The Story Behind the Story with Author Suzanne Casey of Moncton, New Brunswick.

 

Fun Times!

The Scribbler is happy to welcome back Author Suzanne Casey. With novel #2 published, her stories are receiving great reviews and lots of notice. She is going to share the Story Behind the Story with her latest work.

I had the pleasure to read Suzanne’s novel. Read my review HERE.

She has been a guest on the Scribbler before and it you missed her interview, please go HERE.

Tell us about yourself, Suzanne.

Writing has been in my blood since childhood. My father secretly restocked his office supplies on a regular basis to feed my art. My stories matured with age. I had more to tell, but had less time to write once I became a mother. But life events and experiences tucked themselves away in my head so that one day they might end up on paper.

The passing of my parents made me realize that life was fleeting. I had to chase my dream of writing a novel. Having it published was beyond my expectations. And now, I have two!

Being outdoors and spending time with loved ones fuels me, but so does sitting in front of a blank piece of paper creating new characters or stories. Yes, I write (and draw) on paper, first. Ideas come out too fast for me to type them up.

Working Title: The Quilting Bee (and the kaleidoscope of men who loved her)

Synopsis: 

Cathy West felt unwanted as a child. To soothe her loneliness, she sought the friendship of others, some of which weren't always positive. The inability to love herself became her downfall, making rash decisions to please others. However, two trustworthy people never let her down.

Aunt Mary showed her love, kindness, friendship, and the art of quilting. This craft will make Cathy prosperous. It will also give her peace.

The other person, she will suffer decades of heartache before she realizes his role in her life.

The Story Behind The Story:

Life experiences bring me snippets of a story. A scene, a sentence, a character. My mother was a talented quilter, giving her blankets as wedding gifts or for our own use. Occasionally, she'd pass me a needle to join her. I wanted to honour her art as a background to this story.

I always start my stories by developing the protagonist's emotional side. I know my characters' souls before their looks. At around Page 50 of my first draft, I realized she was one of the minor characters from my first novel Danny And MJ. I reread that book, and ended up having to change her name and hair colour in this manuscript. I suppose the two books could be considered a series.

And like it or not, we writers dig into ourselves to create. Experiences, places we've been, etc. It's why I've used my hometown as background, although with a fictitious name. I also used some of my own personal experiences, wanting to make the story more relatable to my readers. But be assured, The Quilting Bee is not autobiographical. 

    A question for you, Suzanne, before you go. 

What have been the most enjoyable and the least enjoyable about publishing?


The most enjoyable part about publishing is discovering and befriending fellow authors. The source of information we carry and share with one another is indispensable. I cherish every single one.

And in fear of sounding vain, I'm in awe of my fan base. They fire me up, feed my soul, and are always asking for more. I'm happy to oblige.

The least enjoyable...Editing. Researching. Writing a book is like painting a room. It's lovely to choose a colour and see the end results. But you can't just slap paint on a wall and call it done. There's preparations to be done. The same with writing. We authors are perfectionists to a fault. Researching and editing never ends. We just have to call it done, at one point.

Thank you Allan for the exposure. Greatly appreciated.





The pleasure is all mine, Suzanne. Happy to have you as a guest and I wish you continued success in your writing journey.

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