Author Interview with Nicole McDonald

Author Interviews

April 27, 2013

Author Interview with Nicole McDonald

I’m happy to host Nicole McDonald on my blog with an interview today. Thanks for answering my questions, Nicole!

1) When did you know you wanted to be an author?

I never knew I wanted to be an author. I’ve always loved reading and while I admired my favourite authors greatly, the actual idea of writing was far too intimidating. Then, after a change of jobs, I had a bit more time on my hands and a scene occurred to me. I had fun, writing it out, then figured I might as well continue – after all, no one was likely to ever read it!

2) Where did you get the inspiration from for the BirthRight trilogy?

I’m a chronic daydreamer and I love action/adventure stories but it always bums me out that the girls in the stories are frequently just the ‘additions’. So I had fun imagining a story for me and my friends.

3) Why write the story from different POV’s?

Well, it never occurred to me that what I was doing was unusual… and with all the fun and different characters I wanted the reader to really feel like they got to know them all.

4) What’s your editing process like?

I write the first draft, then leave it for a couple of weeks. Then I come back, make it a little neater before sending it to my first editor. She usually turns it all upside down and then I’m back to the drawing board, with a complete re-write. Then it’s edit, re-write, edit, re-write *grin*

5) How long did it take you to write the books from start to finish?

I started The Arrival in 2009 and finished Feel the Burn at the end of 2012.

6) What are your writing goals for 2013?

To keep writing!

7) Are you working on something right now? If so, can you tell us more about it?

I’m working on AfterBurn, a book that follows the Trilogy and I’m also working on the first in a Young Adult series with a 15yr old protagonist, and the first in a SteamPunk Young Adult series that’s a bit darker.

About The BirthRight Trilogy

Title: The BirthRight Trilogy

Author: Nicole MacDonald

Genre: Fantasy

The Arrival

Cat, Kassie, Sian and Loi are anything but damsels in distress. Fed up with a lack of decent male specimens they cast a love spell in the hopes of finding their soul-mates. And inadvertently land themselves on another planet.
Oops…

The Arrival, follows the girls’ adventures as they stumble through a foreign and often hostile world where humans are NOT at the top of the food chain. Friendships are forged and love teeters on the horizon while the threat of civil war looms thanks to the girls’ very unexpected ‘gifts’. Will the girls master these gifts in time to survive a war in which, not only are they the ultimate weapons, but also the ultimate prize…

Awakening

Be careful what you wish for…
A seemingly innocuous love spell caused Catherine, Sian, Laura, and Kassandra to cross worlds in search of their soul mates. But more than love drew them to Gar’nyse. Truths are revealed and lives forever altered after an attack at the castle. An age old feud between two archaic families threatens to tear the world they’ve arrived in apart. As the ultimate weapons in such a war the four girls are the only hope for peace.
But one of them lies unconscious from the attack, and the destiny that awaits her when she wakes will change everything.

Feel the Burn

The battle to save Gar’nyse is upon them and already the costs are insurmountable.
With no other option but to knowingly sail into a trap, the girls, the Griffon Guard, and the gathered forces set forth to reach the castle and destroy Jenviet. However the loss of Alek means the task sits fully on the four girls’ shoulders and with only one of them at their full Elemental abilities, the risk of death, or worse—failure—is high. Now with nothing to lose, Catherine refuses to link with the other girls, hoping that she alone will be able to take Jenviet. But the malevolent Sorceress of Vo’Arum has other plans…

Author Bio

Nicole MacDonald is a thirty something year old Kiwi who loves to read and moonlights as a novelist. From a young age she fantasized about being the heroine in the books and/or movies she watched and credits the series ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ for really inspiring her. Writing only occurred to her a few years ago after reading an abysmal tale with silly useless females where upon she decided to write a tale solely for herself where the girls got to kick butt without the usual sob story—betrayed/abused/abandoned etc. That little tale eventuated into the BirthRight Trilogy.

Nicole’s current daydream is that Joss Whedon (aka the genius of film) will discover the BirthRight Trilogy and demand the film rights to it. Until then, she’s working on several other writing projects and aiming to explore the world with her partner.

Majanka Verstraete