ABOUT EMPTY CUP
Title: Empty Cup
Publication date: November 3, 2014
Publisher: Rebelight Publishing Inc.
Author: Suzanne Costigan
Mom’s new boyfriend is
creepy.
On the night of her
seventeenth birthday, Raven finds out he isn’t just creepy, he’s dangerous. He
leaves Raven broken and bleeding, but Mom blames her for what happened. She
kicks Raven out of the house with nothing but a blanket to protect her from a
frigid winter night.
Alone.
Devastated.
Abandoned.
As Raven struggles with the
aftermath of the ultimate betrayal, she seeks solace in her imagination and a
teacher who seems to understand her situation. She ultimately discovers that
her world won’t change if she relies upon someone else to do it. Real change begins
within.
“…Sure to prompt reflection and provocative
discussions on important issues.”
-Allan Stratton, author of Leslie’s Journal
“Not an easy story, but an important one.
Compelling, powerful, and engaging.”
-Eric Walters, author of Power Play.
Purchase
Links:
Chapters
Indigo | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | TBD
| IndieBound
ABOUT SUZANNE COSTIGAN:
***Author Interview***
How did
you come up with the title? The title comes
from a scene in the book where one of the characters, Lyla's mom, Sarah, talks to Raven
about Raven's empty cup and tells her the following: (excerpt from page 49):
“Honestly,
I’m not sure how long you can stay, Raven. I barely get by with just Lyla and
me. I don’t mind for a little while longer, but eventually we’ll have to make
some more permanent arrangements.”
I
have nowhere else to go. A chill runs down my spine. I shiver.
“Are
you cold?” she asks.
“I
guess,” I say.
Sarah
passes me the throw she knitted. Lyla and I call it the “Easter egg” because of
its bright yellow and royal purple stripes.
“I
can pay rent, you know. To help out.”
“I
don’t want your money, Raven.” Sarah takes a long slow breath. Her eyes search
my face, for what, I’m not sure. “In the meantime, we’ll find a way to fill
that empty cup of yours.”
“My
what?”
“Empty
cup.” She smiles and pats her lap. “Rest here.”
I
put my pencil and pad on the coffee table, then lay my head in her lap. She
rubs my arm. “Imagine a tea cup inside you.”
I
picture the paisley china cup with the bright rose inside, floating in my
stomach.
“When
you are loved and feel safe and secure your cup runs over with happiness,”
Sarah says.
What
colour is happiness?
A
thick orange fluid fills my cup until it overflows and fills me from my head
down to my gigantic toes. The sunset-coloured liquid is warm and soft like
satin, filling my veins, replacing my blood. I feel better just thinking about
it.
Sarah
continues. “But when it’s empty, you feel hollow and unfulfilled, maybe lonely and
sad. And I think right now, you’re scared. You have every right to be, Raven.
Every right to be terrified. But that means your cup is empty. Understand?”
The
fluid drains out of my veins and back into the cup. And then it evaporates bit
by bit, until the red rose is all that remains.
Is there
a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp? Empty Cup is a story about a girl, who is betrayed in so many ways, on
so many levels and how she grows into the person she is at the end of the
story. I know that many readers will relate to different aspects of Raven's
story. And if they find some hope, or maybe learn that they are not alone, then
that's important to me.
How much
of the book is realistic? This question could be
taken two ways. "Realistic" as in could this story actually happen?
Yes, it's completely realistic. Even if not in whole, it's certainly happened
in pieces. If the question is asking if the story is autobiographical or based
on someone I know, then the answer is no. As much as writers pull from their
own experiences to put themselves in the shoes of the characters to feel the
feelings, Raven's story is not my story or the story of anyone I know. It's a
work of fiction.
What
books have most influenced your life most?
The Absolutely True Diary of a
Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. Everyone should read this book.
A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry.
A Monster Calls by
Patrick Ness.
What
book are you reading now? Fairest by Marissa
Meyer. The Lunar Chronicles series is
one that I highly recommend!
