Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: Whisper
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE: 4-Sep
WEBSITE: https://lynettenoni.com/
CITY:
STATE:
COUNTRY: Australia
NATIONALITY: Australian
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born September 4.
EDUCATION:University graduate, 2010.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer. Speaker at workshops, conferences, festivals, libraries, and schools.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Lynette Noni spent her childhood on a farm in the Australian Outback, reading books and dreaming of faraway places. Then she moved to Buderim, an urban center located on a forested mountaintop within Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, where she reads and writes young adult fiction. Noni is an active participant in festivals for writers and readers, popular culture exhibitions, conventions and conferences, workshops and school visits. Despite a busy calendar of public appearances, Noni maintains a disciplined writing schedule. She has completed her first young adult series, the “Medoran Chronicles,” and launched her second series with the publication of Whisper.
Akarnae
Alexandra Jennings is a sixteen-year-old from Oregon when her parents enroll her in the International Exchange Academy while they participate in a remote archaeological excavation. Her first impression reinforces her worst apprehensions. The boarding school is forbidding, the students unfriendly, the staff indifferent at best. Alex is directed to the headmaster’s office, but when she opens the door she finds herself transported to a fantasy world called Medora. Greeted by a gorgeous, outwardly charming figure named Aven, she learns that the only local boarding school is the Akarnae Academy, and her arrival is expected.
Akarnae is the story of Alex’s first year in this school for teenagers with special powers. She has yet to find her special power, but life at Akarnae is a treat compared to what she would have faced at the International Exchange Academy. According to Ron Desiatnik’s review in the Sydney Arts Guide, Alex has access to “virtual reality movies, instant food, communication by hologram,” and much more. She meets congenial friends like Jordan and Bear, who introduce her to their magical parallel world, but Alex cannot avoid the eerie feeling that something awful is lurking in the shadows. The evil resides in Prince Aven Dalmarta, who believes that Alex’s special power can help him destroy Medora. Alex may also harbor the untested power to stop him, but using it could threaten her chance to return to her earthly home.
A reviewer in Children’s Bookwatch described Akarnae as “a sweeping epic, fascinating from cover to cover.” The similarity to other popular stories of enterprising young people at magic-school did not go unnoticed, but Stefan Brazulaitis observed in Books and Publishing that “Noni manages to put enough of her own spin on things” to compensate for the resemblance. Rod Lewis commented on the Glam Adelaide website that Noni produced “a refreshingly enjoyable debut” populated by characters “we can believe in and either love or love to hate.” Desiatnik, too, appreciated her adroit “use of teenage cadence and expression.”
Raelia
The sequel, Raelia, reveals that Alex did indeed make her way home to Oregon, but she is back at Akarnae when the new school year begins. The elven Prince Aven remains determined to use her to conquer Medora and destroy all human life. Alex is committed to stopping him by preventing his return to the lost city of Meya and the remnants of an ancient race that may remain there. In Draekora Alex trains to control the immortal elements of her special power to stop Aven and save her friend Jordan. In the process, her world turns upside down and Alex is no longer sure who she can trust. Graevale explores Alex’s newest dilemma. Aven rules Meya, but she may still have a chance to save the humans of Medora. Vardaesia promises to resolve the horrors generated by Aven’s bloodthirsty quest for power.
Whisper
Whisper is the story of Jane Doe, Subject 684, and the cruel, two-year effort to make her talk–literally. Alyssa has not uttered a word, not even her name, because she knows how dangerous her very words can be in the wrong hands. Someone else suspects the extraordinary power of her voice to actually change the world, and that someone has an evil plan in mind to make her speak.
Extracted from a psychiatric ward and thrust into a secret underground government space called Lengard, Jane has been tortured relentlessly ever since. She is subjected to a diet of tasteless gruel and solitary confinement, interspersed with bouts of combat training, physical torture, mental evaluation, and medical experimentation. Time is running out for Jane unless someone can compel her to talk.
Suddenly Jane is transferred to a new “minder” named Landon Ward. Landon represents a reverse strategy. He is young, attractive, patient, and–most of all–kind. He provides Jane with comfortable street clothes and moves her into his sister’s civilian apartment. He takes her on a field trip in the fresh air of what turns out to be the central business district of Sydney, Australia. Increasingly disarmed by Landon’s kindness, Jane is on the verge of breaking her silence. An accidental incident on a Sydney street is the trigger that reveals her power to the world.
Jane’s life has never been in greater danger, but she is shocked to learn of a rebel group of “speakers” like herself. She also realizes that she is not helpless in the grip of her secret power: she can learn to control it and choose how it will be used. For the first time in her life, Jane is not alone, but will her new allies turn out to be friend or foe?
A Kirkus Reviews contributor commended Noni for “an intriguing, twisty plot that builds to a suspenseful, cliffhanger ending.” Stacey Comfort noted in Booklist that Whisper is “stylistically quite different from other books in the genre.” In School Library Journal Jen McConnel mentioned the time that Noni spent “creating relationships among her characters,” especially female friends. The author of the blog All the Books I Can Read commented: “Noni’s books get stronger the further she gets into the series and the world.” She added: “The ending to this book … definitely made me want to know what is going to happen next.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, February 15, 2018, Stacey Comfort, review of Whisper, p. 78.
Children’s Bookwatch, May, 2015 , review of Akarnae.
Kirkus Reviews, March 1, 2018, review of Whisper.
School Library Journal, February, 2018, Jen McConnel, review of Whisper, p. 106.
ONLINE
All the Books I Can Read, https://1girl2manybooks.wordpress.com/ (May 8, 2018), review of Whisper.
Australia Times Online, https:/www.theaustraliatimes.com/ (May 28, 2016), Tara Motherwell, author interview.
Books and Publishing, https://www.booksandpublishing.com.au/ (October 2, 2014), Stefan Brazulaitis, review of Akarnae.
Glam Adelaide, http://www.glamadelaide.com.au/ (August 7, 2016), Rod Lewis, review of Akarnae.
