Interview with Cynthia J Stone, author of Mason’s Daughter
Sally Mason’s teenage son Colton is headed for a major meltdown, and she’s desperate to avert another disaster by proving her husband’s recent death was an accident, not the suicide determined by the coroner. Everyone in town, even Colton, seems to know something particular about Jack’s last days, but no one in Mason’s Crossing can help her put all the pieces together. On the morning she discovers secret notes in Jack’s appointment book, she finds something else to convince her she’s right. But the more she digs for the truth, the more destructive Colton’s behavior becomes, until Sally is left with one choice: ask her father what really happened. The problem: Sally hasn’t spoken to him in fifteen years. That’s set up nicely. What genre is it? What kind of readers will it appeal to? Tell us about Sally. Have you written any other books that we should read next? Tell us a bit about yourself. Let’s put that to the test. We’ll give you four words – Man, Woman, Airport, Darkness – and ask you to tell us a story. That’s a good story. But you say the craft comes easier than creativity? The difficulty comes later when I want to be sure I have captured the voice, made the dialogue and plot/action realistic according to each character, included just the right amount of setting and description, avoided adverbs and confusing syntax, put everything on the page instead of leaving important points in my head, fine-tuned the psychic distance, used appropriate action/character tags, and followed basic structure, all the while engaging my reader’s emotions and getting them to enter the fictive dream. Sheesh! What a challenge. Do you have a website where we can keep up with your work? How can we follow you on Twitter and/or Facebook? What’s next? |
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