{"id":1615,"date":"2015-10-23T00:57:22","date_gmt":"2015-10-23T04:57:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.matthewcoxbooks.com\/wordpress\/?p=1615"},"modified":"2015-10-23T01:02:06","modified_gmt":"2015-10-23T05:02:06","slug":"author-interview-ann-noser","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.matthewcoxbooks.com\/wordpress\/2015\/10\/23\/author-interview-ann-noser\/","title":{"rendered":"Author Interview | Ann Noser"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Well, it&#8217;s not quite Thursday anymore, but today was busy. Sneaking in this post after finishing up a proofreading project. I recently had the opportunity to read a pre-release copy of Ann Noser&#8217;s\u00a0<em>Dead Girl Running\u00a0<\/em>novel, and she agreed to this interview in anticipation of the book&#8217;s October 26th release date.<\/p>\n<p>A fellow Curiosity Quills author, Ann&#8217;s first book\u00a0<em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.matthewcoxbooks.com\/wordpress\/2015\/01\/11\/review-how-to-date-dead-guys-by-ann-noser\/\">How to Date Dead Guys<\/a><\/em> was a wonderful story. Though this novel isn&#8217;t within the same setting, she brings her characters to life in a genuine way that has you rooting for them as she proceeds to torture the hell out of them as soon as she gets you to like them.<\/p>\n<p>Thanks, Ann, for being willing to do the interview, and may\u00a0<em>Dead Girl Running<\/em> do well!<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-1616\" src=\"https:\/\/www.matthewcoxbooks.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/cover-683x1024.jpg\" alt=\"cover\" width=\"584\" height=\"876\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.matthewcoxbooks.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/cover-683x1024.jpg 683w, https:\/\/www.matthewcoxbooks.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/cover-267x400.jpg 267w, https:\/\/www.matthewcoxbooks.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/cover-610x915.jpg 610w, https:\/\/www.matthewcoxbooks.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/cover-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.matthewcoxbooks.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/cover.jpg 1800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px\" \/><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><em>Dead Girl Running<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Eight years ago, SILVIA WOOD\u2019s father died in an industrial accident. After suffering through years of\u00a0Psychotherapy Services and\u00a0Mandated Medications for depression and multiple suicide attempts, she longs to work in Botanical Sciences. When the Occupation Exam determines she must work in Mortuary Sciences instead, she wonders if\u00a0the New Order assigned her to the morgue to\u00a0push her over the edge.<\/p>\n<p>To appease her disappointed mother, Silvia enters the Race for Citizen Glory, in an attempt to stand out in the crowd of Equals. After she begins training with \u201cgolden boy\u201d LIAM HARMAN, she discovers he also lost his father in the same accident that ruined her childhood. Then Silvia meets and falls for Liam\u2019s older cousin, whose paranoid intensity makes her question what really happened to her father. As the race nears, Silvia realizes that she\u2019s not only running for glory, she\u2019s running for her life.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1617\" src=\"https:\/\/www.matthewcoxbooks.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/images-63.jpeg\" alt=\"images-63\" width=\"275\" height=\"183\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Interview<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Your first novel, <em>How to Date Dead Guys<\/em>, is a contemporary paranormal story about witchcraft and ghosts. How\u2019d you go from that to the near-future dystopian <em>Dead Girl Running?<\/em><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I do realize that it&#8217;s &#8220;recommended&#8221; for new authors to stay within the same genre (at least at first), but I simply write what interests me and what stories flood my mind. Different moments inspire me. <em>How to Date Dead Guys <\/em>was inspired by a late night NPR program on the Smiley Face Killers and my personal sadness over a friend&#8217;s recent death. <em>Dead Girl Running <\/em>was inspired by an online newspaper article about Agenda 21.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Give us a quick idea of the themes in <em>Dead Girl Running.<\/em><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Self-preservation, mother-daughter relationships, coping with the loss of a loved one, the mental benefits of exercise, father figures, power and corruption.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Hmm. Dead guys, dead Girl, I\u2019m sensing a theme here\u2026 or am I reading too much into things?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I hope there&#8217;s not a theme! I promise to work VERY hard to stop using the word &#8220;dead&#8221; in my book titles (except for the How to Date Dead Guys series, which will continue with How to Ditch Dead Guys and conclude with How to Destroy Dead Guys). Perhaps, since I deal with life and death on a day-to-day basis as a veterinarian, some of this reality is bound to seep into my writing.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Running is a primary story element in the book. Did you work that into the book because you enjoy it, or are you so into running that you wanted to write a book based around it?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It&#8217;s true that I am &#8220;so into running&#8221; that this might have influenced me. (I&#8217;m running\u2014or at least attempting to run\u2014a 50k trail ultra this coming Saturday, for example.) I chose to use a real race as the contest to make the idea of the book very real. Although I love <em>Hunger Games <\/em>and admire the ingenuity of the games involved, I wanted something so real it was scary.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><span style=\"color: #000080;\">(Good luck on the run Saturday!)<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><em>Dead Girl Running<\/em> has some dystopian aspects to the society that seem scarily possible given the way things are going today. What do you think influenced some of the worldbuilding you used here? Would you say you drew more on satirizing real life or from other fictional dystopias?