Lynette Noni website, https://lynettenoni.com (July 5, 2018).
Queensland Writers Centre website, https://qldwriters.org/au/ (August 23, 2017), author interview.
Sydney Arts Guide, https://www.sydneyartsguide.com.au/ (February 23, 2015), Ron Desiatnik, review of Akarnae.
Why do you write?
There’s a quote by Anne Dillard that I love: “She reads books as one would breathe air, to fill up and live.” I feel as if that epitomises who I am, but for writing as well as reading. Quite simply, I can’t not write. It’s too important to me—just like breathing. The very idea of not being able to put pen to paper is tantamount to the death of my imagination.
How did you come to writing?
I basically just decided to write the book I wanted to read. To expand on that a little, I started writing a few years ago in the post-Twilight era when the young adult market was saturated with books (mostly paranormal or dystopian). There were just so many YA novels being published, and while I enjoyed a lot of them, nothing was quite clicking with me. I loved certain elements I was reading, but I wanted all those elements from different books put into one book. So one day I thought, “Why don’t I try and write the book I want to read?” and Akarnae was a result of that decision.
What were your greatest obstacles starting out? How did you overcome them?
*Laughs* The main obstacle was having no idea how to write a book! I’d never, ever, had any interest in writing, so to suddenly one day decide to sit down at my computer and start punching out words was quite the experience. It helped that I’ve always been an avid reader, and I was naturally quite OCD when it came to spelling, grammar and all the rest… but there was still so much I didn’t know, and so much I had to learn through experience—and, admittedly, through failure.
How do you keep yourself motivated and disciplined?
To quote Nike, you “Just Do It.” But seriously—isn’t that what discipline is? Something you make yourself do, even on the hard days? Olympians don’t become star athletes overnight. There’s training involved—blood, sweat and tears. The same is true for writers. As Ernest Hemmingway said, “There’s nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.”
It also helps that I have a great support network these days. My agent, Victoria Wells Arms of Wells Arms Literary in New York, is an absolute champion and lifeline for me, as is her fabulous assistant, Brigette Torrise. And my Australian publishing family at Pantera Press are all incredibly encouraging and supportive. In a way, I’m accountable to both my agent and my publishers, but also to my fans. I don’t want to let anyone down, and that helps keep me motivated on the days when all I want to do is curl up and disappear for a little while.
How do you manage your writing time with everything else you do? How has that changed from when you were starting out?
This is also where that self-discipline has to come in. It’s challenging, juggling deadlines, especially when I now travel so often for author events—schools, festivals, conferences, writing camps, bookstores, libraries… anything and everything, really. But like anything in life, if it’s important to you, you just make it work. I tend to sacrifice sleep a lot more than I probably should, but it’s all about finding some kind of balance in life.
Where do you write? How do you arrange your working space?
I can really write anywhere as long as it’s a closed environment. I’m a bit like that dog in the Disney/Pixar movie, Up, when he’s in the middle of doing something and then is like, “SQUIRREL!!” That’s basically me. I need no distractions whatsoever when I write. I often wish I could be one of those authors who frequent trendy cafés and have great stories about where their books were written. But nope. I need dead silence. And my best writing times are usually in the 10pm-3am hours when the rest of the world is asleep.
What are your essential writing tools?
A laptop and silence. Those are my two prerequisites. But it also helps to have a working internet connection since I research as I go. Oh! And I’ve recently fallen in love with Scrivener since it helps keep all my research and character documents amazingly organised. I’m not sure how I survived so long without it!
What’s the one thing you wish you’d known when you were starting out as a writer?
It’s not something I wish I’d known so much as something I wish I’d had. And that’s a core group of writerly and/or bookish people around me. Since I’ve started attending author events, I’ve met some incredible writers and publishing-professionals and made some wonderful friends, from authors to illustrators to editors to publicists to agents to everything in between. There’s just something magical that happens when writers come together. It’s such a solitary career, so having that support network around you really helps make you not feel so isolated and reminds you that you’re not alone, even when, technically speaking, you are alone—at least when you’re in your writing hobbit hole for days, weeks and months on end.
What do you read and how do you read as a writer?
Honestly, I’ll read anything. But I’m also not one of those people who has to finish a book if I’m not enjoying it. One of my personal mantras is: “Life’s too short to read books you’re not enjoying.” So I’ll start any and every book but I may not finish all of them.
When it comes to preference, of course I have to give props to the YA genre. There’s just something so special about coming-of-age stories and the myriad of sub-genres available under the parent category. Whether you’re nine or ninety, you’re bound to fall in love with whatever is contained within the pages.
How do you overcome ‘writer’s block’?
Sometimes it helps to gain a fresh perspective—get outside and climb a mountain or visit the beach or spend some time with family or friends. Maybe watch a movie or a TV show, or even better, read a really good book that inspires you to want to jump back into the writing (often a re-read of an old favourite). But mostly, this comes back to that self-discipline again. Writer’s block is a very real thing, but it’s also controllable—by you. You just have to push through it. Even if whatever words you’re using to break down the block are terrible, you can always go back and edit or cut them entirely. Just get the words down and you’ll eventually get back on a roll again.
What one piece of advice would you give to aspiring writers?
Write first and foremost because you love to write, and for no other reason. I only say this because the reality is, a lot of people write because they want to get published. And there’s nothing wrong with that, except that it might not ever happen. It’s hard to get a publishing deal. And more often than not, it can take many years filled with rejection. You have to truly love what you’re doing in order to stick it out, and hopefully that will end up paying off. But there are no guarantees. And because of that, I think it’s important for people to write because they can’t not write, and fingers crossed the rest will come. No matter how hard it is and no matter how long it might take, all it takes is one ‘yes’ for all the ‘no’s to mean nothing. So if you truly love writing, never give up on your dreams—because the end result is so worth it!
Lynette Noni has always been an avid reader and spent most of her childhood lost in daydreams of far-off places and magical worlds. She is the author of the five-book young adult fantasy series, The Medoran Chronicles, and is a regular speaker at local and national events, with a rapidly growing international following.
