Her recently released debut novel is The Enchanted Life of Adam Hope.
From the author's Q & A with Jaime Boler:JB: Please describe The Enchanted Life of Adam Hope in ten words or less.Learn more about the book and author at Rhonda Riley's website and Facebook page.
RR: Ten words! Okay, here goes: A woman finds a unique stranger who changes her world.
JB: How did you come up with the idea for The Enchanted Life of Adam Hope?
RR: I was writing nonfiction and poems trying to tell a few truths about my family. After several attempts, I gave up [on] truth and decided to make up stuff. That kicked the door wide open. Then, one day, I got an image of two hands touching in the mud, and I knew their contact involved some kind of transformation or transmission between two people. From there, I followed that single image. I didn’t imagine the whole book or even the entirety of Adam’s character in one swoop. It came about in increments.
JB: Many writers say they hear the voices of characters in their heads before a story takes shape. Was this true for you? If so, I’m curious as to whose voice you heard first: Addie, Adam, or Evelyn?
RR: I definitely heard Evelyn’s voice first. In fact, it was Evelyn’s voice and her character, not Adam’s, that drove me to write the story. Hers was the voice that obsessed me. I knew she was the teller of the story. Adam’s/Addie’s voice, in all its uniqueness, evolved.
I first got the idea for his voice from something that happened to a friend of mine. She was
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The Page 69 Test: The Enchanted Life of Adam Hope.
Writers Read: Rhonda Riley.
My Book, The Movie: The Enchanted Life of Adam Hope.
--Marshal Zeringue