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| Meet The Author |
ChrisChat: Why did you write the book that brought you to MuseItUp Publishing?
Noelle: About fifteen to twenty years ago, we did a series of tabletop campaigns that were all set on Earth after an event that brought magic to the world and turned part of the population to fantasy races. The group of us took turns as the Game Master, and each of our games was with a different set of characters in different parts of the world. My campaign was set in Santa Barbara, California and was called Forging Day. Our campaign motto was, “That which does not kill us makes us stronger”. I invented the bluebirds of unhappiness. You’ve never seen players as terrified of a bluebird as my group was.
My husband, Bryan Fields, invented the overall campaign world. He ran the original campaign, called Serious Steel. Olivia was the character I played in his campaign. She was more callous and more hedonistic than the Olivia in my book. Social mores fell away from her rather quickly.
For my book, I wanted to explore a different version of what we’d done so long ago. I knew I wanted to use Olivia and her siblings, but all of the other characters and the adventures they face are new for my story. I also didn’t want the world to dissolve completely into chaos, so my event was less extreme.
I like to think I’ve matured in the last twenty years and can see more shades of grey in how people respond to circumstances beyond anything they’ve ever known.
I did include one special character in memory of our friend that was part of all of these shared campaigns. After a long and difficult fight, she lost her life to a brain tumor last year. The kind nurse in tie-dye that helps the group when they were turned away from the hospital was named for her.
For tone, I would say the movie Undercover Blues was an inspiration. It has action, romance and humor all rolled into one.
Why did I write it? I guess Olivia didn’t want to let me go. She demanded a story and made me write until she had one.
ChrisChat: Lucky me, again, I was able to work with your story at MIU as well as working with Bryan. I have to say this right off the bat…you sure can write some steamy scenes. And at first, I thought you were going to take Olivia in one direction, but the switch was fantastic! I don’t want to give much away, but where some of the scene (opening scenes with the boyfriend up to the trip packing) was one reaction for me, then you directed me in another with Olivia’s reaction/conclusion, it flowed and made sense. Did this come easy in the writing process for you? Any part of it cause you to second-guess…how much, how little?
Noelle: I knew Olivia was starting in a bad place. Her self-esteem was virtually non-existent. She drank too much and had horrible taste in boyfriends. With her date, I wanted to seduce the reader into Olivia’s mindset, or at least give them a way to understand how an otherwise intelligent person might get into something over their head. Things start out normal, and then tiny warning flags show up, until Olivia is in ‘how in the world did I get to this place’ mode.
The section was one of the most difficult to write. I draw on the experience of past bad relationships from when I was much younger.
My second-guessing: Would some people find the scene to be triggering and not get past it? I decided to take the risk because it’s important to how Olivia develops as she does.
I also waffled over how explicit I was going to make the intimate scenes. As you’re seen, I did not choose the ‘fade to black’ option. I ultimately decided to write the book the way it came to me, naked bodies, warts and all. I did actually tone down how much swearing Olivia ended up doing in the story. I’m much worse than she is.
I joked with Bryan that I should market the book with a checklist of things that are part of the story that will no doubt offend someone: explicit sex, graphic violence, adult language, adult content, alternative religious depictions, alcohol consumption, and loving who you love in whatever form that takes.
ChrisChat: Every author needs to know their characters, of course, makes perfect sense. However, your group of characters come across has truly bonded in their friendships and relationships with basically no background given to the reader. You’ve avoided the information overload. Were these characters that clear to you or do you have their characters jotted down in detailed notes? What’s your process for this development?
Noelle: I didn’t have detailed notes on anyone ahead of time. Olivia was the clearest to me. She is loosely based on my old character from tabletop gaming, but the other Olivia was far more ruthless and far more hedonistic. The Olivia in my books cares about other people’s feelings. Her progenitor didn’t.
I knew the basics about the other main characters in her life. They quickly fleshed themselves out as I went along. I knew there was a friendship with an undercurrent of more with Kat. I knew Olivia and Berto adored each other. They just clicked. Mikah and Berto were the stable and loving married couple. They’re the rock amidst the chaos.
Mikah was the most difficult to get to know. I think it’s because he’s more reserved. He feels responsible for the people in his circle. He is absolutely loyal and loves deeply. I know Olivia doesn’t always appreciate how much he cares for her, and how much he worries about her.
On a more mundane note, I keep a spreadsheet of all the characters. I track their names, nicknames, descriptions, birthdays, ringtones, jobs, vehicles, relationships, etc.
ChrisChat: Okay, I’m going to admit that this may just be a really dumb question, but as I said to Bryan…I know nothing of the gaming worlds. Is the process different for novels/eBooks/reading world than it is for gaming…as per the campaigns you mentioned?
Noelle: I met Bryan playing Advanced Dungeons and Dragons (a tabletop game) many years ago. Our original characters actually show up as ‘extras’ in our books (hi Aerin and Angus and family). The way we gamed was like interactive story telling in a fantasy world. We had detailed information on the attributes of our characters, meaning how strong, agile, smart, etc. they are. In a game, when your character wants to try something out of the ordinary, you’d roll against the matching ability to check for success. In combat, you’d roll to see the order in which the characters and monsters get to make their action and then you’d roll for success or failure. In our games, we spent more time ‘in character’ interacting with the world around us than we did rolling dice. Not all games run this way. When I was younger, the games were mostly dice rolling and combat and not as much role playing of the characters.