Lynette Noni grew up on a farm in outback Australia until she moved to the beautiful Sunshine Coast and swapped her mud-stained boots for sand-splashed flip-flops. She has always been an avid reader and most of her childhood was spent lost in daydreams of far-off places and magical worlds.
She was devastated when her Hogwarts letter didn’t arrive, but she consoled herself by looking inside every wardrobe she could find, and she’s still determined to find her way to Narnia one day. While waiting for that to happen, she creates her own fantasy worlds and enjoys spending time with the characters she meets along the way.
With a professional approach, a delightful attitude and bursting with novel ideas, Lynette Noni is currently the youngest author to be represented by Pantera Press and has been nominated for a Queensland Premier’s Young Writers Fellowship.
Series
Medoran Chronicles
1. Akarnae (2015)
2. Raelia (2016)
3. Draekora (2017)
3.5. We Three Heroes (2018)
4. Graevale (2018)
5. Vardaesia (2019)
Novels
Whisper (2018)
Lynette Noni grew up on a farm in outback Australia until she moved to the beautiful Sunshine Coast and swapped her mud-stained boots for sand-splashed flip-flops. She has always been an avid reader and most of her childhood was spent lost in daydreams of far-off places and magical worlds. She was devastated when her Hogwarts letter didn’t arrive, but she consoled herself by looking inside every wardrobe she could find, and she’s still determined to find her way to Narnia one day. While waiting for that to happen, she creates her own fantasy worlds and enjoys spending time with the characters she meets along the way.
>> Akarnae
The first of the five-part MEDORAN CHRONICLES offers a new slant on magical parallel worlds – it’s Harry Potter meets X-Men, with a twist of Narnia.
With just one step, 16-year-old Alex Jennings's world changes - literally.
Dreading her first day at a new school, Alex is stunned when she walks through a doorway and finds herself stranded in Medora, a fantasy world full of impossibilities.
Desperate to return home, she learns that only Professor Marselle can help her... but he's missing. While waiting for him to reappear, Alex attends Akarnae Academy, Medora's boarding school for teenagers with extraordinary gifts. She soon starts to enjoy her bizarre new world and the friends who embrace her as one of there own, but strange things are happening at Akarnae, and Alex can't ignore her fear that something unexpected... something sinister... is looming.
An unwilling pawn in a deadly game, Alex's shoulders bear the crushing weight of an entire race's survival. Only she can save the Medorans, but what if doing so prevents her from ever returning home?
Will Alex risk her entire world... and maybe even her life - to save Medora?
>> Raelia
“Life is full of crossroads, Alex. Full of choices.”
Returning for a second year at Akarnae Academy with her gifted friends, Alexandra Jennings steps back through a doorway into Medora, the fantasy world that is full of impossibilities. Despite the magical wonder of Medora, Alex’s life remains threatened by Aven Dalmarta, the banished prince from the Lost City of Meya who is out for her blood. To protect the Medorans from Aven’s quest to reclaim his birthright, Alex and her friends seek out the Meyarin city and what remains of its ancient race. Not sure who—or perhaps what—she is anymore, all Alex knows is that if she fails to keep Aven from reaching Meya, the lives of countless Medorans will be in danger. Can she protect them, or will all be lost?
>> Draekora
“I swear by the stars that you and the others slain tonight will be the first of many. Of that you have my word.”
With Aven Dalmarta now hiding in the shadows of Meya, Alex is desperate to save Jordan and keep the Rebel Prince from taking more lives.
Training day and night to master the enhanced immortal blood in her veins, Alex undertakes a dangerous Meyarin warrior trial that separates her from those she loves and leaves her stranded in a place where nothing is as it should be.
As friends become enemies and enemies become friends, Alex must decide who to trust as powerful new allies—and adversaries—push her towards a future of either light… or darkness.
One way or another, the world will change…
>> We Three Heroes
Alexandra Jennings might be the hero of the Medoran Chronicles, but she would be lost without her three closest friends. They are her strength, they are her hope, they are the reason she keeps fighting. To Alex, her friends are the real heroes, and like all heroes, they each have their own story.
Meet the real D.C. in Crowns and Curses and discover how she becomes the princess Alex once despised but now adores.
Follow Jordan on his healing journey in Scars and Silence as he struggles in the wake of being rescued from his living nightmare.
Walk beside Bear in Hearts and Headstones as he faces an unspeakable trauma while helping his world prepare for the coming war.
D.C., Jordan and Bear are the heroes of their own stories. It is time for their stories to be told.
>> Graevale
Book 4 in The Medoran Chronicles: Who will live and who will die?
“Light or dark, only one can win. This world cannot survive in shades of grey.”
Now that Aven Dalmarta sits upon the throne of Meya, Alex is in a race against the clock to save the mortals of Medora from the Rebel Prince’s wrath.
Guided by a haunting and unspeakable vision of the future, Alex and her friends must warn the mortal races. But making new allies out of old enemies proves difficult.
Under the guidance of a mysterious mentor, Alex learns to strengthen her gift to fight the challenges she now faces.
But in a world where nothing is certain, Alex is sure of only one thing: Aven is coming.
The Medoran Chronicles by Lynette Noni has been described as ‘a game changer’ in YA fiction. A page-turning fantasy series about friendship, finding yourself and the ultimate battle of good versus evil, The Medoran Chronicles is perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas and Rick Riordan.
Building to a stunning climax, with shocking twists and devastating losses, Graevale is an unforgettable read.
>> Vardaesia
conclusion: no description
Author Interview with Young Adult Authors Lynette Noni and Wanda Wiltshire
Posted on May 28, 2016 by Tara Motherwell
Lynette Noni is the author of The Medoran Chronicles (Arkanae, Raelia and Draekora), a Young Adult fantasy series following protagonist Alex Jennings as she stumbles upon the magical world of Medora and tries to make her way back home.
Wanda Wiltshire is the author of the Betrothed series (Betrothed, Allegiance and Confused), a series divided between Earth and the magical world of Faera; home to faeries and perhaps Marla’s long lost soul mate.
