I'm Addicted to: Carolyn Moncel

Author Carolyn Moncel of 5 Reasons to Leave a Lover is here today for an interview! I hope you enjoy it!

How would your family and friends describe you in 11 words or less? 

Carolyn is a loyal, eccentric, stubborn, fair, funny and hardworking person.

What was your favorite part of writing 5 Reasons to Leave a Lover? The least favorite part?

I think my favorite parts of writing 5 Reasons to Leave a Lover were the scenes between Ellery and Julien Roulet. Here you have a married couple and obviously a breakdown in their relationship has occurred. However, when they do confront one another to talk about the current state of their marriage and what the future may hold, the reader gets to see a full range of emotions displayed. The banter between them was fun and at times made me laugh aloud while writing it. Julien appears in both Encounters in Paris and 5 Reasons to Leave a Lover. He is the quintessential French guy, and I could write about him forever. Because he is a native French speaking character from France, he doesn't pronounce the letter "h" while speaking English.  Actually, this is a rather normal occurrence.  So the word "heart" sounds a lot like "art."  I really enjoyed incorporating this very unique speech pattern into the story.

The most difficult parts to write were the scenes involving intimacy. I am not a fan of writing graphic sex scenes. I suppose anyone can do it and fairly easily. However, demonstrating real intimacy between two human beings is quite difficult. I was very pleased with the finished work. 

If you could describe 5 Reasons to Leave a Lover in 11 words or less, what would you say?

In a love triangle, Ellery is back; reflecting on her marriage.

Do you have a favorite quote or passage from 5 Reasons to Leave a Lover?

“The only thought that did enter his mind was: How had he gone from living comfortably in a three bedroom apartment in the 8th arrondissement to a windowless, one-star hotel room with only a shower and bunk beds? At nearly 40 years old, he shouldn't have been in such a dire state.  Yet, he knew that it was his own fault entirely.”

If you could visit any place in the world (or a place created by a book), where would you go and why?

I have a few places on my list. The first would be Prague only because it looks so beautiful and I hope to get there some time in 2012. The next place would be Croatia. My interest in this destination came from when my youngest daughter was a baby. While living in France, CNN would always run commercials encouraging tourist to visit Croatia. If my daughter was crying, hearing the music to that commercial would always make her stop and smile. And, the scenery looked amazing!

I’ve just given you a time machine. What time period and what place would you go to?

I’m not sure if I’d want to go back in time to any particular era. However, I really do enjoy time-period movies and historical novels. Honestly, I think the times in which we live right now is interesting enough. Not knowing how each new day will unfold blows my mind and yet we all seem to take each day for granted.

State a random fact about yourself that would surprise your readers.

That as a senior in high school, I was accepted into some truly wonderful universities and I turned many of them down because I was afraid of living too far away from home. It seems so ironic some 20 years later now that I live over 4,000 miles away from Chicago!

What are some books in your reading pile that you are excited to read?

This year I’ve taken on Goodreads’ Reading Challenge. So far I’m doing pretty well but gosh, I must have 20 books in my reading pile right now. What I need is a vacation so that I can get through two or three of them! Two on my list are: The Stuff that Never Happened by Maddie Dawson and How to Be an American Wife by Margaret Dilloway.

If you could give a piece of advice to your readers on anything, what would it be?

Find your truth in your stories and tell it. Truth is a subjective thing and finding it is risky because it requires deep introspection.  Not everyone will agree with your interpretation.  I think having the courage to say the truth, unabashedly, is the hardest part of writing.  Yet, truthfulness is what readers identify with the most. 

What’s next for you?

Actually, I am working on three projects now. The first is a collection of short stories that are set on the TGV train travelling from Paris to Geneva, Switzerland, a four-hour trip. When people travel, people often reveal very intimate details of their lives. Maybe they do this because they never expect to see the other person again. I want to explore how revealing these secrets transform the characters. The second project is a novel called Geneva Nights. It will be the last time (for a while) that Ellery ad Julien Roulet appear in any collections, and some new characters will emerge, including a sexy Franco-American named Kai! However, the project that I’m most excited about right now is a Young Adult novel that I am writing with my teenage daughter.  All that I can say about the main character, Isobel Ballou, is that she 15 years old and delightfully snarky, feisty and extremely opinionated.  She has but one goal and that is to make sure that her parents get divorced as planned. 

Where can readers follow you?
Your web site: http://www.carolynmoncel.com

Your Facebook author page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Author-Carolyn-Moncels-Offical-Fan-Page/189980344372937

Your Facebook author page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/5-Reasons-to-Leave-a-Lover/117805208297817

Your Goodreads author page: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4427353.Carolyn_Moncel

Your Twitter details: http://www.twitter.com/carolynmoncel