My good friend NJ Nielsen likes to joke that she thought I was a crazed stalker when we first met. I really can't blame her as it seemed we were always showing up at the same places. Of course the fact that we had a mutual good friend didn't seem to faze NJ in her completely ridiculous assumption of me. Or did it? LOL
all joking aside, from the first time we really sat down at our laptops and got to know each other in this viral universe we realized what an amazing chemistry we have. To say we share a brain is putting it mildly. We could literally spend hours forming our new universe, which 'm happy to say we are putting into our stories for the The Realm. Not only do we share a similar taste is in our writing genres, but we have also formed an unbreakable bond of friendship. So sit back, relax--maybe grab a cup of coffee, she does like to talk, and enjoy my interview, with the ever-entertaining, one-of-a-kind, NJ Nielsen.
What are you working on now? Was there a particular instant when
it all just fell into place and you thought that is my next story?
I have just
had my first official release of Angels on Top through MLRPress
http://www.mlrbooks.com/books.php Also through
MLRPress I am contracted for my first book in my paranormal series - The
Lines Of Marsden: Rules Are Meant To Be Broken. (tentative release date in
Spring.)
At the moment
I am working on two story lines:
First: When Souls Collide - This is story of
young love that finds itself again after six-years has passed. Jacen Ives &
Kayne Henderson, have to struggle through their trouble and mixed up lives to
find their way back together.
Second: Pack Matters 1: Chasing Dreams of You –
Is the first book in a shifter series. In this book we follow Todd Creely and
Micah Adams as they fight the Alpha for the right to leadership of the Lockyer
Valley Pack and to save that same pack from the Current Alpha’s destructive and
volatile behaviour.
How long have you been writing?
I have been
writing for a long as I can remember, it was as necessary as breathing. Though,
I began writing my first novel when I was twelve years old. Admetus Gaea – Untamed World… it
started out as a HET book, when I recently found it after a thirty year
absence, I decided to add it to my current list of Wips and convert it to MM.
How do you choose which genre and flavour your story line will
take, and what influences your choice?
Honestly, I
am a paranormal writer at heart. That is my favourite kind of story to read as
well. My love affair with all things paranormal hit me at an early age and it
just never let go. You could say they sank their canines/fangs into me.
Usually I
just write whatever voice is screaming loudest in my head – sometimes my muse
thinks it is funny to unleash them all at once. That is how my NaNo ended up
becoming a spin-off to one of my other shifter stories… Vladimir (my Muse) can
be funny like that.
What is your specific writing style, if any?
I don’t think
I have a specific style of writing – I mainly just write whatever the hell falls
out of my head as the mood strikes me. I don’t plot (at all) and when I do try
and plot, the story line never ends up where I think it will. LOL – Sometimes I
even give myself the Whoa!!! Factor as I write. I have been guilty of ringing
my daughter at work and go, “Did you know…?”
Is there anything you find particularly challenging about
bringing a story to life?
Yes - I hate
it when I start out with the decision of having two characters together and
then halfway through it changes. Or like this: I have written most of
the first twelve books in my series The Lines of Marsden, one of my background
characters, kept jumping out at me screaming look at me – look at me. So in the
end I have decided to go back through what I have written and bring Doyle
further into the storyline. Mind you, once I started that process I ended up
taking out four other characters, which caused the challenging factor in how I
reworked the story without changing the story line. Not as much fun as you
would think.
Who is your favourite character you‘ve written to date and why?
That is a
hard one… I love Michael because there are so many elements of me in him. I
love Doyle I feel that Doyle is a truly beautiful soul. Though, if you ask my
daughter she would say Maffa and Jaffa, the twin werewolves.
In other
works I think that Tucker the drunken witch from my free Goodreads story Shadows on the Heart. He and Kylfa will
be getting their own story: On The
Flipside of Reverse. All the spells that have the possibility of going
wrong… I am chuckling already just thinking about it.
Which character in your body of works was the hardest to write?
Christian
Kincaid – Risely: He keeps surprising me with little twist that makes me have
to go back and tweak parts of his personal storyline. He is a 300 year old
Vampire that doesn’t remember how old he is – he thinks he is newly made… LOL -
you will just have to read series to find out more.
