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Chautona Havig

Chautona Havig

Using story to connect YOU to the Master Storyteller

Amelia’s Interview: Deepest Roots of the Heart

by Chautona Havig · 20 Comments

drothcoverOne of the ways I try to get to “know” my characters is to try to type up an “organic” question/answer session.  I’ll try to let each question spark the following one–really working to get into the character’s head.  I did that with Avelino, but for this release party, I thought it might be fun to do it with Amelia. So, let’s interview the young woman who stole my heart while I wrote the book.

Chautona:  Hello, Amelia.  Why don’t you tell us just a little about yourself–not too much.  Let’s not give away the whole book, but just enough so we get a feel for where you’re coming from.

Amelia: It’s nice to have a chance to tell “my side” of the story.  Thank you.  Um… well, I am from Oklahoma.  My whole family is from that area.  In ’39, Granddad, Grandmom, and I left western Oklahoma for California and eventually settled in Napa after a few years in Fresno.  That’s where Granddad learned about grapes.

Chautona:  Now why do you think I made such a big deal of your hair?

Amelia:  Well there is the historical element, of course.  It was special to the Carrillo family for quickly obvious reasons. And then there is the fact that I also think you were being a little ornery about the book that inspired this story.  Instead of the constant references to beauty and innocence, you indulged in just a little of the redhead repetition as your rebellion against that novel.
As for why it would even matter that I had red hair even without that history, my story takes place in the forties when people still teased redheads.  I think children are always a little cruel to the different child–whether she has different colored skin, red hair, an accent, or perhaps a physical disability.  Since you learned that redheads only make up 1-2% of the world’s population, it makes sense that it would be considered an oddity.  And, after learning that during the time of the Spanish Inquisition all redheads in Spain and Italy were presumed to be Jews (an undesirable thing at that time), I think those stereotypes and prejudices continued.

Chautona:  True.  And, that brings me to another question.  Why do you think that Avelino encountered prejudice upon his return that he didn’t feel before he went off to war?

Amelia:  Well, I think that there are many reasons.  Life isn’t as simple as we’d like to think or as complex as we tend to make it.  But several things come to mind.  First, he was so young when he left–so inexperienced.  He grew up in a loving family, supportive community, and really had no experiences that showed him the more racist and bigoted side of life.  Add to that, his experience in the army, and when he came home, I think he saw rejection where there was none.  Pain tends to do that to us.  It festers so that it clouds our judgment.

Chautona:  There were times that I wanted you to slap him, scream at him, do something to make him stand up and take notice of what he was doing to you.  Why didn’t you?

Amelia:  I think that I made a bigger impact on him because I didn’t.  He would have found it easier to justify his attitudes if I had wounded his pride that way.  But because I dealt with my emotions myself, he had to see his own responses without justifying them as a reaction to mine.

Chautona:  Some might say you stuffed down your emotions.  How do you respond to that?

Amelia:  Because it was stuffing down my emotions when I–oh.  Right.  You told me no spoilers.  I suddenly feel like River Song.  Suffice it to say, I make my emotions very clear.  I may  not scream when I am angry or slobber over him when I share my feelings, but I do not stuff them down.

Chautona:  You go girl!  Did you read the epilogue?   What did you think of what Avelino said about your father in that?

Amelia:  I wish I would have known.  But, like Avelino with Ray and his cronies, I doubt I would have seen it at the time.  I think learning of it afterward is the only way it really hit home.  And that is okay.  Knowing at all is what matters, right?

Chautona:  That is true.  And sometimes learning after the fact makes a stronger impact.  Sometimes we are too blind to really grasp it–like when we hear how proud a parent is of you after that parent is gone.  Part of us screams, “Why didn’t you ever tell me!”  But you know, sometimes they did–or if they had, we wouldn’t have “heard” them.

Amelia: I think that was definitely how it was.

Chautona:  Do you think Avelino did the right thing regarding the vineyard and marriage?

Amelia:  Well, I don’t think I ever managed to make him see it, but as much as I didn’t like it, I was so proud of him for sticking to his convictions.  Lyman was a weasel, and in our family, we shoot weasels.  Avelino was honorable even when the law didn’t require it.  That says something about him.

Chautona:  If you could say one thing to the readers, what would it be?

Amelia:  When it seems like nothing is going how you think it should, trust Jesus.  Because either it is and you just can’t see it yet, or it shouldn’t be going that way in the first place.  If God knew all before the foundation of the world, I think we can trust Him to build the foundations of our lives as well.

There you have it.  A few minutes with Amelia and her take on themes and events in Deepest Roots of the Heart. 

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Filed Under: Interviews, New Release

Previous Post: « Juana Briones: a California Heroine (Deepest Roots of the Heart)
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Comments

  1. Anitra King says

    January 30, 2015 at 11:08 am

    I just shared on facebook.

    Reply
  2. Alicia Grab says

    January 21, 2015 at 4:59 pm

    Shared on Google+!
    Love your Books!

    Reply
  3. Carolyn G. says

    January 21, 2015 at 3:18 pm

    I sent this one to my mom, too!

    Reply
  4. Tristan says

    January 21, 2015 at 1:10 pm

    I love this, I’m sharing the idea with my daughter. I also shared the link on FB.

