Episode 1: Cynthia McDonald Author Interview
R: Hello Cinnabar Moths, or any other kind of Moth you’d like to be. Welcome to the Writers Triangle, Cinnabar Moth’s podcast about all things publishing and books. Today we are here with Cynthia, Author of Drōmfrangil. Cynthia, how are you doing today?
C: Wonderful.
R: I’m glad to hear it. I’m having a good time as well, and I’m excited to be interviewing you today.
C: Thank you.
R: So, how are you feeling? Are you excited about the release of Drōmfrangil coming out on August 10th?
C: Absolutely. Absolutely yes, I’m very much looking forward to it.
R: And I know that it’s – all books when you go into writing and to get them to publishing; it’s quite a bit of a process. How long did it take for you to write Drōmfrangil?
C: The initial first draft took me about 3 months. And then I have re-written – well obviously with the editing and rewriting probably 3 times? So that took place over the course of about a year. So, overall probably about a year and a half.
R: Okay. And so, that’s a pretty decent amount of time. What was that process like for you with the writing, and the editing and such?
C: The initial writing was interesting because I had never tried to write fiction before. So, I found it actually easier than I thought I would. I think I have discovered that I’m kind of an organic writer in that I tell the story to myself, and I write from beginning to ending which is different than a lot of writers write.
So, I just basically wrote the story in 3 months, and then let it sit for a while, and then edited it, and then did a kind of a small re-write on it, and then edited it again. I actually had somebody else edit it again after that, a professional editor.
R: Mm-hmm
C: Just to have somebody go through it and see what things I wasn’t seeing, and see what improvement it might need. Grammatical things, flow, and then – one of the rewrites I did, I actually ended up rewriting and then changing it back because I had had – when I was doing querying, I had one person that actually questioned the main character, the way I had written him.
So I changed it for what that person had expected, and then after I rewrote it I just didn’t feel right about it, and I knew I had to make the main character the way I had originally seen him, and I wrote it back.
R: Okay. So, that sounds like quite a bit of a complicated process there with –
C: Yeah. (laughs) It was quite the process.
R: (laughs) Would you say that you found that process to be enjoyable? Was it painful? What was the feeling going through the whole – the querying and the rewriting and all of that?
C: The writing part is wonderful. I really enjoy writing. Like I said, it’s an organic process for me, it seems to flow out of me. I love writing. The querying process (laughs) is not so much fun. I, you know, I love writing. The editing is actually, to me, kind of interesting because it’s basically kind of like reading back your own book and just like touching it up here and there, and actually improving it. But querying – I have not talked to anybody who says “querying is fun”.
(laughter)
C: It is very difficult because you’re basically putting yourself out there over and over again, and the majority of the time you get rejected. So, it’s hard to like put your work out there, your dream, and just be told over and over again “no”. And it makes you feel like you’re not good enough, and that’s tough.
R: Yeah, I can imagine that can be difficult feeling like “what’s wrong with this? I love it, I’ve worked so hard for it”
C: Right. Yeah, why am I not meeting your expectations? I love it. It’s like “what’s wrong with it?” yeah.
R: And so, you end up going through the querying process, and querying the book. And eventually you queried with us. But, obviously cuz we are publishing you but, how did you discover CinnabarMoth Publishing?
C: I actually – on Twitter. Like I had been – I’ve been on Twitter for a long time, and I had seen actually CinnabarMoth just tweeting, sharing some tweets from some other friends that I have. And then they actually retweeted some of my stuff, and I started following some of the – I started following CinnabarMoth.
And they – CinnabarMoth retweeted my blog. And so, I just started communicating back and forth, and saw that they were open for submissions – that you were open for submissions, and then was like “you know, maybe? I will give this a shot” you know cuz I had queried it so many times, and just been rejected so many times, and I had gotten to the point where I was thinking about self-publishing. But, I was like “I’m gonna give this one more shot” and just submitted it. Cuz especially since CinnabarMoth was like “submit full manuscripts” and that was kind of – that’s so much different than so many other publishers, they’re like “well, just send us a query letter and like 5 pages”
R: Yeah.
