Tina Closser2

I’d like to introduce you to the eleventh interviewee in my ‘Meet the Author’ series. She is Tina Closser/Paige Daniels.

QUESTION: Hi, Tina! Welcome to Susan Finlay Writes blog site. Can you tell us a bit about your background as a writer?

ANSWER: This will be the shortest answer here, because I really don’t have much of a writing background *gasp*. When I was in middle school I used to mess around with writing stories and such, but I didn’t think I was very good at it so I never really pursued it. Then when I was in college this story came to me. I tried to ignore it for like 15 years, but it always came back year to year saying, “Write me or I’ll never leave you alone!” so after I finished my Masters degree I said, “Fine! I’ll write you down if you promise to leave me alone.” Five years later I’m still working on it.

QUESTION: Your science fiction novel, Non-Compliance: The Sector, was published in November, 2012, by Kristell Ink Publishing. What inspired you to write it?

ANSWER: When I was in college I read this conspiracy thing about the Mark of the Beast coming in the form of chip. Clearly, as a Physics and Engineering student this intrigued me. The questions of: How much government control is too much? And what would I do in that situation? Kept coming to mind.

QUESTION: If you had to sum up Non-Compliance in 30 words or less, what would you say?

ANSWER: Ooh that’s tough. Wait, that didn’t count against me right? Non Compliance is about the difference one seemingly everyday person can make in the community. Also, it has lots of cool action and a tiny bit of romance.

QUESTION: How did you come up with the book’s title? Also, why did you choose to write under the pen name, Paige Daniels?

AMSWER: Seriously, it took me two years to come up with a title. Then I thought, duh, the people in the book who don’t agree to have the chip implanted are put in a Non-Compliance Sector, just call it Non-Compliance. I’m not very quick.

Paige Daniels is a combination of my son’s and daughter’s names. I didn’t think Tina Closser sounded very author-esque. Also, I was kind of unsure of myself. I was putting something very personal out there for the world to see and it kind of scared me.

QUESTION: I’ve heard that you’re working on a sequel to Non-Compliance. Can you tell us about the new book? When do you anticipate that book being published?

ANSWER: Yes, there is a book two and the anticipated release is sometime in September. So now I’m doing what any good anal retentive engineer and writer would do: tinkering. Book two picks up about three months after book one. Book one was a bit of a cliffhanger, all the problems were resolved, but it was obvious that the crew had more troubles headed their way. So the second book deals with more chip secrets and we get to know the characters a little better and maybe a certain couple will hook up. Okay, who am I kidding? A certain couple will hook up.

QUESTION: Non-Compliance was recently ranked #19 in cyberpunk on Amazon.com. What is cyberpunk? How does it differ from science fiction?

ANSWER: I look at cyberpunk as a subset of science fiction. This is Tina’s definition not one from Wikipedia so all you purists out there don’t come throwing floppy disks at me for besmirching cyberpunkian definitions. Cyberpunk has an element of computers or AI within the story also there is usually an element of human-machine integration within the story. In my story hackers are heavily featured. Also there is that omnipresent question: would you have a chip installed in your body for an easy and comfortable life?

QUESTION: Along with being a wife and mom, you are an engineer, baker, hobby farmer, runner, volunteer, and author. How do you find time for everything? Do you ever get to sleep?

ANSWER: Lots and lots of Diet Coke. I have do things in tiny bits, which is code for I do a lot of things half-assed. My house is messy, I generally run out of stupid stuff like milk on a continual basis, and I rely A LOT on the best husband in the whole entire world. Without him I couldn’t do all that stuff. I am not super mom by any stretch of the imagination, but we get the essentials done. When I write I usually have to eek out fifteen minutes here or there. When the kids go to bed is usually the only time I can really sit down and write for more than an hour straight, which leads to long nights.

QUESTION: If your book was made into a movie or television series, which actors would you like to see in the main roles?

ANSWER: Ooh good question. There are some actors I had in mind for certain “roles” when I wrote the book others I keep oscillating on:

-Shea: I can’t seem to get a solid fix on her. Weird, because she is the main character, maybe because I just can’t find anyone good enough. Right now, I’m thinking Cote de Pablo from NCIS.

-Quinn: Hands down Adam Baldwin my favorite actor EVER. I actually based some of his character attributes on Col. John Casey from Chuck and my husband. He would be the best choice. A hugely distant second in case Adam Baldwin turns me down, but he would never do that, is Gerard Butler.

-Boss: Edward James Olmos

-Wynne: Jewel Staite she is the perfect mix of perky and sexy, love her

-Nikki: Ali Larter

-Conner: Colin Farrell

-Lindsey: Jason Statham

-Frank: Danny DeVito

-Danny Rose: Justin Hartley

QUESTION: Give us an interesting fun fact or a few about your book or series.

ANSWER: There is a scene where Shea and Quinn are on the couch and Shea asks Quinn what he’s watching and he says “Wave of Mutilation”. That was actually a ‘movie’ I use the term movie loosely here that me and friends of mine made in high school.

QUESTION: Are you a character/story builder or an outliner or do you use some other method?

ANSWER: I outline a lot, but nothing beats just putting your fingers to the keys and hacking out something, anything. There have been many times that I’ve diverged from my outline because what I’ve come up with in free writing makes a lot more sense. So it is a lot of rework for me. I start out with a sketch then fill in as I go.

QUESTION: What is your favorite or least favorite part of writing?

ANSWER: I love the problem solving aspect of it. I like thinking of ways to creatively get my characters out of a mess that I created for them. I like the escape and sometimes catharsis it provides me with.
Least favorite is probably marketing I’m horrible at drawing attention to myself.

QUESTION: Do you have a writing routine, a special place where you go to do your writing, or a certain time of day? Do you listen to music while you write, and if so, what kind of music?

ANSWER: Most of my good writing occurs from 9p – midnight. I do manage to get little nuggets here and there off before then, but that is when the kids go to bed and I can just sit and write. Sometimes I’ll listen to a play list. But I sit at my kitchen table, my kitchen is open to the living room, and my while my husband watches Gator-Pawn-Shop-Wars I’ll write. At least a hundred times through the night I’ll interrupt his TV watching with questions such as:

“Honey, if you were surrounded by a pack of angry punks what would you do?”

“Hey, Rich, what’s bigger a platoon or company?”

“Do you have second to read over this fight scene?”

“What would make a louder sound a Molotov Cocktail or a pipe bomb?”

QUESTION: Please list any websites or social media links for yourself or your book. Thanks!

ANSWER:

My Blog: www.nerdypaige.com

On Facebook: www.facebook.com/paigedanielsauthor

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/PaigeDaniels

Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Non-Compliance-The-Sector-ebook/dp/B00A4YY2DS/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1366284812&sr=1-1&keywords=non-compliance
http://www.amazon.com/Non-Compliance-Sector-Paige-Daniels/dp/1909374032/ref=sr_1_1_title_0_main?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1366284957&sr=1-1&keywords=non-compliance