Monday, July 1, 2013

Interview with Melika Lux

Melika, Welcome to Homeschool Authors.
Hi Sarah! It’s great to be here!

Describe yourself in five words.
God-loving. Loyal. Creative. Focused. Joyful.

Tell us a little more about yourself.


What was your favorite part of being homeschooled?
I received so many blessings as a result of being homeschooled! I would not be the writer I am today if it had not been for my fantastic high school English curriculum, which could be defined as “classics, classics, classics!” Homeschooling instilled in me such a love and appreciation for these phenomenal works. Additionally, I believe reading classics from a young age molds your mind to appreciate fine literature. It’s like being classically trained in voice—if you have great training, you can sing anything. The same goes for reading. Even though I read a great variety of books from different genres, classics remain my favorites and are my “go-to” books.

Homeschooling also taught me the value of independent study and being self-sufficient. You certainly can’t blame your schoolmates for holding you back when you are the only one in the class! This self-reliance and discipline went on to help me a great deal in college, graduate school, and my post-academic life ever since.

Who is your favorite literary character?

What caused you to start writing?


However, I had never considered turning writing into a career until I read Crime and Punishment when I was a senior in high school.  There was just something about that book and the way Dostoevsky painted with words that inspired me and made me seriously think about becoming a storyteller. But the real impetus behind my decision came in the winter of 2001 as I sat in a darkened theater and heard Gandalf the Grey speak the following line to Frodo Baggins:
That was it, and I haven’t looked back since.

What inspired City of Lights?

What is it about?
City of Lights is first and foremost the story of Ilyse Charpentier, a young singer in 1894 Paris who has never experienced love because of the stranglehold her patron, Count Sergei Rakmanovich, has upon her life.  All that changes when she meets Ian McCarthy, a dashing, young English expatriate.  Needless to say, the Count is not at all pleased with this new obstacle.  As I mentioned before, Ilyse has also been estranged from her younger brother Maurice, who blames her for letting the Count drive them apart. Things are complicated further when the Count devises a way to use Maurice as leverage to get Ilyse to agree to his demands.  Without giving anything else away, Ilyse is forced to make a life-shattering choice that has the potential to destroy her hope of finding the love and freedom she has always been denied.

Who will enjoy it?
I’ve had readers from 14 to 87 tell me how much they loved the story and how happy they were to read a clean, pure romance—with quite a bit of brother-sister conflict added to the mix. I wrote City of Lights at the age of 18, and it was always my intention to produce a novel that teens, parents, and readers of any age could enjoy. In my stories, I never shy away from showing evil for what it is, and more importantly showing how people triumph over it by determination, the help of allies, and the grace of God, but I don’t believe there is any need to get gratuitous in the content department. Doing so cheapens your work and turns off a whole swath of readers, myself included. If I wouldn’t read it, I certainly wouldn’t write it.

One of my favorite examples of how to convey an impactful statement without resorting to graphic descriptions comes from a movie that had a huge impact on my decision to become a writer—The Fellowship of the Ring: “Isildur, son of the king, took up his father’s sword.” There are so many implications in that little gem of restraint. Took up his father’s sword and did what? Cut the Ring, and consequently the fingers, off Sauron’s hand! There was no need to dwell on blood loss or gore to get the point across. There is a scene in my supernatural/historical thriller, Corcitura, where I describe a cadre of undead creatures descending on their victim. That could have turned into a terribly gory scene, but here is how I took a page from FOTR and held back for a more subtle (and I think consequently more horrifying) effect:
There was a shriek and then I heard a sickening crunch as Arabella’s cries died to a whimper. Something thumped against the ground as Augustin Boroi stepped back and drew his arm across his mouth.
The sleeve of his shirt had doubled as a napkin. It was no longer white when he pulled it away.

See? There is no need to slide into the mire of gratuitousness to be effective. More often than not, what is left up to the imagination is infinitely more scary, thought-provoking, and powerful than spelling out every aspect of a scene in bloody red letters.

Do you plan to write more books?

I am also mapping out and reworking my fantasy duology (which I’ve been writing since 2003) and am currently finishing up a collection of short comedy/fantasy/mythical stories set in Eastern and Northern Europe in the 1800s. It has been an exciting challenge to essentially create “Novels in Miniature” for this collection.

Do you have any final thoughts?
One thing I always keep in mind is a quote from St. Catherine of Siena: “Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire.” In that spirit, I would strongly encourage all homeschoolers, especially those of you who are writers, to use the incredible opportunities God has given you to further your literary dreams and aspirations. Develop your talents, use the free time you have to broaden your horizons with additional reading and study of the genres you are drawn to, and write, write, write! A homeschool education is a blessing, so be a blessing to others by sharing your talents with the world.  God has given you this time for a reason…so now it’s up to you to decide what you are going to do with it. :)

Additionally, I would love to connect with other homeschool authors, readers, and parents. Please feel free to contact me on any or all of the following sites: My web siteMy GoodreadsMy Twitter.

Thank you so much, Sarah, for giving me the opportunity to be interviewed! I’ve had a great time! :D

Melika, is giving away a digital copy of City of Lights.


  1. The book sounds cool! And I like how you leave the gore up to the imagination of the readers instead of writing every detail. I'll have to work on that in my own stories. I myself write books.
    God bless you and your journey!

  2. Thanks so much! I, myself, have been more scared by a simple turn of phrase or allusion than I would have been with descriptions of limbs being lopped off. :) It's that shadow you see out of the corner of your eye in a fleeting moment that tends to be so much scarier.

    God bless you, too!!!! :D


  3. Wow. That sounds like a very good book. I look forward to reading it.

  4. Melika,

    What was the hardest part in the process of writing "City of Lights"?

  5. It's so great to have young Christian authors. They shine in a world of darkness. Thank you for your efforts. :)

  6. This sounds like a really great book! I'm definitely going to check it out sometime. :)

    Melika: what are some of your favorite books? :)

  7. That’s a tough one, since I have hundreds! Let me see if I can whittle it down to ten:

    1. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky

    2. Emma by Jane Austen

    3. The Lady in the Tower by Jean Plaidy

    4. The Lord of the Rings (I’m counting it as one, which it is!) by J. R. R. Tolkien

    5. The Chronicles of Narnia (these get lumped together—love them all!) by C. S. Lewis

    6. Right Ho, Jeeves! by P. G. Wodehouse

    7. The Thirteenth Tale by Dianne Setterfield

    8. The Turn of the Screw by Henry James (I’ve lost count how many times I’ve read this! And each time, I see things in a different light.)

    9. I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith

    10. The Count of Monte Cristo (Unabridged, thank you very much! ;)

    A couple of bonus favorites:

    11. Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield

    12. The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

    I will also read anything by P. G. Wodehouse, Agatha Christie, Georgette Heyer, Daphne Du Maurier, Jean Plaidy, William Shakespeare, Edgar Allan Poe, Boris Akunin, Shannon Hale, Alexandre Dumas, Wilkie Collins, Mary Stewart, Louisa May Alcott, Sarah Rayne, J. S. Le Fanu, Sigrid Undset, H. G. Wells, and Alison Weir. Oh, and basically anything that has to do with Sherlock Holmes, including all those modern novels that feature him. ;)

  8. Thank you so much for your kind words, Anna! :D

  9. Thanks, Faith! I hope you love it! :D