The Interview - Carolyn Summer Quinn
https://www.carolynsummerquinn.com
When you're working on a book and a new idea pops up, should you pursue it immediately (also known as 'UP syndrome') or finish your current project first? What do you think is the best course of action?
I usually work on more than one book at a time. It keeps things interesting! The minute I get a new idea for a book I start a document and write down the idea, so I've got the UP Syndrome! I do a little work on it right away and then go back to continue writing the previous book.
Which character do you enjoy writing the most as a writer and why? If choosing a favorite character is like choosing a favorite child, which character do you find requires the most attention and detail from you as a writer?
The oldest of the three girls sent to England is the character of Rosi, and I loved creating her. She's been rescued by the Kindertransport. She has a "new" family in England, but she can't stop wondering what's happening to the parents she left behind in Berlin. It gets worse when her mother stops contacting her. Rosi lives with the constant ache of what happened?
Have you been able to incorporate your previous experience in [jobs/education] in your writing?
Oh I've had a wonderful time doing that! The worst boss I ever had was the basis for one of the mysteries I wrote called BACKSTABBED ON BROADWAY. He was a monster, just insufferable, and hated all over town, so in the book I had the character based on him murdered. Ha! There was a suspicious situation surrounding a house when I was a child, and I've used that, too, in another book, CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF ANSWERS. One of the schools I attended way back when was a terrible place, and that became the inspiration for the corrupt school in THE FINAL COMEUPPANCE. It's fun to take some of these experiences and use them in the plot of a book. It kind of turns them on their head!
Describe the [book/series] in 10 words or less for people who are just learning about it.
Wartime and the Kindertransport. Jewish children find new English parents...
Would you like readers to have any specific takeaway from your book?
I always like to give readers the message that you just never know what tomorrow might bring. I can't say anything more or I'd add spoilers but I like to write stories that have a lot of hope.
What do you like to do when you’re not writing?
I am also a Photographer so I run around taking lots of photographs. I particularly love photographing flowers and cityscapes but anything with interesting lines and light will do.
Was there anything you had to research for the book?
Plenty! The book covers the time right before and right after World War II. The Kindertransport was an effort by good people in the United Kingdom to provide foster homes to imperiled Jewish children from the Third Reich. I wanted to make the story as authentic as possible, so I researched everything, from the train and ferry routes the children took on their way to their new homes to information about what neighborhoods in London were hit by bombs. I must say those Brits were AMAZING in how they handled themselves through the barrage of indignities that befell them during World War II! The foster parents who saved the lives of children by taking them in were also incredibly good people. Bravo!
What can we anticipate from you moving forward?
I'm working on two new cozy mysteries at the moment so there will be more to come!
Did you always want to be an author? If not, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I wanted to be a detective while growing up so it follows that so many of my books are cozy mysteries!
Where do you like to write? In a coffee shop? In your home office? On the beach?
Ha, I write in my apartment. Believe it or not, I've written fifteen books on my laptop while sitting cross-legged on my bed!