I sat down with both Lynette and Wanda and had a chat about their different writing styles, their inspirations and creative processes. Here’s what they had to say:
What inspired you to go into YA? Was it your own reflection of childhood, teenagers in your life or certain authors that really connected you to the genre?
Wanda: Well, when I started writing it was, the very short version of it, was the result of an epiphany. And so I just wrote the story that came to me. The story was actually the answer to a prayer quite literally. I had no kind of feeling about which genre it might fit into or who the audience would be or anything like that. I didn’t start to think about that until afterwards. But I definitely draw on my own childhood. Especially my main character Marla who kinda has had a bit of a struggle with her childhood and then slowly throughout the novel we see her find herself and find her strengths and use them, so in that way my childhood has inspired. And my audience actually, is not just Young Adult either. I think that’s the starting point but I’ve also got readers that are grandmothers who then pass it down to their children and their grandchildren so it wasn’t really a thought thing, it was just something that happened.
Lynette: I was reading, I’ve always loved reading younger books, and I was reading a lot of them at a time just before I started writing and I was growing increasingly concerned by a lot of the protagonists and the age of the readers to how mature the themes were in the books, and I wanted to write a book that had a lot of the normal mild tropes and enjoyment and escapism kind of elements, but with someone who was healthy to sort of look at. Not look at as in physically but look at as in be inspired by, be encouraged by. When a reader reads a book, especially in that age group, they’ll want to be that person. So I wanted to give them someone who was relatable and someone they could aspire to be but also someone who wasn’t teaching them stuff that I wouldn’t want my kids to be taught if I had them in that age group too. Basically I wrote the book I wanted to read.
So you were more influenced by what you’ve read?
Lynette: Yeah. I was reading a lot of books and they all had elements that I wanted in one book but they weren’t in one book, so I put them all into one book and Arkanae was a result of that, and again just making sure those themes that I thought might have been a little too mature for some readers weren’t there, just a kind of Disney/Harry Potter kind of style of book.
I read that you were influenced by Harry Potter, Narnia, X-Men.
Lynette: Yeah. My books are pure escapism. The tagline of my series is “Embrace the wonder” so I wanted to bring back the wonder that a child or a teenager will often have that [as] adults we kind of lose a little bit of. So as we age we get a bit more cynical of life and I wanted to have something that was an outlet for that. And I’ve got nine year olds reading this series and I’ve got 90 year olds reading it, men and women, boys and girls and just, I guess, escaping to this place that’s pure fantasy.
I’ve read the first couple of chapters of Arkanae and I thought it was very easy to read and it drew you in. I found Alex quite humorous.
Lynette: Yeah I’ve had a lot of people tell me that and it surprises me because I’m around a lot of funny people. Like, the people who are my friends and stuff, we banter back and forth. I wouldn’t say we’re witty, we’ve just got that jokey relationship sort of thing. Not all the time, just generally speaking. So Alex is very much a product of that. But because it’s such an easy read I would never claim that my book is a pure masterpiece of literary fiction, it’s just something to capture your attention and draw you in and in line with the voice of Alex, the main character. It sort of just goes with the theme of the story I guess.
And I noticed, Wanda, your style is more poetic with strong imagery.
Wanda: I tend to like things that do go quite deep and are poetic. I love the writing of Anne Rice and Margo Lanagan because it’s just so beautiful and poetic but I like the story to be strong within that as well. Poetry is what I used to do when I was young but then having children kind of took over for a while. I suppose it’s just my natural style of writing.
So what kind of approach do you take with writing or outlining a novel? Do you go straight for the technology when drafting or bust out a notebook and pen?
Lynette: I’m a typer. If it’s the middle of the night and I’ve had an idea I’ll grab either a phone or a pencil or pen, whatever’s beside me, and I’ll jot an idea but otherwise I don’t actually know what’s going to come out until I’m facing the screen and have a keyboard in front of me.
Do you use an application like Scrivener?
Lynette: No I don’t. I just use Word and a whole lot of other documents. I have a Trello board on my phone so I’ve got my characters and then I have descriptions and stuff. If you give someone glasses in book one they need to have them in book four. Just something like that because I’m at the stage where it’s a bit much to keep in my head. But I have documents on my computer, calendars and stuff like that for dates. Because otherwise you say it was two weeks ago when really it was three weeks ago. But otherwise for me everything else is electronic.
Wanda: I’m a bit the same, if I have an idea or an inspiration or something strikes me about the story I have to get to a computer as soon as possible because it will just float right out of my hair. I’m reading [Elizabeth Gibert’s] Big Magic at the moment and that’s apparently a thing. You know, if you don’t grab hold of that little inspiration it will go, you will lose it and that’s happened to me so many times. I do grab a notepad and pen sometimes and jot it down there but I have about fifteen at home and with all little bits in them mixed up. So I definitely try to get to a computer as fast as I can.
Do either of you have any writing rituals or quirks you’ve picked up in your writing process?
Lynette: Comfy clothes. I cannot be uncomfortable. I’m talking daggy house clothes…fluffy socks in winter and, like, in winter hoodies and just comfy, comfy… you know… uh… unashamedly pyjamas. I go out and have my day then I come home and jump into my PJs or house clothes and then I go out again so I get changed again. But I have to write in comfy clothes. I don’t know why. Just can’t feel restrained by you know, I don’t know, hair in a bun, you just look like a writer. *laughs*
So you don’t go down to a coffee shop or anything?
Lynette: I wish. I had this conversation, where I live is Buderim of the Sunshine Coast and they have the most beautiful bookstore called Books of Buderim. There’s a courtyard and there’s the most beautiful writing place that the owner’s like “come up here and write any time,” and I’m like “I wish I could!” but I would just people watch and wouldn’t pay any attention to what I was doing, so my goal is to be able to write at least a chapter outside of a closed space, of my bedroom or office. That’s my goal one day.