Which stories have you enjoyed working on the most and why?
The Lines of Marsden… It was a something I
started writing for my daughter. (For a full explanation, go to Jadette Paige’s
blogspot on December 15th as I am writing the story behind the
story.) This is my most fun book - but the hardest.
What will people come away with after reading your books?
With the
belief that no matter how hard of a struggle you go through to be with the one
you love, in the end it is all worth it because sometimes true love and soul
mates really do exist… Or…That Michael is a whiner, (just
ask my daughter she tells me every damn day – LOL.)
What are you currently reading?
Gabrielle Evans: Fatefully Yours 1: Dark Devotion. I
am a sucker for re-reading my favourites over and over again.
What music is in your stereo at the moment? And does it
influence the way you write?
Nickelback: Dark Horse. I listen to them when I am working on all things
in the Lines of Marsden Nickelback is kind of Michael’s theme music. Yes I am
one of those authors that has to have music for each character – Doyle is Good Charlotte. & Christian is any
music that you can dance badly to… Christian & Doyle kind of have my
dancing skills. (At my wedding I had to
dance to The Cure’s – Friday I’m in Love… just to cover up my bad dancing –
Awesome wedding, it lasted three days and rained the whole time.)
Are you still as passionate about writing as you were when you
first started?
Honestly,
barring the last month, which was a real horror month for me. I had a relative
die; my whole family came down with a virus that we just couldn’t shake. I had
relatives rock up to stay at my house and then on top of all that I wrote a
novel for NaNoWriMo (National Novel
Writing Month) I wrote the first book in a shifter series called Watson
Falls: Between One Heartbeat & The Next – turns out it is a
spin-off to Pack Matters. Total count: 50,707.
Okay, totally
got side tracked… yes I do still enjoy writing as much today as I did when I
started. I get a kick out of telling our workers that if they misbehave they
will end up as a character in one of my stories… we own a construction company…
my husband quite often fills the guys in on what I am up to – nothing better
than running into one of the guys and they ask me. I have even had them tell me what
sort of paranormal creature that they want to be… puts a huge grin on my face –
it is times like that that I think – Yes; it is so worth it.
Name three Authors you read over and over again?
Gabrielle
Evans
Stormy Glenn
Andrew Grey
ZA Maxfield -
Bonus
Lynn Hagen -
Bonus
Carol Lynne –
Bonus
Can you share any of your current WIPS?
E.C I know this is a very
long list, but I know everyone would love to see how amazing your imagination
is.
I have many -
I will name them as best I can:
I am
currently working on extending Shadows
on the Heart – Paranormal.
I am working
on Pack Matters 1 – Paranormal.
I am working
on When Souls Collide – Human
Romance
I am working
on The Realms, (which is a
discussion best left for another day.) – Paranormal.
E.C. Oh but of course, it’s
with me and will undoubtedly be your finest work heehee.
I am working
on the Windblown Kisses series –
Human Romance.
I am working
on different parts on The Lines of
Marsden - Paranormal.
I am working
on Admetus Gaea – Paranormal.
I am working
on Day Walkers – Paranormal.
LOL – maybe I
should have just told you all to go and checkout my blog.spot.
PS - Guest
Blogging Appearances:
For those readers that have yet to know you please tell us
something about yourself.
NJ needs to write like
she needs to breathe… It is an addiction that she never intends to find a cure
for. NJ is quite often found snuggled up in her comfy chair in her little part
of QLD, Australia - usually with her laptop on her legs as she writes about the
wonderful and often somewhat crazy men in her stories. Her family encourages
her writing, even if more often than not she calls them by her character’s
names. She loves nothing better than putting together the profiles on each of
her characters giving them all their mannerisms and idiosyncrasies. When not
write you will find her distracted by reading someone else’s work. Or talking
to Embry Carlysle about our world we
are creating. NJ also has a young gay Gothic Russian ghost who has taken up
residence in her head as her muse. NJ thinks that anyone taking the time to
read her stuff is totally awesome.
NJ Nielsen
http://www.goodreads.com/njnielsen
