An interview that turned into a conversation between N.R. Walker, author of Imago, and Julie Bozza, author of Butterfly Hunter, in which we talk about butterflies, Australia, and other transformative matters.

Julie: Congratulations on your new novel Imago! What was it that inspired you to write this story?

N.R.: I was scouting pre-made cover sites about a year beforehand (it’s my go-to procrastination hobby LOL) and found the striking cover with the butterfly. I had to have it, even though I didn’t have a story, or even an idea for one, at that point.

Twelve months later, when I was travelling around the US, I had a scene come to me of a guy at an airport who was going to miss an important meeting because there was a car-rental error, so another guy offers him a lift, and thus, the two characters meet.

I let that play around in my head for a bit, had descriptions, character names, all I needed was occupations… then I remembered the butterfly cover I’d bought, and presto!! Lawson was a lepidopterist! Then the whole story fell into place. It was perfect! But the idea of him being a butterfly expert was never paramount to my planning. It was the cover I found that set the whole thing into motion.

N.R.: How about you? What was the inspiration behind Butterfly Hunter?

Julie: I was going to say that I also had an odd source of inspiration for my story, but then I thought that maybe inspiration by its very nature is always somewhat unexpected.

My source was a throwaway remark by a kind person on Goodreads, who said she liked my writing so much that she’d read anything by me, even a story about two men chasing butterflies. She meant it as the most unlikely scenario possible from someone who’d written The Definitive Albert J. Sterne, and I took it as such and chuckled. But then of course a moment later I began thinking, well, how would that be…? I soon realised the idea would be a good match with a pair of characters who were already developing in my head, and it was perhaps a chance to write about an Australian setting – and from there it was as if the Muse was dictating the story to me. I love it when that happens!

Julie: What is the significance of butterflies to your characters or the story? Why butterflies and not … whales?

N.R.: LOL I know!! Truly it was the cover. But it suited Lawson’s quiet nature. I knew Jack was big and outdoorsy, the opposite of Lawson, but perfect for him in every way. As I decided on his career as a lepidopterist, his character growth arc became more prevalent to me. As Jack describes in Imago, Lawson started out like a caterpillar – head down, working hard, then tests himself until he’s finally able to let his wings show. That sounds really corny, but in my mind’s eye, that’s how I see Lawson.

But a book about whales is a great idea… *ponders the possibilities* 😉

Julie: LOL! That’s the creative process for you. I was the same: I wrote ‘whales’ as something that seemed the complete opposite of butterflies, and a moment later was pondering the possibilities. I can just see us doing this again in a year’s time, talking together about our whales stories!

But while we’re still on butterflies… The transformative nature of butterflies was certainly a theme I explored as well. I still find it astonishing that butterflies go through four entirely different forms in their lives! I don’t know if my characters can be said to transform in quite such a dramatic degree, but it’s true that they both emerge from a chrysalis and grow into their best selves.

The other theme I drew on was the butterflies’ brief lifespan, which can be as short as a few days for the adult butterfly. I definitely wanted to have my characters realise that life is too short and uncertain not to make the most of it while we can.

Julie: Australia itself seems vivid and colourful enough to count as a character in its own right. What do you like best (and least) about setting your stories there?

N.R.: Oh, I love it. It’s funny, because when I started writing, I first set all my books in the US. I don’t really even know why – I just did. Maybe because all the books I read were set there? I really don’t know. But then I wrote Red Dirt Heart, and totally fell in love with it. It was more natural for me to write, and I think that showed in my writing. So many reviewers told me they felt the landscape, Sutton Station, felt like another main character. And that to me was a huge compliment. The majority of my readers aren’t Australian, so I think there’s the exotic appeal for them as well.

My favourite parts about writing Australian are being true to myself. Though I find myself still writing US English sometimes. My American editor has to change some words back to Australian. LOL

But giving Australian gay characters an identity has become important to me.

The least favourite part? Hmm, trying to stay true to the Australian character and not sounding like Steve Irwin. LOL

Julie: My writing has been the same. I started with US settings, because the books and films I was inspired by at the time were set there. I was writing about serial killers, and mobsters, and it just all seemed to fit. Then someone in the biz challenged me to write an Australian story for him. And it was a challenge! But I decided to use that, to go with that. Make the problem part of the solution, you know? Hence the story that ultimately became Mitch Rebecki Gets a Life, in which an American investigative journalist is forced to live in Sydney for a while, and gets himself into trouble because he can’t take seriously the idea that Australia also has organised crime.

