(August 21, 2018 Interview with Lena Nelson Dooley – A Christian Writer’s World Blogspot)
IMPERFECT PROMISES – Elizabeth Noyes – One Free Book
Welcome, Elizabeth. Tell us how much of yourself you write into your characters.
I believe most authors will tell you there’s a little piece, and sometimes a very large piece of themselves, in every character. That’s certainly the case with my characters in the Imperfect Series.
What is the quirkiest thing you have ever done?
I once accepted a dare to cross a railroad bridge that spanned a river in my hometown. As someone who’s afraid of heights, this proved rather foolhardy on my part. Halfway across, I heard the train whistle, panicked, and jumped from the trestle into the river. To this day, I refuse to walk across a bridge and won’t go near train tracks on foot.
When did you first discover that you were a writer?
I’ve always been a writer harking back to elementary school days. I wrote skits and plays, and even won $5 for an essay. Even in the jobs I’ve held over the years, writing always seemed to become a focal point.
There was a defining moment when I decided to try my hand at writing a novel. I had just finished reading a book by one of my favorite authors and was so disappointed with the ending. The book started with a bang like all his others. He built the tension, had me on the edge of my seat … and then let me down. The ending collapsed with mighty crash as though he had a deadline to meet and couldn’t spare any more time for a proper ending. I came away thinking, “I can do better than that,” and so the challenge was picked up.
Tell us the range of the kinds of books you enjoy reading.
I am an avid reader, usually plowing through 4-5 books each week. I read across lots of genres—romance, suspense, thrillers, dystopian, young adult, science fiction, historical fiction (I especially like a good ‘hysterical’ fiction), westerns, and biographies. I do not care for war stories, tedious espionage, or books riddled with so much technology that it makes my head hurt.
How do you keep your sanity in our run, run, run world?
I consider reading a ready escape and writing as therapy. Because so many of my characters carry some of my own personality traits, I can vent my anger, work out problems, and often write my worries away.
How do you choose your characters’ names?
There’s not a single cut and dried method to this madness. First, I consider the gender, age, personality, ethnicity, and the era. Occupation and locale play an important part. I often look up census lists for a particular area, but I also keep a list of names that catch my attention. For me, some names can carry a negative or positive connotation because of past experiences, so depending on their good guy/bad guy status, that can come into play. Name combinations also have to have a certain ring or rhythm. In the end, the name has to fit the character’s personality—I’ve been known to change a character’s name two or three times during the course of a first draft as his personality emerges.
In one of my early books, I gave a character a name, but when I was writing, I kept typing another name. Finally, I changed it to what kept coming. I guess he didn’t like the first one. What is the accomplishment that you are most proud of?
The accomplishment that stands out most in my mind is when I submitted my first book to a contest. It took me three long years to write Imperfect Wings (I was still working full time then), and another year to call an end to the endless edits, tweaking, and polishing. It took a great deal of courage for me to then lay my baby out there for strangers to read and critique. I was thrilled to receive the call that it had been awarded second place in the contest.
That’s great. If you were an animal, which one would you be, and why?
I would be a lion because I can make decisions, am very goal-oriented and persistent, have strong opinions, and often fall into leadership roles.
What is your favorite food?
Ahhhh, pasta. I love the carbs, though they don’t necessarily love me!
What is the problem with writing that was your greatest roadblock, and how did you overcome it?
When I first received a contract for the book I’d written plus the other four (as of then unwritten), I also received a deadline. For a short while, I allowed that deadline to influence my writing, which was not good. Everything I wrote felt forced, stilted. Pleasure became business, and some of the joy dissipated. I talked to my publisher about my concerns. She eased my fears about failing to meet a deadline; gave me great encouragement and support, which took the burden away.
Tell us about the featured book.
The Imperfect Series centers around a ranching family in rural Idaho—the mother, father, and their five adult children. The initial premise was a story about the parents, but halfway through one of the sons began to dominate the story. I set the parents aside and tried to write the interloper out of my head … and that became the first book in the series. Of course, each of the siblings all began to clamor for their own story at that point, so I set out to do just that. And that’s how the series was born.
Imperfect Promises is the fifth and final installment of the series, and centers around what I consider the most controversial of the siblings. This book includes many of the recurring characters the readers have come to know, and also tons of edgy action, but in this story the main protagonist reveals a vulnerable side not seen before. It’s a roller-coaster of emotions and heart-pounding action, but (hopefully) also provides a satisfactory conclusion to the series.
