Today
I am very pleased to be interviewing a new author who has already
published a book of poems and a book of short stories in the past two
months! Please welcome Cheyanne Marie.
K: Cheyanne,
I think the best place to start is with you as a person. What should
we know about you, beyond what you write?
C: First
of all, I can elaborate on nothing at all like no tomorrow, so I
apologize in advance for my super long answers. I’m a 20 credit
hour college student with three different jobs (Librarian, Teacher’s
Aid at an elementary school, and I clean an office every other
week...Does that count as a job?). I’ll graduate this semester
with my first AA, transfer- get another AA, then a BA...the ultimate
goal is a JD for Environmental Law...but we’ll see how far I make
it. lol
I
tend to be a spaz, a socialite, and highly dramatic. It’s actually
really funny that I’m an author, because my personality is far from
that. I love pageants, high heels, movies, acting, singing,
cosmetology, cold coffee, the time periods of the 1940s, 50s, and
90s; sparkles, loom knitting, jewelry...basically anything loud. Oh,
and I love Marvel. Specifically Captain America, cause he’s just
fabulous.
I
think the hardest thing for me to explain about myself is simply the
fact that I am a deeply
religious person, and have very high moral standards; but, funny
thing being, I don’t write “religious” or even “Christian”
fiction. Truth be told, I don’t feel called to write that. As a
former homeschooler, I’ve read only, you know, PG kind of things,
and for me, I think that’s really narrow. I feel like fiction
shouldn’t be a reflection of the author, or the author’s beliefs
necessarily (even though I do weave in morals of right and wrong
through one or two of the observations of my characters), but rather
a reflection of the world at large. I write what I see in the world,
both good and bad, in the hopes that observing the truth of reality
will encourage some to change it. But with that said, I’m
definitely not writing R type things...there’s a point and a line
that I won’t cross. :)
K: Thank
you for sharing all of that! Tell us about the books you just
published—and don’t forget the anthology you were published in.
:)
C: It’s
seriously been such a wild ride from when it all started, but I’ll
save some of that for the next question. ;) My first book was a
book of poems that I released back in December (“a book of rather
uninteresting poems”), which is so weird because I’d never
written poetry until a couple of months ago. In fact, I hated it, so
it’s more than amusing that my debut release was poems and poetry.
I guess you just never know what you’re going to end up doing.
My
second release (which I’m pretty stoked about) “I Married a Movie
Star and other writings,” is a collection of differing short
stories. My favorite, is the “I Married a Movie Star”
itself...and I feel like the name is pretty explanatory. I think
it’s just a funny story, combined with what would actually happen
if a “nobody” married a celebrity, along with the challenges
life, marriage, and child raising would add to that.
The
Anthology, “Space Kitties,” was a total blast to be a part of.
The name threw me for a wild loop at first. “Cats in space? How
is that going to work?” was my initial thought, but after
beginning, I found it was perfectly logical as logical could be. “21
Cats in the Hatch” is my story that is included (it will also
appear in “I Married A Movie Star”), and I think it’s one of
the best things I’ve written. Without giving too much away, I
really just wanted to focus on the faults humans have, and the way
that cats, for example, could look into our “race” and see the
faults that we so easily tend to ignore.
K: You’re
a well-rounded writer! When did you start writing, and how and when
did you know you wanted to be published?
C: Four.
I wrote “The Snake Desert,” followed four years later by my hit
novel, “The Ice Cream Thief.”
It
actually took me a long time to seriously write. I started out of
boredom at eight, stopping and starting again until age fourteen or
so when I had an idea for a novel. Even then, I didn’t begin
writing as a “career”
until last year, my freshman year of college when it began to take on
a form of self- help/therapy for me.
I’ve
always had fantasies of publishing (who hasn’t?), and then it just
sort of happened one day. I had to write an article for class, a
response to a letter written about soldiers overseas. Anyhow, my
essay was one of the national winners in a competition that my
teacher entered her students in, and before I knew it, I was
published. It was kind of like something just clicked in me, like
“Oh, hey. I could do this. This is something I could actually
do.” That was followed by publication in the Saltfork
Review with another of my short stories (“See Where Life
Takes Us,” also included in my new book), right before the
anthology, and then my own self-published titles. Without that kind
of reassurance, I don’t know if I would have had the push to
continue on my own.
K: That's cool you write nonfiction, too! What
are some of your favorite books, and how have their authors inspired
your life and your writing?
C: There’s
a lot of authors that have really shaped me in both life and writing
craft, and none of them are modern authors. C. S. Lewis is probably
my all-time favorite. I also really like Lewis Carroll, Horatio
Alger, Jr., and Jane Austen (Favorite books: Narnia, Mere
Christianity; Alice in Wonderland; On His Own; and Pride and
Prejudice...more or less in that order.).
There’s
this sense of weirdness that I just love from works like Carroll’s.
