Paty , Congrats on your new release, Spirit Of The Mountain. I love your cover, BTW.
Thanks Autumn! I love the cover, too. Nicola Martinez did a wonderful job of not only showing the story but making a striking cover.
1)First, can you tell us a little about the story, a blurp?
Spirit of the Mountain is the story of a Nez Perce maiden's love of the mountain and country where she was born and honoring her gift to her people when she knows she could die and her heart is back on the mountain with the spirit who captured it.2)What inspired you to write Spirit Of The Mountain?
I attended a RWA conference and the editors were looking for historical paranormal. Since I didn't do any of the other things that go bump in the night, the thought of putting spirits in the Native American history appealed to me. Only little did I know that Native American stories didn't sell. Anyway that's what the editors and agents all told me after I started shopping this story around. Thank goodness, Wild Rose Press is willing to take a chance to a story if it's good enough. They don't care what the "big publisher" think.
3)Can you describe your heroine? Does she look like someone you know physically? Did you give her some of your character, values, and aspirations? What makes her special?
Wren loves the country where she came to this earth and is distraught over having to leave to marry the enemy blackleg warrior. I gave her the deep love to seat the feelings the Nez Perce(Nimiipuu) have for the Wallowa Country. She tries hard to honor her family and her people but she has a deep feeling the marriage will not bring the peace it is supposed to bring. She doesn’t' look like anyone I know. I used a note card that had a Native American girl in historic dress and a wolf as my visual while writing this book. I don't think I gave her any of me, other than her wanting need for approval while at war with her true feelings. She's special because she is willing to sacrifice her happiness to help her people.
4)Can you describe your hero? Does he look like someone you know physically? What are his best traits? What are his flaws? Did you fall in love with him while writing the story?
Himiin walks upon the mountain as a white wolf. He sees himself as the guardian of the creatures, yet he battles with the belief he and his siblings were made spirits as punishment for his father's bad behavior. He is tall, strong, blonde hair, blue eyes that turn red when his emotions are high. He is of a band of Nimiipuu from the far north that had the lighter coloring of hair and eyes. His best trait is his honor and loyalty to the Nimiipuu. His flaw, believing he knows what is best. I did fall for my hero and his brother who will have his story in the next book.
5)Did you have to do special research for your story and explain?
I read a lot of books about and by the Nez Perce tribe. I also joined n online group of Nez Perce to get information. I found a Nimiipuu man and a woman who were willing to answer questions and dig for historical information for me, so I could make the life of my character's accurate in their day to day living. As for the spirit part, I read myths and legends of the Nimiipuu and worked to make a spirit entity that I thought would be believable in the world of the Nimiipuu even though they did not have such "creature".
6)How many books have you written? And, which is your favorite and why?
I've written fourteen books but have soon to be eight published. I have something about every one of my books that makes it my favorite. Either a character or a scene or even a secondary character.
7)Tell us a little about your writing process. What comes first, plot or characters?
I don’t' have a set process. aS in the case of this book, I responded to the request fro historical paranormal and I am most comfortable writing westerns so I decided on an Indian spirit and came up with three siblings and I knew it had to be set in the Nez Perce country where I grew up and that story took off. My contemporary came about from something I heard on the radio about a child who ordered stuff via e-mail with their parent's credit card and the parent didn't know it until it arrived at their door. So that's how a nanny arrived on an out of the way ranch porch. The first Halsey book came about from my attending a workshop on humor and decided the only way I could write humor was to make an accident prone heroine. And Darcy was born and Gil the hero had four brothers so they now each have a book that was inspired either by something that happened in the previous book or by their character traits. I have a contemporary western idea that has come about from a song I heard. So my books come about in all different ways.
8)Do you feel it’s important for an author to read outside of the genre their write and why?
I don’t know if it's important but I think it makes you a more rounded writer. I prefer reading outside my genre while I’m writing.
9)Do you have a list of craft books that you think should be included in a writer’s study guide?
Debra Dixon's GMC- Goals Motivation and Conflict
This book was the first craft book I read that made sense and helped me.
10)When you’re not writing, what are some of your hobbies?
When I'm not writing I seem to be helping my children and grandchildren, or farming. I also like to ride my horse and enjoy the outdoors.
11)What is next for you?
I have the second spirit book to send to my editor, I'm working on an action adventure romance, and I need to write the last Halsey brother book and the third spirit book. I'm never without something to work on.
Autumn, Thank you for having me here today. Everyone this is part of a blog tour that is all this week. You can go to my blog: http://www.patyjager.blogspot.com and find the other places I've been and pick up the puzzle pieces. Send me the pieces to patyjag@gmail.com and you could win a copy of Spirit of the Mountain.
Posts
