LET'S WELCOME AUTHOR OF: IN DEEP - STACY GOLD

LET’S WELCOME

STACY GOLD 

AUTHOR OF:

Rad-Reader:  How did you come up with the idea for this story?

Stacy:  The inspiration for every story I’ve written always comes from my own life, but I twist and mold my personal experiences to suit my story’s needs. In the case of this story, I've got friends who are ski patrollers, and one married couple who met while working on ski patrol together.

Max and Sophie, the main characters in In Deep, are the ski patrollers from my first novelette in the Emerald Mountain series, Just Friends. They’re married in that book, so it made sense to tell their story. And I wanted to know how they got together too. The only way to find out was to write it.

Rad-Reader:  Do you do a lot of skiing yourself?

Stacy:  I do. In my ski bum days, I skied 80-90 days a season. While I still buy a season pass, nowadays I tend to ski 30-40 days a year. I decided to try and calculate it recently, and determined I've skied almost 2000 days in the past 28 years. I even met my hubby when I was a ski bum in Jackson Hole, WY—though it was summer, and he didn’t know how to ski. We were both whitewater kayakers though, and it was love at first sight. But that’s another story (Pun intended. Sorry. Or your welcome, depending.). 

Rad-Reader:  Max is holding back why he is not letting Sophie go out on the more difficult duties.  Why?

Stacy:  Okay, I’m going to try to answer this with no spoilers but still give you some juicy insights… Max has a lot of unresolved issues and emotions from the accident.

He’s basically putting himself through trial by fire by taking the Ski Patrol Director job, and his way of avoiding dealing with any of his issues is to not bring the accident up. Period. Bad enough it haunts his dreams.

Now he’s working with Sophie, someone he cares about from a past relationship (and realizes he still cares about more than he should), and part of his job is keeping her safe. It’s all very triggering.

He also doesn’t want to admit to himself, let alone anyone else, that he’s got all these issues. That he’s not as steady, competent, and logical as he appears.

Rad-Reader:  Tell us about Sophie and Max as characters and how you came up with their characters.

Stacy:  Sophie is strong, and brash and sassy. She’s also only five feet tall, but she grew up chasing her five brothers in the mountains and she’ll be damned if she can’t keep up. She’s based on a blend of a few of my amazing, kick-ass mountain girlfriends.

Max is a smart and sexy hero who's got issues. He’s a deeper thinker than talker, but you can get him going when he’s in the right mood.  I’ve known guys like him, especially some of my bosses at whitewater rafting companies who have to manage a lot of people and risk. And I knew I needed someone more even-keeled to balance out Sophie.

Rad-Reader:  What is their history together?  Were they in another book together?

Stacy:  They weren’t in another book together, but the did have a relationship. Two years before this story, they partnered at an International Mountain Guide certification training in Chile and ended up living together for eight weeks. It was all supposed to be casual—Sophie was fresh off a divorce—but in the end they agreed to stay in touch when they headed to different continents for work.
Then life got in the way.

Rad-Reader:  Why is Sophie so driven to succeed? 

Stacy:  All too often she’s the only woman in a group of guys, so she wants to prove herself. Also, her ex-husband undermined her self-confidence until she believed she couldn’t be a mountain guide or a ski patroller. That’s part of why they divorced. So, she’s really got something to prove.

Rad-Reader:  Does Jordon her roommate know about her history with Max?

Stacy:  Not in any detail. He knows they trained together in Chile, but that's about it.

Rad-Reader:  How did she meet Jordon and what is their history?

Stacy:  Sophie and Jordan met as ski bums in Jackson Hole, after Taya (from Book #1) left to go to school. So, this story goes back in time from Book #1. 

Rad-Reader:  How many brothers does Sophie have and is she the youngest?

Stacy:   She’s got five older brothers.

Rad-Reader:  Has anyone in her family met Max?

Stacy:  No. 

Rad-Reader:  What made Sophie know she needed to be in this job as opposed to anything else?

Stacy:  She grew up skiing and loves it. She also thrives in a job that requires her to use all her skills and senses and training. Ski Patrol can be boring, hard, physical work, but it can also be a huge adrenaline rush. Not to mention incredibly fulfilling. Then there’s all that fresh powder you get to ski before the resort opens.

Rad-Reader:  Why didn’t Max just talk to her about his time away from her?

Stacy:  As I mentioned earlier, he’s got issues he doesn’t want to face, let alone talk about. And he’s afraid if he tells her what happened, she’ll realize how much he still wants her, and it’ll ruin their work situation. 

Rad-Reader:  If your book was made into a movie who would you have play…

Sophie:  AnnaSophia Robb

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/290834088406628722/

Max:

Brant Daugherty

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/380413499768280275/

Stacy:   

Sophie:  Emilia Clarke

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/481251910163404711/

Max:  Henry Cavill

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/288230444873577542/

Rad-Reader:  What song or songs best describes your characters or your book as a whole?

“Kill Your Love – Jess Mosskaluka”

When Sophie figures out that Max is her boss and he is acting like he doesn’t even know her.

“The One That Got Away – Jake Owens”

What Max thinks when he sees Sophie again.

“Try Again – Kip Moore”

After talking Sophia to at the bar.

Stacy:  I don’t usually think in terms of songs or soundtracks for my stories (Except my next novella in this series, because one of my main characters always has music playing.). But, for the whole book? 

"Kiss from a Rose by Seal. Definitely"

Rad-Reader:  What is it that you do to prepare for writing your books?  Do you outline?

Stacy:  Holding a story and a bunch of characters in your brain is a lot of work. So, the first thing I do is take one to two weeks off writing or editing fiction as a sort of brain palate cleanser and vacation.

Once I start, I don’t really outline so much. Instead, I do a fair amount of work developing my characters and their backstory—way more than will ever end up in the book.

I also write rough a synopsis of my plot including the opening, and the inciting incidents and major issues, black moment, and ending. Oftentimes I also write an opening scene right out of the gate, because it’s stuck in my head.

Rad-Reader:  How do you decide on character names?

Stacy:  I keep a spreadsheet of interesting names that I can pull from at any time. Sometimes, I’m looking for a name that’s particularly hard or soft. I also try not to use more than two names starting with the same letter in the same book since that can get confusing for the reader.

Rad-Reader:  What is the funniest story that you took from real life and used it in some way in one of your stories?

Stacy:  I’ve got some doozies that are bound to make it in a story eventually, but mostly it’s references and one-liners. Or something quirky a character does or says.

Rad-Reader:  What is your next project and when will it be coming out?

Stacy:  My next novella in the Emerald Mountain series, Never You, just came out March 5^th, and my publisher is planning a box set for fall release, which is super exciting!

Now I’m working on a three-book, full-length backpacking series set in Seattle and the North Cascades mountains. I’ve got the first on drafted already, and I’m hoping to have these out in 2019.

Rad-Reader:  Where can our readers buy your books?

Stacy:  My ebooks are available on Amazon, iTunes, Google Play, Nook, and direct from publisher, The Wild Rose Press. You can find links to them all here: http://stacygold.com/books

Rad-Reader:  Where can our readers find you on the Web?

Stacy:  http://stacygold.com

I’m on Goodreads and Bookbub, and also on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook as @AuthorStacyGold

Stacy,
Thanks for being with us.  This short was fun.  It can be read as a standalone just like she said.  It is short and sweet.  One you can read while waiting at the doctors LOL.  Enjoy.  Stacy you are now a 1 Rad-Reader Misfit come back with your next book and use our Shout Out: An Author's Place page to let us know.  Thanks again,
Char