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>My goals were to avoid replicating other dystopias and to use little bits of information from the news articles I&#8217;d read on various topics: Agenda 21, government involvement with birth control, government control of food and portion sizes, etc. I very much wanted Panopticus to be a foreseeable future.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000080;\">From the mouths (or keyboards) of readers \u2013 what has been the greatest\/most humbling thing you\u2019ve heard about one of your books? And what\u2019s been the most surprising? (E.g. \u2018that molding cheese was the perfect allegory for human suffering\u2019 [and you\u2019re thinking: cheese is cheese.])<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>What makes me happiest is when a reader really loves one (or more) of my characters. I&#8217;m not sure why this makes me so pleased. Perhaps it&#8217;s because by the time I&#8217;m done torturing them, I REALLY love my characters. What surprised me the most were the people who came out for my book signings: friends from college, a high school teacher who was also my forensics coach and directed plays (she was SO GOOD at that), high school classmates, and old neighbors. I hadn&#8217;t seen many of these people in years and maybe never would have again if not for my book signing.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000080;\">When you\u2019re writing, do you outline or sit down at the keyboard and see where the story goes?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>A bit of both. I usually know the beginning and the end of the book. I write a very loose outline\u2014with no form to it at all. It&#8217;s just a bunch of thoughts arranged in order of where they will show up in the book. (I don&#8217;t always follow this outline, however.) When I begin a chapter, I generally know where I start and where I end. That&#8217;s when I start typing.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Which comes first for you, the story or the title?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The story comes first. <em>Dead Girl Running <\/em>was titled <em>YA DYSTOPIAN <\/em>for a long time. Then I spend forever trying to figure out a title. <em>How to Date Dead Guys <\/em>was entitled <em>The Drownings <\/em>for a long time, but no one liked it except for me.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Silvia went through some rough events at an early age, which left quite a mark on her psyche. What do you see as having helped her cope with the issues and become the strong character she is at the time of the book\u2019s events?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Silvia took control. She saved herself and her mother. Some of this was chosen and some of this was forced on her because of the situation. She chose yoga and running, both shown time and again to be beneficial to mental health. There are plenty of articles discussing how running is just another form of addiction and helps runners cope with previous (more damaging) addictions.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000080;\">You certainly do wear a lot of hats \u2013 Mom, Veterinarian, Author, Running, Yoga\u2026 My head spins even thinking about that. When do you sleep? Or do you? So far, your novels haven\u2019t had animals as major characters. Do you foresee any future projects where the Author and Veterinarian spheres come together?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I don&#8217;t sleep enough, that&#8217;s for certain.<\/p>\n<p>If you remember the character Bernard from <em>How to Date Dead Guys, <\/em>he was originally part of a fairy tale I wrote but was edited out. However, I loved him so much that I reincarnated him in <em>How to Date. <\/em>He was a veterinarian in the fairy tale, but a hospital manager in reincarnated form. I didn&#8217;t think pets belonged in <em>Dead Girl Running.<\/em> I snuck a cat in <em>How to Date Dead Guys.<\/em> There are lots of creatures in the fairy tale (entitled <em>An Occasionally Grim Fairy Tale).<\/em><\/p>\n<p>But, to more clearly answer your question, a topic I really feel the impulse to write about is Alzheimer&#8217;s Disease. I already write articles as a veterinarian, but haven&#8217;t felt an urge to write fiction as a veterinarian yet.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-1621\" src=\"https:\/\/www.matthewcoxbooks.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/10521936_10205046758238445_650458835656164452_n-424x400.jpg\" alt=\"10521936_10205046758238445_650458835656164452_n\" width=\"424\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.matthewcoxbooks.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/10521936_10205046758238445_650458835656164452_n-424x400.jpg 424w, https:\/\/www.matthewcoxbooks.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/10521936_10205046758238445_650458835656164452_n-318x300.jpg 318w, https:\/\/www.matthewcoxbooks.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/10521936_10205046758238445_650458835656164452_n.jpg 509w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 424px) 100vw, 424px\" \/><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000080;\">The ending of <em>Dead<\/em> <em>Girl Running<\/em> left me eager for the next book in this series. Can you tell us anything about upcoming projects? HTDDG 2?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I hope to get back to work on <em>Dead Girl Fighting <\/em>(temporary title for book 2) sometime in the next few months. <em>How to Ditch Dead Guys <\/em>is on track to be published March 2016. <em>An Occasionally Grim Fairy Tale <\/em>just got accepted for publication by Fantasy Works Publishing.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000080;\">What aspect of <em>Dead Girl Running<\/em> took the most research\/effort to make right? What was the most fun part about the project?]