Wanda: I usually get up in the morning, make a cup of herbal tea and then sit down at my desk and write. But if I’m feeling I need inspiration I’ll get out into the rainforest. I’m very, very lucky I live near the only little bit of rainforest in New South Wales. So I’ll go for a lovely drive through there and look at the trees and imagine fairies in them and then I’ll go and sit on Bald Hill and just think, dream. So that’s my thing that I do when I think I need inspiration but then of course I’ve got to rush straight back home so that I can get it all down. But I’m definitely a comfy clothes person too. It has to be comfy clothes.
Have you written parts of a novel that have made you uncomfortable to write?
Wanda: Well I know I have definitely. There are definitely parts in my book that have made me uncomfortable. But I tend to leave a lot to the imagination when those uncomfortable parts come. I’ll go there and I’ll say certain things but I won’t be specific. But in my head I know what’s going on and it can be hard. If it needs to be there, if it really needs to be there then I’ll plough through and just feel uncomfortable as I go.
Is it because you have connected with the characters so much?
Wanda: Yeah absolutely. In this world [Faera] I’m my main character. When I’m in the world writing I’m experiencing everything and if I’m not experiencing it enough then I really go deep so I can. Kinda like method writing as opposed to method acting.
Lynette: I don’t put myself in my main character’s shoes. I don’t know why. I know a lot of authors do that. I just sort of think I could never handle anything as well as she does. I like the idea that I could but I sort of see it as a movie playing out in my mind, I guess. And when it comes to being uncomfortable there was a part in the second book, yes, but I don’t remember writing it because it feels like forever ago. But I’ve just recently written a fourth book and I did it in a really short period of time and there was one part where I knew at about the halfway point that something [traumatic] was going to happen. I don’t plot books so this really shocked me, and I really didn’t like it to the point where I was like, “no, just no,” and so my writing sort of slowed down a bit…and I was like, “no, I’ve got to find a way to deviate this,” and [the traumatic moment] just ended up happening. And even now I’ve reread it twice in the editing process and even as I approach that part I slow down my reading and procrastinate just getting [to that part of the novel] because it’s just so traumatic and so I don’t handle it. All my critique readers who have read it have just lost it at me over it. And it’s a beautiful thing that that’s the case but it’s just a horrible thing. It’s a couple of months on and I’m still grieving [over it].
Wanda: I think it’s important to put these things in though [the darker and traumatic moments]. Because they’re out there in the world, it’s real life. Life’s not all cups of tea and happiness there’s dark things out there so it’s really important to put those in. My third book in particular does get quite dark. Necessarily, it had to happen and I’ve had quite a few readers contact me and say they’ve been absolutely traumatised but they can’t wait to read the next book so that’s fantastic.
Do you find it gets drafted a lot? That the novels actually change quite dramatically from your original first draft?
Wanda: Some. But I do most of the work so by the time it gets anywhere else it doesn’t need to change much.
Lynette: Generally speaking, no. I write pretty cleanly. My process is I write a draft and then I re-read through it once and I’m pretty much ready to send it to my critiquers. Then they get back to me and I’ll do one more final whatever and then I’ll send it on to the publishers. Sometimes in the editing process through publishing there might be cutting out. For example in the second book in the series we cut out probably 100 pages in the beginning or got rid of certain events and condensed it and that’s probably the biggest change I’ve done.
Was that hard for you to let go?
Lynette: It was. And it’s really hard now because I have a lot of readers saying, “I would have really liked to have seen this,” and I’m like, “in the original version it was there! And we cut it out!” but at the same time the reason we cut it out was valid as well. It’s the kind of thing that maybe one day I’ll put up those scenes in a blog post. But it was really hard to condense those scenes and have it so that it wasn’t just like, “info dump! Info dump! Info dump!”
Wanda: I had a big section in Allegiance which I absolutely loved; it was my favourite part of the book. It was when Marla’s grandparents came to earth and experienced earth but somebody said to me, “I think that bit could go,” and I’m like, “Oh no, no, no, that stays,” and then someone else said, “I don’t know if you need this bit,” and I’m like, “no, no, it has to stay,” and then the Pantera editor said, “oh I think you could, if you wanted to, take it from here to here and get rid of that bit,” and I’m like, “okay, it’s gotta go,” and it made it worse when she said, “it’s up to you,” and I was like, “Ah. It’s up to me and I love it but no, if three people have said it, it’s got to go.”
You both have completely different writing styles but it’s clear you’ve put a lot of depth into the characters and as a result they come across strong and well developed.
Wanda: Well my character doesn’t start out strong, and I won’t say that she does. She starts out quite broken. She’s had a life wrapped in cotton wool and she’s been allergic to the whole world [Earth] so she’s missed out on things. She’s been forced to kind of be back from life really. But you really see her open up and really step into herself throughout the series. She becomes strong.
It sounds like you know her well.
Wanda: I know her very well, *laughs* we do though, don’t we?
Lynette: We have to.
Wanda: Yeah, as you write you get to know more and more about them.
Lynette: Exactly. I don’t plot, so if something’s going to surprise my character, I need to know how they are going to react to it. So I need to know them well enough to know their reaction. So that it’s authentic and realistic. They are very stressful [the characters], they’re like teenagers. You just can’t control them. You need like little human leashes.
It’s like it’s not your book it’s their book.
Wanda: That’s so true.
Lynette: They write themselves off the pages. I tell this story a lot but the third book in my series I plotted the book for the first time ever and I was so proud of myself and within one chapter my main character Alex was like “Haha! Nup!” and she just went this way and the entire thing changed, and now I’ve got this amazing plot over here which is nowhere near as good as the finished result, which is great, but I’m like “ but, but, but… you went off and I just have to now follow after you.” Imagine an adult with a little toddler that’s running away – that’s kind of how I feel as an author. I’m the adult running after the toddler.
Having studied both journalism and academic writing at university, Lynette Noni completed a degree in human behaviour before venturing into the world of fiction. She is the author of the bestselling YA fantasy series, The Medoran Chroncles, as well as a second YA series (the first book entitled Whisper) due for release internationally in 2018.