    Reply
  5. Michele says

    January 21, 2015 at 6:41 am

    Shared via twitter.

    Reply
  6. Paige Trueheart says

    January 21, 2015 at 5:36 am

    Emailed!!

    Reply
  7. Cathy says

    January 21, 2015 at 5:19 am

    Whew! At least I have email….sent that! 🙂

    Reply
  8. Carol Paine says

    January 21, 2015 at 2:51 am

    On facebook last night

    Reply
  9. Brenda says

    January 21, 2015 at 1:01 am

    Shared on facebook, pinned it and tweeted it…

    Reply
  10. Deborah G says

    January 20, 2015 at 9:23 pm

    shared!

    Reply
  11. Lucinda says

    January 20, 2015 at 9:04 pm

    shared on fb 🙂

    Reply
  12. April says

    January 20, 2015 at 8:46 pm

    Facebook

    Reply
  13. Charlene Barnes says

    January 20, 2015 at 8:43 pm

    Face booked it. Love the interview

    Reply
  14. Jackie says

    January 20, 2015 at 8:00 pm

    Fb’d it =D

    Reply
  15. Jennifer Miles says

    January 20, 2015 at 7:49 pm

    Pinterest “want” board and Facebook! Sounds like such an interesting character and plot!

    Reply
  16. jennifer says

    January 20, 2015 at 7:41 pm

    Tweeted 🙂

    Reply
  17. Susan says

    January 20, 2015 at 7:36 pm

    That is a very fun idea. Facebook share.

    Susan

    Reply
  18. Cathe Swanson says

    January 20, 2015 at 7:19 pm

    facebook, tweet, google plus

    Reply
  19. Cathe Swanson says

    January 20, 2015 at 7:15 pm

    This is very insightful.
    “I think that I made a bigger impact on him because I didn’t. He would have found it easier to justify his attitudes if I had wounded his pride that way. But because I dealt with my emotions myself, he had to see his own responses without justifying them as a reaction to mine.”

    Reply
  20. Sharon B says

    January 20, 2015 at 7:15 pm

    G+ it!!

    Reply

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The Because Fiction Podcast

The Because Fiction Podcast
The Because Fiction Podcast

Taking the pulse of Christian fiction

Episode 162: A Chat with Author, Nancy Naigle
byChautona Havig

Hey, we’re back after a couple of weeks of vacation, and boy did I need it. And, have I got a fabulous interview for you. Nancy Naigle and I talked about her books, her most recent release, What Remains True as well as her Christmas books and the one I’m most anxious to read, The Shell Collector. Listen in and learn about what Nancy says about this bet she has going on in What Remains True. Great stuff!

Note: links may be affiliate links that provide me with a small commission at no extra expense to you.

Need a Great Romantic Read to Wind Up Your Summer Reads?

As I said in the podcast, a while back, someone told me I’d LOVE The Shell Collector–one of those people who recommends books you HAVE to read if they say you do.  So I bought it and it’s been sitting on my shelf ever since. Well, now it’s on my GoodReads shelf, and I’m about to start it (and I optimistically thought I’d be done with it by the time this episode released. Oh, me of too much faith in myself and my time management!)

Author of over thirty books, not to mention a bestselling author who also has movies made of her novels (And The Shell Collector has been optioned! EEEP!), Nancy loves to write Christmas books and small-town stories. Seriously, as we talked, I felt like she was talking about me half the time. We’re so very alike in so many ways. It was fun.

Nancy also pointed out that her first books (if you go WAY back) are not Christian fiction and are a bit spicier than she prefers to write and definitely more than she writes today. So be warned there, but she did assure us that they are all closed-door books.

What Remains True by Nancy Naigle

One woman wants to win a bet. One man wants to become a rodeo champion. One little girl may give them both something even better—from USA Today bestselling author Nancy Naigle.

“A commitment-phobic rodeo star and a divorcée with secrets find love in this wholesome romance. . . . As uplifting as it is sweet.”—Publishers Weekly

Working at a little shop on Main Street in a small town is exactly the break that executive Merry Anna Foster needs following her divorce. She’s made a bet with her ex-husband that she can live on the amount of money she’s giving him in alimony. If she can do it, then Kevin will have to stop complaining and leave her alone. But after three months of this new life, will she even want to leave Antler Creek?

Adam Locklear, bull rider and owner of the local feedstore, is having the best year of his rodeo career. He’s also a bit distracted by the pretty new neighbor living in his old bunkhouse. But Adam has no time for matters of the heart. He’s got his future all mapped out, and that future doesn’t involve a woman just yet. It doesn’t involve parenting a little girl either. However, Carly Fowler still suddenly leaves five-year-old Zan—the daughter Adam didn’t know he had—in his care.

Is it possible that the future holds a life even better than what Merry Anna and Adam had each dreamed of? One that includes both tenderness and even love—not just for each other but for Zan too?

You can learn more about Nancy’s books and movies on her WEBSITE.

Oh, and PSST… I’m loving the audiobook of this one!

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Episode 162: A Chat with Author, Nancy Naigle
Episode 162: A Chat with Author, Nancy Naigle
August 9, 2022
Chautona Havig
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