If you enjoy books about North Carolina check out my book, Edge of
Heaven at amazon.com or Barnesandnoble.com. This is the story of my
grandmother at the turn of the century who was traded by her father for a mysterious favor to a man with thirteen children.
Thank you. Eva
Rebecca :
I am so glad you made contact with me - your Edge of Heaven is a lovely read. Evocative, funny, dreadful & authentic. A delight that took me into another place & time & you are quite right in saying I would enjoy it! Very well done!
Tell me about how you came to write Edge of Heaven.
Eva :
I took a creative writing course, and one of the assignments was to write a description of someone we knew well. I picked my grandmother because I lived my first twenty years with her. A year later we had a granddaughter who was born with Spina Bifida (hole in the spine). She lived fifteen months but during that time she had eight major surgeries. She required around the clock care and would stop breathing several times a day. After spending a shift with her, I'd come home and become Lucy, my grandmother, and write. This was my way of coping. The first draft was in Lucy's viewpoint. I went to Oakland University to a writers' workshop and an editor there told me it would work much better if I'd get into other people's thoughts. So I rewrote. I made myself a formula. I tried not to change viewpoints unless I changed scenes or chapters. This way it helped me to not get confused about who was telling the story.
Rebecca :
Your descriptions of life in the Great Smoky Mountains are so vivid you must have lived there, when? Eva :
I was born in Franklin, North Carolina in 1937 and lived there with my family until I went away to college at age nineteen.
Rebecca :
Did you ever find your grandmother's Cherokee roots?
Eva :
No, no one was ever interested until about seven years ago when my nephew was looking for ways to pay his bills to medical school. We thought he might get some help if we could prove the Indian heritage. When we went to Cherokee, we found the books had been closed because so many people were trying to get on the rolls because of the gambling. Anyway, my nephew got a full scholarship to Wake Forest Medical School.
Rebecca :
When did you realize you had the substance for a book?
Eva :
I don't know really. When I started writing, I just kept recalling the way life was as my grandmother had told me. One event served as a hook to hang another on and before I knew it the story took shape.
Rebecca :
Did you write Edge of Heaven in solitary confinement or did you join a writing group?
Eva :
I belonged to a writing group. The support they gave me was great. They were there to tell me when something worked and when it didn't. They helped my develop a thick skin.
Rebecca :
In recreating the dialect of that time & place were you ever tempted to simply change it all into modern American?
Eva :
No. Fact is, my editor insisted that I cut down on lots of the dialect. To me it was the way people talked. When we moved to Michigan, I was teased about the way I talked. We've lived there forty years and the way the natives in the mountains talk seems more natural to me.
Rebecca :
How would someone with a relative who has lived an interesting or unusual life go about getting the stories to make up a book?
Eva :
I think forming a framework (plot and theme) to hang the stories of the person's life helps. It helps me to start with a problem and then try and solve it.
Rebecca :
Do you still have Lucy's locket?
Eva :
No. In fact, we never saw it during our growing up years. She never wore any jewelry. When she died, all the belongings she had were held in a beer box. It wouldn't surprise me if one of my aunts got it since my grandmother never had any girls of her own.
Rebecca :
Were arranged marriages normal in the 19th century?
Eva :
Honestly I don't know. Life here in the mountains was so primitive. It was a disgrace to get to be sixteen and not have a husband. Even in my day, young girls were married early. When I went away to school, it wasn't the thing to do and a young girl would never move out on her own. If you did, you wouldn't be respected.
Rebecca :
Do you have another project in mind & are you doing any speaking events about writing Edge of Heaven?
Eva :
I have just finished a sequel to Edge of Heaven called Children of the Mountain. My editor wants to be able to publish it by spring 2001, but I have some rewrites to do. The beginning is slow,and I need to find a way to move the story a little faster. I have a book with an agent called Button Box. It is set during the Civil War and is mainstream fiction. It was truly fun. Because of coming from the mountains and knowing how the “under dog” feels, I could really identify with the slaves. I have done some speaking and in October I have a couple of book signings. What I enjoy about the signings is the people I meet and learning what they like to read.
Hope I've answered your questions all right. Thanks again for your help.
Rebecca :
My dear Eva, your answers are great! My great-grand aunt had a decorated tin which she would open up for me when we visited & she would tell me the stories of whose clothes they had been on - all people from the far reaches of the British Empire from another century. Unfortunately I was too young then to record or remember, what I do remember is the quietness of her dining room, the buttons cast out on the shiny wood table, her tea set & beyond the French doors to her garden.
I was surprised by how much your Edge of Heaven affected me - you did well, my dear! I look forward to Children of the Mountain & Button Box. Every success with your books.
Check out Authors Sightings for where & when Eva Carpenter McCall will be signing her book.
Edge of Heaven - Amazon's price is: $14.95
Children of the Mountain - Amazon's price is: $14.95
RebeccasiReads.com
