Where did you come up with the names in the story?

Oh dear. This is where I have to reveal all the identities I’ve stolen! With so many varied characters across the three books, it was inevitable I would start borrowing from my friends and family. You’re going to get me in so much trouble with this question. Here goes…Taine is named after a former New Zealand rugby captain, and Pringle (Into the Sounds and Into the Ashes) was a former New Zealand cricketer. Rocky Stone (Into the Sounds) and Chesterman (Into the Mist) are both named after my weapons advisor from the New Zealand Defence Force. Matt Read is my husband’s nephew, while the names Miller, Fogarty and Summers are stolen from members of my critique team. Reckwerdt and Loughlin are family friends. Harris is a real estate agent friend from Lower Hutt. Hine is the Māori term for girl, and Rawiri (Temera) is the Māori term for David, the name of my husband, father, son, and father-in-law. Into the Ashes’ villain Barnes is the name of my US publisher (she’s nothing like him!). The character (not the name) of de Haas came from someone I once worked with—although I could have named him anything since I’m certain everyone has worked with someone just like him at some time or another. Charles Rutledge, one of the prisoners in Into the Ashes is named after the famous American horror-thriller writer, who dropped me a social media note while I was writing the book, asking me to please ‘tuckerise’ him in my novel—so I did. It pays to be careful what you wish for around writers!

 

Tell us about your main characters - what makes them tick?

What makes Sergeant Taine McKenna tick? As a soldier in New Zealand’s Defence Force, Taine’s core mission is to protect New Zealand and its citizens, something he does without regard for his own safety. It’s a bone of contention for partner Jules, who fears she’ll lose him. But Jules’ has her own mission and it’s not too different from Taine’s. As a scientist working for the Conservation Department, she’s hell-bent on saving as many of New Zealand’s endangered species as she can. The country has a unique fauna, with birds and animals not seen anywhere else in the world, and once they’re gone that’s it. Jules will do anything to ensure the survival of a species, including putting herself at risk. Both Taine and Jules are headstrong and loyal—the very characteristics that keep them apart. The series isn’t a love-story, romance never the main focus of the stories, but it’s interesting to know that the two key characters have similar motivations.

 

How did you come up with the title?

The first novel in the Taine McKenna series, Into the Mist, is named for the rugged tribal lands of the famous Tūhoe people, who have traditionally lived in the Te Urewera forest. Also home to the mischievous patupaiarehe-fairies who play their flutes in the beech trees, the region is often steeped in treacherous mist which drifts into the valleys and up onto the mountaintops, hiding cragged rocks and swiftly flowing rivers. It’s because of this pervasive mist that the Tūhoe people are called The Children of the Mist. So when the story called for a group of soldiers to head into the Te Urewera forest on a babysitting mission for the Conservation Department, it seemed logical to name the book Into the Mist.

The second novel, Into the Sounds, takes McKenna and his friends into the plunging waterways of the Fiordland’s Sounds, while the third book, Into the Ashes, has the team on a rescue mission to the North Island’s volcanic plateau, with the supervolcano threatening to erupt at any minute!

 

Who designed your book covers?

The cover of Into the Mist was commissioned by Cohesion Press and designed by award-winning British cover designer Dean Samed, who is responsible for a lot of gorgeous covers by authors in the horror genre. When I moved the Taine McKenna series to Severed Press in 2017, we were fortunate to be able to retain the artwork for Into the Mist, and Severed Press contracted an in-house designer to produce the subsequent covers on a similar theme. I couldn’t be more pleased with the result.

 

Did you learn anything during the writing of your most recent book, Into the Ashes?

As it happens, when I was writing Into the Ashes, the dramatic 2018 eruption was occurring on Kilauea. While I followed the daily reports on television, I learned that the island was being spattered with tiny opaque green gems called olivine, a mineral closely related to peridot, which occurs in Hawaii’s mantle. In fact, a large proportion of the world’s mantle is made up of the olivine mineral, but it takes rather exceptional circumstances to cause the little gemstones to rain from the sky ‒ they must be separated from the melt by the violent force of an eruption. Fascinated by this little snippet of information, I was prompted to research more about olivine, coming up with a major plot twist for Into the Ashes.

