Melanie Nilles Interview

 Melanie Nilles

Author of the Starfire Angels Series I have been reading has graced you my followers with an interview. I hope that through this my followers will find interest in these books and want to read them.

Tell us about yourself?

-I'm *mumblemumble* years old with two kids and a loving husband. We live with three cats and I also train and show my horse in dressage. I adore horses, always have. I grew up on a farm/ranch chasing cattle and showing in 4-H and in college started riding hunter. After having my kids, I wasn’t too keen on falling anymore and wanted something more challenging, so I switched to dressage. Unforunately, training my young horse has almost landed me on the ground a few times, but I've been lucky not to have eaten dirt yet. Hopefully I never will as he settles down with age and training. I'll quit there, because once I get started on horses, it's hard for me to quit or switch topics ;)

 What inspired you to become a writer?

-I always loved stories and writing, back into elementary school. I didn't seriously start writing until college and then it became an escape. I was never into the party scene or drinking and in high school spent my time with my horses. I didn't have that option in college, when I had no car and lived in the dorms the first few years, so in my free time, I decided it would write. It cleared my head and really helped me focus on my school work, strange as that may sound. It taught me to focus. Well, it was so much fun escaping into my daydreams that became the written stories, that I couldn't stop and kept going and seeking ways to improve.

Who are some of your favorite authors?

 

-Okay, I'm old…er than most of your readers, so some of my favorites go way back. I adored Walter Farley's Black Stallion series growing up, as well as Marguerite Henry's Misty stories. I was totally into anything to do with horses but jumped into science fiction with some tie-ins to my favorite SFF shows. While I was in college, the first Star Wars extended universe books came out and then I really dove into reading SFF, mostly the science fiction side. Timothy Zahn captured me with his worlds, and later JK Rowling snagged me with Harry Potter. I've read other authors, but none that consistently pulled me in with their stories like those.

  if you had the chance would you collaborate  with another author if so who would you choose?

-I don't know that I'd be good at collaboration. I'm not opposed to it, but I don't like having a set schedule or set outline to flesh out in coordination with another. I prefer to work alone in my worlds on my own time.

Where did you get the idea for the starfire angels series?

-That goes back to my later college years. I wrote a novella that was flat but it had an interesting living crystal in it that I had called the starfire. I knew it needed a rewrite but nothing ever came to me, until ten years later. I saw an anime show called DNAngel and fell in love with it. While watching the second time through the series, something clicked and I suddenly had a story. I love the idea of angels helping humans but I wanted to do something different. I thought it might be more fun if what we've always thought were angels with wings actually had some basis in fact (angels don't really have wings in the Bible). So, I figured out a world where a species similar to humans might evolve to have wings and what seemed like supernatural powers. That's when the Inari and Keepers were born.

 is there any personal reference between your life and the main characters?

-A few incidences. We always use what we know, modifying it to fit the story, but that's life—live, learn, grow, and adapt. Also, I know what it's like to feel scarred. I've had acne all my life, and my mother works for a great dermatologist, so it isn't like I haven't tried everything. Raea has the marks on her hands, a permanent mark, and feels awkward because of it, just as I had to learn to live with feeling ugly because of acne.

And then there's Elis J I live with that one. His personality developed from my husband. There was a time when my husband was rejected by girls as being too nice so that they only saw him as a friend. Their loss was my gain. I modified that a little, of course, but there is some basis in real life for him.

How many books will be in the series?

-That's hard to say. In the Dark Angel Chronicles subseries, I can say five. When Angels Cry is part of Starfire Angels but not the DAC subseries. Once DAC is finished, I plan to move ahead with a new subseries featuring new main characters. I love, love, LOVE this series!

  What other books have you written?

 I also have a fantasy series, Legend of the White Dragon, which is composed of three main novels—Legends, Legacies, and Destiny—and one outside the main action, Fireblood.

What can we expect from you in the future?

-More Starfire Angels and a new fantasy series. The new fantasy will be under my initials, M.A. Nilles, though, as that contains a lot of violence and sexual content. Since I started my lighter works under my full name, I'll use that for anything appropriate for young adults, but I want to differentiate anything with purely adult content from that without creating a totally different pen name.

And once again, I answered a question ahead of time. I plan more Starfire Angels books J

 Is there any special message you would like for your fans to read?

-Never give up your dreams. They may take ten, twenty, or even thirty or more years, but if you give up, you've already failed. As long as you keep striving to reach them, there's always a chance you will; and the harder you work, the more likely that chance will come.

 anything I missed that you want the fans to know tell it here

-I love my fans. Hearing from them keeps me motivated to keep writing. It is a lonely endeavor. I'm lucky to have a husband willing to take the kids so I can write. Feedback from fans, though, is the greatest support a write can receive.

Melanie