Are
there any new authors that have grasped your interest?
As mentioned above, Marissa Meyer author of the
Lunar Chronicals series. I wait and wait for the next book to come and
pre-order them as soon as they are available - just love the intricate ways
that she weaves original fairy tale stories into a sci-fi/dystopian world. I'm
so impressed.
Melinda Friesen, my fellow author from Rebelight Publishing. I love the
first book of her series One Bright
Future: Enslavement. Both are new authors.
What are
your current projects? I'm currently outlining a
new young adult contemporary story, working title Take a Shot.
Name one
entity that you feel supported you outside of family members. I have two - my two writers groups Vast Imaginations and
The Anita Factor. I couldn't ask for better supportive writing friends.
Do you
see writing as a career? Yes.
Can you
share a little of your current work with us?
Here is Chapter 9:
A COUPLE OF DAYS LATER, I
open the school door, unsure if I’m ready to see my friends and terrified that
when I say I’ve had the flu, they won’t believe me. Lyla walks in beside me,
but stops to chat with people we pass in the hall. I keep my hood up, my head
down and beeline for my locker. I twirl in the combination.
“Raaaven.”
“Hey
Cole.”
“I
missed you.” Cole puts his hand up on the wall beside my locker, blinking with
puppy eyes, trying to be funny.
“I…I,
yeah, umm, sick.”
“You
sure?”
“Uh,
yeah, sorry. I had a flu.”
“Really.”
He tucks his chin in and mockingly checks me over. “Well, you must be very weak
after missing so many days of school. Let me carry your books to Biology.” He
reaches for them. “You cut your lip on something?”
I
pull away. “Yeah, it’s nothing. I’m fine. Thanks.”
Cole
gives me a playful push, tilting me off balance. I fall into the locker and my
binder slips from my grip. As it splays open, papers spill across the hallway
floor. “Dammit, Cole.”
Passing
kids step on the binder before they notice it’s there. A guy trips on it and
tears the cover away from the rings. His group of friends laugh at him.
“Ah,
crap.” I say.
The
bell rings and the giggling crowd disburses.
“Now
we’re going to be late, Cole.”
“Don’t
worry about it.” Cole shrugs and then crouches down to help me collect my
papers. He examines the squiggles on a few of the page corners.
“Nice pen-work. You should be a professional
doodler.”
“Yeah
right.” I grab the sheets and push them into the binder.
Cole
mashes the other pages in too, with no respect for the order of things. He
places the ripped cover into place on top of the chaos. Then he hugs it to his
chest, stands and whips back his mousey brown bangs. “I said I’d carry your
books and I’m going to carry your damn books.”
“Gee,
thanks.” I attempt to smile. Cole is actually pretty cute. I only think of him
as a friend, but standing there holding my mangled binder, grinning with that
dimple, it’s no wonder girls fall for him. It’s why he gets away with so much.
He used to have charisma too. Before his parents’ accident. Before the drugs.
He
waves his hand in front of my face. “Where’d you go? You sure you’re okay?”
“Yeah.
Sorry. Zoned out there for a minute.”
“There’s
something else. You don’t seem yourself. And the bright clothes kinda remind me
of Lyla.”
“Shut
up,” I say.
Cole
glances over my shoulder. “And speak of the devil—Lyylaa!!”
I
turn around.
Lyla’s
eyes smoulder. “Hell, Cole, can’t you just say my name normally? It’s Lyla.
That’s it. Just Lyla, okay?”
“Uh,
yeah, okay. What bee got into your bonnet, Lyla?” he mocks.
“Of
course you’d offer to carry Raven’s books.” She hurries ahead of us into class.
“Hey,”
I say.
Cole’s
mouth drops open. “What’s with her?”
“Cole,
you’re so dense.”
“What?
Whaat?”
We
stop outside the biology room door.
“Well,
maybe tomorrow offer to carry her books.”
