✍The First Page & Interview: ANCIENT TALES AND LEGENDS SERIES by Cheryl Carpinello





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.” 

Visit her on Twitter and Facebook.




ANCIENT TALES AND LEGENDS SERIES

by Cheryl Carpinello




 

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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