 

If your book was made into a film, who would you like to play the lead?

I’d love to see a home-grown actor play the role of Taine McKenna, so Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson is an option, since he went to school down here! Like Taine, Johnson is over two metres tall, and I’m pretty sure he has the requisite abs, too. Another possible contender is home-grown New Zealand actor Xavier Horan. Also an accomplished actor with multiple credits, Horan has the “steely eyes” and “skin liked polished rimu” of Taine. He’s a personal trainer too, so I imagine he’d have Taine’s natural grace and coiled strength. We mustn’t forget that along with his NZDF sense of duty, my protagonist is also a gifted matakite (seer), imbued with all the spirituality and mysticism the role engenders, and, in my view, Horan’s portrayal of Rangi in Toa Fraser’s acclaimed film The Dead Lands reflects these qualities.

 

What is your favorite part of this series and why?

The landscape. Writing the Taine McKenna adventure series made me realise that the New Zealand landscape, with its geysers, crater lakes, mountain ranges, and dense mist-filled forests is a wonderful source of story, and New Zealand storytellers have only begun to scratch the surface of what is possible. And if we imbue our stories with our history and culture, throw in the call of the kōkako and the whims of our gods, and add in the Māori concept of the landscape representing our ancestors, then there is a point of difference, something unique that doesn’t appear in other literature. As a New Zealand writer, I feel there is a responsibility for us to tell our stories, to offer our perspectives in this moment, and our landscape is essential to that viewpoint.

 

If you could spend time with a character from your book whom would it be? And what would you do during that day?

I’d like to spend the day in Ka’s outdoor classroom (from Into the Sounds). I think there are a lot of things that the tribesman could teach me about his people, and about life among the waterways of the Fiordland Sounds. Of course, that isn’t going to be possible, so perhaps I’ll spend an afternoon on the porch with Temera at his Maungapōhatu farmlet, drinking tea and reminiscing on stories told to him by his mātua-tutor. On the other hand, a number of frightening characters have stopped by Temera’s porch, so it might pay not to linger after the sun goes down.

 

Are your characters based off real people or did they all come entirely from your imagination?

In order to create authenticity in our writing, characters must always be based on real people—at least in part. So while in the overall, my characters are conjured from my imagination, certain traits and motivations will have been borrowed from people I have met. Caveat: Be kind to writers, because one way or another they are writing you into their stories!

 

Do your characters seem to hijack the story or do you feel like you have the reins of the story?

Mostly, I’m in charge. At least, I like to think I am! The thing is, if you give a character a certain personality and motivation, then the way that character behaves must conform to those characteristics. If you create an impulsive gung-ho FNG soldier, like Matt Read, then it follows that character must rush in without thinking of the consequences, taking unnecessary risks. Pair that character with Sergeant Taine McKenna, a soldier who understands consequences and who is compelled to look out for his section (and for all New Zealanders), then immediately you have the basis for a plot beat. Read’s going to dash in, and McKenna will to follow up and make sure he doesn’t get himself killed. Add another twenty characters with diverse motivations and character traits, and the possibilities are limitless. That’s when things start to get interesting.

 

Have you written any other books that are not published?

I have a little collection of short stories, half a collection really, with the working title Long White Dragon, which is a set of stories inspired by my being a New Zealand-born Chinese, a banana, so not perceived as properly Kiwi, and not properly Chinese either. Almost nothing exists in New Zealand literature which covers this experience, and while I believe it could be an important collection, it’s not particularly commercial, so for the moment it is sitting in a file waiting for the right moment. I have a half-finished thriller novella waiting for me to work out how to resolve it—in the meantime my poor hero is hanging from his fingernails in dire trouble—and there are a handful of not-quite-working short stories, too.

