Snark & Sensibility

PLEASE WELCOME

CAROL McCLAIN

TO

FICTION FRIDAY

INTERVIEW WITH CAROL 

Has writing fiction always been in your blood?

I can’t say writing fiction has always been in my blood, but living other lives certainly has. I’m a dreamer, and I’ve always been one. Until I took writing seriously, this facet of my personality always embarrassed me. I’d lose myself in a daydream and not see the world around me. This could be dangerous while driving—but fortunately, I did stay in the real world during those hours!

Then, once I realized I could write a book, daydreams stopped, and plotting took over. Immersed in the story, I would become the character. For example, when my husband and I were in a Ben and Jerry’s ice cream parlor, I read the flavors on the menu, then grabbed his arm and pointed. “Look, Coffee Coffee BuzzBuzzBuzz! That’s Cheryl’s favorite ice cream.” I then slapped my hand over my mouth. I couldn’t look at Neil. “Cheryl’s not real.”

She is the protagonist of my debut novel The Perils of Cheryl. She solved all her problems with Ben & Jerry’s. Try it. It works.

And then there are my goats.

I’ve wanted goats forever. My husband did not. To get them, I created Meredith Jaynes, the protagonist of Book 1 of the Treasured Lives series, Borrowed Lives, and a main character in Book 2, Prodigal Lives, of this series. Meredith owned Nubians (a breed I worked with when younger). I got my goats in my dreamland, and I was happy again.

My husband, seeing my delusions, eventually gave in. We have three pygmies now.

So, fiction’s always been in my blood.

Do you like music or silence when you write?

I’m an oddball. Read one of my novels, and you’ll see I don’t lie. While most writers seem to love background music, I love silence. Sounds distract me. I want to listen and not think. One thing I discovered about writing, I need to think, especially as my critique partners don’t let anything sloppy slip by.

When I walk, hike, run, or write, I want to immerse myself in those worlds. Give me the natural sounds God created and my spirit finds peace.

That’s not to say I don’t like music. I do all my stained-glass work to music—mostly jazz. I love all jazz, classical, and contemporary Christian music. However, if I need to think, the sounds of silence delight me.

Where do you get inspiration for your stories? Family? Friends? Yourself?

I’m sure you’ve seen the T-shirts that say, “Annoy me and I’ll kill you in one of my stories.” Seeing as I don’t write murder or suspense, I won’t kill you, but annoy, amuse, intrigue me, and fictionalize elements of your life will go into my tales.

In my current series, Book 1, Borrowed Lives, I leaned heavily on tales from recovering addicts I had mentored, along with the experiences of friends of mine.

The second book in the series, Prodigal Lives, didn’t borrow as much. However, I’ve seen the “sins of the fathers” descend onto children too much. I’ve watched adopted children raised by moral, kind, and loving parents revert to their biological roots. These facets inspired the story.

Tangled Lives though? Book 3—and the featured novel of this interview—was the most tangled draft I have ever written. The characters, formed in books 1 & 2, took over. Damaged, like their older sister, from their biological parents, Roxie and Crystal fight to discover who they are and fight for all they love.

In Tangled Lives, which scene was the most fun to write? Why?”

When Jesse, Roxie’s (and Crystal’s) love decides to kayak the Smoky Mountains’ iconic Sinks. These class-five rapids intrigued me since friends introduced me to them. Watching water sluice around a ninety-degree bend between boulders terrified me. I couldn’t imagine someone kayaking in water labeled: “Dangerous” or “Drowning Hazard.”

And do this in March?

I live through my characters, and Jesse terrified me.

What lesson has the Lord taught you recently?

“Hang on.”

“Pain produces beauty if you allow the Lord to work.”

Recently, I had a spate of hard situations. After a year of decline and suffering, my mother died. A couple of months later, I had a ruptured appendix which I think was worse than any doctor told me as I lay in the hospital on heavy pain medication for five days.

During that time, my dear brother died suddenly. My daughter had elective surgery. Then her father died.

I knew people prayed for me, but I couldn’t feel God. I dug into worship and my Bible. I believed without feeling Him, that God carried me.

Andrew Ripp, a contemporary Christian singer, has a line in his song “Roses” that makes me cry every time I hear the lyrics because of its beauty. The thought is that love is blood-red, the beauty of exposed pain. Perhaps God made roses as this reminder.

