Cynthia Toney Interview: The Other Side of Freedom

Today, we’re blessed to have Cynthia Toney, author of The Other Side of Freedom, share with us a little about her writing life. Thanks, Cynthia, for making time to visit with us today. Let’s get started.

Do you have a writing routine? 

I admire writers who can set aside a small amount of time at the same time each day to write, especially if they do so at five in the morning! I know some who can get some writing done in 10 minutes, but it takes me at least that long to get into the proper frame of mind. I prefer to set aside certain days of the week and then write for six hours or more. But I’m not raising children!

Did you have the ending in mind as you wrote, or did it surprise you?

I always have the ending in mind when I begin writing a novel. Maybe not all the details, but at least one emotional scene.

Did you have any deleted scenes that you could share with us?

The Other Side of Freedom might be the only one of my novels that did not have any deleted scenes. I can’t recall any, anyway.

If you could cast a movie based on your book, which actors would you choose? 

Young actors grow up so fast that I can’t think of any recent ones. But Sal should be played by someone with an expressive face like that of Fred Savage in the TV series The Wonder Years.

Do you have any plans to write more historical fiction? 

I have written a companion novel for The Other Side of Freedom, but I plan to make major changes to it.

Who is your literary hero?

Christy Huddleston of the novel Christy by Catherine Marshall.

What inspired you to write The Other Side of Freedom? It’s historical and your others are contemporary. 

As I waited for the first Bird Face novel to be published by its original publisher, I needed to keep my mind occupied and my creativity flowing. My ancestry and love for early twentieth-century history inspired The Other Side of Freedom. 

How do you formulate new ideas for your novels?

I want my main characters to grow emotionally, mentally, and physically from book to book in a series. As stated on my website, I write novels with twisty plots—because life is complicated. My main characters meet new people with problems that present new challenges for the main characters. Friendships wax and wane. Personal issues become more serious as my characters age, and they must develop skills to handle them. All my stories offer hope and employ humor so that they are uplifting in spite of the hard lessons some of my characters must learn.

What is your research process like?

One tiny bit of research online often leads to research of dozens of topics. I sometimes rely on friends’ expertise or work experience in areas I’m not familiar with. For historical fiction, I read history books, some of which might be specialized. For example, I needed to read about the history of the strawberry farming and shipping industry in Louisiana for The Other Side of Freedom,

How do you plot your novels?

I decide how I want to introduce the story and main characters and how I want the protagonist to have changed at the end and the main conflict to be resolved. Then I think of how to create the most gut-wrenching or emotional situation for the main character for the middle of the story. Once I have a satisfactory beginning, middle, and end, I write chapter summaries to connect them. Sometimes I’ll have an idea for an exciting scene, and so I figure out where to place it in the chapter summaries. 

Do you outline, write character profiles, identify the goals, motivations, and conflicts, etc. before you write, or do you discover it as you write the first draft and go back to figure all that other stuff out?

I don’t write character profiles, but I develop the main characters as complete persons I can see in my mind’s eye as clearly as I can see myself in the mirror. Their goals, motivations, and internal conflicts become apparent to the reader through their actions and internal monologues. 

How long did you take to reach your final draft? From final draft to publication, how long did it take? Do you have an agent?

I wrote The Other Side of Freedom in a year. I didn’t seek publication for it immediately because I unexpectedly had to seek a new publisher for the Bird Face series. I was fortunate to have a recommendation from another author to query a particular publisher.  I didn’t have an agent. After the first two books of the Bird Face series were released by my new publisher, and the third book was under contract or perhaps completed, I submitted The Other Side of Freedom. 

Thank you, Cynthia for sharing with us all today!

For more information, visit Cynthia’s website. Be sure to check out her other titles: 8 Notes to a Nobody, 10 Steps to Girlfriend Status, 6 Dates to Disaster, and 3 Things to Forget.

Be sure to visit with Cynthia in the Book Club and Facebook pages.

Award-winning novel

Our Book Club selection, The Other Side of Freedom, has received the following literary awards: 

Purple Dragonfly Award First Place in e-books Historical Fiction (2019) 
Next Generation Indie Book Awards Grand Prize for Fiction and Winner for Children’s/Juvenile Fiction (2018) 
Catholic Press Association (CPA) Book Awards for Children’s Books, Third Place (2018)
Reader’s Favorite Gold Medal for Children’s/Pre-teen Coming-of-age (2018)
Children’s Literary Classics Book Awards Gold Winner in both General and Historical (2018)
Independent Author Network Book of the Year Awards Winner for Outstanding Fiction Children/Juvenile and Second Place for Fiction Book of the Year (2018)

Have you started reading it yet? If not, there’s still time to join us!