 

If your book had a candle, what scent would it be?

Mountain ash!

 

What book do you think everyone should read?

Preferably one of mine. 😊 I’m kidding. I’d love it if people would sample a book by one of our fabulously talented New Zealand speculative fiction writers. Check out the SpecFicNZ website for some suggestions. Read New Zealand works, classic texts, new releases, books written by women, by LGBTQ writers… read widely, read often, read any book that you like, just please, please, if you can, leave a review because it makes a huge difference to the author.

 

What kind of research do you do before you begin writing a book?

So much research. So many tabs open at one time. As I write this blog post, for example, I can confirm there are seven tabs open on articles and research papers which I am currently using to inform my work. When writing a book, I’ll research the location, scientific concepts, recent technological advances, and also historical and mythological tales relating to the region. I might look up psychological papers to get an idea of how certain personality types might react in a given situation. Occasionally, I’ll conduct an interview with someone in the industry, or an eye witness to an event. I’ll use archived secondary information such as photographs, letters, and other accounts. I’ll run the work past sensitivity readers to ensure the cultural aspects are covered with sensitivity and accuracy. For authenticity of a book, and also suspension of disbelief, I really think it helps to have precise, up-to-date details to inform your writing. But my research doesn’t just relate to the content of my work. Sometimes, I’ll refer to books and articles to improve my writing techniques too: studying means of accelerating the narrative, or how to get into my backstory in a way that isn’t too clunky.

 

Do you see writing as a career?

Yes, I definitely see writing as my career. I have been a full-time writer and editor for the past twelve years. The advantage is that the commute to my office is very short, only a few steps, and if I choose to spend the day working in my pyjamas, I can.

 

Do you prefer to write in silence or with noise? Why?

I prefer silence. My novels have a lot of characters and with all of them demanding to be heard it’s already pretty noisy.

 

Do you write one book at a time or do you have several going at a time?

I generally write one book at a time, although occasionally I might have a novel and a short story on the go simultaneously. I suppose the half-finished manuscripts I have tucked away are technically still on the go…

 

If you could have been the author of any book ever written, which book would you choose?

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater. The Girl With all the Gifts by MC Carey. Anything by Australian horror writer, Kaaron Warren.

 

Pen or type writer or computer?

Computer.

 

Advice you give new authors?

Grow a tough carapace.

Win the Lotto

Write what you love.

 

Describe your writing style.

Slow! 1000 words is a good day, 500 is more usual. [Sigh] I wish I were faster, but since Hemingway was also a 500-word a day writer, I’m in good company.

 

What makes a good story?

Real characters, compelling stakes, lively writing, and a satisfying conclusion. A great sense of place helps, too.

 

What is your writing Kryptonite?

Social media. It’s such a dreadful time-suck, but living down here at the bottom of the globe it’s an important means of staying in touch with readers and colleagues, so it’s a necessary evil. Plus, I do a lot of work with emerging writers, many of whom ping me with questions about their work, and since I know how important timely feedback can be, I do my best to respond. Of course, any time you’re busy feeding your social media or responding to queries is time away from your manuscript. It’s a fine balance.

 

How long on average does it take you to write a book?

The fastest ever was three months for an 82,000-word manuscript. Mostly, they take me about a year.

 

Do you believe in writer’s block?

When school students ask me this question, I tell them to write something silly and banal like ‘Weetbix’ over and over until something more interesting occurs to them. They sometimes leave those ‘placeholders’ in their work when reading it out and it provides a wonderful insight into their process—the moment where their inspiration flagged and the subsequent ‘lightbulb’ thought which kicked it off again. In the same way that JK Rowling’s Riddikulus incantation works on boggarts, the lightheartedness of this approach works for students with writer’s block, because the ‘block’ doesn’t become a big deal, just a little hiccup they need to sidestep. Using a silly word like ‘Weetbix’ offers them a stepping stone to achieve that.