Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Interview with Christopher Cloud Author of Adelita's Secret

Today, we're shining the book spotlight on a young adult fantasy novel, Adelita’s Secret thanks to Rebecca's Writing Services. Christopher Cloud is an award-winning novelist with his collection of young adult novels. 

About Adelita’s Secret 
Lost in a superficial world of materialism and social status—and ashamed of her Latino heritage—seventeen-year-old Adelita NoĆ© is loved by two men, two men separated by a hundred years and vastly different stations in life. One man owns little more than the shirt on his back. The other, a poet at heart, is heir to a vast fortune. Their love for Adelita serves as the backdrop for the Latino girl’s quest to better understand herself and her Mexican roots.

Read Chapter 1 – 4 on Amazon
Title is available at Amazon kindle or paperback
Pick up your copy at Barnes & Noble


Q: Have you ever had a character take over a story and move it in a different direction than you had originally intended? How did you handle it?

A: I’m glad you asked because my teenage protagonist in Adelita’s Secret took me in a totally different direction with her own ideas for the storyline. I don’t write fantasy (or didn’t before this novel) and had no intention of writing fantasy. But Adelita took control about 5,000 words into the story, and changed the genre from young adult to young adult/fantasy. I’m pleased the story unfolded as it did.

Q: Any tips for character creation?
There has been much written about the so-called "composite" character, borrowing bits and pieces from several characters to build one character. Personally, I find this premise irritating because you end up creating a character that readers will find unbelievable. That is not to say that your character’s personally/physical makeup/speech can’t be tweaked. Create a character that readers can wrap their minds around.  


Q: Lessons readers can learn from the books characters?
I write middle-grade and young adult novels, and my characters dispense small doses of historical facts, facts that become an integral part of the story. Indeed, each of my four middle-grade/young adult novels plays out against a backdrop of history.

Q: Is there a theme or message in your work that you would like readers to connect to?
There are no messages per se in my novels, but I do try and tactfully educate the reader about the role history plays in all of our lives. In A Boy Called Duct Tape I educate the reader about the exploits of Jesse James and his gang of outlaws; in Voices of the Locusts I show my readers the ugly psychological scars left by World War II; in Adelita’s Secret, the importance of the Mexican Revolution forms the backdrop for my story; in The Ghosts of Petroglyph Canyon, the significance of preserving ancient rock drawings subtly weaves its way through the novel.

Q: If you could be any famous person/author for one day, who would you be and why?
I gave this question much thought. I’ve decided I’d like to be John Steinbeck when he was halfway through his first draft of The Grapes of Wrath. I’d love to learn his writing routine and who he relies on to read his copy, not for typos, but for content. For my money, The Grapes of Wrath is the most important book by an American author of the 20th century.

Q: One of the most terrifying or difficult things about being a writer?
One of the most problematic issues for me are critiques. When I first began writing, a reviewer panned one of my middle-grade novels. However, the novel received more than 200 five-star reader reviews on Amazon. These days I judge the quality of my stories by reader reviews. Such reviews are far more telling.

Q: What do you believe is your strongest trait?
I am not a quitter. I believe this trait has helped me survive the bump road of writing fiction. I continue to hold the belief that a good story will always find a home. 


About Christopher Cloud
Award winning author Christopher Cloud began writing fiction full time after a long career in journalism and public relations. He writes middle-grade and young adult novels..Cloud graduated from the University of Missouri in 1967 with a degree in journalism. He has worked as a reporter, editor, and columnist at newspapers in Texas, California, and Missouri. He was employed by a Fortune 100 company as a public relations executive, and later operated his own public relations agency. Cloud attended high school in Japan, and lives in Joplin, Missouri. His website Is: www.christophercloud.com

Visit Christopher Cloud’s website
Visit Cloud’s blog

Check back on December 10th for my review of this book.

1 comment:

  1. A great article and historical significance. reminds me of my love story

    ReplyDelete