Hazel Moon authors, Lisa & Lori Minneti, candidly answer several questions related to their writing process and what inspired the writing of their novel in this series of videos.
In this next video they honestly share that working together wasn't always smooth sailing, there were disagreements and sometimes hard choices that had to be made!
Lisa and Lori have been in love with the concert culture forever and in this video they give their take on what it was like to be "groupies" although Lori disagrees strongly, insisting she was a "band-aid" not a groupie!
In the next video the authors discuss their opinions about the magic referenced throughout their novel and whether it has any relevance to their real lives and the real world.
In the final video the authors explain just how important the role of music was to both their lives and to the drafting of their novel.
Find below a more detailed Q&A
The Sister Angle
Q — How do two sisters — identical twins that obviously share a lot for starters — write a novel together?
Lisa: Twins are usually so close because they share all those memories at the exact same age from the moment they’re born. That’s certainly the case with Lori and I. We ended up writing about a time in our lives, growing up with music, when we fell in love with both life and the concert culture. All the characters and the plot were adapted from both our personal experiences. Though I was the one who acted like the secretary and wrote everything down, we were both critical to the process of creating the novel, both contributing ideas and shaping the scenes before pen hit paper.
Lori: The spark that led to writing Hazel Moon came from the untimely passing of our beloved brother, Mark, and my husband, Kent Parco. Shortly after their deaths we began writing Hazel Moon primarily to honor their lives through sharing our lives as adapted in the characters and storyline of Hazel Moon. That was nine years ago. A year ago we met our publisher who took on the project and the book was released in December of 2015.
Q — Did you and Lori ever disagree on how the plot of the story should develop, what should happen next, the end of the book?
Lori: Of course we disagreed…we’re sisters, after all, but we’re also the kind of sisters who supported each other, and were happy for the other sister's successes and contributions.
Lisa: That attitude carried over into drafting the novel. It was always about sharing, not competing. When we did disagree, I usually deferred to Lori. For example, in the final chapter Lori insisted I change a line that Lady Luna said, and I did just that!
Q — Which one of you would consider to be a more creative thinker?
Lori: Weve always been creative. We’re both drawn to the arts music color design song acting, and though we have our strengths Lisa’s more about color and design while my creative outlet has always been the stage, and I've been on many, acting, singing, and as a television personality.
Lisa: I always saw Lori as the creative one. Being with my sister makes me feel like there’s a novel to be written inspired by each day in her amazingly creative soul. I’ve always thought of myself as being more mysterious.
Life vs. Fiction
Q — How much of your real-life experience went into Hazel Moon?
Lisa: Well, on one page our protagonist, November, might be doing something Lori had done in the past, while on another page November or Angela might be reflecting something I’d done in the past. Everything Lady Luna does, however, that’s all Lori. Anyone who knows us well will see so much of ourselves, our personality traits, our strengths and quirks, embodied in our characters.
Lori: For example, I started it, drinking anything, wine, coffee, cola with a straw, Lisa followed, and our character November is shown drinking from a straw in our story! Of course, since we were young teens we've both been drawn to the concert culture and over the years each of us has attended hundreds of concerts, often together, and that passion is still there.
Lisa: Last fall we hopped in my Subaru and drove to Detroit to see an Echo and the Bunnymen concert, a road trip made all the more memorable and significant because our novel featured that band. And that band was a symbol for all the wonderful live acts we'd both been present for over the years.
Lori: Our characters, Angela and November, are flawed real human beings and again, anyone who knows us will recognize how much they are patterned after who we are.
Q — Do you consider yourselves “groupies?”
Lisa: Groupies...Lori would say...NO NO NO...but I might explain that I was one of those girls up in the front right by the stage dancing and screaming at every show of a certain local band and I guess that kind of groupie.
Lori: I wouldn’t really do that. For example with the local band, Take Me, after a show I would sit at the bar and wait for the musician I was interested in, Kent Parco, the bass player, whileLisa insisted he would never come over. To my surprise, he did just that!
Lisa: In one aspect we were both "band-aids" like in the iconic concert culture film, Almost Famous. That meant we didn't sleep with the musicians, we were there for the music, we wanted to support the bands and their invaluable contribution to the concert culture we thrived on.
Lori: Destined to be together,
Q — Does music effect your every fiber as it does November and Angela?
Lisa: Absolutely...and it's the same for both of us. When we get together at home we're spinning vinyl and reminiscing about songs and albums and bands and concerts.
Lori: I'm constantly learning new songs for new shows I'm performing in.
Lisa: And besides attending many concerts all year round, I'm fond of WMSE 91.7 FM because they showcase lots of local and other music that doesn't necessarily get played on the other stations. So much of the daily joy in our lives revolves around music. For me specifically, I’m never really comfortable indoors unless there’s music playing, outdoors it’s different, walking my dog, being in nature, but when the two are together it’s heavenly.
Mental Health
Q — November seems to be a troubled individual, self-mutilating and such to relieve stress. What was your research in this topic?
Lori: We wanted to weave in characters with some of the mental health issues that some of our readers might be struggling with, but present them in a nonjudgmental real way.
Lisa: That being said, those issues don’t define the character, it’s not what the character is really about. Everybody has something, some demon they struggle with, so we are challenging the reader to look past the cutting and find what the character is really all about.
Lori: As far as research, we'd had personal experience with someone close to us who slipped into that dark place where stress and depression and deep mood swings led her into cutting as a form of self help. Fortunately, she was able to stop that practice and it is no longer a problem for her. So, our research was personal, not based on medical studies or other information.
Q — Was it important to bring attention to mental health with November’s challenges, or was it simply a character development tactic?
Lisa: November’s character kept morphing when we were writing, especially when she came to life and began guiding the story and her development, describing herself to us. Many aspects of her transition were really not conscious except that we wanted to create a character people could relate to and root for.
Lori: November's cutting was primarily about character development, a way to let the reader know that if cutting was something they'd experienced, they were not alone. It wasn't about judging the act one way or the other, but it is a serious cultural problem as millions of girls primarily end up hurting themselves as a way to cope with dark periods filled with stress and depression.
Other
Q — Is Luna a real person or more of a subliminal influence on November’s life?
Lori: Yes, Luna was a real person, someone who born, grew up, but when she died, Lady Luna became a spirit being and in a future sequel we’re planning to concentrate on her.
Lisa: She has one chapter in Hazel Moon, a flashback that reveals some of her past and in future sequels more scenes will be devoted to her past lives so readers can draw parallels between her soul’s growth and theirs.
Lori: One of the reasons Lady Luna became November’s spirit guide is that they share many similar personality traits. Lady Luna, however, knows who she is and knows how to take care of herself first before worrying about November. In the context of our fairytale, then, Luna is a real person, not a figment of November's imagination, like guardian angel might be, or a fairy godmother. Luna can shapeshift and she reincarnates from one lifetime to another.
Q — Have you experienced or do you believe in the kind of mysticism as detailed throughout the book?
Lisa: We really do...in our world Lori and I refer to that kind of mysticism as "Magic" and recognize that magic surrounds most of us every day, often in little things that we can shrug off as mere coincidence when in fact the powers that bring magic into our lives do it to help us spread joy in the world through the knowledge that there is more to life than just what we can see and touch.
Lori: On our blog there are a number of examples of the magic that has accompanied the writing, editing, and publication of Hazel Moon. And those magical incidents have picked up once again as we began working on the sequel, Hawthorn Moon!
Lisa: And, I’ll admit to having quite a collection of Celtic magic spells which I’ve tried out from time to time. Lori’s late husband, Kent Parco, used to tease me about being a white witch.