There are times in my books that I will actually place markers and rough out combat scenes. I pull out my old gaming dice and roll to see if the bad guys or the characters get to swing first (initiative) and then roll for their success or failure. I like introducing some level of randomness. It keeps me on my toes.
ChrisChat: Who/what has been your inspiration for your creative world? Why this genre? Sounds like a simple question, but once the reader dives in they’ll see you’ve pulled in a vast group of fantasy beings.
Noelle: I’ve always enjoyed fantasy adventures, as well as character driven stories that may or may not have adult content. I’ve pulled from decades of gaming experience. I started tabletop gaming in 7th grade. I’ve played a lot of fantasy/adventure computer games. I started with Zork and Telengard. They were text only single player games. Now I’m a regular player of World of Warcraft, an MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role playing game).
I like the fantasy element because anything can happen, but the meat of any story to me is whether I care what happens to the characters. I want to care if they live or die, or even just what makes them happy or sad. I tend to like flawed characters. Perfection is boring. If the character isn’t risking something, all the special effects in the world won’t make the story interesting.
Let’s see…some of my favorite authors are: C.J. Cherryh, Carrie Vaughn, Kim Harrison, Laurell K. Hamilton, Patricia Briggs, Elaine Cunningham, Lois McMaster Bujold, Bryan Fields, Laura London, Mercedes Lackey, Dean Koontz, Lisa Lutz…. I have to stop. I have over 7500 books in my home library. I could go on for pages.
I guess I can’t narrow it down to just one influence. My writing is influenced by what I read, the games I play, the movies I watch, and the relationships I’ve experienced. Pretty much everything is on the table. I’ll mine my good experiences as well as the bad.
ChrisChat: I’m also curious on how you decided who would change and why they changed into/as they did?
Noelle: I wanted the Change to reflect some part of the character’s inner nature. It wasn’t random chance that turned a lot of politicians into Goblins. For the main characters, I deliberately picked their Changes. For some of the miscellaneous ‘background’ characters, I made a little chart and randomly rolled whether they had Changed, and if so, what form it took.
Olivia has issues. Really, she has enough baggage to fill a trailer, but she has a core of strength and honor that she only has to realize. She’s also pragmatic and not above taking a shortcut to get what she wants. I knew she had to be a Dark Elf, or Drow Elf in Dungeons and Dragons terms.
Kat is warm and loving, but also a bit selfish and hedonistic. That first night of their camping trip, was she being the best friend she could be to Olivia? Not necessarily. She loves Olivia, but to an extent she took advantage of Olivia’s state of mind. I think her new form suits her.
Tessa, from a young age, had learned to use certain abilities as a survival technique. These became her power and dictated the nature of her Change.
ChrisChat: Where do you see the storyline going, the characters directions? Listening to them…and non-writers don’t always understand this part of the writing process…where have they, are they taking you that was never the original intention? Are/have they, yet?
Noelle: I’m in the midst of smoothing out my first draft of the third book featuring Olivia. I would never have predicted in the first book that she’d be where she is right now. I think she’s in a healthy place. I had intended to let her spend some quality time with her loved ones. I thought Olivia was going to let me work on other things for a while but she’s already suggesting what might happen next in her story.
My overall plan is that Olivia will continue exploring her potential. I have plans for her brother and his brothers-in-arms as well. I like tweaking the environment and then asking ‘what if?’ I enjoy shows like The Walking Dead and Survivor because they throw regular people into extraordinary situations. I like to see what happens. Some people find a strength they never knew they had. Some people fold.
The fantasy backdrop gives me so many potential directions for stories. The world is vast. Even today in the mundane world, scientists continue to make discoveries in the far corners of the world. I expect that to continue for Olivia and her circle.
My short answer, I guess, is that no, Olivia’s journey isn’t done yet. She continues to pull me along on her adventures.
ChrisChat: I know there’s more to ask, but I seriously do not want to give anything away. So for now, how about we end with the same last questions I asked Bryan:
1…any other voices (different genre, different world/same genre) demanding their own tale being told?
2…Anything you would like to share that I haven’t thought of at this point?
Noelle I have some ideas for an adult romance with humor that I’d like to explore. This would be set in the real world. I’ve started on an opening scene and have a very broad outline of what I want to happen in the story.
I’ve also been kicking around an idea for a non-fiction book about raising a daughter with Autism. I know that one will happen someday, but I’m still in the trenches.
For what else I’d like to share:
When I was a kid my parents bought me some of the Nancy Drew stories. I always hated them. No matter what, Nancy saved the day. She never needed her friends. She was always the smartest person in the room. She was too perfect and it made me crazy. When I wouldn’t read her stories anymore, my parents bought me the Trixie Belden series. She needed her friends and family. She was smart and brave but she couldn’t single-handedly save the world.
I never want Olivia to come across as a ‘Nancy Drew’. She makes mistakes. Sometimes she gets hurt. In that way, she is ‘human’.