C: So – which is difficult because it doesn’t feel like it gives them a full look at what you’re really telling. And CinnabarMoth was like “we’ll take your full manuscript and read it” So it seemed like a better chance to be like “here’s my whole story”.
R: Well, we’re really glad you decided to query with us, and we know that you just talked about querying with us but then, what made you decide to finally go through with the decision to publish with us?
C: Well, I think everything has been so open, and communicative, and friendly, and personable compared to like every other experience I’ve had with any other agents of publishers. Everything I’ve – every other experience I’ve had has been very impersonal. And, everyone at CinnbarMoth that I’ve dealt with, you, and Kisstopher, and Chad.
Everybody that I’ve talked to there has been just relatable, and personable, and human, and treated me like a person and a human. Which, has been just a different experience and makes – it just makes you feel wonderful you know? Like a person, you know, like you’re not just dealing with my book. You’re dealing with me.
R: Hmm. We’re glad that we make you feel that way, and feel connected to us. That’s one of our goals is, having our authors feel like they’re being seen in this process. With the choosing to publish with us, what has been the most surprising thing about choosing to publish with Cinnabar Moth.
C: I think – I mean there’s so many things but I think just the.. It’s hard to pick like one thing, but there’s so much. I mean like feeling welcomed and see like the, I mean – the combination of the personable side and the professional side. There’s also so much professionalism in that like, basically I feel like you took my little book and just turned it into this big production.
Like there’s been so much marketing, and on that side of it has been such a big deal like from the beginning – I mean it’s been kind of a process from the beginning, and it’s been months going on, and it’s not even out yet, and there’s a lot of hype about it which has been I think really impressive. I don’t think I would’ve even gotten that kind of treatment from any kind of a big publisher. So, that’s been really impressive to me.
R: Mm-hmm, and this process we’ve been in communication with you about, you know, publishing the book and everything. And so, separate from publishing with us specifically, what would you say has been one of the more surprising things, or even the most surprising thing about publishing your book, and going through that official publication process?
C: Just at all in general?
R: Yeah.
C: I think there’s so much more involved in it than I ever really thought. I mean, I think – I think, I mean, not having – I mean, I’ve done some self-publishing before, but like when it comes to just like publishing, I personally just had this misconception of like “well, somebody agrees to publish your book and they just like, publish it.” You know, and it’s out there on the market.
(laughter)
You don’t realize there’s so much that goes on behind the scenes you know? So, that’s been – there’s so much I learned since that’s all started like, it’s a process. There’s so much involved in it that’s been like, a whole learning experience for me.
R: Mm, and this learning experience, we’re actually rapidly approaching – gosh it feels like the times been flying but, pretty soon the book will actually be – Drōmfrangil will actually be released. And, how do you plan on celebrating the release of Drōmfrangil once it comes out?
C: I mean, it’s kind of funny cuz I’ve been tryna figure out how it’s gonna all work. Like because – it’s interesting because the book comes out on my son’s birthday.
R: Oh.
C: Yeah, his – my oldest son’s birthday is August 10th and that’s the date of release. So, that’s gonna be kinda interesting. (laughs) So, we’ll probably do like a little dual celebration. But yeah, I don’t know like, I’m really limited on what I can do so we’ll probably just do something at home.
Because – and also, like, basically I’m trying to get like – I’m supposed to have surgery at some point but it sounds like that’s probably gonna be an August thing. So I mean, I’ll still be at home but we’ll do something fun. Just because you know – and I’m sure we’ll be doing some like online stuff with family cuz we have family like, you know, out of state and stuff too but yeah, I have a lot of out of state family that’s pretty excited about it.
R: Okay. So, that actually flows into my next question rather nicely. You bring up your family being excited, that was the next question. Is – you have extended family as well as your close family, is everyone excited about the release of Drōmfrangil?
