more than you ever know.

So that's basically the kind of books I normally write.

So this was a completely different book.

Way to present my character, but.

And having Martha there to add all that humor just really created a really nice balance, I think.

Wanda, I'll start with you and then we'll see if we can get back to Martha.

What do you hope happens with you two in the future?

Well, I think if we do write another co authored book, and if it's about Fanny and Foster, I think it would do well because people are already loving them.

Uh, my biggest problem is stretching myself too thin.

And I'm stretched pretty thin right now.

And I kind of got behind when I broke my arm.

I had another deadline on top of a deadline on top of a deadline.

And so I'm a little bit behind.

I have another book coming up that I'm co authoring with my daughter.

Uh, that'll be.

I'll probably start that in a couple months.

So that will be my big thing, finding the time.

But if I can, I will because I think the readers are going to want to hear more about Foster and Fanny.

I absolutely agree.

I hope we can continue with Fanny and Foster and more adventures because they just have turned into this great, great pairing of humor and heart and just.

I, I just love them and the Wanda does too, and the readers.

And then, you know, who knows what the future holds.

But we are going to have a musical of the, of the rise and fall and so that we're looking forward to opening that and.

And then we'll see what, what the future holds.

But I'm open for anything Wanda wants to do.

That would be very fun.

I thoroughly enjoyed this process.

So that was my next question because I was told that this is going to be indeed a musical.

Unfortunately, he's not coming anywhere near me here in California.

My wife was bummed about that.

I'm like, yeah, it's going to be a musical, but we don't live where it's going to go.

So do you think about ever broadening that musical out of it, become successful, and hopefully getting down and the Broadway shows of California?

I think having talked with the producer, I think they would love that.

They just need the opportunity, probably, and perhaps the finances to make that happen.

Yeah.

Wouldn't that be fun to have Fannie and Foster on Broadway?

How fun would that be?

That would be pretty exciting, wouldn't it?

Well, that's.

That would be the goal.

If we could get it there, that would be awesome.

Well, I certainly hope so.

So, Wanda, I know that Martha's having a hard time hearing me.

We're having some technical difficulties here.

So in closing, I'll ask you, why should someone go out and read the Rise and Fall of Fanny's Biscuits if.

They like a good storyline that will keep them reading?

I would say that this is the ticket.

They like humor, obviously.

It's sprinkled throughout.

There's also some drama and there's some life lessons that will be learned.

And I think it's just a nice mix.

We need all of those things.

Every book needs to make a reader laugh, make them cry, and make them wait.

And I think it's all right there in this story.

Is there anything that you would like to say on behalf of yourself and Martha to any of your fans or people that may be listening today?

Well, I am one that I love my reader fans, and not because they're buying my books necessarily, but because that's just me.

I like to reach out and I have a Facebook page, like 53,000 followers.

And I love it when they reach out to me and tell me their problems and we can share a little bit or say something they read in one of my books helped them.

So, I mean, I'm just hoping that this book will really touch some lives and that my reader fans will feel invested in the story, as invested as we were writing it.

Well, I can tell you from someone who's never read this genre before, it has definitely done something in me.

I'm going to continue to read more of your books and we'll have both of you guys back on the show at some point.

Hopefully then Martha can hear me.

I know technical difficulties is hard sometimes, but I think both of you guys are coming on the show today.

Looking forward to finishing the book.

Good luck to both of you.

If you guys ever want to come back on the show, maybe we can have you back one or two to discuss more of your books.

You know how to get ahold of me, Feel free to do so.

But I thank you both for coming on the show today.

Thank you for having us.

It's been our pleasure.

All right guys, that was the incredible Wanda Bronstetter and Martha Bolton.

You can get your copy of the Rise and Fall of Fanny's Biscuits at Amazon and anywhere you can buy books.

You can also go to www.wandaroonstetter.com which would be in the show notes.

There you can read a little bit more about Martha learned all all the rest of her books and see very inspirational quotes that she has left there also.

Once again, thank you guys for joining us.

I know you have many options in True Crime and Interview podcast.

I'm grateful that for the last almost three years you have chosen me.

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