As I exit this stage of my life, I cherish this “Blood-red stain.”

Tell us about the featured book.

Tangled Lives is a contemporary novel. Two sisters love the same man. They share a past that one can’t remember and the other can’t forget.

Tangled Lives is the third, and final installment, of the Treasure Lives series. The story follows the life of Roxie and Crystal Snow, two of the sisters found by Meredith Jaynes in Book 1, Borrowed Lives. The past tangles their future as they learn forgiveness and decide to follow their dreams rather than their prescribed lives.

AN EXCERPT FROM TANGLED LIVES

Prologue

Childhood behaves like the morning mist. Children dance and delight, then grow and vanish into the light of their days. So many nights, I wished my girls would mature, would give me grandchildren, would give me a moment to myself. First, of course, go to college.

When the time arrived, and they left me, they took their magic. Without magic, the scent of childhood wafted away in the morning fog. How could I have understood, all those years ago, the bedraggled waifs I fostered would steal my heart? In my reluctance to mother the abandoned children, I never fathomed the temporary fostering would turn into everlasting love when I adopted them.

Once more, I bit back tears as Crystal Joy, my youngest girl, climbed into her car. Last week, we outfitted the Honda with hand controls, so she could drive despite her spina bifida. Parker and I watched as she drove away to the University of Tennessee to join her sister.

I imagined I heard her singing. Never was Crystal without a song even as a child. Back then she hammered on pots and Tupperware to make music. Her alto, always on pitch. Her fingers twitched on guitar strings or dulcimers. In the end, my youngest daughter settled on the violin. Never did the spina bifida slow Crystal down or make her feel inferior. Could a mother call one child perfect?

The dust from the road settled, and I stood next to Parker like the day Lisa Simpson tried to adopt Crystal’s sister.

Roxie.

Always the most sensitive. Perhaps the proverbial middle child. Sweet, insecure Roxie. Too independent and too needy. Her biological parents died of drug overdoses. Roxie had been old enough to understand abandonment, too young to realize her parents’ issues had nothing to do with her worth. Her oldest sister’s grandfather adopted her when she was eight. The hole bored through my heart. It compounded sweet Roxie’s belief in her lack of worth. Roxie believed I loved everyone more than her.

Parker looped his arm around me.

His closeness soothed. Always.

“Meredith, the girls will be home before you realize they moved out. Now’s the time for them to heal, live their passions, and find themselves.” He kissed the top of my head. “They’ll be okay.”

In Parker’s eyes, I hoped to see the truth of his words. This time, I didn’t run away and hide. I let God take my fears and prayed the sins of my daughters’ parents would no longer descend on their innocent offspring. I prayed the love of adoptive parents and a heavenly Father would redeem.

BUY LINK: https://www.amazon.com/Tangled-Lives-Carol-McClain/dp/1649499671/

ABOUT CAROL McCLAIN

Carol McClain is the award-winning author of five novels dealing with real people facing real problems. A fifth book will be out next summer.

She is a consummate encourager, and no matter what your faith might look like, you will find compassion, humor, and wisdom in her complexly layered, but ultimately readable work.

Aside from writing, she’s a skilled stained-glass artist and a budding glass fuser. She lives in East Tennessee with her husband who finally gave in to her dreams. They own five goats—three of them does who she milks and from which she makes yogurt, cheese, and butter. She’s raising bunches of chickens.

You can connect with her at carolmcclain.com.

She also can be found on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/author.Carol.McClain

On X and Instagram: @carol_mcclain

You can connect with her at carolmcclain.com.

Her website lists her appearances, releases with buy links, and her blog. You

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ORE ABOUT TANGLED LIVES

Two sisters and one man. Both women love him, but only one is meant for him.

Crystal Snow struggles with the paralysis caused by her biological parents’ drug use. She convinced herself no one will ever love her. Roxie, devastated by chronic childhood rejections, knows anyone who loves her must be intrinsically flawed. Both want only what is right for their sister who is also their best friend.

Dreams upend careers. Destroy friendships. End love.

When searched out by their biological grandmother, the past tangles with the present. Issues the girls wished to forget resurrect and threaten their dreams.

Who gets the man and career of her dreams?