[AOTM] - Interview with Veronica Scott

[Anna]

Greetings Space Opera Fans!

What if, instead of hitting an iceberg, the Titanic was a worldship which got hit by enemy alien fire? That's the premise of Wreck of the Nebula Dream by Veronica Scott, and if like me you just love space operatic twists on 'classic' earth-bound stories, than perhaps you might want to hear from Veronica herself what inspired her to write this tale?



And, oh! Oooh! There's a book trailer for this one!

https://www.goodreads.com/videos/3742...

So without further ado, I'll stop yabbering and let Veronica answer all my pesky questions!

Be epic!
Anna Erishkigal
SOF Borg Queen

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1. What books have most influenced your life? Andre Norton was the first science fiction author I ever read, so her novels are probably the single biggest influence. I loved her SF and also her Witch World series. I just felt there was never enough romance! Anne McCaffrey and Nalini Singh are two of my other favorites and influential to me, but to paraphrase the way Mercedes Lackey put it, “I’m a daughter of Andre Norton.”

2. How do you develop your plots and characters? Usually I get the overall idea for the novel and I’ll know who the hero and heroine are. When I sit down to start writing I know the opening scene, the final scene and a few of the major plot points. After that, I’m strictly a seat-of-the-pants style of writer and the plot just flows as I write. If I’m basing some portion of the story on a historical incident, as with the sinking of Titanic, I do research along the way.

3. Tell us about your Space Opera Fans book? Traveling unexpectedly aboard the luxury liner Nebula Dream on its maiden voyage across the galaxy, Sectors Special Forces Captain Nick Jameson is ready for ten relaxing days, and hoping to forget his last disastrous mission behind enemy lines. He figures he’ll gamble at the casino, take in the shows, maybe even have a shipboard fling with Mara Lyrae, the beautiful but reserved businesswoman he meets.

All his plans vaporize when the ship suffers a wreck of Titanic proportions. Captain and crew abandon ship, leaving the 8000 passengers stranded without enough lifeboats and drifting unarmed in enemy territory. Aided by Mara, Nick must find a way off the doomed ship for himself and several other innocent people before deadly enemy forces reach them or the ship’s malfunctioning engines finish ticking down to self-destruction.

But can Nick conquer the demons from his past that tell him he’ll fail these innocent people just as he failed to save his Special Forces team? Will he outpace his own doubts to win this vital race against time?

4. We all need a hero! Tell us about your protagonist(s)? Was there a real-life inspiration behind him or her? I tend to write heroes who are the Special Forces “quiet professional” type – they get the job done and if you’re going to be in a crisis situation, you couldn’t ask for a better person to be at your back. My late husband was a Marine, and I have several author friends who are Special Forces – my goal is to write a believable guy who could walk into a bar where the military operators gather, and be accepted as an equal. Then I had to figure out why Nick would be traveling on such a luxury liner, since he’s on active military duty, and his pay wouldn’t run to such accommodations. Once I knew the answer to that, I was off and writing.

5. A good villain is hard to write. How did you get in touch with your inner villain(s) to write this book. Was there a real-life inspiration for him/her/it? There really isn’t too much personal villainy in the novel, although there certainly are some “bad guys” (human and alien) along the way. The main theme is the struggle my characters go through in order to survive the wreck and get off the ship. My other SFRs have more in the way of a specific antagonist working against the hero and heroine.

6. What real-life inspirations did you draw from for the worldbuilding within your book? The novel is loosely inspired by the sinking of the Titanic, but I didn’t try to do a literal retelling set in interstellar space. My plot includes science fictional things that would never happen in the cold North Atlantic. (No spoilers here!) But I also deliberately included two children among the small party trying to survive – Paolo and Gianna, who for me symbolized the many children who sadly perished on Titanic. There are some other subtle nods to the events of Titanic and a few outright similarities – the Nebula Dream is the newest, most advanced cruise liner of her time, with new engine technology, out to make a speed record at all costs…until….well, that would be the story, now wouldn’t it?

I would like to point out that I have the utmost respect and admiration for the officers and crew of the Titanic, and their heroine efforts on the night the ship sank. My entirely fictional characters are in no way related to, or based upon, any real life individuals.

7. Sci-fi fans love techno-porn! What real-life science (or pseudo-science) did you research for your book? I tend to operate from the theory that the future works and that no one explains to themselves how a gravlift functions any more than we discuss the way an elevator works. I make the future cool in the way I want it to be and I put a lot of faith in human ingenuity to have the technology available by then. And probably to have invented a lot of things I’d never dream of! My job is to tell the best story I can and set it in a believable world where my characters belong. Kudos to those who can write “hard science” fiction!

8. What was the hardest part of writing this book? I did have to stop at one point and spend an afternoon drawing a schematic of the Nebula Dream and figuring out what deck had what cabins or amenities, and how my characters would be travelling through the vessel after it was badly damaged in the wreck.

9. What was your favorite chapter (or part) to write and why? I enjoyed telling the entire story but there’s a scene in Chapter 7 that’s pretty emotional. (No spoilers!) I work with a wonderful, highly experienced actor who does my audiobooks and he said when he narrated that particular scene it affected him so much he actually had to stop recording and regain composure. I took that as a high compliment.

10. Did you learn anything from writing this book and what was it? I learned that even when writing a classic “disaster movie” type novel, the readers would like you to jump into the action faster. Good feedback!

11. Is there a message in your novel that you hope readers will grasp? Something I personally believe, and which has served me well in several life threatening situations, is NEVER give up. You’d be amazed what a person can accomplish in even ten seconds, and you’ll have all that adrenalin pumping to help you…but keep thinking, don’t panic.

12. What are your future project(s)? I’m going to become a full time author as of March 2015 (no more day job yay!) and I’ve actually got ideas for two different scifi series, plus a couple of new novels. Right now I’m finishing a paranormal set in ancient Egypt (which I realize is another GR group LOL) but then I expect to do science fiction books for the rest of of 2015.

13. If you couldn’t be an author, what would your ideal career be? Umm, there isn’t one? In all seriousness, writing is like breathing to me. I will say though the day jobs I’ve enjoyed most involved working with teams and groups to accomplish a common goal– I enjoy the “people” aspects of life the most.

14. What is your preferred method to have readers get in touch with or follow you (i.e., website, personal blog, Facebook page, here on Goodreads, etc.) and link(s)? I’m happy to have people contact me whatever way works for them but I’m most often to be found on twitter! Here are my links:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/vscotttheauthor
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Veroni...
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
My blog: http://veronicascott.wordpress.com/

15. Do you have anything specific that you want to say to the Space Opera Fans community members? I hope you’ll enjoy the adventure in Wreck of the Nebula Dream. I wrote it as a classic disaster movie, so the early part is getting to know the people and the ship and then…well, take a deep breath! And thank you VERY much for giving me a chance to have my book featured as the Indie BOTM. I’m honored!

Interview granted 1/3/2015

[Anna]

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Don't forget to come check out and discuss Wreck of the Nebula Dream over in the Book of the Month club discussion thread.

HERE: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

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[Diane]

Veronica, I loved this interview. So glad to get to know you better. I must read this book. Best wishes on your future retirement.

[Veronica]

Thanks, Diane! Very excited to go fulltime as an author....

[Pauline]

I enjoyed Nebula Dream very much. Great to get to know more about you and congrats on going full time with the writing!

[Jessica]

I am getting ready to start reading this book next on my TBR list. Enjoyed the interview. Can't wait to read the book. Best of luck on your full-time writing career!

[Veronica]

Thank you very much, I'm really excited abut going full time :-)