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| Susan Leigh Noble, Author DESTINY, Book 3 of The Elemental |
Welcome to Fantasy Author
Susan Leigh Noble. She has just published DESTINY, Book 3 of her series The
Elemental – whose main character Lina is counseled by Tosh, her telepathic cat.
Lina herself can start fires with mere thought. In DESTINY she
must find a lost scepter to save her land.
A big San Antonio Spurs basketball
fan, Susan lives
in Texas with her husband, two children and – as you might have guessed given
her telepathic cat character -- three cats. She is also an active community and school volunteer.
Q: In a fantasy world, what pulls in your readers?
Characters? Back story? Suspense? How important is believability?
Susan Leigh Noble: I think with all stories, at least for me, it is the characters that
pull me in. If I care about the characters, I want to continue reading.
I also believe that if you
are creating a fantasy world, you need to make everything as believable as
possible. You need to establish rules for your magic. By this I mean set a
consequence of using magic because otherwise your magician would be all
powerful and then what would be the conflict in your story? They need to have
some weakness as in using magic drains them or is so dangerous that a simple
mistake could kill them.
And when you create a world
with mythical creatures such as telepathic cats and dragons, then your
characters shouldn’t find anything odd about seeing them (unless they perhaps
are rare). If your characters accept these then your reader will too
Susan Leigh Noble: I grew up with cats and find it very easy to have them as characters in
my story. I chose to make them telepathic, so they could have a bigger role,
but I am certainly glad none of my cats have that ability. I can just imagine
them nagging me to feed them now - and I mean right NOW.
I think part of what makes
any character believable is the details. With cats, even telepathic ones, you
need to add cat-like behavior; they rub their cheeks on your hand or flip their
tail in anger. And with all characters - cats, humans or dragons - you have to
have bad qualities as well as good. And I think it is the recognizable
insecurities and frailties that connect readers to the characters.
Q: Do your characters push you around (I’m sure Tosh
does. Even if telepathic he’s still a cat) and make you write what they want?
Or are you in control?
Susan Leigh Noble: Oh, I think every author likes to think they are in control just as
every cat owner likes to believe that too. But we all know the truth. Actually, I never really consider myself in control
of my characters but like to just let the story unfold.
Q: What makes a hero/heroine? And on the flip
side, what makes a villain?
Susan Leigh Noble: A hero/heroine is someone who goes through the conflict, whether it is
an internal struggle or a physical feat. I think a true hero/heroine is someone
who puts others first. On the
other side, and this is a very stereotypical answer, the villain is usually
self-absorbed and only seeking to please themselves. He or she seeks to gain
something for him/herself without caring about others. Of course, there are all
sorts of variations on both heroes and villains and that is part of the fun of
creating these characters and writing their stories.
Q: As a parent, you write about the need for
balance between pursuing your writing and other interests and participating in
your children’s lives. What would you advise the busy parents who also want to
be writers?
Susan Leigh Noble: My advice would be to get used to writing whenever you have free time,
whether that means getting up early or waiting to write when the children are
in bed at night. I find that carrying a notebook in my purse allows me to jot
down story ideas or plan out chapters while waiting to pick up the kids from
school or while my son is at his karate class. You have to be willing to find
the time to write and realize that writing a novel will take longer than if you
could devote all your time to it.
Q: Tell us
something about yourself, e.g., do you like to read? Eat? Go to plays? What’s
your favorite holiday, book, author, character, play, movie,
celebrity? What do you do when you’re not writing? Do you have a muse?
What's your favorite charity? If you weren’t a writer, what would you be?
Susan Leigh Noble: Wow that is a
lot of questions. I do love to read but honestly don’t find a lot of time
lately between my own writing and taking care of the kids. I am a big San
Antonio Spurs basketball fan, so I also try to find time to watch the team,
though I usually also use that time to organize my files or go through all the
paperwork the kids bring home from school. (Yep, I’m always multi-tasking.)
I guess my favorite holiday is
Christmas. I love all the decorations and music and the fun of buying and receiving
gifts. It is just such a happy time of the year. But I have a hard time picking
out other “favorites” such as movies, books, and authors because I just love so
many things that it is difficult to pick a favorite. I certainly couldn’t tell you,
which was my favorite child or cat.
About Susan
Leigh Noble
Susan
Noble has always loved dragons and magic so it is no wonder that she became
an author of fantasy novels. As a cat lover, she also had to throw in a
telepathic cat to the mix in her The Elemental trilogy.
When
she isn't writing, Susan is an active volunteer in her neighborhood and at
her children's schools. She lives with her husband, two children and three
cats in Texas
About
DESTINY
Book 3
of The Elemental
Destroying
Quietus should have stopped the destruction to the Land. But it hadn't.
Slowly, the barren areas continue to grow destroying everything in their
path. None of Lina's Elemental powers can repair the damage while the Land
remains contaminated by magic.
But
there is an ancient scepter created by a Learner that they believe will lift
this magical barrier. Before Lina can claim it, the scepter is stolen. Now
Lina and Val must race to find the scepter and end the destruction to the
Land once and for all.
Excerpt
DESTINY
A loud crashing sound
behind her caused Lina to whirl around. A third Gunn entered the clearing. Val
ran to confront it with Cole right behind him.
Cole swung at the
beast. His battle ax bounced off its thick hide. The Gunn
swung at him, but the
guard danced out of the way. Val worked his way behind
the beast as Darnel
distracted it by shooting an arrow into the beast's
vulnerable neck.
"Watch out!"
The call came from
behind her. Lina swung around in time to see the Gunn
open his mouth to spew
his deadly poison right at Drake. Without a thought,
she sent a swift wind
toward him, directing the poison harmlessly toward the
ground. She didn't see
Royce running to Drake's aid. The poison hit the man
in the face and
shoulder.
Royce screamed. It was
a gut-wrenching cry of sheer agony. Lina watched in
horror as the green
liquid melted away his skin. Royce clawed at his face as
he fell to his knees.
Suddenly, the horrible sound of his scream died away
as he fell to the
ground.
"No!" Lina
cried, falling to her knees in disbelief. Tears streamed down her
face as she looked at
the lifeless body on the ground; the body of the man
she had killed.
Other Books by Susan Leigh Noble
Book 1 of The Elemental
At the age of four, Lina discovered she could
start fires with a mere thought - a trait which had died out long ago.
Cautioned by her telepathic cat, Tosh, she kept this Elemental power a secret
to avoid being an outcast. That was easy to do growing up in the remote
grasslands of Zena.
Now as an adult, she had no plans to leave her
beloved homeland. So when a strange urge compels her to travel north to an
unknown destination, Lina resists this unnatural feeling. But her plans to stay
in Zena are taken out of her control when she is kidnapped by gypsies and wakes
in a foreign land.
Book 2 of The Elemental
The Learner Ben Dar had been destroyed by the
reluctant use of her powers. In the shadow of his fallen fortress, she had
learned the truth – that she was the center of a thousand-year-old prophecy
claiming the rebirth of the Elementals – an ancient race dedicated to caring
for the Land.
Now Lina and those with traces of Elemental power
train in the mountains of South Point in the hopes that they can defeat this
unknown danger to the Land. Will her powers be enough to stop the destruction
of her homeland?
But when Tosh’s latest charge is murdered because
of his Elemental powers, Tosh considers abandoning The Search. Will a glimpse
of the future destruction be enough to change his mind?
Links to Author
Twitter
- @SusanLeighNoble
Joyce - Thank you so much for having me here today. This was such a fun interview.
ReplyDeleteNice interview and those cats sound wonderful.
ReplyDelete