(BTW, it’s funny you should mention Steve Irwin, as my title Butterfly Hunter is a nod to his Crocodile Hunter. Crikey!)

N.R.: You had the regional dialect covered in Butterfly Hunter, being from both Australia and England yourself. I loved seeing the differences between the locations and how that reflected in the characters. Was having an English and Australian couple intentional for that reason?

Julie: Yes, it was. Having been a stranger in a strange land myself – twice, now, seeing as I came back to the UK after decades in Oz – I thought I’d make the most of that and let it inform the two characters. I’m sure you’ll agree, it’s always useful to have one character as a fish out of water, so that a certain amount of exposition just comes naturally.

And then there was the idea that things like the supernatural or spiritual might be at least partly informed by location. Hence Dave is connected to the Dreaming in Australia, in a modest way, but when in England he feels the stone circle near their honeymoon cottage is just interesting – while Nicholas gets a much more unsettling vibe from it.

Julie: I understand you have a sequel coming out soon. Did you always know that Lawson and Jack’s story would continue beyond Imago? What is it that prompted / insisted on more than one book?

N.R.: It’s weird, because I rarely know there will be a sequel until I get to the end of the first book and the characters tell me they’re not done yet. With Imago, I got to the end and I knew… there was more to tell. I guess it also helped that the entire timeline of Imago only spanned about three weeks LOL

I have finished the sequel, it’s currently with my editor, and I’m hoping to have it out around April 10th. But the second book is the last which people might not like too much LOL I mean, there’s at least a dozen butterfly expedition stories I could write, right?? LOL Well, possibly. But more importantly (to me at least) it’s also about the arc of their relationship. And for these boys, it was just two books.

The sequel is titled Imagines, which is the Latin plural for Imago.

N.R.: Was Butterfly Hunter always going to be a trilogy? Tell me about your writing process…

Julie: LOL! There’s nothing I like talking about more!

Butterfly Hunter was actually the first ‘proper’ romance I’d written, and I had no idea whether it would be a success or not. While I was writing it, in order to believe in Dave and Nicholas’s HEA, I had to think ahead into their future – and hence I’d already thought out the second volume which happens right away, with Dave following Nicholas to England, and then the third volume which looks ahead seven years into their more settled future. I had to know all that could happen for them, including the practicalities of visas and so on. (It’s no accident that Dave’s father was born in England!)

So I had the ideas thought out, but it was only when Butterfly Hunter proved quite popular, that I said to Manifold Press there’s another story or two here that I could write, if they want them. Luckily they did.

Julie: Final question! What are you working on now / next?

N.R.: I’m hoping to give Yanni, from my Spencer Cohen Series, his story. I’ve never actually done this – gone back to a completed series and given a secondary character his story. After I finished Spencer, I wondered if Yanni would speak to me. Apparently he wasn’t ready then – but he is now. Well, I have snippets of scenes, and that’s all. So I’m hoping he gets a bit more chatty before I start! It’s not set in Australia, so now my editor will be changing Australian words to American. She might possibly want to strangle me!

I have another series also playing in the back of my mind, but whether that storyline sees the light of day is something I’m debating. It’s a Sydney-based crime trilogy, that deals with some not-nice subject matter, but there is a real life case right now that is a little similar and that’s not something I feel comfortable with.

But I can only ever write the story the character tells me to write. We’ll just have to see how stubborn he is, and how much of his story he’s willing to change (to remove the real life connection). I already have his name, description, personality traits etc, so that’s usually a pretty good sign the story will happen. I’ll do Yanni’s story first and see how this new character feels then.

It’s kinda crazy that imaginary voices in our heads have so much power of us, isn’t it? LOL

Julie: It’s awesome, yes!

I have a novella coming out on 1 May which will be something a bit different, inspired by Francis Beaumont’s play The Knight of the Burning Pestle. To be honest, I have no idea how it will be received – but I had to write it, and usually that’s a good sign! {touch wood}

I’m also researching a romance set in India in the late 1700s / early 1800s. It’s another idea that has been with me for some time now, and won’t go away – so while it’s daunting to think of how much I need to get right, I have girded my loins and am preparing as much as I can.

Thank you for an awesome chat, N.R., and good luck with all your present and future stories!

<3

If you’d like to know more, please come find us and our books!

• N.R. on Twitter
• N.R on Facebook
• N.R.’s website
• Imago on Amazon US
• Julie on Twitter
• Julie’s Facebook page LIBRAtiger
• Julie’s blog
• Butterfly Hunter on Amazon US

And coming April 10th…