A regular panelist at national and local events, Lynette has featured at Sydney Writers’ Festival, Emerging Writers’ Festival (as part of the National Writers’ Conference), Supanova Pop Culture Exhibition, GenreCon, the National Young Writers’ Festival, Bellingen Readers and Writers Festival, Voices on the Coast, and the Australian National Speculative Fiction Convention.
Lynette’s engaging author talks and writing workshops make her a sought after presenter for schools, both local and interstate, and for National Youth Week activities. She also presented the 2016 Inter-School Readers’ Cup for the Sunshine Coast region (on behalf of the Children’s Book Council of Australia).
Lynette was one of two YA authors featured on the inaugural ABC Radio #OzYA broadcast in early 2016. She is also an active blogger at www.lynettenoni.com and has an impressive and rapidly growing international following.
Q. How long have you been writing and why did you start?
I took off with the intention to enjoy an overseas gap year in 2010 after finishing uni, but it ended up being a total disaster since I contracted the zombie plague (not really) on day five. After six weeks of valiantly backpacking onwards while personifying the living dead (not really), I realised I was kidding myself and decided to return home to recover. I then spent the next six months coughing up my lungs (not really) and couldn’t do much during that time except read. Once I started to gain strength and ran out of books I was enjoying, I decided to try my hand at writing something. It was one of those spur of the moment decisions that happened to have a lasting effect, since AKARNAE was the first novel I attempted and it has led me to where I am today. It took me maybe 3-ish months to complete a (very) rough draft, a number of months to edit, and then about 3 years of submissions to agents and publishers before I was offered a contract in January 2014.
Q. How do you actually pronounce “AKARNAE”?
I pronounce it like “Ah-kar-nay”, and since I’m Australian, the “Ah” part sounds more like “Uh”. Another way is to think of the soft sound of the letter “a” from the alphabet (as in, “uh“), then “car” (as in, the vehicle) and then “neigh” (as in, like a horse). Uh-car-neigh.
… But at the end of the day, everyone reads and hears things differently (just think of Hermione from Harry Potter—I don’t know anyone who knew how to pronounce her name until J.K. Rowling helped Victor Krum learn how to say it in the fourth book!).
Q. How did you come up with the name?
“Akarnae” was actually the name of a girl I worked with once upon a time. She spelled it differently (and it was so long ago that I can’t remember how she spelled it) but I always loved the sound of it and it stayed with me. It sounds mysterious, edgy, and very fitting for a fantasy novel.
Q. How many books are in The Medoran Chronicles?
There are five books in total (plus We Three Heroes, which is book #4.5 — three novellas from Jordan, Bear and D.C.’s perspectives), with the potential for some offshoot surprises down the track.
Q. Will your books ever become movies?
I sure hope so—that would certainly be a dream come true! But as a writer I have very little control about something as amazing as that happening. The film/television rights for my Pantera Press books are managed by the wonderful Katy McEwan, so if you are in the movie industry and want to chat about possibilities, please contact her at katy.mcewen@panterapress.com.
Alternatively, my ninja-agent Victoria Wells Arms of Wells Arms Literary is the best person to speak with regarding anything to do with me! [AGENT IS NOW WITH HSG AGENCY IN NY, BUT DOES NOT LIST A MAILING ADDRESS. CAN'T TELL IF SHE IS STILL NONI'S AGENT.]
Q. How do you feel about fanfiction based on your books and/or characters?
I figure if readers love my stories and characters enough that they want to get creative with their own ideas, then that’s a beautiful thing. But that said, fanfiction is for fans of the original works, so please take note of all the relevant copyright/permissions/disclaimers that you need to be aware about so you don’t get in trouble for posting on the wrong site!
Q. Can you read my manuscript and tell me what you think?
I feel so honoured every time someone asks me to read their manuscript because I know how precious our book-babies are. But unfortunately, for a number of legal and time-constricting reasons, I have to have a unyielding ‘no’ answer to this question. I’m truly flattered that you value my opinion so highly, but reading your work would keep me from doing what I really need to be doing—and that’s writing the next book in my series!
Q. Can you recommend me to your publishers?
Without reading your manuscript (see previous answer), I wouldn’t really be able to say much by way of a recommendation. But my publishers, Pantera Press, are Amazing (soooo worthy of the capital ‘A’) and they are one of the few publishing houses in Australia (and possibly the world) who accept unsolicited manuscripts. You can find their submissions process by clicking here.
Q. How do you deal with writer’s block?
You can find my answer by clicking here.
Q. Why do so many of your blog posts have references to Disney and/or chocolate?
*Blinks* I could wax poetic about the virtues of both for years. But let’s just say that Disney on its own is amazing, chocolate on its own is fabulous, and if you put them together, you get MAGIC.
Noni, Lynette: WHISPER
Kirkus Reviews. (Mar. 1, 2018):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Noni, Lynette WHISPER KCP Loft/Kids Can (Young Adult Fiction) $17.99 5, 1 ISBN: 978-1-77138-938-9
For more than two years, Jane Doe, aka subject Six-Eight-Four, has been subjected to daily interrogation and painful medical experiments in a secret government laboratory.
Lengard, the underground facility where she's incarcerated, has stripped Jane of all comforts except the invigorating pleasures of combat training with dark-skinned Enzo, one of her captors. She remains silent for the authorities' protection as well as her own, knowing that her voice possesses dangerous powers. Perpetual harsh treatment has made it easy to keep her guard up until she is assigned a new therapist: Attractive Landon Ward, blond, green-eyed, and close in age to 18-year-old Jane, is assigned to break through her defenses using kindness and patience. He arranges for Jane to move into his sister's comfortable apartment in the facility and even takes her on an excursion aboveground with his young cousins. Pale-skinned, blue-eyed Jane is shocked to learn she's been held captive in the heart of downtown Sydney, Australia. In a dramatic incident on a bustling street, she saves the life of Ward's niece, but this changes their relationship in unexpected ways. Ward has manipulated her once; is he doing so again?
