It is my pleasure to host author Christopher Ruel on my blog today. Pre-order his upcoming release on Inkshares and help him meet publishing cost.
Me: What made you pen down Come to Me, Darkness?
Ruel: The story grew from a love of opera where most every situation is hyper realized; it’s over the top, emotionally. Opera plots use a variety of devices to amp up the melodrama, and these include curses, deceit, murder, secrets, lust, love, and mistaken identity, all of which sums to tragedy, though not all opera is tragic.
With this in mind, I wanted to write a novel that reflected opera’s power, ramping the narrative to 11 on the emotional-impact dial. There’s little of the above devices that I don’t use, and I hope that Come to Me, Darkness reads as opera in the form of a novel.
By focusing on two singers’ personal lives and not the technical aspects of opera, I want to show that, while classical vocalists perform amazing feats of virtuosity, they are real people once they exit the stage door.
Me: How did the plot first come to you?
Ruel: One of my favorite operas in Mozart’s The Magic Flute (Die Zauberflöte). Flute is a fairy tale about a prince (Tamino) and a princess (Pamina) falling love. The villain is the Queen of the Night, Pamina’s mother. (She’s the “mommy dearest” of opera.) I wanted one character to be the industry’s reigning Queen of the Night and the other to be known for her role as Pamina.
Having the characters set up this way created a solid dichotomy between the novel’s two central characters: Lily Babineaux is revered for her interpretation of Queen of the Night, and Angelina Montrose, that of Pamina, with the former having a temper and rashness that causes her trouble and the latter, a product of extreme privilege and wealth.
I had trouble figuring out Angelina’s storyline. Feeling stuck, I took my keyboard and turned my back to the computer screen and just started typing. Because I couldn’t see what I was typing, my mind didn’t correct spelling, etc—I was free to let go. After three days of this, I had twenty vignettes containing Angelina’s complete story.
There’s an additional character who arose in final iteration, and that’s Carter Germont, a friend of Lily and Angelina’s. It’s through his eyes that we watch the story unfold as he guides Lil to the truth about Angelina.
Me: Have you always wanted to be a writer?
Ruel: Yes. The books that started my writing journey were C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia. I was in awe of the world Lewis created, and became determined to do the same. There was just a sense of I can do this, too.
Me: You seem to be fundraising through pre-orders in Inkshares. How exactly does that work?
Ruel: I was attracted to Inkshares’ model because it allowed me to take control of the art and readers to decide if the story is one they want to read. If enough people want to read it, the book gets published with the same full editorial treatment an author would receive at a big house. Pre-orders fund the publishing process. If the pre-order goal isn’t met within 90 days, the book doesn’t get published and the money goes back to those who ordered. The risk on the supporter’s end is low: either you get a book or you get your money back. https://www.inkshares.com/books/come-to-me-darkness
It’s really that simple.
Me: Does that mean the book is complete?
Ruel: Yes, a full manuscript is ready.
Me: How long did it take you to write the first draft?
Ruel: About a year, once I had the full Angelina story. As a screenwriter friend likes to say, when you write, you “date” ideas. Sometimes you get a match and other times you realize things will not work out. Before the first draft, there was a lot of dating going on, and then as I wrote it, too.
Me: Tell us a little about Lily.
Ruel: Lily is a former New Orleans exotic dancer. She’s the daughter of a NOPD detective who died in Hurricane Katrina, and her upbringing as a cop’s daughter made her street smart and down to earth. Even though she’s at the top, she’s grounded. Despite her signature role being that of an evil queen, Lil has a heart of gold and is beloved by colleagues. She’s witty, sarcastic, though not bitingly so, and enjoys doling out good-natured ribbings. The reader meets her in crisis mode, so they get to see her true colors.
Lil’s path from exotic dancer to opera star is one of those operatic devices I mentioned earlier. The improbability of Lil’s discovery as a singer after meeting Angelina at a strip club reflects that of so many plots, opera or otherwise; it’s not rags to riches that change the course of the character’s life, but a movement between types of performance.
Me: When is the book expected to come out?
Ruel: Once the pre-order threshold is met, the publishing process can take a few months. The first hurdle is making the number. Everybody who places a pre-order becomes part of making a book, and that’s a cool thing. My dream is to get the published novel into readers’ hands, and not to say to those who pre-ordered, “Well, folks it just didn’t make it. Look for a credit on your card statement.” That’d suck, but I’d still feel good about having put myself out there and gone for it.
Christopher Ruel is a content marketer within educational publishing and a journalist for OperaWire, a leading industry publication (Forbes, 2019). His work for the news site includes stage reviews, interviews, and general news. A native New Jerseyan, Chris has lived in New Orleans and Los Angeles before returning to the Garden State where he now lives with his wife, two children, a cat, and a Catahoula Leopard Dog. He is currently at work on Verismo, a second book featuring Angelina, Lil, and Carter, and a science fiction novel, Fata Morgana. Chris holds a bachelors degree in English and American Literature from West Chester University of Pennsylvania.
Find Ruel on:
Instagram: c.a._ruel
Twitter: OperaWriter27
Novel Facebook page: @cometomedarkness
hjbookblog.wordpress.com 