Lindsey Fairleigh lives her life with one foot in a book—as long as
that book transports her to a magical world or bends the rules of
science. Her novels, from post-apocalyptic to time travel and historical
fantasy, always offer up a hearty dose of unreality, along with plenty
of adventure and romance. When she’s not working on her next novel,
Lindsey spends her time reading and trying out new recipes in the
kitchen. She lives in the Napa Valley with her loving husband and
confused cats. You can visit Lindsey’s blog at
lindseyfairleigh.blogspot.com.
Lindsey Pogue has always been a little creative. As a child she
established a bug hospital on her elementary school soccer field,
compiled books of collages as a teenager, and as an adult, expresses
herself through writing. Her novels are inspired by her observations of
the world around her—whether she’s traveling, people watching, or
hiking. When not plotting her next storyline or dreaming up new,
brooding characters, Lindsey’s wrapped in blankets watching her favorite
action flicks or going on road trips with her own leading man. You can
visit Lindsey’s blog at
lindseypogue.wordpress.com.
Q: Thank you for this interview, Team Lindsey. Can you tell us what your latest book, After The Ending, is all about?
Lindsey Pogue (LP): With pleasure, and thank you for having us! There
are a few non-conventional aspects to our book that we feel make it not
only unique, but enjoyable to a wide variety of people. For starters,
After The Ending
is a post-apocalyptic story told in first person, but from two
different perspectives–Zoe’s and Dani’s. I write for Zoe and Lindsey
Fairleigh (LF) writes for Dani. The story begins with a deadly virus
that infects everyone, including our characters and their loved ones.
After the virus wipes out most of the human population, Dani and Zoe
(best friends, mid-twenties) learn they are among the few who survived
the pandemic. Although adult life has sent Zoe to the East Coast and
Dani’s life is on the West Coast, their friendship is one of the few
remaining things they have in the virus-ravaged world, so they embark on
separate journeys to meet up with each other at a supposed safe haven,
the Colony. It’s through their individual journeys that the reader can
experience what our heroines see and feel as they discover what the
world after The Ending is like and, in turn, discover more about
themselves as survivors.
LF: From the get-go, we aimed to make sure the focus of
After The Ending wasn’t
entirely on the hardcore survival aspects of the post-apocalypse, but
on the characters, specifically their personal struggles and
relationships. The story highlights the undeniable power of friendship,
love, and hope, and how they can make life worth living even when
everything else is lost. There is romance, but there are also some
definite science fiction elements, such as the spontaneous genetic
mutations caused by the virus, leading to extraordinary abilities in
survivors…or to insanity. We’ll be the first to admit that
After The Ending was
written with a female audience in mind–it’s very character-driven and
the romance storylines aren’t negligible–but we have heard from male
readers who enjoyed the book as well.
Q: Can you tell us a little about your main and supporting characters?
LP: Our two leading ladies are very different in both appearance and
mannerisms. Zoe is the more serious of the two friends–a determined,
independent artist. She grew up in a dysfunctional family, which has
made her closed off and generally bitter about life. Zoe is twenty-six
years old, tall, has long black hair and teal eyes, both of which end up
being important character traits as the story progresses. She has a
good grasp on reality that helps her remain level-headed in most
situations, but she’s also melodramatic, and that makes her seem a bit
younger at times. One thing she is is determined. It both aids and
hinders her throughout the story. Dani is the only constant thing in
Zoe’s life, so she’s grown to love her more like a sister than a friend.
She relies on Dani’s vibrance and quirkiness to help coax her out of
her hardened shell.
LF: Dani is petite, with curly red hair, green eyes, and a fierce
intellect that she tends to hide. She is quite a bit girlier and more
emotional than Zoe, and sees Zoe as the embodiment of personal strength
and determination. She often draws on her perception of Zoe to help her
get through tough times throughout the story. By far, I would say the
most defining characteristic about Dani’s personality is that she’ll do
almost anything to keep the people she cares about safe. Unfortunately,
that tends to get her into slightly sticky situations in the world of
The Ending.
Q: Do you tend to base your characters on real people or are they totally from your imagination?
LP: I’ve actually had a number of people ask me if Zoe is an
extension of myself, if I see myself the way I portray her. The answer
is no, not at all, and she’s not really like anyone I know either. I
definitely don’t look like Zoe or act like her. I mean, she’s
pessimistic, or “realistic” I like to call it, like me, but I think the
similarities between
us stop there. She has a lot of the
qualities I admire in other people though. She’s super determined,
whether she juggling two jobs, trying desperately to get to Dani when
the world seems to be against her, or even just trying to understand her
brother and every other man in her life.
LF: Dani is entirely from my imagination. So much so that it’s
really
difficult for me to picture any real people–actresses, models, or
otherwise–as her. I think the problem is that she exists so vividly in
my mind that nobody else quite looks or acts like her. I’m not sure
where she came from, and she’s certainly nothing like me, but I love her
all the same.
Q: Are you consciously aware of the plot before you begin a novel, or do you discover it as you write?
LP: Because this project was a team effort, we definitely had to draw
out a skeletal outline so we knew which direction we were going with
our characters. Once we determined the major subplots, character arcs,
and where we wanted to end the book, each of our stories took off on
their own, changing even from what we’d individually planned to write
about. Characters have a way of doing that to you.
LF: Yeah, our characters definitely have a talent for commandeering
the story. I have one character in particular, Jason, who has such a
strong personality–I guess you would call him an Alpha–that I pretty
much expect him to steal the reins whenever he’s present in a scene. I
suppose I should apologize to LP because she’s had to deal with him a
lot in the second book,
Into The Fire. Sorry LP! I have to say that when the characters take over and the story starts writing itself is when I have the most fun.