C: Pretty much. I mean my – I mean of course all my immediate family my like, my husband, my kids have all been like really just super supportive and excited the whole time. My – I have 3 sisters and they’re all really supportive and excited, and they keep in touch with me all the time asking how things are going. My mother in law, I just talked to her the other day and she was like “you have to make sure I get a copy right away as soon as it comes out”. She’s very excited about it and stuff, and I have all my aunts and uncles and yeah. So I have lots of family that are all very excited. And I have multiple friends that have been letting me know – they want me to let them know for sure as soon as it comes out so they can go out and buy a copy so, it’s been very – a lot of support which has been really nice.
R: I think it’s awesome that you have this close knit of people that are supporting, and supportive, and very excited about your process and all of this.
C: Yeah.
R: It’s always lovely to see and hear about…
C: Yes, that has been – that’s been really a fun part of the whole process.
R: With the book’s release, there’s also another aspect to it which is being released into – not just for sale but also into libraries. And your book Drōmfrangil will be listed in the U.S Library of Congress. How does that feel?
C: That was pretty amazing when I found that out, that was – that seemed like such a big deal to me like, I don’t know… It was one of those things that I was like so taken aback, I don’t know like – one of the things that I said even when I first found out that I was gonna be published at all was like “I don’t know, you’re kind of immortalized when you have a book published you know?” and then I was like “well if it’s gonna be in the Library of Congress that’s like this big deal, you know, that’s like immortalization you know?” (laughs)
R: Yeah, yeah.
C: So, it just seems, I don’t know. It’s hard to take in, you know?
R: Mm.
C: But still, it seems like a pretty amazing accomplishment I guess.
R: And then so –
C: Like –
R: No, go ahead please.
C: No I was gonna say, it’s like, it’s like – it just like – this little book that I wrote a couple years ago, this story that I just came up with and wrote like – to have that happen to it just seems like “really my little book?” that kind of thing.
(laughter)
R: I mean, even if it is just your little book in your mind, it is going out to the world and it’ll be experienced by people you’ve never met. And for our listeners at home who aren’t aware of what the U.S Library of Congress is, it is essentially the core for libraries in the United States.
If you are listed in the catalogs for the U.S Library of Congress, that goes out to every library both public as well as school system libraries in the entirety of the U.S. So, being listed there means you are listed as a book for every library across the entire nation.
And so, the book will be released with – on August 10th, and that will not be completely wrapping up the process for Drōmfrangil because there are obviously things that happen around the release as well. But, what do you hope happens next?
C: I mean, I hope I just get to keep writing and, you know, telling stories and, you know, sending them out into the world. Like, this story – I mean this book means a lot to me because you know, I mean – and I guess maybe that’s one of the things that if I really think about the Library of Congress thing and getting the book out into libraries is that, the most important thing to me about writing this book is that – to me the most important thing is that the main character is – he’s a disabled person of colour.
And it was really important to me because of the representation issue. That, people who are disabled and people of colour can see themselves as the hero of the story. So, for people to be able to go the library and find a book on the shelves where they can see themselves as the hero is a big deal, you know? That’s not something that happens all the time. And – I mean to me that’s why it’s such a big deal.
And that’s one thing I wanna continue to do is tell stories like that. So, that’s what I hope for the future is to just keep telling stories like that.
R: And so, your look to the future is to continue this representation, continue this process and turn your writing, as well, into potentially a career for yourself?
C: Yeah, of course yeah. I mean it would be nice to keep you know, publishing books and make a career out of it. That’s definitely my goal, yeah in the long run, yeah.
R: And so, Drōmfrangil will be released on August 10th, and for every book there’s that potential for it to become best seller. A very exciting thing.
C: Yes.
R: If Drōmfrangil were to become a bestseller, what would you do?
