Where
to Find the Author:
Rola: Kelly, the protagonist, is a 38
year old faithful wife and soccer mom and also a demon huntress in her spare
time. What attracted you to writing
about such a topic?
Bill Blais: Because I didn't see anything else like
it out there, which felt like a very sad thing. I guess I'm old, but I'd been
looking for a story to read with a strong protagonist that I could really
relate to, and while there are plenty of strong protagonists, particularly in
urban fantasy, I wasn't relating to any of them. In most cases, male or female,
they were either too clever, too smart, too strong, or too (yes, I'm definitely
too old) promiscuous. I realized, then, that I was looking for heroes I could actually believe in; people less 'super' and more 'normal', but still able to overcome intense adversity when properly motivated. Perhaps conceitedly, I thought of it in terms of people more like me, which is really the origin of the main character in my first novel, Witness.
The idea for No Good Deed was actually centered around
a character that didn't actually make it into the book (though she appears in
the sequel, Hell Hath No Fury), but
after a Readercon panel discussion about the almost wholesale absence of
positive parent figures in literature (YA, particularly, but by no means
exclusively), Kelly McGinnis took center stage and what had been just an idea
immediately became a complete story.
The core of
Kelly's character starts from a similar 'more like me' place, but in writing
about a woman, a wife and a mother, I would be reaching well outside my comfort
zone and certainly beyond any first-hand experience (I wrote both NGD and HHNF a couple years before I became a father). The challenge was
too good to pass up, though. Did I succeed? I like to think so, but I also was once
certain that I would be a superstar math genius who graduated from MIT (hint:
not so much how things turned out).
Rola: What was your favorite scene to
write in No Good Deed?
Bill Blais: Hm, that's a tough one, actually. My
stories often start as visceral but orphaned scenes that I am compelled to find
the 'parents' and 'children' of. As I mentioned before, though, the inception
for No Good Deed involved a scene and
character that didn't actually appear in the book. As such, there wasn't that
one scene driving me forward to get to or work out from.
However, since
this was my first story with a kind of 'elite force' group, I definitely had a
lot of fun with Kelly's introduction to the team's secret base. Without giving
anything away, I had a great time playing with the space (drawing potential
layouts brought me back to doing the same kind of a thing as a kid) and its
contents/occupants (things like the mask and Kiichi were a blast to discover
hiding around corners).
Rola: There are many characters in the
novel that play key roles. Which character, other than Kelly, did you feel the
most connected to while writing the novel? Bill Blais: I suppose I should say Umber, but I really didn't feel as 'connected' to him. This was largely because of the 'otherness' of what he is, though, rather than him being less real to me. It was very important to me that he not be just an easy 'type'. I don't want to say too much about this, but Umber is precisely what he is, for better and for worse, and for me to be 'honest' about this meant not having an easy connection with him. He's grown on me, but that's a conversation for Hell Hath No Fury.
That said, I
want each character to be as realistic and believable as possible, so I try to really
get to know each one. Marianne comes to mind as an unexpected grounding point
and each of the team members struck a chord with me (even Suni); Kelly's family
are obviously all dear to me; Gernish's enigmatic presence was fun to play
with; even Simone spoke to me (though it's always a bit disturbing to recognize
that it's not just nice characters living in my head).
Honestly,
though, the more I think about it, the character I most truly connected with in
No Good Deed, besides Kelly, was
Linwood, a character who is barely 'on screen'.
Rola: Were there any inspirations behind No Good Deed?Bill Blais: Well, the Readercon panel and my desire to write a more realistic (in my view) hero inspired the story as a whole, but the individual characters are generally inspired by people I have known or observed. Very often I don't realize this until later, but even when it's deliberate I make a point of taking only pieces and using them as seeds rather than blueprints. The really annoying characteristics, though, they're all mine.
Rola: What can people expect to see
throughout the novel?
Bill Blais: A hero I don't think they've seen before,
characters who behave like real people, and a story that shows what happens
when a more realistic 'real life' runs headlong into a fantastical one. There's
intense action and PTA meetings (not together, obviously -- though that gives
me an idea . . .), secret identities and hideous monsters (both magical and
all-too-human), ulterior motives and birthday parties, quiet moments and very hard
choices with real consequences.
Rola: What can fans expect from the
sequel, Hell Hath No Fury?
Bill Blais: In a word? More. The story is darker, the
danger more personal, and the action more intense, the places more bizarre. Oh,
and there's much more Umber.Rola: Would you like to say anything to anyone reading this/wishing to read No Good Deed?
Bill Blais: Just that I hope folks give Kelly a try, particularly if they're looking for something a bit different. I really don't think there's a hero out there like her and I'm pretty sure she'll surprise people, just like she did me.
Rola: Thanks Bill!
Bill Blais: My pleasure, Rola. Thanks for the great
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