Cynthia Hamilton's Blog: Reading and Writing - Posts Tagged "new-release"
The Story Behind the Story: Girl Trap
Looking back, I can’t recall exactly what inspired me to create the storyline behind Girl Trap. When things got really intense with my mother’s situation back in 2015, I was forced to put Madeline’s third adventure on hold. When she was moved into a nursing home in Northern California, my thoughts became focused on what my mom’s life had been like from her POV. I needed to understand what had motivated her to make the choices she made. When I finished Finding Ruth, I was so detached from Madeline’s latest adventure—which had been abandoned at 70,000 words—I decided I needed to start from scratch.
I did take one of the threads from the abandoned manuscript, the premise of a woman looking for her estranged daughter whom she hadn’t spoken to in ten years. With sensibilities enhanced by my recent investigation into my mom’s life, I took that premise a different direction than before. Things from the past are always more complex than we can appreciate with a cursory look backwards. Understanding this firsthand gave me a sharper view of what this dormant relationship between Elise Cavanaugh and her daughter really looked like.
In this second crack at the third installment, what I wanted to do was give Mike his own spotlight. Madeline is still the lead dog, but Mike has his own strengths and issues that make him vulnerable and therefore interesting. I introduce his cousin who drives up from L.A. to enlist Mike’s help in locating his girlfriend, April, who has been off the radar for several days.
I also wanted to bring more complexity to the series by getting inside the thoughts of other characters, allowing us to see how they think and feel, as opposed to all the action being funneled through Madeline’s prism. I had done this in Alligators in the Trees and I liked how I was able to flesh out the players, expand their personalities, and gain more insight into what makes them tick.
There is plenty of action and a few nerve-racking moments in this installment. The reason for the title becomes apparent as the story plays out. After finishing the book, I had serious doubts regarding one of the storylines: was it too harsh, too uncomfortable, too awful to think about? I had a panicky few days when I wondered if I had gone too far and needed to walk it back a bit. What I had written had definitely taken me out of my comfort zone. But then I wondered if that was really a bad thing. Isn’t that what happens in truly gripping novels? Isn’t that what happens in real life?
In Girl Trap, I also created a bit of an unknown at the end of the book, not so much a cliffhanger as it is a vehicle for allowing a different form of thought and introspection by the characters in the next book. If any of you have read the previous Madeline books—Spouse Trap and/or A High Price to Pay—I’m curious to know how you would feel about having Madeline and Mike and maybe the bad guys speaking directly to you as opposed to some unseen narrator depicting the story. I would love to get your thoughts on that!
Goodreads is running a Giveaway for Girl Trap, May 10th thru the 22nd. You can sign up to win one of 100 free ebooks. I’ve written this book with enough backstory that if you haven’t already read the first two books in the series, you will not be left in the dark. So, check it out and be sure to enter the drawing!
Also, Spouse Trap will be available for FREE downloading May 9th. You can find out how Madeline Ridley was transformed into Madeline Dawkins, and the hell she had to go through to get her life back. https://amzn.to/2rvFSdC
Here are a few other links:
Girl Trap on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2wr67Hf
My website: http://cynthiahamiltonbooks.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AuthorCynthiaH
Facebook: https://bit.ly/2IDnLcF
Thank you for reading today’s post!
Until next time,
Very warmest regards,
Cynthia
I did take one of the threads from the abandoned manuscript, the premise of a woman looking for her estranged daughter whom she hadn’t spoken to in ten years. With sensibilities enhanced by my recent investigation into my mom’s life, I took that premise a different direction than before. Things from the past are always more complex than we can appreciate with a cursory look backwards. Understanding this firsthand gave me a sharper view of what this dormant relationship between Elise Cavanaugh and her daughter really looked like.
In this second crack at the third installment, what I wanted to do was give Mike his own spotlight. Madeline is still the lead dog, but Mike has his own strengths and issues that make him vulnerable and therefore interesting. I introduce his cousin who drives up from L.A. to enlist Mike’s help in locating his girlfriend, April, who has been off the radar for several days.
I also wanted to bring more complexity to the series by getting inside the thoughts of other characters, allowing us to see how they think and feel, as opposed to all the action being funneled through Madeline’s prism. I had done this in Alligators in the Trees and I liked how I was able to flesh out the players, expand their personalities, and gain more insight into what makes them tick.
There is plenty of action and a few nerve-racking moments in this installment. The reason for the title becomes apparent as the story plays out. After finishing the book, I had serious doubts regarding one of the storylines: was it too harsh, too uncomfortable, too awful to think about? I had a panicky few days when I wondered if I had gone too far and needed to walk it back a bit. What I had written had definitely taken me out of my comfort zone. But then I wondered if that was really a bad thing. Isn’t that what happens in truly gripping novels? Isn’t that what happens in real life?
In Girl Trap, I also created a bit of an unknown at the end of the book, not so much a cliffhanger as it is a vehicle for allowing a different form of thought and introspection by the characters in the next book. If any of you have read the previous Madeline books—Spouse Trap and/or A High Price to Pay—I’m curious to know how you would feel about having Madeline and Mike and maybe the bad guys speaking directly to you as opposed to some unseen narrator depicting the story. I would love to get your thoughts on that!