C: I mean, I mean that’s always the hope. That’s always the dream. I guess – I mean that’s one of those things like, you hope that you can get your name out there and like “oh I’m a best selling author” but, it’s something that you never expect. So, it’s kind of one of those things that – I mean, I don’t wanna get my hopes up and be like “oh, that’s gonna be me” you know what I mean? So, I’m kind of like, put that on the back burner as a “if it happens, that would be great” but I don’t really wanna plan for it. You know? We’ll see what happens, that kind of thing, that’s kinda where I’ve been.
(laughter)
C: So, I know there’s been a lot of hype. I know there’s been you know, pre-sell orders you know, and getting a Library of Congress order – or number was a big deal to, to say in all that because it was the library thing. So, but it’s really been just a “I just wanna wait and see what happens” and if it becomes a bestseller then, amazing news. I’m gonna be so proud and feel really good about myself.
(laughter)
R: Yeah, and if – let’s push this dream even a little bit further. This concept of it becoming a bestseller, becoming known. What about if Drōmfrangil became a movie or a T.V. series? Do you have any ideas of the types of people or certain actors you’d want to maybe cast for different roles?
C: Ultimately to me, I would just wanna make sure that the roles are fulfilled by people that fit the way I’ve written them you know? I wanna make sure that the main character – the actor the plays the main character, needs to fit the way he’s written. He’s disabled, he’s a person of colour so the actor would need to be disabled and a person of colour. That’s you know, really important to me you know? So, you know, those are the main criteria to me.
I mean, I just wanna make sure that that’s what people see on the screen. It’s not somebody that’s not those things that are pretending to be those things.
R: This is a follow-up question –
C: I mean –
R: Oh, go ahead.
C: No, that’s fine. Go ahead.
R: The follow-up question that if – I know I brought up the concept of a movie or T.V. series happening, but would you want Drōmfrangil to become a movie or T.V. show if that were a possibility?
C: I think that would be amazing. I would love to see my ideas up on the screen and I think that – I mean, you know, right now the creatures that I’ve created are all just in my head. But, to see if somebody could like create those concepts and put them on a screen for people to actually see would be pretty amazing you know? I think, I mean I think it could be a pretty interesting movie. I think it’s – I think that the world I’ve created is different then a lot of what’s out there now. And that’s – that was one of my aims was not to do the same old thing. So, I think it could be quite an interesting, you know, movie or T.V. series for people to see.
R: Mm-hmm. And so, let’s imagine this scenario where it becomes a movie or T.V. show, they’re making the plans and everything. What level of creative control do you think that you’d wanna have over that process? Would you want to leave it mostly to the producers and such? Or would you wanna have more of a say in the direction that things go?
C: I think I would definitely want to consult, I would wanna have some input because I would wanna make sure that they didn’t just like go haywire and just change things out on me. Like I said I would wanna make sure I was there to be like “no, you know, the characters need to be, you know, not changed” you know, but we wanna make sure the characters are who they are written in the book. But, you know I would wanna make sure that we’re not just like, changing the creatures the way that I’ve written them, into something different you know?
So, I mean obviously there are things that have to happen when they make movies to be like “well, we have a bunch of concerns so we can’t do this, we can’t do that” and I can certainly be like “of course that kind of thing is a consideration” but I’d at least like to be consulted.
R: Okay. So, you’d be looking more towards, if it captures your vision you’re happy with that. And you understand there might be some minor tweaks cuz it happens with the transition of media, and budgets and everything.
C: Oh of course, absolutely yeah.
R: That makes sense. So, let’s imagine this scenario where it has become the movie or T.V. show. It’s going to be coming out on to the big screen or on to T.V. via whatever medium it ends up going up on. Would you want to go to the premiere of the show or the movie? And if you did, do you think you’d have a particular outfit or something special you’d want to wear to that event?
C: I mean, I’d certainly want to go. I think that would be pretty amazing to be able to go to the premiere of my own creation. That would be pretty cool. I mean, and hopefully by then I would be, I mean, obviously that would be in the future at some point so I should be in a fairly good hopefully – fairly good physical condition and in that case, I guess I would probably just wear a nice dress.