Readers willing to overlook rubber science are rewarded with appealing characters and<
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Noni, Lynette: WHISPER." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Mar. 2018. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A528959806/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=fafa8884. Accessed 9 June 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A528959806
Whisper
Stacey Comfort
Booklist. 114.12 (Feb. 15, 2018): p78.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist/
Full Text:
Whisper.
By Lynette Noni.
May 2018.320p. Kids Can/KCP Loft, $17.99 (9781771389389); paper, $ 10.99 (9781525300417). Gr. 9-12.
Alyssa--aka Jane Doe, aka Subject 684--has been locked up for two years, six months, and fourteen days. After a voluntary admission to a psych ward, she was snatched up by the security team at Lengard, who were intent on making her into an asset for their use. Two years later, they've gotten nowhere, and they're ready to make Alyssa disappear. When new evaluator Landon Ward takes on her case, Alyssa's given a reprieve from the days of mental and physical torture designed to break her down into nothing but a shell. Ward actually treats her like a human, a feeling she's completely unused to. It's enough to make her let her guard down, until an accident reveals why Lengard wants her--and that they will stop at nothing to use her for their own ends. Australian author Noni has crafted an excellent entry novel that's<< stylistically quite different from other books in the genre>>. Readers, intrigued by Alyssa and her mystery, will surely beg for more.--Stacey Comfort
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Comfort, Stacey. "Whisper." Booklist, 15 Feb. 2018, p. 78. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A531171642/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=3d1d6682. Accessed 9 June 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A531171642
Akarnae
Children's Bookwatch. (May 2015):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2015 Midwest Book Review
http://www.midwestbookreview.com/cbw/index.htm
Full Text:
Akarnae
Lynette Noni
Pantera Press
PanteraPress.com
c/o Smith Publicity
1930 E. Marlton Pike, Suite I-46, Cherry Hill, NJ 08003
9781921997501 $TBA pbk. / $4.99 Kindle www.amazon.com
Also available as an ebook, Akarnae: The Medoran Chronicles Begin is a high fantasy novel that will appeal to readers of all ages. Alex is a teenaged young woman suddenly stranded in a magical school in the world of Medora, far from home. She is fortunate enough to find friends in this strange and wondrous new world, but there are also dangers, and she cannot shake the intuition that something cruel and terrible is waiting for the right moment to make its move. Only Alex can save the Medorans from extinction, but at what cost? Is there any way for her to return home? Akarnae is<>r, and a treasure for connoisseurs of the genre. Highly recommended.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Akarnae." Children's Bookwatch, May 2015. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A414824758/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=5cbc72fb. Accessed 9 June 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A414824758
NONI, Lynette. Whisper
Jen McConnel
School Library Journal. 64.2 (Feb. 2018): p106.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/
Full Text:
NONI, Lynette. Whisper. 320p. KCP Loft. May 2018. Tr $17.99. ISBN 9781771389389.
Gr 8 Up--More than two years have passed since a silent, dangerous girl wound up at Lengard, an underground governmental facility. Because of her refusal to speak, her guards and evaluators refer to her as "Jane Doe," and for two years, she has lived the life of a walking corpse. But when her newest evaluator, Ward, turns out to be young, charming, and compassionate, the walls Jane has built begin to crumble. When she finally speaks, she confirms what she already knows; her words have phenomenal power, and what she intends, she can create. But nothing at Lengard is as it seems, and when Jane encounters an external group of Speakers, everything she thinks she understands about her ability changes. Fans of Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard will enjoy this fast-paced work of science fiction about a girl with unexpected abilities who finds herself caught in a web of lies. Noni spends a great deal of time <
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
McConnel, Jen. "NONI, Lynette. Whisper." School Library Journal, Feb. 2018, p. 106. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A526734135/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=e3b10ece. Accessed 9 June 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A526734135
Akarnae: The Medoran Chronicles Book One (Lynette Noni, Pantera)
2 October 2014 Unlocked content from the archive.
This is another book about ‘young people at magic school’, which we’ve seen a lot of in the post-Harry Potter market. To be fair, the magic school plot device was established long before J K Rowling, and it’s the tweaks and quirks that a writer puts into their version that set a book apart. With Akarnae, debut author Lynette <
Stefen Brazulaitis is the owner of Stefen’s Books in Perth
Akarnae: The Medoran Chronicles Book One
Lynette Noni
Pantera
Reviewed by Stefen Brazulaitis
Released February 2015
Paperback
ISBN 9781921997501
RRP 19.99
Book Review: Arkanae: The Medoran Chronicles Book 1, by Lynette Noni
0
By Rod Lewis on August 7, 2016
Books & Literature, Breaking, Family
Any young adult fantasy novel will inevitably be compared to the Harry Potter series and Arkanae is no exception, although it’s with good reason. There are many surface similarities: lost youth finding a place in a seemingly magical world, finding friends with amazing families, and facing the darkest foe as the Chosen One. Yet having acknowledged that, the similarities end there.
Arkanae is<< a refreshingly enjoyable debu>>t novel by Lynette Noni and the first in a multi-book story called The Medoran Chronicles. It centres around 16-year-old Alexandra Jennings who accidentally finds herself in a parallel world known as Medora. Unable to find her way home, Alex is enrolled in the Akarnae Academy, a boarding school for teenagers with special powers. There she befriends Bear and Jordan, two mates who guide her through this seemingly advanced and magical realm. Discovering that her arrival was anticipated, Alex struggles to find her own special talent while an exiled super-being plots to use her to return home, seize power, and commit genocide against the human race.
The real strength of Noni’s writing is in her characters. The adults and teenagers alike are all people we know; people we can relate to; with idiosyncrasies that matter, fleshing their personalities out to the fullest extent. There are the predictable clichés of the caring fatherly figure, the fiercely loyal friends, the difficult roommate, and the smooth, slimy villain, but even these characters find their niche as<
Her imagination runs rife, launching into the fantasy adventure almost immediately and drawing the reader into this new world through the eyes of the protagonist. Noni never seems to run out of ideas, bringing new surprises with each chapter. More than that, she explains the magical elements with science and technology, insisting that each gift and illusion is based in the physical laws of Medora.
