NEW RELEASE from Chantal Bellehumeur

 WIPs and New Releases

1)     Tell us about your book…

Ø  Is this a WIP or a new release?

·     My book is a new release.

Ø  Is it a standalone or an installment to a series or collection?

·     It’s a standalone. I originally considered creating three parts to the book, by writing about three separate trips, but sometimes less is more.

Ø  What is the story about?

·     The short story is about a widowed mother fulfilling her five-year-old son’s desire to see the ocean by taking him on a cruise to the Magdalen Islands.

2)    What inspired this tale?

Ø  How did you come up with the plot?

·     I was mainly inspired by a trip I took to the Magdalen Islands with my husband and son during the summer of 2017.  As always though, I don’t always know everything that will happen until I start writing. As crazy as this sounds, my characters often talk to me and I just go with the flow…

Ø  Did you have to research for this novel – if so, what and why?

·     Unfortunately, I hadn’t kept a travel journal or taken any notes during my trip as I often do, so I had to look up a few things while I was writing my story to make sure I was accurate with the facts I included in the story.

Ø  If you did research, what surprised you most to learn, and why do you think that was?

·     I technically didn’t really learn anything new, but because I didn’t remember all the facts it was interesting to read about them and remember the things I had originally discovered during my trip.

3)   Tell us about your character?

Ø  Who is the main character?

·     The widowed mother, Caroline.

Ø  Is your protagonist anything like you, personally?

o   If yes, then how?

§  Yes, Caroline is a lot like me.  I travelled a lot with my son when he was young.  Things didn’t work out between his father and I, so I was a single mom for a while. I share the same bond with my son as Caroline does with hers.

o   If not, then how do you differ from one another?

§  I am not a widow.

Ø  What made you write this character; what made them important to you or made you want to tell their story?

§  I started writing this story as any other; with just a simple idea in mind.  I knew I wanted to write about a single mom taking her son to the Magdalen Islands and that I was going to use my own trip as the basis for it. It’s only when I finally sat down to write that the story really started coming to life. My main character originally wasn’t going to be a widow, and when the thought first occurred to me I asked myself “am I really going there?” because I wanted the story to be a cheerful one. I am happy that I did make Caroline a widow, because it added a lot to the story in the end.  As I mentioned earlier, sometimes my characters talk to me and I have to listen to them.

4)   Is there anything specific that you want readers to know about this piece of work?

I started writing short stories for an online magazine called Mom’s Favorite Reads earlier this year. “I’ll Take You to See the Ocean” started off as a short story I was going to submit to the magazine, but I kept elaborating and embellishing the story as I often do and it ended up being a lot longer then I originally intended it to be. I felt that the story would not be the same if I cut parts out. Instead of having the story potentially split into several issues of the online magazine, I decided to publish it on its own.

5)    How do we get a copy?

o   Has the book already been published, or is it available for pre-order? If you have a universal link, please provide it here.

§  My book is available to purchase as a paperback and Kindle on Amazon.
US   UK   CA. 
Those who have kindle unlimited can download a copy for FREE.

§  I also made the book available as a FREE download on Smashwords for an undetermined period of time: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1074492

o   Are you offering ARCs to beta readers – if you are, how do they contact you for a copy?

§  I don’t need beta readers per say since the book is already published, but anyone who wishes to review the book can request a digital copy from me via my author Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Chantal-Bellehumeur-public-author-page/347446362035640