Mélange Travel & Lifestyle Magazine October 2017 | Page 511
Carol Ottley-Mitchell. CaribbeanReads
Carol believes that her writing process has changed in most ways for the better, over the years. The concept for Adventure at Brimstone Hill came to her while on a visit to the Brimstone Hill Fortress in St. Kitts. She was fascinated by the idea that this entire story line with its four interesting characters could have germinated and flowered in her head - an entire book! “Was it some sort of madness that needed medical attention?” she jokingly wondered at the time. A part of her was terrified the story line would vanish as quickly as it appeared and this drove her to get it all down right away. Since that experience, Carol decided to educate herself about creative writing and editing. “While writing is mostly about inspiration, there are rules authors need to consider and at least be deliberate about flaunting convention. That said, while I see tremendous growth in my writing since Adventure at Brimstone Hill, when I reread it there still is not much I would change.” The length of time required for Carol to complete a book varies considerably based on the story and on where she is physically and mentally. Adventure at Brimstone Hill was completed in four months. She was at the time in St. Kitts, where she gets her best work done, and Carol wrote every night until the last word was typed. The five books in the Chee Chee’s Adventures series were completed in about the same time period, perhaps less. She was living in Ghana at the time and perhaps a bit of home-sickness contributed to the story line of Chee Chee’s search for his own paradise. Fury on Soufriere Hills, the fourth book in the Caribbean Adventure Series took much longer. In that story line, she got the kids into a jam and it took them several weeks to figure out how they were going to get out of it. Barberry Hill was completed in a year and a half. Although it is short as novels go, Carol explained that its fairly complex plot took her a while to get it just right. “Once the writing is complete, though, the real work starts, of editing, throwing out sections, rewriting, and so on.”