Friday, September 7, 2012
J Naomi Ay Answers Eight Questions With Amy
">Escaping
the nuclear destruction they had caused on the mother planet Rozari, the
Mishnese and Karupatani both chose to resettle on the same planet and continue
their fighting. Thus the planet Rehnor has been plagued by wars for more than
1,000 years. The two new young kings have decided enough is enough though and
wed their children, the Karupta Crown Prince to the Mishnese Princess Royal,
removing both from the throne and declaring their unborn son as the heir to the
planet. Unfortunately, the Princess dies in childbirth and the boy is secreted
away by the Mishnese, hidden from his father's family in a decrepit inner city
orphanage. But, the boy is not a normal child, he has telekinetic and
telepathic powers, strange silver eyes and an astonishing, other-worldly
beauty. It is clear he is more than just a prince. He is in fact, the MaKennah,
the savior whose birth was foretold in the writings of his ancestors. But will
he save the planet from the wars or will he be killed before he even gets a
chance?
Now let’s grill, I
mean chat with Naomi.
1.
Naomi, welcome, and
thank you for being here. How long have you been writing and how did you start?
Since about second
grade. My first grade teacher asked me
to write a story for the first grader's parent night. Of course, I wasn't sure why at the time, but
I wrote a lovely little story complete with illustrations about dogs and cats
choosing not to chase each other. This
was during the height of the Vietnam War so I guess at seven years old, world
peace was very much on my mind. After that,
I remember writing a short story in sixth grade about a white girl falling in
love with a Native American guy and her parents going into convulsions about
the impending inter-racial marriage. I
recall that my sixth grade teacher was very impressed and awarded me two red
licorice whips for my efforts.
Never underestimate the effect of a teacher’s encouragement. Or the incentive value of a red licorice whip. How did you come up with the title of your book?
Book 1 in my series, The Two Moons of Rehnor, is called The Boy who Lit
up the Sky. It's kind of a long name,
and for the most part the rest of the books have shorter names but that one
specifically is about the Boy, and he does light up the sky. Well, actually, they are all about the boy,
but that's the only one when he really is just a boy and he really does light
up the sky in more ways than one.
Sounds intriguing. Do you outline or write by
the seat of your
pants?
pants?
What's an
outline? Actually, since the original
series was written just on the fly, whatever I dreamed up that day, there was
no method to my madness. Now, since it's
actually published and set in stone, I do make notes and at least try to come
up with a general theme of what's going to happen in this story.
That’s exactly what
happened to me. I have imaginary friends who help me write. Do you have imaginary friends? When do they talk to you? Do they tell you what to write or do you tell
them to shut up?
I thought I did. In fact, I
thought everything was just peachy until one of them reported me to the state
authorities for not paying overtime. I
have a hearing in two weeks where I'll try to convince the state labor board
that none of these people really exist and therefore, I do not need to comply
with OSHA regulations for workplace safety.
If you'd like to read more about this, I have a little piece on my blog
right here: http://jnaomiay.wordpress.com/2012/08/06/im-in-trouble/
Wow. You must really be a taskmaster. How do you develop your characters?
I don't. They develop themselves. Seriously, maybe I need medication. In fact, when I find myself stuck, I sit back
and kind of let them take over and strangely enough, the stories all go in
directions I never would have thought of.
I’ve had that happen
too. Sometimes I have to put my foot down with them, though. When you start a
new book, do you know what the entire cast will be?
Not at all. I'll have a general idea of where the story's
going to go and who might need to be in it but then someone else will ring up
and say "Hey, write me into that."
That’s a good way to
make new friends. What would your main character say about you?
He would say I'm cruel. He'd want
to know why I keep making him do these things and keep hurting in the
process. He would ask me again to just
leave him alone and let him go on with his life. Then he would sue me.
Your
characters certainly are litigious. I wish you luck with all of that legal stuff.
What are you working on now?
I've got multiple
projects on my proverbial plate right now.
I'm working on Book 2 in the Journey to Rehnor series, which is a
prequel series set 1,000 years prior to The Two Moons of Rehnor series. I'm also working on a series of 10k plus word
novellas that fill in the gaps on the Two Moons series. The ones that are out now are:
Lydia's Dance - which
is all about Senya's mother
Cassia's Favor -
which follows Katie as she joins the Allied Spaceforce
And next up will be Taner's Game - which gives us some history on Taner before he meets Senya.
And next up will be Taner's Game - which gives us some history on Taner before he meets Senya.
The great thing about
this Novella Collection is that each book is priced around $1, they are in KDP
Select so occasionally will be free, and they give the reader a quick and fun
introduction to not only my style but the series.
That sounds great. And so does your series. I’m
looking forward to getting to know your characters better tomorrow when you bring them in for a chat. And thanks for stopping in today, Naomi.
About Naomi:
Naomi lives in the north Olympic
Peninsula and is mom to three kids and a Pomeranian. Naomi has always been a
fan of historical fiction, fantasy, and science fiction. When not dreaming of
space adventures, Naomi works in the renewable energy business and spends time
out on the water.
Find Naomi:
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