Throughout my novel What’s Left, Cassia seeks to learn more about her father’s pilgrimage to the Himalayas.
If you could ask someone in your ancestry to answer a particular mystery about their life, who would it be – and what would you ask?
Category: Cassia’s World
Some families are closer than others
In my novel What’s Left, Cassia’s great-grandfather and his brother marry two sisters. One is named Diana. As is her granddaughter, Cassia’s mother.
How did your grandparents meet? Were they childhood neighbors?
No, it’s not always business as usual
My first published novel ends as the protagonist joins with five hippie siblings who run a restaurant they’ve just inherited.
My novel What’s Left returns to the scene, to find the family’s prospered under the alternative approach.
Do you know any “retired hippies” who did quite well professionally? Tell us about one.
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The act of tedious revision can lead to some favorite lines
My novel What’s Left, was in no rush for completion, contrary to my own desires. Still, I wasn’t going to artificially pressure this one.
As for my personal surprises this time? Some of my favorite lines popped up while swimming my daily laps in the city’s indoor pool.
Here’s one of Cassia’s outbursts that almost prompted me to change the name of the novel itself:
Oh, my, am I torn! I’ll tell you this, though. Buddhism comes in very handy when other kids are giving you so much grief you threaten to cast a spell on them and break out chanting Su To Ka Yo Me Bha Wa repeatedly and then just watch them back away. Oh, I tell you, it’s so satisfying!
What’s that do?
You’ll find out. You better be good to toads.
You get lots of respect for doing that.
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Which title Do you think’s better — “What’s Left” or “You Better Be Good to Toads”? Or have I overlooked something even better?
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Think of it as a cool Christmas present for somebody really special. Available at the Apple Store, Barnes & Noble’s Nook, Scribd, Smashwords, Sony’s Kobo, and other fine ebook distributors and at Amazon in both Kindle and paperback.
They’re not necessarily pipe dreams
The hippie movement redefined Cassia’s extended family. And then their dreams led them in redefining small-business practices.
What would you most like to see happen in the business world where you are?
Admitting the place of geography in a piece
Much of my literary writing has attempted to capture the unique sense of particular landscapes, sometimes to the extent that the locale becomes a character of its own. Serious wine drinkers might see this as a matter of terroir, meaning distinctive local flavor.
In my novel What’s Left, I tried to avoid this touchstone but wound up developing the neighborhood around the family restaurant anyway.
In placing it in a college town in southern Indiana, I created an inside joke all the same. If you’re familiar with the region, you’ll know the Ohio River is much more than an hour from Indianapolis. The college town where she lives is defined by both, and thus in a site uniquely its own. If only it actually existed!
Still, I think the flavor is right.
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I know I’m not alone here.
Tell me of a favorite book or movie where you think the location becomes a character in its own right. Let’s make this a long list!
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All in tradition
How close should two families be?
In my novel What’s Left, Cassia’s grandmother and her sister marry two brothers. One is named Pericles.
Does the idea of siblings in one family marrying siblings in another bother you? Or does it seem like a natural possibility?
Sometimes a character dictates the story
For a writer, nothing is more magical than when a character begins dictating the story. Sometimes, you can’t type fast enough to keep up with her.
As I was saying about the “zipper” that sometimes appears while revising a work? This one, I’d say, is the most satisfying.
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Now that I’ve confessed, it’s your turn.
Do you ever hear “voices” while doing something? Do they help or hinder your action?
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My novel’s available at the Apple Store, Barnes & Noble’s Nook, Scribd, Smashwords, Sony’s Kobo, and other fine ebook distributors and at Amazon in both Kindle and paperback.
Love springs from some kind of attraction
Cassia’s father grew up in a conventional middle-class family in the middle of the country. It was much, much different from her mother’s upbringing not that many miles away.
As they say, opposites attract. So, from your experience, how about an example?
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Jnana's Red Barn 