Bio

Sunday, December 18, 2011

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:
Dec 12 - Chicks Dicks: http://chicksndicks.blogspot.com
Dec 15 – Jadette Paige: http://jadettepaige.blogspot.com/
Jan 16 – Gabrielle Evans: http://gabrielleevansromance.blogspot.com/
(TBS) – Tales from the writing cave: http://talesfromthewritingcave.blogspot.com/
(TBS) - Stormy Glenn: http://stormyglenn.blogspot.com/
(TBS) – Paranormal Paradigms: http://pparadigms.blogspot.com/   (Co with Embry Carlysle)

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

2 comments:

  1. Woohoo! Awesome interview Mama NJ!! And good questions Auntie Em! I can wait to start reading.

    ReplyDelete
  2. @ Emb, there was no thinking you were I stalker -I know. LMAO, thanks for taking the time to blog me.

    @Vicktor, Well son you know how much I like to talk. now sit down before you hurt yourself more. I have been pricing big rolls of Bubble wrap for you...LMAO.

    ReplyDelete