“Why
would I carry Lyla’s books?” He swings his arms out as he shrugs, tossing pages
out of my binder. They flit down the hall.
“Oh,
shut up Cole.” I gather the fly-aways.
Cole
hoots as we walk into the classroom.
Mrs.
Stempler isn’t at her desk. Relieved that I avoided one of her
when-you’re-late-I-fall-behind-in-our-curriculum-how-can-you-be-so-disrespectful
speeches, I hurry to my desk and go through a round of “hellos” and “are you
feeling betters” with Marissa and Troy.
A
man wearing relaxed fit black jeans and a button up blue and green dress shirt
struts into the room. The class falls silent. When he reaches the desk, he
turns to face us. His dark features are warm against olive skin. He wears
dark-framed glasses, but I can see the green of his eyes.
I’m
surprised that my hormones still register cute guys.
“Good
morning everyone. I’m Mr. McLean.”
That
voice should be on radio.
“Mrs.
Stempler is ill and I’m your substitute teacher for the rest of this week.”
Lyla
turns around in her desk lifts her eyebrows and mouths, “He’s hot.” She nods.
I
nod back.
“So
we’ll pick up on the discussion of genetics. Can someone tell me what you
covered on Friday?”
Marissa
and a couple of other students raise their hands. Mr. Mclean scans the
classroom and his eyes meet mine for a second. I drop my gaze to my binder and
start quietly re-organizing my pages.
“Yes?”
Mr. McLean says.
I
look up to see who’s going to answer.
“Genetics
are the physical traits passed from one generation to the next,” Marissa says.
“Not
just physical traits, but very good,” Mr. McLean says. “Yes, the study of what
passes from parent to child. Today we’re exploring dominant and recessive
genes. For example, brown eyes dominate over blue eyes and blue eyes dominate
over green eyes. If a woman with blue eyes and a man with brown eyes had a child,
most likely their offspring would have brown eyes. Of course there are
exceptions and we’ll discuss those too.”
Cole
says, “My mom said my brown eyes mean I’m full of—”
“YES!
I see why she’d say that.”
The
whole class breaks out in laughter. Mr. McLean proves to be on the ball.
“Everyone,
open your binders to a blank page. Write a list of your basic physical traits.”
He makes a list on the white board: hair colour, eye colour, height, weight,
straight or curly hair, long or short eyelashes, short or long fingers. Then he
says, “Add anything else that describes you. Beside each trait mark down
whether you got it from your mother or your father, or if it’s original to
you.” He looks at his watch. “I’ll give you three minutes, starting now.”
Shuffling
through my paper mess, I find a blank sheet and write down my physical traits.
• Long straight black hair
• Blue eyes
• 167 centimeters
• Long, thick eyelashes
• Long fingers with big knuckles
• Gigantic big toes.
My
big toes. I swear they’re bigger than any normal big toe. Because of that damn
toe, no flip-flops for me in the summer. I inspect the list. Wow. Am I even my
mom’s daughter? Different hair, different eyes. I guess we’re about the same
height, but her fingers and toes are normal. And she wears large clumps of
mascara to fill in the gaps in her eyelashes.
I
must look like my father.
No
wonder Mom hates me so much. I wonder what she saw in my dad. Why they didn’t
stay together? What did he do that was so wrong, or was she just too needy with
him too? Does he wonder about me? If he was around and I told him about Trevor,
what would he do? Kick me out? Beat the crap out of Trevor? Would he hug me and
tell me everything’s going to be okay because he’s there? Would he be the dad
who makes everything better?
I
wish he’d have stuck around.
I
guess I wasn’t worth sticking around for.
Is there
anything you find particularly challenging in your writing? Making and sticking with a writing routine. My life is
very busy and with so many kids things change all the time. My calendar might
tell me I have no meetings on this day or that day, but I really have no way to
depend on things not changing. So, I've learned to take time to write when time
presents itself. Trying to have work/writing/family/self-care balance is tough,
but I make it work.