R: Okay.
C: Like…
R: Yeah, I know it’s a kind of hard concept to grasp, at the same time a very exciting one if it were to happen.
C: Yeah, yeah.
R: Becoming this big thing and developing to that point.
C: Yeah, yeah.
R: And so, with becoming a bestseller or with, you know, having a T.V show being released or something along those lines. There is of course tied to that, a certain level of fame.
C: Mm-hmm
R: With fame, there’s different types right. There’s the being super well-known, people knowing your face, being able to recognize you on the street. Being like Steven King for example, very very famous. And then there’s different levels of fame where people might know your name if it was mentioned but won’t necessarily be able to recognize you on the street and other types of – like different levels right?
C: Yeah.
R: So, if you had the ability to control your level of fame, if you were to become famous, what would you like? Would you like to be as famous as Steven King where everybody kind of recognizes you and it sort of loses your anonymity, or would you prefer to be able to keep your anonymity, but still be known? What would be your ideal level of fame so-to-speak?
C: I mean, absolutely I’d be okay with people like just knowing my name, but Steven King famous, is kinda crazy famous. I mean, I’d like to be able to like, go out and not have people mobbing me cuz they know my face. You know, if possible – I don’t know – that’s a crazy level of fame if you think about it like, you lose your privacy, your, you know, that kind of thing and…
I mean, that would be a little over the top for me, that level of fame. I mean, that’s a crazy level of fame, I think it would really have to be pretty – I mean, if you look at Steven King, I mean, he’s written like what, 50, 60 books? And they’re all crazy over the top best sellers, how many of them made it into books, and he’s insanely rich and, you know, that’s what he had to do to get that famous. So, I mean, not that I wouldn’t wanna be that much of a bestseller, but I don’t know if I wanna be like hounded on the streets, and not be able to show my face anymore so…
(laughter)
Yeah, and like a famous name is not necessarily a famous face.
R: Okay, that makes sense. That way you can be like “oh yea, I’m Cynthia Mcdonald” and people say “oh, I love your work”
C: Yeah, that would be okay. Yeah.
R: Okay, yeah. So, with it becoming – there’s – becoming famous and that’s honestly something we can’t fully control but, would be a very exciting thing if it could happen, and we of course would love it if you were able to be a bestseller and we were able to, you know, be part of that process, and be able to say “yeah, we helped this wonderful author achieve this goal, and this dream that they had.” and that’s something that we feel for all of our authors as we want them to be able to succeed. And we’re looking forward to your success as well.
C: Yeah. Yeah I definitely feel that level of support.
R: I’m really happy that you say that. So, thank you for – Cynthia for talking with us today, and being on the Writers Triangle, and answering all the questions that we have. And thank you to all of our beautiful Moths for listening. Be sure to buy Drōmfrangil when it comes out on August 10th. Cynthia, can you tell us where to find you? Social media links and such?
C: I am on Twitter @mccindy72 I am on facebook at facebook.com/Iseeyourhearts , Instagram.com/Iseeyourhearts
R: Okay. And for those of you at home, be sure to visit CinnabarMoth.com to check out the transcripts. And we will also have an author page – we also have an author page for Cynthia, where you’ll be able to find links to all her social media. Before we close out here, Cynthia, do you have any final comments or anything you’d like to say to the people at home? Or anything you’d like to ask me for example?
C: Nope, I just really appreciate all the interest that everybody has in the book and that’s about it. And I thank you guys for all your support as well.
R: We appreciated working with you, and we really enjoyed this process here at Cinnabar Moth. It’s been a total pleasure, and we’re looking forward to continue to work with you as things go on. Thank you everyone at home for listening and joining us today on the Writers Triangle, it’s been a pleasure. Cynthia, it’s been a pleasure.
Bye-bye.