Goodreads is running a Giveaway for Girl Trap, May 10th thru the 22nd. You can sign up to win one of 100 free ebooks. I’ve written this book with enough backstory that if you haven’t already read the first two books in the series, you will not be left in the dark. So, check it out and be sure to enter the drawing!
Also, Spouse Trap will be available for FREE downloading May 9th. You can find out how Madeline Ridley was transformed into Madeline Dawkins, and the hell she had to go through to get her life back. https://amzn.to/2rvFSdC
Here are a few other links:
Girl Trap on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2wr67Hf
My website: http://cynthiahamiltonbooks.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AuthorCynthiaH
Facebook: https://bit.ly/2IDnLcF
Thank you for reading today’s post!
Until next time,
Very warmest regards,
Cynthia
The Patience of Karma
Little did I realize when I wrote a blog post in April 2019 that it would be a whole year before I wrote another one. There is a certain amount of defeat in that realization, since I’d been pretty regular about checking in, sharing books I’d written or read by other authors whose work I had read and really enjoyed. Two things happened that stalled me out. The first one came when Goodreads stopped tracking the number of views per post, which made me feel like I was suddenly all alone, babbling on without a clue if anyone was still out there reading what I and other writers had to say. The second punch came from an upheaval in my living situation, which put my daily routine and any writing-related activities in limbo.
So, here I am, a year later, having just handed the fifth book in the Madeline Dawkins Mystery Series off to my editor. I’ve got a two-week hiatus before the manuscript comes back to me, so I’m trying to reestablish contact with my reader friends on social media and figure out how to take my career to the next level. Once I figure out what that next level looks like, I’m going to make a run for it!
But in the meantime, I’d like to introduce you to Madeline and Mike’s latest adventures. In “The Patience of Karma” the MDPI team is tasked with unraveling three cases, all of them with dire consequences if Madeline, Mike and Samir can’t resolve the mysteries. Below is the cover blurb:
A Florida man desperate to save his niece’s life seeks out MDPI’s help in locating a nephew he hasn’t seen in five years, a drifter who was presumed dead after a tragic boating accident took the lives of his two friends. A photo Web Burnhart found online proves Daniel is alive and well, and was in Santa Barbara after his friends succumbed to carbon monoxide poisoning off the coast of San Diego. As Web’s niece slips closer to death each day, Daniel has become her last hope for receiving a compatible kidney.
Award-winning composer Evan Picard is referred to MDPI when he suspects his much-younger wife may be seeking attention elsewhere whenever work takes him down to Los Angeles. Madeline is able to put his suspicions to rest after she witnesses a “communication” between Bella and her deceased sister, only to have the case take off in a completely different and disturbing direction.
Daphne Pillsbury tracks Mike down, hoping he will be the key to solving a mystery that could give her the peace of mind she needs, while quite possibly blowing his blissful marriage to smithereens.
I will keep you posted on the release date for “The Patience of Karma”. I will also be sharing some of my recent favorite reads and their authors’ inspirations. In the meantime, I look forward to reconnecting with my Goodreads friends and seeing what books everyone is enjoying now. It feels good to be back!
Until next time—and definitely not a year from now—I wish you all happy reading!
Cynthia
Goodreads Blog Post: Upcoming release The Patience of Karma
So, here I am, a year later, having just handed the fifth book in the Madeline Dawkins Mystery Series off to my editor. I’ve got a two-week hiatus before the manuscript comes back to me, so I’m trying to reestablish contact with my reader friends on social media and figure out how to take my career to the next level. Once I figure out what that next level looks like, I’m going to make a run for it!
But in the meantime, I’d like to introduce you to Madeline and Mike’s latest adventures. In “The Patience of Karma” the MDPI team is tasked with unraveling three cases, all of them with dire consequences if Madeline, Mike and Samir can’t resolve the mysteries. Below is the cover blurb:
A Florida man desperate to save his niece’s life seeks out MDPI’s help in locating a nephew he hasn’t seen in five years, a drifter who was presumed dead after a tragic boating accident took the lives of his two friends. A photo Web Burnhart found online proves Daniel is alive and well, and was in Santa Barbara after his friends succumbed to carbon monoxide poisoning off the coast of San Diego. As Web’s niece slips closer to death each day, Daniel has become her last hope for receiving a compatible kidney.
Award-winning composer Evan Picard is referred to MDPI when he suspects his much-younger wife may be seeking attention elsewhere whenever work takes him down to Los Angeles. Madeline is able to put his suspicions to rest after she witnesses a “communication” between Bella and her deceased sister, only to have the case take off in a completely different and disturbing direction.
Daphne Pillsbury tracks Mike down, hoping he will be the key to solving a mystery that could give her the peace of mind she needs, while quite possibly blowing his blissful marriage to smithereens.
I will keep you posted on the release date for “The Patience of Karma”. I will also be sharing some of my recent favorite reads and their authors’ inspirations. In the meantime, I look forward to reconnecting with my Goodreads friends and seeing what books everyone is enjoying now. It feels good to be back!
Until next time—and definitely not a year from now—I wish you all happy reading!
Cynthia
Goodreads Blog Post: Upcoming release The Patience of Karma
