Hello
Bookworms!
In the spirit of giving, I have
a special gift for all of you today! An Interview with N.E. David, Author
of Carol’s Christmas!
1.
What
inspired your story Carol’s Christmas?
“I usually write about things that
have been in my head for a while and are crying to be let out. CAROL'S
CHRISTMAS was different in that I had determined to write a Christmas story and
then went in search of a plot.
About half a mile from my house there's a street just like
the one in the book. Every year all the houses in the road are decorated from
top to bottom with sets of exotic lights and people go up there to drive round
and look at them. It's a great way of spending an hour one evening prior to
Christmas Day. There are even charity boxes at the end of each driveway where
you can make a donation (and a contribution toward the electricity bill!).
We also have a tradition over here (I don't know if it's the
same in the States) that if you fail to take down any decorations before
Twelfth Night, you have to leave them up all year (there's actually one in our
house right now, hidden behind a plant in the front window). I've also heard
about people who are so besotted with Christmas that their houses are decorated
all year round.
With these things in my mind, I lay in the bath one day,
closed my eyes to think, and that was the start of CAROL'S CHRISTMAS.”
2.
You
could have picked anything for the characters to attempt bonding over. What
drew you to choose ice skating?
“Do you know what? I have absolutely no idea! We have an ice
rink in York every Christmas and I guess that must have been in my mind too. It
used to be outside The Castle Museum and The Courthouse which is where I've
described it in the book. This year it's outside a shopping mall out of town.
Sad, but hey ho, everything changes.”
3.
You
wrote Carol’s Christmas as a novella or an ‘entertainment’ meaning that it is
readable in one sitting. Was it harder writing the story this way being that
you are limited in how much you can say and may have to leave details on the
“cutting room floor” so to speak?
“ No, far from it. CAROL'S CHRISTMAS was the first
'entertainment' I wrote so it defined the genre for me. I knew the plot from
start to finish before I began writing and I simply got it down on paper. It's
never been edited so there's nothing on the cutting room floor at all. You
could argue that it could be trimmed here and there but once I'd finished it, I
was happy with it at 20,000 words. I've since gone on to write two more which
quite coincidentally have come out at exactly the same length so there must be
something 'natural' about it for me.”
4.
This
story was wonderful and it opened up tons of possibilities as to how Carol and
her father’s lives might continue from here. Will readers be able to re-visit
26 Acacia Avenue someday in more published stories or will it be up to them to
use their imaginations?
“I have to say I have no plans to write any more about Brian
and Carol. Just as I needed 20,000 words to say what I wanted to say about them
and nothing less would have done, now I have nothing more to say and I'm afraid
the mind is empty on the subject, so readers will have to use their
imaginations. That's not such a bad thing - and by the way, I've written plenty
of other stuff they can read anyway.”
5.
Be
honest, do any of the characters in Carol’s Christmas resemble anyone in your
own life?
“Yes - and no. This question boils down to whether my writing
is in any way autobiographical. I actually believe that everything we write is
autobiographical in some way or another - it must be, since everything we write
originates from inside ourselves and no matter how we dress it up, horror,
sci-fi, romance etc. it's still a part of us. CAROL'S CHRISTMAS is no different
- but the characters are not direct representations of any particular
individuals. Anyone who reads it will probably recognise parts of themselves
somewhere - there's as much of me in Brian as there is of any man, there's as
much of my wife in Edna as there is of any woman and there's as much of my
daughter in Carol as there is of any young lady her age. What I hope is that
that this will enable readers to more readily identify with the characters and
thereby engage them in the story.”
I hope you have enjoyed getting an inside look at the writing
of Carol’s Christmas straight from the author. You will truly enjoy Carol’s
Christmas and I hope you’ll not only read it for yourself but share it with
your loved ones as well! I’d like to thank N.E. David for taking out so
much time to work with See Lizzie Read on more than 1 occasion!
Pick up or
download a copy of Carol’s Christmas today for yourself and a loved-one:
Follow N.E. David on his blog!
and on Twitter!
@NEDavidAuthor