It’s great to read of worlds that are far from the dystopian visions we are more commonly fed. Through it all, Noni’s novel focusses on important teenage issues, including friendships, the need to fit in, and the desire to start finding your place in the world. Her tale is an exciting page-turner and an impressive debut to a thrilling new YA fantasy series.
Arkanae is out now in paperback from Pantera Press, along with Book 2 of The Medoran Chronicles, Raelia.
Reviewed by Rod Lewis
Twitter: @StrtegicRetweet
Rating out of 10: 8
Lynette Noni: Akarnae
February 23, 2015 Ron Desiatnik
AKARNAE, written by Lynette Noni and published by Pantera Press, is an engaging book. True it is that it has recognisable elements of the Harry Potter saga, the Narnia chronicle and the X-men franchise, but they fit neatly into the story and, when it comes to sheer inventiveness, the book would satisfy any fantasy devotee. The author has clearly given her imagination a free rein: ideas such as <
The work is clearly directed at the teenage market, and the author excels in the <<>>use of teenage cadence and expression.
The story never lags. Indeed, it only takes nine pages before the heroine, Alex, finds herself in the alternative world of Medora.
One weakness is the characterisation of Alex. Perhaps because so much happens to her, the author spends virtually no time in telling the reader about what sort of person she is, her likes and dislikes and her idiosyncrasies.All the dangers and tribulations she endures and overcomes, often with help, only because she has been “Chosen”. Apart from the fact that without Alex the story would collapse, if she were removed from the latter part of the book, the thought does arise as to whether many would care. However there are 4 more books planned to detail Alex’s further adventures, presumably in Medora, and therefore ample opportunity to reverse that impression.
For all teenagers who dream of other worlds and the extraordinary experiences they might find in them, this book is recommended.
Review: Whisper by Lynette Noni
by 1girl2manybooks on May 8, 2018
Whisper (Whisper #1)
Lynette Noni
Pantera Press
2018, 332
Copy courtesy of the publisher
Review {from the publisher/Goodreads.com}:
“Lengard is a secret government facility for extraordinary people,” they told me.
I believed them. That was my mistake.
There isn’t anyone else in the world like me.
I’m different. I’m an anomaly. I’m a monster.
For two years, six months, fourteen days, eleven hours and sixteen minutes, Subject Six-Eight-Four — ‘Jane Doe’ — has been locked away and experimented on, without uttering a single word.
As Jane’s resolve begins to crack under the influence of her new — and unexpectedly kind — evaluator, she uncovers the truth about Lengard’s mysterious ‘program’, discovering that her own secret is at the heart of a sinister plot … and one wrong move, one wrong word, could change the world.
I love Lynette Noni’s Akernae series and it’s not finished yet so I was quite surprised when I found out she had another book coming out from a brand new series just a few months after the fourth in the Akernae series. I immediately added it to my wishlist, curious to see what else she’d been cooking up.
Subject 6-8-4 in a secret facility known as Lengard is only referred to as Jane Doe, because she won’t tell them her name. In fact she hasn’t uttered a sound since she arrived, over two and a half years ago. Every day she is put through a rigorous training regime, sits through psychological evaluation and is brutally experimented on. And every day she remains silent, no matter what tortures are inflicted upon her. But unexpectedly she’s given a new ‘evaluator’ – and a definitive window of time. If she doesn’t show them what they want to see, then they’ll cut her from the program. And she knows what that means.
‘Jane’ is hiding a terrible secret which is the reason she doesn’t speak. After so much deprivation (Jane is severely isolated, spending the time she isn’t training or being experimented on in a cell, fed a gruel that covers the nutritional needs she requires but is tasteless, etc), Jane is suddenly passed over to a new evaluator, a young man perhaps only a year or two older than she is. He’s kind to her, perhaps the first person to be truly so and it takes her by surprise. She’s also given some privileges, allowed to lead a more normal life away from her cell, wear regular clothes. When Jane finally does show her gift it’s not on purpose but it’s enough for them to see what they need to. And it’s enough for Jane to be set on a path that leads her to question again everything about the program she’s supposed to be involved in.
Okay, so. There’s no denying that there are a few ‘vibes’ in this book that feel a little familiar, that remind me of other bits and pieces of books. But there’s also some quite new and unique stuff as well. Firstly, the setting is amazing – utilising Sydney’s CBD in the most unusual and creative of ways and I really enjoyed that. Likewise the trip to Taronga Zoo really helps anchor the reader in the setting. If you’ve been to Sydney then you’re aware of where the zoo is, how you get there and the experience that involves. It’s a quintessential part of exploring the city. Also I found the idea of Lengard quite fascinating, even when there are some obviously sinister components to it. What they are doing to Jane is horrific and I was curious why it took them so long to try and different method. Jane has lasted over two and a half years being regularly tortured, it’s clear that she wasn’t going to crack under that particular pressure. But to deprive her of everything for so long – regular food, nice clothes, friendship and companionship may have been the long game in order to shower her with kindness all at once and break through her resolve.
Despite the strength she’s shown resisting breaking under torture, Jane is scarred on the inside. She has what she believes is the most terrible of secrets and she’s petrified of it coming out. She has no idea that her special ‘gift’ for want of a better word, can be harnessed and controlled and she has very little self confidence. It seems that a lot of trying to get Jane to reveal herself and then help her understand it in the aftermath, involved playing games with her head. A lot of it seemed counter productive to be honest and gives you the feeling that there are a lot of underlying motives and sinister scenarios, especially when Jane gets an introduction to a rebel group that she’s been led to believe are terrorists.
I liked this more than I liked the first Akernae book and I’ve come to love that series so much so that actually gives me a really good feeling about this because I think Lynette <
Overall I enjoyed this – it has a few wrinkles to iron out and there were times when it felt too much like something I’d read before but it definitely got better as it went on and I am keen to see where it goes from here.
7/10
Book #84 of 2018