Interview with Carmela Martino

Award-winning Author

Fascinating interview with Carmela Martino.

Carmela is the author of award-winning novels for tweens and teens: the middle-grade novel, Rosa, Sola (Candlewick Press), based on her experiences growing up in an Italian immigrant family, and the young-adult historical, Playing by Heart (Vinspire Publishing), inspired by two amazing sisters who lived in 18th-century Milan, one a composer and the other a mathematician. Carmela holds an MFA in Writing from Vermont College and teaches writing classes at the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, IL. She co-founded Teaching Authors, a blog by six children’s/young adult authors who are also writing teachers.

For more, see Carmela Martino and subscribe to her Creativity Newsletter

Readers want to know…

Tell readers a few things about yourself.

Like the main character in my first novel, Rosa, Sola, I am the daughter of Italian immigrants, and I was born and raised in Chicago. As is customary in Italian families, I was named for a grandparent, my maternal grandmother. I hated my name as a child, mainly because it was so unusual. I was the only girl in my whole K-8 school named Carmela. Back then, I longed to be a Mary, Debbie, or Kathy. But now I love having an uncommon name. The love/hate relationship I’ve had with my name has made getting character names right a high priority for me. I’m always on the lookout for unique names and have a large file folder filled with names I’ve collected over the years.

Did you always want to write?

As a child, I was an avid reader, which sometimes annoyed my mom. I remember her saying, “You spend too much time with your nose in a book.” My love of reading later expanded into a love of writing. When I was around 13 or 14, I started keeping a journal and writing poetry.

My first published piece was a poem in an anthology of writing by Chicago public school students. I still remember the thrill of seeing that first poem in print! As a teen, I dreamed of being a book author. But when it came time for college, I feared I’d never make a living as a writer.

So, I put aside my writing dreams to major in Mathematics and Computer Science. After graduation, I took a position as a computer programmer, married, and moved to a Chicago suburb. I worked with computers for five years before becoming a training course developer. Writing training materials soon rekindled my interest in writing.

After my son was born, I quit my job and became a stay-home mom and freelance writer. I wrote for newspapers and magazines for five years, but I longed to write fiction, too. That led to my eventually going back to school for an MFA in Writing.

Carmela’s Giveaway

What book or article are you currently working on or just released?

My publisher recently released an updated edition of Playing by Heart with a new back cover displaying many of the awards the novel has received. Right now, I’m celebrating that new edition with a special giveaway on my website. I’d like to invite all your readers who enjoy faith-based historical fiction (or who’d like to give the book as a gift to someone who does) to enter the giveaway at http://www.carmelamartino.com/blog.

After the giveaway ends and I finish teaching my current class, I plan to return to working on a nonfiction biography of Maria Gaetana Agnesi, one of the two 18^th-century sisters who inspired Playing by Heart. Maria Gaetana was a well-known linguist and mathematician in her day, but she turned her back on her celebrity status to help the poor. She spent over 45 years of her life working with the sick and homeless. I think of her as the Mother Teresa of Milan, and I want to make her inspiring story known as widely as possible.

New Research Findings

Do you write in silence or with background noise/music?

I used to listen to background instrumental music almost all the time while writing. But earlier this year, I read an article about new research findings indicating that music may impair creativity rather than enhance it. I conducted a personal experiment and found I actually prefer writing in silence, but sometimes I do use music to drown out distracting noise. I discussed this topic in the May 2019 issue of my Creativity Newsletter. (You can read that issue online here: https://preview.mailerlite.com/y1x7p6/1167557732769730562/d1o8/ ) In that newsletter, I surveyed my subscribers. Of those who took time to respond, twice as many people do NOT play background music as those who do.

What do you want your readers to take away from your books/writing?

A common theme in my novels is that we can trust God to help us get through the difficult times. When faced with terrible grief and loss, the main characters in both my novels struggle with their faith. But that struggle eventually brings them closer to God, and to the realization that God has given them the grace they needed all along.

Also, my young-adult novel, Playing by Heart, focuses on recognizing our own gifts and discovering how we’re called to use them. I think that’s an important takeaway, too, especially for teen readers.

Rosa, Sola

Where do you get your inspiration to write?

Interestingly, when setting my writing goals years ago, I never imagined writing either of my published novels. Obviously, God had other plans.

I believe God led me to write Rosa, Sola to help me heal my own past and to inspire middle-grade readers to turn to God during times of grief and loss.

The novel grew out of a writing exercise a teacher gave me when I was working on my MFA in Writing at Vermont College. She asked me to write a short story based on emotion from my childhood—not just any emotion, but one I could still recall and feel vividly. That led me to write the short story “Rosa’s Prayer,” which was based on the fear I felt at age ten when I thought my mother might die as a result of complications following my brother’s stillbirth.

My MFA program teachers and fellow students convinced me to expand the story into the novel that became Rosa, Sola. While working on the novel, I discovered I’d never truly mourned my brother’s death. I also realized I was still angry at one of my aunts for keeping me from my brother’s funeral. Those events had taken place nearly three decades earlier, so I was surprised by how difficult it was to write some of the novel’s scenes, even the heavily fictionalized ones. At times, I sat at the keyboard with tears streaming down my face. I was so emotionally exhausted that I needed a nap afterward. But in the end, I was grateful, because writing Rosa, Sola allowed me to finally heal my childhood grief and forgive my aunt.

Playing by Heart

In contrast, Playing by Heart was inspired not by my life, but by the lives of two amazing sisters who lived in 18^th-century Milan: composer Maria Teresa Agnesi and mathematician and humanitarian Maria Gaetana Agnesi. I had initially set out to write a biography about the elder sister, Maria Gaetana, after coming across her name in an article about little-known women of history. One of the editors who read a draft of the biography suggested I write a novel based on the two sisters—there was definitely lots of drama in their lives to draw from. Both sisters were manipulated by their father for his own purposes and both struggled against societal norms regarding a woman’s role. While Playing by Heart includes a sweet romance, it’s really the story of two teens struggling to follow their true calling, even when it conflicts with their father’s goals. I believe God inspired me to write the novel to help modern readers have the courage to follow their callings, too.

Advice for All Writers

What advice do you have for young writers?

I have two bits of advice for all writers, whether they’re young or young at heart. First, read, read, read! Read the kind of things you’d like to write, whether it’s poetry, short stories, novels, nonfiction, whatever. Then reread your favorites and try to identify what, specifically, you enjoyed. Was it the relatable characters, sensory details, unusual metaphors, chapter-ending cliffhangers, or something else?

My second bit of advice is to write, write, write! Writers, like athletes and musicians, must practice regularly to develop and hone their skills. The more you write, the better you’ll get at it, especially if you try to apply the techniques you notice in what you read. I created a resource especially for young writers on our TeachingAuthors site. It’s a list of websites specifically for young writers who would like to be published: https://www.teachingauthors.com/p/for-young-writers.html. For those looking for tips on nurturing their creativity, I also suggest subscribing to the Creativity Newsletter I send out every other month at https://www.subscribepage.com/cmartino

Readers, you can find Carmela on facebook, twitter, and Instagram.

After connecting with Carmela, get to know other authors on the Monday Morning Author Interview Blog.