I like weird things. Things that make you think, “What would I do
in that situation?” I think weirdness just keeps it interesting.
I also adore satire and political quips in writing, and both Alger
and Austen are good examples of that.
I
respect Lewis for the points he makes in his theology books, the
arguments he brings to your attention that you just can’t argue
with, because he states the truth plain as day, and that’s
something I hope to accomplish in my writings; restating what we all
already truly know, but are too afraid to say, you know, give people
a bit of a wake-up call. Literature is a powerful tool that should
be used for more than entertainment or even encouragement, and I hope
to nudge people not only to change themselves, but also the world
around them by reading my works.
K: Good
choice on authors, and what inspiring thoughts about literature! Can
you pick one of the poems in A
Book of Rather Uninteresting Poems
and
tell us the inspiration behind it?
C: This
poem doesn’t actually have a name, I couldn’t think of a name
that would fit.
I
remember she was young
I
remember the age was twelve.
She
hated life, and was depressed.
With
no way out, and no one to help
To
end it all seemed the only answer.
But
still she couldn’t manage to go through-
Pull
the trigger, use the knife
The
idea never lasted long-
She
dared to hope, and hope kept her strong.
I
remember those times,
I
think back and catch a breath-
How
foolishly it could have ended;
Ended
there in death.
I
remember the girl,
I
heave a sigh.
I
was the girl-
The
one who contemplated suicide.
I
realize this is a very dark poem, very gruesome, but I think there’s
also hope in that. While I haven’t been “suicidal,” per se, I
was often tempted to take my life when I was younger, and that’s so
stupid, but that’s how I felt. What most people don’t know about
me, is that I’m unhappy roughly 90% of the time, and I’m working
through that. I become depressed very easily. I never used to talk
about it, but my stance has changed on that, and I’ve become more
open about the things I struggle with for the following reason.
Since “growing up” and meeting lots of other people, I realize
I’m not the only one who’s unhappy, dissatisfied, depressed, or
angry with their life. I’m not the only one who struggles.
Honestly, all I’m trying to do for other people is encourage them.
I just want people to know they’re not alone, we’re all going
through stuff, we all feel the same way, and yes, it’s going to get
better.
K: Wow,
Cheyanne. Thank you for sharing that. It can be uncomfortable to talk
about these things, but they are what people deal with and therefore
it’s important to address them and offer God’s hope. Now for an
off-beat question … what is your favorite color and do you see any
connection between that and your personality?
C: Oh,
that’s an easy one! My favorite color has been purple since I was
little. I think it’s because I was really meant to be a princess.
:P In all seriousness, I tend to enjoy “dressing up” and that
sort of thing. I know purple used to be the color of royalty, and I
think that fits the color itself because it’s really elegant, and I
strive to be elegant, but I’m pretty sure I fail the moment I put
sneakers and leggings on, but they’re just so comfortable.
K: Clever!
Purple suits you. What projects do you have in the works right now?
C: I
have about four more projects at the moment; from conception to
almost completion. In about two weeks, I hope to release my first
novel in a series, China Doll. This is actually the first
time I’ve made that public, so I’m very excited. I also have
plans for a second book of poems that will be collaborated with a new
poet, this being her first release, but I’ll keep things quiet
until we arrive closer to the release date. Other than that, I have
a sequel manuscript to China Doll that will come out in the
summer; another collection of shorts in the works; and I’ve been
toying with the idea of writing a comparison between the public
school system and homeschooling. That’s always just something
that’s interested me, the difference physiologically, emotionally,
physically, and scholastically between the two. Now that I’m both
working and attending a public institution, I’ve been able to see
the good and bad from both sides, and I’d like to share what I’ve
observed with others curious about it as well.
K: All
of your projects sound fascinating! Is there anything you’d like to
tell us, writer to writer, or maybe simply person to person?
C: I
know this is really cliche, but most often the cliche things are the
most true, there’s a reason they came to be cliche in the first
place. Be nice to everyone. Smile. Ask them how their day was.
How hard is it to take two minutes of your day to talk to someone?
Or just wave? I’m as guilty as anyone when it comes to being
considerate of another person, especially when I’m tired. But you
literally never know where someone is in life, or what they’re
dealing with, and a kind word or two from your could alter their life
dramatically.
K: Wise
words and a great reminder! Where can readers buy your books and
connect with you?
C: Right
now, my books are just on amazon.com, although I’d love to get them
into Barnes and Noble
in the near future. As for connecting, I’m on just about
everything, with the exception of tumblr.
Facebook, Twitter,
Google+, Pinterest, Instagram...Look me up! And there’s
also my blog, which I post on religiously, much to the annoyance of
my followers, I am sure.
K: Thank
you, Cheyanne, for this fresh and fascinating interview! It was
wonderful to get to know you better and I look forward to reading all
your works! I've already started “A
Book of Rather Uninteresting Poems” (and they are interesting! :) )
