Q & A With L. D. Mussell

Ha! How could you tell? Does my writing scream ’newbie’ from every page? Yes, this is my first novel. You got me. The urge to write took fifty years to find me, but man, when it did it hit me hard. SMACK! I suppose I’ll be doing a lot of it for the next fifty years. 

It must have been incubating inside of me for decades. And then one morning, about four years ago, BANG! The ideas fused together all at once, and there it was; the characters, the world, the adventure. It grabbed hold of me and wouldn’t let go. I really didn’t have a choice in the matter. One way or another, the story was going to find its way into the world. It took me a full year to create the world and all the back stories, and then three more years to bring it to life. What a ride!

Funny you should ask. In one discombobulated way or another, the whole thing is autobiographical. As for specific correlations, I’ll let those be a mystery. For now.

Coming of age, high adventure, and young love in a post-apocalyptic utopia. 

Not at all! EnKare’s world is anything but dystopic. It’s a young world filled with adventure, freedom, and hope. This book is a work of futuristic realism with a healthy splash of utopia, and a pinch of science fiction and fantasy. I tried to avoid the dichotomy of ‘good’ verses ‘evil’ altogether. It’s a drastically overplayed theme that only serves to divide by promoting righteousness, bigotry, racism, sexism,  and religious and political conflict. I want my stories to bring people together, to unite, uplift, and inspire.

I can tell you this: the story isn’t over, and the characters won’t let me rest until I’ve done them right.

I did a lot of acting back in the day, and I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for cinema. I like to write with vivid descriptions, as though I’m seeing the scene unfold through the lense of a camera. I would love to see EnKare’s world, this whole crazy adventure, brought to life on the big screen. Adventure is always best served in a larger than life cinematic experience. I think it would make a great play too. 

Oh boy. Where do I start? I’ve been a pirate, a poet, a popper, a Prince. I’ve been a King! I’ve also been a theatre actor, busked on the streets and washed windows, gymnastics instructor, care provider, gardener, and renegade king-swing guide. I’ve split most of my time between two passions; teaching, and designing and building sustainable homesteads. I taught ESL, middle school English, social studies, Spanish, health, music performance, writing, and wilderness intelligence skills. I started a small outdoor education school for kids. I’ve worked for twenty three years creating a small ECO-village, experimenting in design with straw, earth, passive solar, earth shelter, living roofs, rocket stoves, water catchment, water recycling, composting, and small scale biodynamic and regenerative crop and animal farming. There’s just so much to see and do, I know I can’t possibly pack it all into one lifetime. But that won’t stop me from trying!

Write for the love of writing, write from your heart. Write for an audience of one, and then give it to the world and let it go. 

Well…let’s see…because young adults ROCK! Need I say more?

Pilipili. Can’t help it.