Cheryl Carpinello taught high school English for 25 years. During that time, she worked with numerous students who didn’t like to read for a variety of reasons. However, she discovered that even the most reluctant readers became engaged in the classroom and in reading when she introduced units on King Arthur and the works of ancient world writers. Upon retiring, she set out to write fast-paced, action-filled stories in these setting to encourage young readers to read more. When not writing, you can find her reading, spending time with family, and traveling.
“In 2008, my husband and I spent three weeks traveling around Egypt via train and visiting all those magnificent archeological sites. Since we returned home, Egypt has never been far from my thoughts. I truly believe that I left part of my soul in that ancient land. To satisfy my longing to return, I wrote Sons of the Sphinx and Tutankhamen Speaks.”
TUTANKHAMEN SPEAKS
Tutankhamen
Speaks
(Stories
from My Life)
Father and Me
Do you have favorite memories from your
childhood that you can’t bear to let go,
that immediately transport you back to that
time and place you will remember forever and
ever? I have two that happened on the same day.
I was six years old and barefoot in the
middle of winter. This I remember because
the sand and stones did not burn blisters on
my feet. My hands could touch the granite
blocks in the square without recoiling like
a snake does when its rest is disturbed in the
heat.
That morning I remember waking up to a
shrill noise echoing off the walls in my
chamber and down the halls.
My half sister Ankhesenpaaten came running into my bedroom.
“Tutankhaten, Tutankhaten, you must get up!”
“What is that noise?” I asked, struggling to put on my tunic as she entered.
“It is an elephant! One the generals brought it this morning as a gift for Father.”
“An elephant? Wherever did he find one?”
“I don’t know. Come quickly, or we shall
miss it!” she shouted back as she ran out
of the room.
I followed her down the hallway, the sound
building as we got the closer to our
father’s receiving room. Rushing into the arched entrance lined with pictographs of Aten, my father’s god, our bodies froze, our eyes not believing what we beheld.
In front of our
father stood the biggest animal we had ever seen.
The first page is perhaps one of the most important pages in the whole book. It’s what draws the reader into the story. Why did you choose to begin your book this way?
It’s a bit strange. Tut kept interrupting my thought process when I was
trying to start Sons of the Sphinx.
He insisted that his story had to come first. Finally, I gave up and gave in!
Tut determined the starting point of his story would be with the two most
important events at age six. I agreed because understood how these events
shaped his young life.
In the course of writing your book,
how many times would you say that first page changed and for what reasons?
Except for fine-tuning Tut’s
grammar and sentence structure, the first page is exactly as it was first
written.
Was there ever a time after the
book was published that you wished you had changed something on the first page?
No way! Tutankhamen would probably come through the millennia to change it
back!
What advice can you give to
aspiring authors to stress how important the first page is?
If you have characters that talk to you as mine do to me, listen to them. Quite often they know the perfect way to open their story.
SONS OF THE SPHINX
I don’t see dead people. I hear them. I talk
to them. Boy, you should try that. Talk about
people looking at you like you’ve got two heads. That will do it. I used to look in the mirror after talking to them to see what others saw. All I saw was me, Rosa, an ordinary fifteen-year-old girl. Well, not so ordinary. I do have my father’s emerald eyes, but no glowing auras, no ghosts on my shoulders, only my sun-streaked blond hair usually in need of a trim.
It would be one thing if I talked to famous
dead people. You know, like that Elvis Presley
guy my mother still drools over? I mean, really? The guy would be, like, ancient today! Anyway, if I talked to him, I could give my mom a personal message like, “Sorry we never got to hook up.” That would be worth a few extra bucks for allowance, don’t you think?
No, the dead people who talk to me are just
dead nobodies. Nothing exciting to say.
Nothing going down. They’re just hanging
out, waiting for—I don’t know—to be more dead, I guess. Or to see how much
trouble they can get me in.
The first page is perhaps one of the most important pages in the whole book. It’s what draws the reader into the story. Why did you choose to begin your book this way?
I wanted my reader to get right into
Rosa’s head, to experience what she experiences each time some dead person
talks to her. Hoping they feel her frustration and embarrassment. After all,
the last thing a 15-year-old wants is to be different.
In the course of writing
your book, how many times would you say that first page changed and for what
reasons?
It seemed like it took forever to
get this book started. Surprisingly, Tutankhamen himself refused to let me get
on with this until I told his story (Tutankhamen
Speaks). Once I wrote that, Rosa’s story came easy. The first page of Sons of the Sphinx remains as it was
first written. I made a few tweeks but nothing major, and those were made at
the suggestion of my writing group.
Was there ever a time
after the book was published that you wished you had changed something on the
first page?
No. I make it a point not to second
guess my work. Second guessing can lead a writer down a road fraught with
self-doubt.
What advice can you give
to aspiring authors to stress how important the first page is?
First off, don’t stress over the
first page. Concentrate on writing your story. Let your creative voice guide
your words. That said, be sure to get a couple of trusted editors or authors to
read your first page once your
story is done. Don’t do it before. It’s so important to let your creative and
not allow that critical voice in until the end.
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