Do you
have to travel much concerning your book(s)? Empty Cup is set in my home city of Winnipeg. So I did travel locally to
investigate different areas. Where the kids live in an area called Elmwood.
Many scenes take place at The Forks (Winnipeg's main tourist attraction/summer
hang out) I love hanging out there in the summer and checking out all of the
shops. I invite you to see pictures of places that are featured in the story at
my website suzannecostigan.com on the "Empty Cup" page.
Who
designed the covers? Melanie Matheson, Creative
Director at Rebelight Publishing, created the amazing cover design.
Did you
learn anything from writing your book and what was it? I
grew a lot as a writer through the editing process. I had to unlearn some bad
habits and then learn new ones. One of my worst was leaving out small words in
my writing - then, as, and... for some reason I'd read them in my head, but
forget to put them on paper. But hopefully those lessons have stuck and I can
put them to work in my new work in progress so that part of the editing will be
easier next time.
Do you
have any advice for other writers? It's one thing
to read a book about writing, it's another thing to apply what you've learned.
Always apply and practice what you learn when you are studying new skills. That
is how you grow as a writer. And I tell every writer, the best book on writing
I ever read was by Jill Elizabeth Nelson called, Rivet Your Readers with Deep Point of View. Every writer should
read this book and apply her lessons.
Your writing skills will grow by leaps and bounds.
Do you
have anything specific that you want to say to your readers? I hope you engage with Raven in Empty Cup and feel part of her journey. I'd love to hear from you.
What
books/authors have influenced your writing? John
Green, Marissa Meyer, Stephen King
What
genre do you consider your book(s)? Empty Cup is a
contemporary young adult novel covering several social issues and is
recommended for teens aged fourteen and up.
Do you
ever experience writer's block? Yes I have.
However, I took a different approach to writing Empty Cup and I didn't experience writer's block at all. I outlined
the story, which is normal for me, and then I developed a detailed multi-row timeline
that involved all of the characters. Who was doing what when the other
characters were doing their thing. In the end this turned out to be not only a
scene breakdown, but a chapter breakdown. Then I wrote whatever scene I was in
the mood to write, I did not write the story from beginning to end. When I
completed each scene I pasted it into the proper place in the manuscript. By
the time I got to the last few scenes that I kept pushing off to the end, I was
able to decide whether those scenes were important to the story, why I didn't
want to write them and then fix it, or delete it all together. The original
draft came together really quickly using this method. I'm trying the same
approach with my current work in progress and it's coming along nicely.
Do you
write an outline before every book you write? Always. And I have a preference to build timelines so
I can see how long the story is and what needs to happen between date A and
date B. I'm pretty detailed.
Have you
ever hated something you wrote? Not hated. I've dropped
projects because I was boring myself, never mind trying to share it with a
reader. But I've never hated anything I wrote.
What is
your favourite theme/genre to write about? I bounce
all over the place. Empty Cup and my
current work in progress are contemporary young adult (along with about two or
three other pieces I started outlining but are currently sitting in a drawer),
I have one middle grade fantasy in need of dire editing, and I have several
picture book manuscripts ... and a zombie young adult piece that I'm not sure
what to do with... oh, and a middle grade series idea and I mull over quite a
bit... so yeah, I'm all over the place.
While
you were writing, did you ever feel as if you were one of the characters? Raven came alive in my head. I didn't feel as if I was
her, but rather that she spoke through me. She would scream at me to write if I
wasn't writing... I had many sleepless nights because she would scream at me to
wake up and write. Which I did. How can
you sleep with a character screaming in your head? It was rather surreal. I
thought I was going a bit loopy until I talked with other writers who have experienced
the same sort of thing. I would welcome it to happen again.
*******************************************
Giveaway
Information: Winner will be drawn March 27, 2015
· Two
(2) winners will received a physical copy of Empty Cup by Suzanne Costigan (US/Canada)
· Five (5) winners will receive a digital copy of Empty Cup by Suzanne Costigan (INT)
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