<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Since I&#8217;m a mid-pack runner at best, I had to research winning times of major half marathons. I had to ask an ultrasonagrapher specialist the specific findings present in a human liver riddled with lymphosarcoma. Other than that, I just knew most everything else in the book. This is perhaps why it seemed so effortless for me to write it when compared to any other book I&#8217;ve written. I&#8217;ve done so very much more research for everything else. However, I&#8217;ll need a great deal of research before writing book 2.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Talk a little about the cover design. What inspired it? Is there any specific symbolism with the fireworks?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The tall buildings, the starkness of the colors, the fireworks, and the smoke are all very visual details in the book. Yes, there is symbolism with the fireworks, but talking about it would result in a SPOILER ALERT.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Are you superstitious about an interview having thirteen questions? (This is #14.<\/span><strong>)<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>TBH, I hadn&#8217;t even noticed this was the fourteenth question. Numbers don&#8217;t bother me.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000080;\">What is your favorite Book (if you can pick one \u2013 I know I struggle with this question. Feel free to answer with a genre\/type rather than a specific title if there\u2019s no clear favorite.) Favorite movie?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Whenever any<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-1618\" src=\"https:\/\/www.matthewcoxbooks.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/images-51.jpeg\" alt=\"images-51\" width=\"259\" height=\"194\" \/>one asks this IMPOSSIBLE question, I mumble something about <em>The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe<\/em> and then <em>Anne of Green Gables <\/em>and then <em>Harry Potter <\/em>and then someone mentions Katniss and I go off on how I love <em>The Hunger Games <\/em>and then I start to think about non fiction\u2026<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>My favorite movie is <em>The Sound of Music. <\/em>Judge me if you will.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Links<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Blog:\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.annmnoser.com\">http:\/\/www.annmnoser.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Facebook page:\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AnnMNoser\">https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AnnMNoser<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Twitter:\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AnnMNoser\">https:\/\/twitter.com\/AnnMNoser<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Goodreads page:\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/author\/show\/8124757.Ann_M_Noser\">https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/author\/show\/8124757.Ann_M_Noser<\/a><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Author Bio<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-1508\" src=\"https:\/\/www.matthewcoxbooks.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/annmugshot-321x400.jpg\" alt=\"annmugshot\" width=\"321\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.matthewcoxbooks.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/annmugshot-321x400.jpg 321w, https:\/\/www.matthewcoxbooks.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/annmugshot.jpg 603w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 321px) 100vw, 321px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>My to-do list dictates that I attempt to cram forty-eight hours of living into a day instead of the usual twenty-four.\u00a0 I\u2019ve chosen a life filled with animals.\u00a0 I train for marathons with my dog, then go to work as a small animal veterinarian, and finish the day by tripping over my pets as I attempt to convince my two unruly children that YES, it really IS time for bed. \u00a0But I can\u2019t wait until the house is quiet to write; I have to steal moments throughout the day.\u00a0 Ten minutes here, a half hour there, I live within my imagination.<\/p>\n<p>Like all busy American mothers, I multi-task.\u00a0 I work out plot holes during runs.\u00a0 Instead of meditating, I type madly during yoga stretches.\u00a0 I find inspiration in everyday things: an NPR program, a beautiful smile, or a newspaper article on a political theory.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019d love to have more time to write (and run, read, and sleep), but until I find Hermione Granger\u2019s time turner, I will juggle real life with the half-written stories in my head.\u00a0 Main characters and plot lines intertwine in my cranium, and I need to let my writing weave the tales on paper so I can find out what happens next.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Well, it&#8217;s not quite Thursday anymore, but today was busy. Sneaking in this post after finishing up a proofreading project. I recently had the opportunity to read a pre-release copy of Ann Noser&#8217;s\u00a0Dead Girl Running\u00a0novel, and she agreed to this &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.matthewcoxbooks.com\/wordpress\/2015\/10\/23\/author-interview-ann-noser\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[67,49],"class_list":["post-1615","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","tag-dystopia","tag-interview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matthewcoxbooks.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1615","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matthewcoxbooks.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matthewcoxbooks.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matthewcoxbooks.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matthewcoxbooks.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1615"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.matthewcoxbooks.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1615\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1622,"href":"https:\/\/www.matthewcoxbooks.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1615\/revisions\/1622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matthewcoxbooks.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matthewcoxbooks.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matthewcoxbooks.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}