Lynn Nodima
My two favorite activities are writing and reading. After working as a computer programmer, and then a college instructor, I spent more than ten years working as a freelance technical editor for a major textbook company. After writing supplemental textbooks, I decided I enjoyed writing fiction more. These days, I write paranormal romances/adventures, fantasy, and science fiction. Lynn Nodima is my pen name for my fiction, while my non-fiction is published in my real name, Linda Pogue. Occasionally, I write books for writers.
How did you get into writing?
I learned to tell stories from my mother, my father, and my grandfather. When I was very small, we didn’t have a television. For entertainment, my mother would sit us all in a circle and tell round-robin stories, with each person adding new plot details, dialogue, or characters. The stories could get pretty crazy, but we loved it. Dad could spin a story with the best of them. His favorite stories were family history, though most of us took them with the proverbial grain of salt. My grandfather loved to tell unbelievable stories in as normal a tone as possible, just to see if he could make you believe it. Unfortunately, he could never quite keep from snickering, so we always knew when he was telling a tall-tale. Between the three of them, spinning yarns comes naturally to me. I first started writing my stories down in junior high and haven’t stopped since.
What can you tell us about your daily routines that help you focus and your creative habits? So, for example how do you come up with some of your ideas and inspiration for your book?
I don’t really have a daily ‘routine.’ I get up around 8:30 am, check email and Facebook while I have my coffee, then either edit something I’m working on, or write on my current work in progress. My day is over when I’m too tired to continue. I try to take breaks and spend some time outside at least twice each day. When I start working on a continuing fiction project, I reread the last chapter to get the story back in my head, as well as a quick edit, then start writing. Some days, I write as much as 10,000 words. Other days, I get about 500 words done. I don’t have a specific goal for the number of words I write each day. I’m not sure where my ideas come from. The stories flow from my fingers on the keyboard to the screen, and often surprise me. I go back and add sensory details and foreshadowing during edits and rewrites.
I enjoy reading as much as I do writing, so I spend time reading every day, too.
I seldom use an outline for fiction. While it is a must for non-fiction, I find an outline stifles my writing output. My characters want to go where they want to go and do what they want to do. If I try to force them, I have major writer’s block.
Is this book very personal for you? If so, how?
Wolf’s Man is an important book for me. Life happened, and I didn’t do much writing for many years. In March of 2017, I decided I wanted to get back into fiction writing. First, I decided to try my hand at creating pre-made covers for indie authors to earn some funds toward writing expenses. But after creating the original cover for Wolf’s Man, the story popped into my head. Instead of selling the cover, I used it myself. After the book was published, my characters refused to let go, so I continued the series. There are other stories and series I want to work on, too, but this one won’t let go, yet.
Wolf’s Man
How did you come up with the book title?
The final title came from the cover. The girl on the cover is a werewolf, and the guy that saves her becomes her man. For branding, I changed the covers to what they are now, and the book titles for the series always begin with ‘Wolf’s.’
Plot and Synopsis
Can you describe what the book plot and give a detailed synopsis of the book, of course without any spoilers.
BLURB:
Werewolves are real?
When San Antonio Police Detective Nate Rollins rescues Janelle from two men trying to kill her, he is stunned to learn she’s a werewolf. Worse, the two men trying to kill her are werepanthers responsible for the deaths of her pack.
Now, Nate must use skills he learned as a former Marine to keep them both alive.
As if fighting for their lives isn’t enough, Janelle’s green eyes tempt him to abandon his life’s plan of finding a nice, normal girl and having a nice, normal family. No matter how he looks at it, a werewolf girl just isn’t normal. As Nate struggles to keep them alive, his infatuation with Janelle becomes an obsession. He’s determined to save her . . . even if it costs him his life.
But things are not as they seem. Nate has a secret even he doesn’t know. A secret concealed by the medallion Nate’s father gave him before he died. A secret that could be even more dangerous to all humans than the werepanthers are to him and Janelle.
Will Nate give up his lifelong dream of normal to pursue the heart of the girl he’s learning to love?
Are they both destined for the same fate as her pack?
Is there any movie, book, or television series that you can somewhat liken your story to? So for example, some books you can say are like Game of Thrones or Star Wars, what mainstream and popular movie do you think your book somewhat “feels” like? Did you want this to be the case?
I suppose the base story is similar to Star Wars. Much like Luke Skywalker, Nate grew up without knowing who and what his family are, and when he finds out, it changes everything. The evil behind the loss of Nate’s parents and the reason for his abandonment as a child is a challenge he must face and overcome.
I would love to see this as a movie. It would require a lot of CGI for werewolf and werepanther shifts.
Themes or Messages
What themes and deeper meanings or messages can we expect to find in this book if any? Is there any deep meanings or philosophical questions being explored in the book?
I think there are lots of deeper meanings in the book. First, is that there is always a choice. You may not like the consequences of a choice, but the choice to do the right thing is always there.
My character, Nate Rollins, doesn’t know his past. He was abandoned as a child and grew up in the foster system. He begins to learn to trust himself in this book, but that is a story arc that continues through the first six books.
Off the wall question, but would some of the issues being explored in the book relate to us here in the real world?
Yes, I think many of us have traumas to survive and overcome, just as Nate, Janelle, and the pack do.
Setting
What can you tell us about the setting that we will be seeing in this book?
The book is set in contemporary, rural Texas on a fictional ranch close to the coast. It starts in San Antonio, but most of the story happens on the ranch.
What cultures or societies can we expect to see and can you tell us about how you came up with creating these societies? Was it difficult to get deep into how the societies function?
In this book, werewolves and werepanthers are at odds. While some things that are traditional to these types of books hold true, not everything is the same. The werewolves are allergic to silver, but don’t have to shift on the full moon. Werepanthers are not allergic to silver. Some of the inner workings of the pack and clowder (the name for the group of werepanthers) are detailed.
Basically, my characters and the story line revealed how the societies function to me. I learn more about them with every book.
Tell us about the history of the land or world or worlds that we will be exploring through out the book?
This first book in the series is primarily based in Texas, though packs in Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Colorado are mentioned, but most of the history isn’t revealed until later books. At this point, the early history of Nate’s life is touched on, but it’s not all revealed until later.
Characters
What can you tell us about some of the main characters and villains in this book?
Nate Rollins is a retired Marine and a Detective with the San Antonio Police Department. Both his parents passed away when he was young. He was abandoned when he was about 10 by his step-father. While it had a major impact on his life, it also saved his life. His step-father was trying to prevent his uncle, his real father’s twin, from finding and killing Nate for his inheritance. An inheritance Nate knows nothing about.
Janelle Hynson is a graduating senior attending University of Texas in San Antonio. She returns to her family’s ranch for spring break and finds her pack massacred. Running from the werepanthers who killed her family, she is trapped when they find her. To get away from them, she jumps into a vacationing stranger’s SUV and asks him to save her from the two men trying to kill her.
Nate saves her, then agrees to keep her safe. From there, they begin an adventure that changes both their lives.
Unknown to Nate, Jackson Rollins is the evil twin brother to Nate’s father Grant. Because he wants the power Nate should inherit, Jackson has been trying to kill Nate since his birth.
Promotional Links
Website: www.lynnnodima.com
Youtube: https://youtu.be/ZpsdBwuSpRw
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/LynnNodima/
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Lynn-Nodima/e/B073MR8XT1/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LynnNodima
How to buy
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072FTCLR5
Nomination:
Arwen Chandler, pen name of Susan Elliott, has several great series started. Her books can be found at https://www.amazon.com/Arwen-Chandler/e/B00PL7WMBC/
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