THE STORY BEHIND THE STORY
Song of the Chimney Sweep
SYNOPSIS:
Love is a song played on repeat…
A cryptic blog post leads cold case podcasters Melody and
Dorian on a twisty journey back in time to uncover the mysterious story of a
forgotten missing woman.
In 1969 near the Florida/Georgia Line, idealistic young
Betty Langdon and fast-rising R&B singer Dominicus Owens begin an
irresistible but dangerous interracial romance that ends under mysterious,
heartbreaking circumstances. Betty is forced to return to her rural home to
care for her manipulative mother, while Dominicus goes on to mega-stardom with
his band The Downtown Sound. She follows his skyrocketing career from behind
the front desk of a dying highway motel--until one day decades later, she
disappears.
Now, a popular true crime podcast produced by college
friends Melody Hinterson and Dorian Santos takes on the cold case of a missing
local woman. The duo’s carefully-balanced workplace dynamic is weirdly
off-kilter lately, but they can't take their eyes off the investigation as the
intriguing new story suddenly boosts the show into the national spotlight. When
the investigation uncovers the missing woman's diaries full of family secrets
and the century-old legend of a fortune hidden in an old chimney somewhere in
town, the truth behind the podcast's mystery suddenly becomes personal, and
Melody must make life-changing choices before the final episode airs.
But who owns the rights to a secret?
Women’s fiction, romantic suspense. It was decided before the story began.
Are you more character or plot driven?
This book is pretty equally dependent on both.
With many main and secondary characters, how do you keep
them separated in your mind? Do you have
a story/vision board above your workspace?
I keep a file on Scrivener to which I can refer before writing scenes with individual characters. But I don’t tend to have huge casts of characters.
I know from previous interviews that characters take on a
life of their own. Were any of the characters in this series determined to take
their own direction instead of where you initially wanted them to go?
Yes. In this book, Melody the podcaster is conflicted about her feelings for her work partner. The way their relationship plays out is definitely different from how the usual romance trope would dictate.
Are any of the male POVs based on anyone you know?
Yes. Dorian has elements of several people I know.
Are any of the female POVs based on anyone you know?
Yes, Melody’s mother is close to my heart.
Was there any one character/scene that
was harder to write about than the other?
I suppose Melody was harder to write about because despite her waffling about Dorian, her partner in the podcast, she is very self-possessed and confident as a young woman. That is not a personality trait I had at her age.
I know that we aren’t supposed to have “favorites” as far as our children, but seriously, who’s your favorite character and why?
Betty is my favorite character. She grew up in a time when a woman’s choices were much more limited, but she has so much hope and idealism.
How do you get inside these character’s heads to find their perfect HEA?
I put myself in their shoes, then I walk around in them. I try to imagine what sorts of choices a person would make in their unique circumstances, and then I let a whole person grow from that perspective.
Everything they do or say has to come from who the character is at the core, even when they do something that seems out of character. When a person does something that seems out of character, it’s because they have a specific character to start with, right? So it all has to make sense even when it doesn’t. Otherwise the character’s behavior can come off as inorganic. It’s important that characters don’t do off-the-wall things simply for dramatic effect.
What scene in this book/series sticks out the most for
you? Why?
The first scene, and the final scene.
They are 60 years apart, yet they mirror each other in ways I hope are as beautiful to other people as they are to me.
This question is if you write in MULTIPLE POVs not just the hero and heroine - I love the multiple POVs in a book. It’s not just the hero and heroine, but we get inside the heads of multiple characters throughout this series. I feel that it gives the story further depth. Do you think you will write another book or series following this multiple POV outline?
Yes, I definitely will. I love the perspective multiple POVs bring to a story. It obviously doesn’t work with every story, but that close understanding of what is going on in the heads of different characters is very appealing and compelling.
How long did it take you to write this book?
This book took about a year.
How did you come up with the title for your book?
My working title was The Chimney Sweep, but my wonderful editor felt we should include something more musical to go with all the musical content in the story. So I changed it to Song of the Chimney Sweep, and she loved it.
If you met these characters in real life would you get
along?
I like to think we would, yes. Some of them more than others.
If your book was made into a movie, which actors do you see as playing your characters?
Young Betty: Lili Reinhart
Young Dominicus: Niles Fitch
Melody: Nathalie Emmanuel
Dorian: Manny Jacinto
Belinda: Maya Rudolph
Can you give us a hint as to what we can expect next? Whether a new book and series or a sequel to
an existing series? Can you share a
small tease?
I am hoping to publish my biographical fiction about Oona O’Neill Chaplin, daughter of playwright Eugene O’Neill and wife of Charlie Chaplin.
https://readingbydeb.blogspot.com/2022/05/author-at-glance-tamatha-cain.html
Bio:
Tamatha Cain is a former musician and bandleader. She graduated with honors from the University of North Florida with a concentration in Writing for the Entertainment Industry, and her work has appeared in national and international publications.
Winner of the 2020 Royal Palm Literary Award for unpublished fiction and first place in The Experience Poetry Competition, she also writes reviews for Southern Literary Review. She is a member of WFWA and FWA.
She is a wife and mother of three and lives in a hundred-year-old bungalow in North Florida, in close proximity to the historic locations found in her debut novel Song of the Chimney Sweep, available August 2022 from Orange Blossom Publishing.
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