Today we’d like to introduce you to Samantha Caprio-negret
Hi Samantha, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Samantha graduated with a BS in Journalism from Florida International University in 2003. She wrote and reported entertainment scripts that were aired on FOX WSVN 7 in Miami, FL and OWL Radio at Florida Atlantic University in Boca. She is passionate about writing and has been writing short stories and poetry since she was a kid, after learning that her favorite grandmother was a poet. Samantha began writing children’s stories in 2004. She has completed a 18,000-word humorous, animal-talking, chapter book called MURPHY: THE PHAT CAT, which was published by TOUCHPOINT PRESS on March 7, 2023. In addition, she wrote a 62,000-word middle-grade fantasy, RAINBOW CRYSTAL (book one) and the sequel, RAINBOW CRYSTAL: THE SPECIAL BOY WHO COULD is approximately 72,000 words, which were both published by THE WILD ROSE PRESS. She is in the process of writing RAINBOW CRYSTAL: A NEW WORLD as the third and final of the trilogy. She adapted RAINBOW CRYSTAL into a feature screenplay. Samantha also co-wrote and finished a screenplay based on a true story about her Italian great-grandparents, MANO NERA, which is being entered into film festivals and shopped in Hollywood. It has been officially selected over twenty-five times in film festivals with FILM FREEWAY. Ten of them have been award winners. She is also member of SCBWI, ISA, ROADMAP WRITERS, COVERFLY, and STAGE 32.
Samantha lives in sunny South Florida with her husband, Richard, and two children, Bella and Lorenzo. They live on over an acre in Davie with many different pets, from dogs and cats to an exotic desert tortoise and albino iguana. She enjoys reading, watching movies, working out, blogging, spending quality time with good friends, and/or traveling, whenever she can find extra time. She has a lot of love, abundance, and activity around her; she feels blessed — and even sometimes stressed — every day for it all.
Samantha is a certified, professional multimedia master makeup artist. She is the creator of RAINBOW CRYSTAL COSMETICS LLC. ~ a whimsical makeup line that will be aimed for young adults. Her cosmetics will correlate with her RAINBOW CRYSTAL fantasy series, and all will be inspired from settings and characters in her books. She is currently in the early stages of designing her line and website.
RAINBOW CRYSTAL (a novel) is a fantasy middle-grade trilogy, which appeals to children ages 8 & up.
This book was inspired by the real-life friendship and tragic loss of her own best friend. Through her grief, and for her own therapeutic reasons, RAINBOW CRYSTAL, was written and manifested. Seraphina is based on Samantha’s character as a child.
The tragic loss of her best friend, Josie Lee, leaves ten-year-old Seraphina questioning her destiny, until she learns she’s the chosen one. Seraphina is whisked away by a frantic, talking butterfly on a quest to bring order back to a world inside a rainbow called Raiven with its six different, colored- realms by finding and returning a powerful rainbow crystal back to its wizard owner, which was stolen from an evil witch and her trolls. Raiven is a bridge between heaven and earth; Seraphina is motivated by the knowledge that she will get to see her best friend’s dead spirit through magical fairies and their pixie dust. Seraphina will even meet and bond with a warrior fairy-boy and her own unicorn, which she unknowingly birthed through a wish on a shooting star. Throughout her journey, she passes a series of tests and discovers self-confidence and hope with the help of supernatural characters who guide her along the way. Most importantly, she learns that Josie Lee is more of a guardian angel to her than she realizes and has never really left her side after all. It doesn’t even require magic, just faith.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
No, it has not been a smooth ride at all! Writing is an art craft like any other and requires years of perfecting and working toward that craft. It is not for the faint-at-heart! It requires a lot of patience, perseverance, passion, research, believing in oneself and never giving up! It requires years of revisions, editing, and submitting to publishers and/or literary agents, which all come with loads of rejection. However, it’s the love of storytelling, escapism, imagination, and the yearning to leave a message behind for your audience with the goal that by reading your story they are forever changed by it in some way — that they are moved and inspired. If we’ve done that as writers, then it’s mission accomplished!
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am a three-time published children’s book author/screenwriter, and pro make-up artist. My main career and focus is writing. Make-up is something I do on the side for the love of it, more for family and friends, or through word-of-mouth. I’ve always loved doing make-up and it takes me away from my writing when I need a break from it, and when I need to be around people. Writing can be a lonely career — you’re talking to your computer and fictitious characters all day long! LOL!
I think what sets me apart is usually someone who writes tends to stay in one genre or format of writing. However, I do both novel writing and screenwriting, and the genres couldn’t be more opposite from one another. I’ve written children’s books and then I’ve written a gangster-crime-true story, full-length feature script. I also love to blog about what’s going on with me personally. I write what inspires me — that’s what motivates me to tell a story. I don’t stay in a box. I expand my mind and imagination as limitless and boundless, and even timeless. If it drives me, then I write it. If I feel compelled to write it, then I feel it was placed in my heart for a reason. I was meant to share it with the world, and my goal is to do that and do it to the best of my ability! I also feel like if something I write helps someone in someway because I went through it and shared it, then I’m leaving this world a somewhat better place.
I also am designing my make-up line to correlate with the the settings and characters from my fantasy trilogy. It’s aimed toward young adults to be fun, colorful, bold, whimsical., etc…even having scents/flavors with lots and lots of sparkles! I’m a glittery, glamorous type of girl, and I want that to shine in my brand, because that is who I am.
Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
Bottom line, you have got to LOVE writing, be very passionate about it, be extremely diligent and persistent, and want it more than anything else in the world! If you don’t, I don’t think it’s for you. But, if it’s a “yes,” you mustn’t ever give up, and work hard to achieve it. Don’t take, “no,” for an answer. I didn’t!
Learn the craft of writing too. Don’t rush the process and try and speed through a book or script just to say you got it done, and then put it out there into the world as a mess. Get some sets of eyes helping you with feedback and revisions first (at least three sets, I’d say). If you think you’re going to put something out there and immediately become an overnight success, you’re fooling yourself! It’s a very competitive and inundated industry. You have to stand out from the rest. After your projects are published — whether it be self or traditional — you then have to work hard to promote yourself and get that exposure to build a name for yourself. It could take years to boost book sales and actually make a living as a writer.
So again, unless you really want this, why do it? Ask yourself before you write that book, “What am I writing this for?” Everyone has a story to tell. “What makes my story unique?” If you’re not an already best-selling author, famous person, or a nepo baby, and you’re an unknown author, “How are you and your story going to stand out? What is your message to your audience? What is your motivation for telling it?”
In other words, if you’re writing a book about being sexually abused when you were a child…yes, that is an important and serious subject matter to address, but unfortunately, there are thousands of people out there with stories of sexual abuse. Why is yours so different? Why would someone pick up “your” book to read instead of someone else who wrote and published a book on the same subject matter? What is your hook?
I offer writing consulting services on the side as well for other aspiring writers to help with any advice I have. If they are interested, they can contact me through my website for further assistance with this.
Thank you so much for your time and interest. I hope to connect with you.
www.samanthacaprio-negret.com
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.samanthacaprio-negret.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/samcap924/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/samantha.caprionegret
- Other: https://linktr.ee/Samcap924?utm_source=linktree_profile_share<sid=22390e1d-8bf9-4dae-8052-648caf1e2cd2
Image Credits
PortraitsbyLisaAnn.com
