Click Here To Purchase Houses: a novel

Today, Norm Goldman Publisher & Editor of Bookpleasures.com is excited to have as our guest, Cynthia Rogers Parks author of Houses. Cynthia holds an M.A. and Ph.D in English from Georgia State University where, according to her bio, she was one of the earliest entrants in their graduate Creative Writing Program. Subsequently, she taught English, business writing, and ESL classes for fourteen years. Her short stories have been published in numerous university and regional literary publications, and she is a former Redbook Fiction finalist.

Good day Cynthia and thanks for participating in our interview

Thanks, Norm. I appreciate the opportunity.

Norm:

How did you get started in writing? What keeps you going?

Cynthia:

I don’t really recall ever not writing. And I haven’t ever wanted to be anything but a writer. I had my first poem published at ten. I wrote for the school papers and lit mags in high school and college. I had a little creative flurry in grad school and managed to get a few stories published. But for most of my life I’ve been raising a family and working as technical writer, web writer and editor. To be perfectly honest, family life and the other jobs I’ve had just precluded writing fiction for me. I didn’t really dedicate myself and get back to my real focus until about two years ago when I lost my job.  I write every day now. And what keeps me going is the clock. Ticking pretty loudly, when I have so much catching up to do.

Norm:

What do you want Houses to do? Amuse people? Provoke thinking?

Cynthia:

Well, I certainly wanted the book to be thought-provoking. I know that I want every book I read to make me think. To leave me changed in some way. But I don’t mind the idea that my book can simply provide someone a little escape, some down time. I hope I can offer a laugh or two, also.

Norm:

Was Houses improvisational or did you have a set plan?

Cynthia:

The plan came from a conversation with friends when I heard myself saying what the narrator says in the preface. That “I’ve measured my life in houses.” I realized that there was a ready-made structure there, a way to tell a life story. I was actually working on something else at the time but this idea just obsessed me and I started writing the book. I realized pretty early on that I needed to strengthen the connection between houses and the main character and toyed with making her a decorator or an architect. I finally settled on accidental real estate agent. Beyond this larger structure, though, the process was highly improvisational.  I could see her first house, and her last one.  Everything in between just came out of that mysterious creative cloud. I do plan, and outline, at a high level. But a lot of it just happens.  

Norm:

What was one of the most surprising things you learned in writing Houses?
Cynthia:

I learned a lot, really. And I was reminded of a lot I’d forgotten since I stopped writing fiction. I learned how it feels to become so deeply absorbed in the work, the story, that you begin to really live your book, 24/7, as they say. That was fun. The most surprising thing, though, was discovering how difficult and time-consuming the research can be. I spent half a day, for example, just looking for a TV show that was broadcast at a particular time on a Friday night in the 70s, so that I could just mention it, almost in passing.  I have this immense new respect for writers of historical fiction.

Norm:

In fiction as well as in non-fiction, writers very often take liberties with their material to tell a good story or make a point. But how much is too much? 

Cynthia:

I think that depends both on the genre and the context of the story. Obviously in fantasy or Sci Fi, you can take a lot of liberties. Your readers expect you to, because they want something that really stretches the imagination. In historical fiction, or fiction like Houses, that purports to have taken place in a very specific time and place, you’re not really free to take liberties with facts. I think you insult the reader when you do.  I don’t believe, for example, that it would have served me very well to play fast and loose with the historical facts of the King assassination. If you’re caught doing that kind of thing, even your characters’ subjective reactions, their interior realities, become suspect.   

Norm:

What are the preponderant influences on your writing?

Cynthia:

As a southerner I was obviously influenced by Faulkner, O’Connor, Welty—all the hallmark Southern writers. As a native Memphian I was a great fan of Peter Taylor and still think his short stories are marvels. I went through the equivalent of a kind of Goth period as a pre-teen when I wanted only Poe and Kafka. In high school I devoured Victorian lit and, like Lacey in the book, I was crazy for Thomas Hardy. I collect a lot of the power writers of the 60s and 70s. Roth, Updike, Vonnegut, Irving.  I’ve been steadily influenced by Ann Tyler for decades and when all’s said and done she’s probably my ideal writer. I love the quiet depth and simplicity of her novels. I’m in awe of her long career and the fact that she keeps her following loyal without all the public appearances and media blitzes.

Norm:

Do you feel that writers, regardless of genre owe something to readers? If not, why not, if so, why and what would that be?

Cynthia:

Of course they do. As a writer I owe my readers the best story and the best crafting I can deliver, and a basic respect for their time and attention and intellect. If a reader buys my book, signs up for the trip so to speak, I’m obliged to make it the best journey I can. I’ve heard over and over that writers should write for themselves. But I don’t really get that. No one writes in a vacuum. Without the reader I’m not a writer. I’m a typist.

