This morning, Kristin Noone is here to chat! Welcome, Kristin! What brought you here this morning?
It’s always fun to hang out with Writer Friends! But, specifically, “Celebrations,” the newest bonus story for my Character Bleed trilogy (trilogy? three novels and two bonus stories so far, and a planned spin-off novel…) just came out earlier this month. So we’re…celebrating!
What started you writing?
I’ve always been a writer – my mother will tell you about me writing a five-page story in kindergarten, all about the Tooth Fairy bringing a tiny unicorn to a little girl instead of money! The stories’ve always been there, to some extent.
I did less fiction writing in college, mostly because I was too busy and also learning to write good academic essays and articles, but in grad school I sort of accidentally fell into fandom (I’ll admit it: Supernatural) and very shyly started writing and sharing fanfic…and then people seemed to like it…and I thought, you know, maybe I’m not bad at this…? And I still had tons of original characters and ideas in my head, and I’d got much better at dialogue and story structure and world-building and romance, so I thought maybe I’d try writing something original, and just see where it went…and now I’m published! Which is still a very neat thing to think about.
Where do you write?
I like to be comfortable, so usually at home on the sofa – or sometimes upstairs in the office if I don’t want interruptions! Often there’s a large black cat sleeping next to me and occasionally yelling for food.
What do you like to read?
All sorts of things! I read for my day job, too – as an English professor – so on any given day it might be an academic study of folklore in the later Middle Ages, or a re-read of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, or Robin Hood ballads from the sixteenth century, or paranormal romance (I love K.J. Charles and Gail Carriger), or historical romance (Cat Sebastian is wonderful, and Eloisa James is always fun) or fantasy in various flavors (everything from Terry Pratchett to V.E. Schwab to Leigh Bardugo to Hope Mirrlees).
I also like reading biographies and histories for fun – especially if they’re outside my usual writing and research eras, so I don’t have to think about them in terms of work! I just finished a biography of Julia Child that was absolutely fascinating.
What are the three books you’d take to a desert island? Why would you choose them?
That’s such a hard question! So many choices! I suspect this answer will change on any given day.
Today, let’s go with…first, The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien (I’m counting this as one!), because it’s so lush and so dense and so vivid, from the countryside world of the Shire to the drums in the deep to the sacrifices of Frodo and Sam, and there’re so many moments to live in; second, The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle, because it’s heartbreaking and bittersweet and hopeful and beautiful; and, third…oh, this is difficult…at this moment it’s some sort of three-way tie between the first book in K.J. Charles’ Magpie Lord series (because I love Stephen and Lucien as characters, and the world-building and romance are both fantastic), Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice (Persuasion is actually my favorite, but Persuasion is a more melancholy story, I think, and P & P is quicker and more lively, if I can only have one!), and Terry Pratchett’s Night Watch, which is my favorite Discworld novel, such a brilliant character and ethical study, woven with heart and humor and love.
Writing is an intrinsically solo occupation. Do you belong to any groups or associations, either online or in the ‘real’ world? How does that work for you?
I’m not in any formal writing-specific groups – though I am part of several author groups, especially for LGBTQ+ authors and speculative fiction and romance authors – because I’ve never been good at writing at specific set times, as in collective writing sprints and such! My daily schedule can vary a lot, so flexibility is nice. I do have some author friends that I check in with, and we talk about how things are going and what we’re working on. (Which sometimes turns into collaboration!) And, though I’m less active in fandom circles than I used to be, I’ll still sometimes hop onto those accounts and share ideas or snippets from a work-in-progress, and see what people think – and if there’s a lot of enthusiasm for something, that’s good motivation!
What do you like to do when you’re not writing?
Let’s see, if not writing or reading…we do have Miss Merlyn the big black cat, and she requires a lot of attention! Aside from that, the Awesome Husband and I do jigsaw puzzles for fun – there’s such a sense of satisfaction about fitting a piece into place! – and also tabletop board games; we like collaborative games like Forbidden Island, Elder Sign, Pandemic, the Legendary series, and so on, where it’s not about attacking other players but more about working together to solve a problem. And we like good craft beer, so we can often be found at a local craft brewery, especially if they’ve got a new bourbon-barrel aged stout…
Tell me a little bit about your most recent release. What gave you the idea for it? How long did it take to write? What did you enjoy about writing it? What did you hate?
“Celebrations” is the second bonus story for Jason and Colby, the main characters in my Character Bleed trilogy! (Well, really each book in the trilogy has always come with at least one bonus story or short extra…a film review, characters doing a commentary track for their movie, two Grumpy Old Men side characters finding love with each other…but there are two bonus stories that were long enough to be released separately.)
Jason and Colby are some of the most ‘real’ characters I’ve had living in my head, and they’re both such giant nerds – it’s something they bond over, in the trilogy, while on set and being actors in a historical gay Napoleonic Wars drama and slowly falling in love. They both love fantasy, Jason’s a Dungeons & Dragons geek, Colby does fantasy-inspired calligraphy for fun and totally knows how to bake Elvish bread…so I really, really wanted to send them to a Comic-Con. Of course they’re also working – promoting a new movie – and it’s also very hurt/comfort-y because Colby’s still not great with crowds, and I have a terrible weakness for hurt/comfort tropes. So all of that was wonderfully fun. Plus they’re properly married now – jumping ahead just a bit in the timeline – so Jason gets to be all sappy and emotional, at least in his head, about calling Colby his husband. He’s a big soft very muscular romantic at heart, really.
I wrote “Celebrations” pretty quickly – it’s short story length, so around 13k, and the first draft only took a few days. I’ll admit I almost always loathe writing closing lines; I feel like I have a tendency to keep writing words when the ending should be short and clean and memorable. So that part’s usually hard. I think this one came out okay – I mean, I wouldn’t be happy with it if I weren’t…happy with it! – but I do worry about it! Still, any time you can end with elf-inspired fan art…
Celebrations
For two successful actors, the convention circuit’s part of the job, but for Jason and Colby, it’s a challenge.
Jason’s been a convention guest before. But he’s never let himself relax and enjoy it, too busy being an action hero to indulge his dice-rolling, fantasy-loving, science-fiction geek side. And Colby loves the idea of conventions, but has never been to one. He’s not comfortable with crowds and contact and demands, especially not these days.
But they’ve got a very epic, very gay, new fantasy movie to promote. So they’ll navigate panels and photos and excitable fans together. And at the end of the day, Jason can give Colby some much-needed comfort … and together they’ll discover how much fun this new adventure can be.
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