LP: I guess you’re forgiven :)
Q: Your book has many different settings. Can you tell us why you chose the cities you did in particular?
LP: I know for Zoe’s team, it was more of a question of “what’s
practical”. Although our story is science fiction, we tried to make it
as realistic as possible–using a logical route to move the characters
from point A to point B across the US was one of the ways we did that. I
had to figure out realistically how far a group of people could drive
or walk in X amount of days and in the snow. That helped me narrow down
my settings in Ohio, Kentucky, and St. Louis before finally getting to
Colorado. Once I knew which areas I needed to have them settle in, I
searched for locations that would work well with my evolving storyline.
LF: Like LP, I mapped out Dani’s route throughout the entire book,
first by car, then by horseback, before I wrote the majority of it. I
couldn’t just pick a town willy-nilly, but had to keep in mind how far a
horse could travel in a day, or where there might still be unscavenged
fuel or food left after X amount of time had passed. There are a few
locations we chose purposely, like stationing the Colony, our heroine’s
destination and meet-up point, at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado
Springs based on the military branches stationed there and its
central-ish location. We chose Bodega Bay as Dani and Zoe’s hometown
because it was near enough to where we live that we could conduct
setting research with relative ease.
Q: Does the setting play a major part in the development of your story?
LP: I think it definitely does. Our characters are just as new to The
Ending as our readers are, so we needed Zoe and Dani to experience what
was going on around the entire country. Not only does moving them
around get them closer together and progress the story, but through
their eyes we see the types of Crazies (those survivors driven mad by
the virus) they come across and how quickly and how much the world is
changing.
LP: On a more technical note, the setting actually directed portions
of the story because we had to be mindful of weather patterns. For
example, Dani’s group of survivors spends some time near Lake Tahoe in
the heart of winter, and it slowed down their travel pace quite a bit. I
had planned for them to move faster than they did, but there was no
working around it–snow slows travel plans, even in our own
post-apocalyptic, fictional world.
Q: Open the book to page 69. What is happening?
LP: That’s sort of a funny and difficult question to answer. If
you’re looking at the hardcover version, it’s a pretty intense Zoe
chapter. She’s discovering how unnerving her developing Ability is, she
thinks she’s losing her mind since she has no clue what’s happening to
her yet, and she’s also starting to
really process the fact that the world has ended and that her father is most likely dead.
LF: In the paperback version, Dani and her travel companions are just
arriving at a swanky hotel in Portland…to squat. That is one thing to
note about surviving in a post-apocalyptic world–the characters get to
bunk down in some pretty interesting places, from mansions to wineries
to barns. Let’s see, on this page Dani is also dealing with some tangled
emotions regarding a certain man in her group–Zoe’s brother, Jason.
Q: Can you give us one of your best excerpts?
LP: This is one of the scenes I enjoyed writing the most. It’s a huge
turning point in the Zoe chapters and her life is about to change more
than she ever thought possible:
“Feeling alright?” Clara asked, batting her eyelashes and smiling innocently.
I hunched over as my stomach gurgled and churned, tangling into
knots. Once again I reached for the water, but she yanked it away,
dumping it out on the floor beside her.
Her grin lingered. “Sorry, I can’t let you do that.”
My stomach cramps worsened, and I broke out into a cold sweat–I knew I
didn’t have much time. I needed to find help. Trying to run for the
door I doubled over in pain and cried out. Fire seemed to be scorching
my insides. Bile rose in my throat, and I began salivating profusely,
unable to swallow. I spat desperately.
“I really hate you, Zoe. I’m not completely sure why, but I have to
admit, this is a very good day for me.” Her cheerful voice was like a
hammer in my head as I twisted and spasmed on the mess hall floor.
I prayed someone would find me before it was too late.
LF: I considered several different passages, some more dramatic and
some more romantic, but I settled on this one because it shows the
special relationship Dani has with one of my favorite characters, Jack,
her faithful German Shepherd.
I tore open a peanut butter and chocolate chip protein bar as I exited the bedroom, tripping over my dog on the way out.
Jack wagged his tail happily while I righted myself. “Good morning, Sweet Boy,” I said between bites.
He yawned dramatically and bowed, earning the last nugget of the tasteless bar.
As I lumbered down the stairs, a plan of revenge formed in my mind. I
waved at Chris and Ky, apparently the only other people awake at such
an ungodly hour, as I neared the front room’s largest window. I peeked
around the heavy tan and green-striped curtain and spotted Jason
standing on the lawn—he was staring off into the woods. Smiling, I led
Jack to the back door, and we silently slipped out into the damp morning
chill.
Pausing on the back porch, I clicked my tongue, and my dog watched me
intently. “Okay Jack,” I whispered, kneeling down in front of him.
“You’re going to go that way.” I pointed to the left side of the house,
and his eyes followed. “Find Jason. You need to be happy and loud.” I
scratched his neck with both hands. He licked my cheek in return.
“Go find Jason,” I commanded quietly and stood. Jack instantly trotted away, barking every few steps.
Stalking in the opposite direction, I made my way around the house
and found Jason watching Jack frolic like a month-old puppy. The grass
muffled my steps as I snuck up behind him. I crouched, gliding the last
few steps, and held my breath.
Revenge is so sweet!
Q: Thank you so much for this interview, Team Lindsey. We wish you much success!
LF: Thank you for having us and for the wonderful questions!