Featured Interview With L. L. Nelson
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I am a librarian by trade and I’ve grown up all over the United States. Most of my childhood was spent in Virginia, however. I currently live in California (which is where I was born), not too far from Disneyland. That said, I’ve traveled around the world and a lot of my stories come from inspiration I’ve had while traveling or while dreaming of traveling. One day I’d love to be a world traveler again, but for now, I’m content to be a word traveler.
I don’t have any pets anymore, but I grew up with plenty of cats and dogs. My last cat took a liking to my parents years ago and now he’s living the good life of milk and fish every day at their home.
I do however have kids (and a husband) who would LOVE to get a cat or a dog. So we may end up with a new pet in the not too far future.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I’ve had a fascination with books since before I could read. (A trait that all of my kids have carried on.) Libraries were always my refuge growing up and I love the idea of exploring new worlds through the pages of a book. My first ‘story’ was a little fan fiction piece when I was about 6 years old? Lion King had just come out and I wrote a few lines about Simba and Nana having a playdate. My first original story wasn’t until I was 12-13 and I wrote a historical romantic fantasy that took place in a fantasy version of 1700s Virginia. It was interesting… but I was hooked on writing stories, even when the adults in my life dissuaded me from pursuing creative writing. I kept writing and trying out different genres to see what I liked. A lot of those stories are ones I’ll have to go back to, because while I had a lot of passion for the characters and stories, my craft skills were still relatively weak.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
Ooh… I have many. Madeleine L’Engle, Tamora Pierce, Brian Jacques were all fantasy authors who I loved as a kid. I’m also a history buff, so I loved the American Girl books, Dear America and any kind of historical fiction. I also enjoyed Monica Hughes’s Invitation to the Game, which while technically sci-fi, has some great portal fantasy elements.
I love to read pretty much anything: fantasy, romance, historical fiction, sci-fi, you name it. The only stuff I won’t read is horror and dark/gritty sub genres. When I read, I read to escape into a less stressful world, lol.
As for who inspires me in my writings? A little bit of everyone and everything. It sounds cheesy, but I’ll get inspired by most anything – books, video games (current obsession is The Elder Scrolls), images, or even just people watching.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
Heart of Lohikärra is the fifth and final book in the Lohikärran Chronicles. The series itself is based on the premise of a young woman (Ina Svanunge) getting tossed into the real life world that her favorite video game is based off of. Think Chronicles of Narnia meets Skyrim, with a dash of Ready Player One and the Princess Diaries for good measure.
Needless to say, Ina ends up in Lohikärra and realizes she’s an integral part of the world for better or for worse. Through out the series, she fights family members (both hers and her new husband’s) who want the power she has, defends her people from power hungry ancient elves, bonds with a very powerful dragon, and help end an ongoing war.
So by the time Heart of Lohikärra arrives, she’s queen, but now she’s dealing with a necromancer who not only has revived an evil dragon, but wants to take over numerous realms, including those of the living and the dead. So, despite having created a life and family in Lohikärra, she has to fight this necromancer (and dragon) once and for all, even if it means risking her own future.
The series has taken me about 4 years to complete (from writing the first book to when Heart of Lohikärra releases), but writing Heart of Lohikärra took about 2.5 months for the first draft, which was a LOT quicker than the first book in the series (which took about 2 years because I was honing my craft AND world building at the same time.)
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