Questions About Little Wolf (Beings in Love, #4)

by R. Cooper (Goodreads Author)

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Answered Questions (7)

So far we've seen Fairies, Weres and Dragons. I felt like you really worked to subvert or explain some traditional aspect of each "Being" (ex: fairies & "shiny", dragons & hoarding). How do you decide what aspect of each "Being" to bring out? how do you choose your inspiration? and if it's not too spoiler-y can you give a sneak peak of what type beings you are working on and how you are researching/reworking them?

R. Good question! Um, the thing that attracted me to that being in the first place is the thing I tend to focus on. There isn't much conscious thought ab…moreGood question! Um, the thing that attracted me to that being in the first place is the thing I tend to focus on. There isn't much conscious thought about it at first though. With werewolves, fairies, and dragons, I knew a lot about them/the old stories already and what I didn't know I researched, and the aspects that intrigued me are what I wanted to talk about For example, people like the mate for life aspect of weres, and the licking/sniffing/marking as well. Which is great, and hot, but there's actual wolves and how they actually behave (loving and loyal and fierce and not nearly as cruel as men) and werewolf legends--ruthless and mindless killers, or so humans would have you believe. So I guess I originally go with the parts I find most intriguing/sexy and then sort of spiral out into what it means to live that way, or how they could have been interpreted as mindless killers, idiotic sexual objects, terrifying and mysterious beasts etc.
Fairies are especially interesting to me because humans in this fictional, modern world see them as fun loving and silly and slutty and incapable of serious thought, and are choosing to ignore their own history and stories that heavily imply (or state outright) that fairies can be extremely dangerous. I kind of want to show that, but I haven't yet. The petty, vengeful, self-centered, focused on their own happiness kind of fairy, like Clematis. Or the wrath of a protective fairy, like Cal. In time, I guess. :) And dragons, well, they are gods in many places, or like gods. That isn't something they just forget to be, even when surrounded by humans. They are reptiles who breathe fire. That's two primitive basic human fears right there, and yet we worship that power even as it scares us. There's a serious power turn on there.
New beings! Well. The shorts coming out have sort of a different theme than the books. If the books are about beings as lost as humans when it comes to love and life, with underlying themes of communication and tearing down stereotypes, then the short stories are about the beings themselves, strong and vulnerable in the human world. As Arthur tells us, the beings who had been hidden in the Western world (and anywhere the Western world touched) were pretty much forced out of hiding during WWI. The shorts are about the past century.
There's a firebird, and that's the one I most obviously reworked. Firebird stories have the bird bestowing gifts upon asshole, ungrateful humans, usually with the bird a prisoner or dying at the end. He gives gifts, I thought, interesting. He gives gifts that can lead to the ruin of the person he gives them to, if that person doesn't treat him well or listen to him. Hmmm. :) Which is how I got Kazimir.
There is also a troll, and and elf, and another fairy and another werewolf, and an imp, and a jaguar shifter (another one whose people were once considered gods and who hasn't forgotten). There are also glimpses of other beings.
Pixies! I kind of want to talk about pixies in more detail but I haven't done that yet either.
Anyway. There are many powerful beings in the short stories collection, but they are also some of the most fragile and worried and protective and I love them to bits.

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Out of all the "Beings in Love" books so far, which was your favorite to write, and why?

R. hmm. A Boy and His Dragon was the easiest to write. They were my comfort during a not great few months of bad health and stuff. So I got to nerd out a…morehmm. A Boy and His Dragon was the easiest to write. They were my comfort during a not great few months of bad health and stuff. So I got to nerd out and write all the fluffy longing and cuddles and UST I wanted. Plus dragons. But I wrote Some Kind of Magic as kind of... not a lark. But originally it was just a fun short novella thing I wrote that I never expected to be anything. (It might not have, if not for Arthur and Bertie.) There was no pressure in writing that story.
But um, currently? Currently I am kind of all about the book of short stories about beings I just did. Possibly because it's still recent in my mind.
But for absolute comfort and good feelings? Arthur and Bertie make me very happy.
....Then again I am currently emailing someone about Cal and Ray so clearly I'm not over them either. I mean, I got to do a lot of my favorite werewolf tropes with them. (Ray defending his mate even though they aren't mated, and he's all pain and protectiveness and I just... reow. I love Ray.)
ARGH. I can't decide. Sorry. (less)

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How long did it take to write this book?

R. heh. I started this book... let's see... three years ago? I started it like four different times, in different ways, and then hated the babble and whe…moreheh. I started this book... let's see... three years ago? I started it like four different times, in different ways, and then hated the babble and where it was going, and the pace, and just ugh. I needed a break from it.
Then it bothered me that it wasn't finished, and I left Nathaniel pining. So I went back in and finished it.
(Then decided Wolf's Paw needed another story, to help explain. But A Beginner's Guide was much easier to write.)
Anyway. So. Like three years, not including editing. I blame Tim for that. The difficult darling. (less)

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This question contains spoilers... (view spoiler)

R. Yeah. There's no neat ending for Silas. It's difficult to punish someone for creating an environment where abuse like that could flourish. His horribl…moreYeah. There's no neat ending for Silas. It's difficult to punish someone for creating an environment where abuse like that could flourish. His horrible parenting is something out of a fairy tale, so he should have had the terrifying and gruesome ending of some of those fairy tale parents. (Then again, a lot of fairy tale parents end up raising the same kids they were cruel to.) Mostly I think at that point, Tim wasn't ready to destroy him, and since destroying Silas was kind of what Silas wanted, Tim didn't do it. Becoming the complete opposite of what Silas wants is the best revenge Tim had at the time.
But yeah, Silas should suffer more. I like to think that the trial is humiliating for him, and bad for business, and that, at the scent of weakness, the other wolves like him come prowling for him.
For some reason, every once in a while, I picture him doing something wrong in Los Cerros and Ray arresting him. Ray would *love* to arrest him. Ray ain't even scared. (less)

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I loved this book so much! I'm popping in quick during my break so I'm sorry if this was asked already but I was wondering about Silas. Did he have a mate that he rejected? Orwas it the idea of mates that he pushed away? I wish I had the line in from of me that prompted this question. :( Anyway thanks for the book and the chit chat time!

R. SILAS. I have this... I suppose it's canon because I wrote it, but I sort of think of it as my secret headcanon. Basically yes, Silas had a mate, and …moreSILAS. I have this... I suppose it's canon because I wrote it, but I sort of think of it as my secret headcanon. Basically yes, Silas had a mate, and rejected all of that because he saw it as a weakness. (Which is kind of sadly hilarious, because someone who would have been perfect for Silas--or the man he could have been--was hardly going to be a shrinking violet). Which brings me to the rest of my secret headcanon, that he is not Tim's uncle, he's his father. Which works since Tim never really knew his mother and never talked to others in the family and so never questioned being told Silas was his uncle. Why would Silas hide it? Because he didn't want to talk about his mate, and because Tim was so scrawny, even as a baby.
Silas is kind of a dick that way. (less)

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