Norm:

It is said that if you want to write a good story or novel you need to create struggles of powerful descriptive individuals and not just issues. Through their accomplishments and travail, we very much comprehend the issues? Do you agree and how does this apply to Houses?

Cynthia:

I do agree. Issues have no meaning except as they affect us as human beings. It’s much easier to shine a light on an injustice or social ill if we see its effects on a character with whom we identify and empathize. I’ve had my own mind opened, or changed, about so many things by characters in books. In Houses I got to the chance to say some things about war and women’s issues and the civil rights struggle without having to lecture or pontificate, I hope, because the characters were there to show the suffering and confusion some of these events caused in their own lives.                

Norm:

I believe Houses is your first novel.  Would you say that its publication is the culmination of a life long dream?

Cynthia:

I’d definitely say that! It feels like getting to finally tic off that little item that’s been on your to do list since you were twelve years old. It’s a thrill and also an immense relief. I finally wrote, the end, on a book, and got to hold my book in my hand.

Norm:

Do you ever suffer from writer's block? If so, what do you do about it?

Cynthia:

I’m not sure I suffer from classic writer’s block in the sense that sometimes I simply can’t write at all. I’ve made my living by writing and editing, non-fiction, for many years and I just didn’t have that luxury. When it comes to writing fiction, though, I do suffer from what I call “molasses brain.” Sometimes I’m just very slow. That perfect, perfect phrase just won’t show up when I call for it. Eventually I lower my standards and move on.

Norm:

What, in your opinion, are the most important elements of good writing?

Cynthia:

Would you think I’m being flip if I said, the words? Really. The bedrock of good writing is grammar and syntax and word choice. I’m dismayed at how many would-be writers don’t even know  how a sentence operates. It just isn’t enough to have a great story to tell. If the telling of it is incoherent or rife with grammatical errors and barbarisms, the story isn’t going to come through anyway. Yet there are novelists whose plots aren’t all that captivating but whose ability to manipulate the language is so extraordinary you don’t care. Pat Conroy comes to mind. His storylines aren’t always such great shakes.  But riding the waves of his beautiful prose makes up for it.

Norm:

Did you have a writing mentor? Do you mentor others here?

Cynthia:

I had two wonderful mentors. Tom McHaney, who is the Kenneth England Professor Emeritus of Southern Literature at Georgia State, helped to originate the writing program there. There were only a few of us in the early program and Tom was our shepherd. He just dignified our every effort and made each of us feel that we were doing the most important thing in the world. And Pam Durban, who is now teaching writing at Chapel Hill, supervised my dissertation, which was a collection of short stories.  I can’t say they taught me everything I know about writing. But Tom and Pam taught me a lot.  Their encouragement meant everything. And they certainly helped break me of some terrible habits.  As for mentoring others, I taught for years and have worked with writers through writing groups and workshops. I’m excited now about the possibility of mentoring and workshopping with others through the internet.

Norm:

Can you tell us how you found representation for Houses? Did you pitch it to an agent, or query publishers who would most likely publish this type of book? Any rejections? Did you self-publish? 

Cynthia:

Actually that’s a funny story. After a short, disappointing, and very expensive trip to a pitch conference in New York, I came home despondent and was ready to give up. My daughter, who has marketing experience, took up the cause and began to query agents on my behalf. She was my literary Cyrano. I never thought it would work but pretty quickly she did find me an agent on the West Coast. We had a very nice relationship for the better part of a year but the seven to ten houses she put my book in front of all rejected it. Not a single editor read it.  One did say that she had “dipped into over the weekend” but that was it.  Eventually a small regional publisher took on the book and produced it through POD.

Norm:

Are you working on any books/projects that you would like to share with us? (We would love to hear all about them!)

Cynthia:

I’m currently at work on The Nesting Dolls. It’s the story of four generations of women who lose their daughters to war and social upheaval. It begins in Shanghai a few weeks after V-J day and follows the descendants of a Russian émigré up to the 90s.  This one is more purely a historical novel, or historical romance, than is Houses. The research is killing me!

Norm:

How can our readers find out more about you and Houses?

Cynthia:

They can visit my webpage. It’s Housesthenovel.com. I have a blog there and an email address. I’d love to hear from readers.

Norm:

Is there anything else you wish to add that we have not covered?

Cynthia:

Only that it’s been a pleasure.  And happy reading!

Thanks again and good luck with Houses.

Click Here To Read Norm's Review Of Houses

Click Here To Purchase Houses: a novel