Good afternoon everyone and welcome to my very first featured author for 2022!
This week’s featured author is Sci-Fi fantasy writer T.L. Coughlin!
Author T.L. Coughlin graduated with a Bachelor in Humanities and Biology, Combined Honours. After moving around a lot, she finally established roots in Ottawa, Canada where she lives with her husband, Cody, and two adorable doodles: Orion and Kilo.
Being a writer of Sci-Fi fantasy myself, I was super excited to interview T.L. Coughlin! My first question for Coughlin covered the basics: what inspired her to start writing in the first place. Here is what she had to say!
“As an avid young reader, I was always drawn to storytelling. My father quickly introduced me to science fiction and fantasy and I felt like I had found homes within each book. I would stay up until the bright hours of the morning, often getting into trouble for not sleeping. I fell in love with the way that authors could create worlds, stories, and people out of nothing, creating a stunning escape from the real world. I had a strong urge to do the same, delivering that immersive escapism to other young readers who could see themselves in my stories. In essence, I wanted to pay it forward and that drive was what continued to inspire me.”
Anything Sci-Fi has always gotten my attention, and for the very same reason. I can’t help but fall in love with the excellent world building and creating in many of the YA fantasy books I have picked up recently! My next question for T.L. Coughlin was what steered her towards writing in the Sci- Fi genre.
“My father was a huge influence. He was always into science fiction and fantasy and I was quickly introduced to those worlds. Then came the movies, from the Aliens series to Snowpiercer to District 9 to Minority Report. I mean, the list can go on and on. I loved how detailed the worlds were and how there were no limits to what could influence your character. If you could imagine it, you could find a place for it. I especially loved how science fiction could relate to our real-world issues on such a human level, delving into the dark and nitty gritty themes. There are truly no boundaries, and I was always drawn to creating those twists and turns on such a grand scale.”
T.L. Coughlin’s debut novel “Of Us and Them” is quite the fantastic adventure and led me to my next question, about the scenes Coughlin writes in order to put together such a great story.
“I absolutely love writing action scenes, whether they involve battles or simply running away (or towards) the bad guy. The more action there is, the rawer the emotions are. There’s no filter for those scenes. The power of shorter sentences pulling the reader in is the ultimate feeling. I’ve always loved reading those scenes where you needed to know what happened next and felt the need to skip sentences to try to find out, but then you also didn’t want to miss a single pivotal action, especially when everything was “moving” so quickly. It’s such an incredible feeling to evoke and I really find that as a writer it shows how you can create that movement using words on paper.”
Sci-Fi can be tricky to write, for me personally, anyway. The make-believe world has to be just right and still make sense...somewhat... LOL! My story ideas usually come to me while driving, or sometimes a song can spark inspiration. So, I wondered where author T.L. Coughlin’s spark comes from. Here’s what she said!
“They usually come when I am overtired or driving. When I’m “distracted” by other things, it’s like the screen in my brain just falls away, leaving room for the creative to barge in. My idea for Of Us and Them, well the entire storyline actually, was created on my drive home from a long night shift. Being alone on the roads, your mind wandering, your exhaustion starting to set in… all of a sudden WHAM, it just hits you!”
That’s exactly what usually happens! All of a sudden, when you’re not expecting it, a new story finds its way in! That being said, I’ve found that many authors I have had the great pleasure of interviewing have tied in some personal bits and pieces into their work. I asked T.L. Coughlin if she had written any true details or events into “Of Us and Them.”
“In Of Us and Them, there are some fight scenes where I’ve actually done similar training. It was really fun to write and to adapt it to Evren’s style of fighting. It’s difficult because Of Us and Them is surrounded by a lot of the fantastical, so it’s rare that I can relate to it directly. But the inspiration behind those scenes are definitely from my own experience, especially as a multiracial kid growing up in Canada.”
“I was part of the first “wave” of multiracial kids and so that feeling of wanting to find your purpose and sense of belonging when you’re straddling different worlds has always resonated. I basically wanted to put those feelings of not being enough and not knowing your place, even when you’re told you are without limits, into Evren and the other Paladin’s story.”
Before concluding our interview, I asked author T.L. Coughlin if she had anything new coming out soon, or announcements to be shared! Here is the link to T.L. Coughlin's fantastic, exciting trailer for "Of Us and Them! Check it out!
“I do! With the Of Us and Them sequel in the works, I am thrilled to share that the audiobook for Of Us and Them will be available in 2022! It is going to be narrated by the incredible Natalie Naudus, who narrated books by Marie Lu and Victoria Aveyard. She was the absolute perfect match to voice Evren and bring my novel to life and as a fellow multiracial creative, I couldn’t have found anyone better!”
Congratulations on the audiobook releasing this year; that’s fantastic! I will definitely be on the look- out for the sequel to “Of Us and Them”! Thank you so much for your time, author T.L. Coughlin, and I wish you the best for 2022! For more information on author T.L. Coughlin and her book “Of Us and Them” click the links below!
You can follow T.L. Coughlin on: Twitter @TL_Coughlin, TikTok @tl.coughlin.writes, Instagram @TL_Coughlin, and at my author website: www.tlcoughlin.com.
You can get Of Us and Them worldwide as a paperback and e-book on Amazon at http://mybook.to/ofusandthem.
Quick reminder before you go!
Author Stevie D. Parker has released her second romance novel "My Significant Nobody"!
Congratulations Stevie D. Parker! I have already grabbed my copy!
Check out Stevie D. Parker's page turning romance novels here!
Come back next Sunday for new featured author, Andrew King!
