Dreams to Books: Writing Christian Fantasy with Author Nicole Patrice Thomas

Nicole, thank you so much for joining me today. Go ahead and introduce yourself to the listeners and just walk us through your writing journey.

Hi everybody. I'm Nicole Patrice Thomas and I'm a Christian Fantasy author and a children's book author. I started writing in my early teens, writing poetry. You know, you get all these big angsty feelings and the world is so hard, and you know so I wrote poetry and spoken words to kind of vent those feelings. And so, growing up, you know I'm very active in church, so I write poetry for special occasions, services that we would have in church, and everybody would always be like, oh, you should. You know, you should write books, you should do this. And I'm like, yeah, it's not really my thing. You know, i'm going to stick with just, you know, my own personal collection of poetry. And then, you know, time went on and 2020 came and professionally I am, i worked in hospitality, so I was at the airport here and I was a lounge supervisor and I absolutely loved it. But in the seven years that I was there, i had gotten all the promotions that I could get, so I had capped out. You know I hit that ceiling. There was nothing else for me to do and while I enjoyed it, it was very, you know, repetitive and unless my general manager had planned to retire, there was nothing for me to do So, being a Christian, i prayed and I was like you know, god, you're going to have to show me what you want me to do at this point, because I felt rudderless and I was like I know I have a purpose, but I don't know what it is right now. So could you give me a hint? and literally a week later, three o'clock in the morning I don't know what it is about those early morning, you know, god calls. But he woke me up with a dream and it's the first chapter in my first book in that Christian fantasy series. And I woke up hearing the woman's voice. I could see her running through the misladen forest, heavily pregnant, terrified, being chased by these people and wielding powers that were, you know, crazy. And just that's first chapter is what I wrote. And then I wrote for 30 days nonstop, and that's how that first book came out.

It sounds like it was really meant to be. It came to you and you're like I have to do this and did you write the entire book in 30 days?

I did Wow that's fast.

That's what you know like it's in you and it needs to come out.

Exactly that's exactly how it felt, like I know. The scripture says you know, the gospel is like fire is shut up in your bones. But that's how it felt like I had to get this down on paper and anytime I would get writer's block. It's because I took the story to direction God didn't intend it to go, and so I would have to stop, delete whatever chapters I had wrote and go back and say, okay, what are the characters doing now? What do you want them to say? you know what's happening. And then I would get that flow going again and that's how it was to write. The whole trilogy was like that.

I would love to hear more about your books.

The fantasy series. It's young adult, so it's really geared towards 16 and up, even though you know there's no adult language, there's no, you know, sexual scenes or anything like that, but there's fight scenes, there are some you know murders going on so it is for, intended for a slightly older audience, but I've had readers say, you know, it's like if Harry Potter met Game of Thrones, met Chronicles of Narnia. So it's the Christian element in the faith, but it's backstabbing and murder and magic, and so it follows the path of, you know, one young man his name is Alrick, as he finds out who he is in relation to the kingdom, and he's got choices to make as he grows up and comes of age whether or not he's going to really become who he was destined to be or stay in the shadows and just live a regular existence. And he has, you know, a half sister, that's, you know, traveling with him. He meets up with a lot of different other characters that kind of inspire and come alongside him to teach him what he needs to learn in different seasons of his life, and, you know, there's lots of scripture references. There's a baptism scene that I absolutely love, and so it's really it's a coming of age story for not just him but a few of the other characters. And then there's two characters in particular who kind of steal the show Um um Acronias and Alrit's mother, alaina.

And um air quotations. he couldn't see it, but air quotes, air quotes.

His mother And, um, they steal the show and they're actually the reason. I had readers ask like you know what happened to them, where do they come from? You know things like that. So I wrote two prequels to explain their backstory. So those two short stories are only available in the omnibus. So it's a it's a hardcover omnibus that has the whole series in it Plus those two bonus stories, so you can get them there or you can sign up on my website for my newsletter and you'll get one of the short stories.

Oh, that's awesome. That'll sound so good. Do you have like a fourth book in the works?

Now, through that series I did leave an opening for one character for a spin off of it, but I haven't really touched on that yet. I've been focusing on the kids books now and um, that's the kids book is called the flower girl and it's a brightly illustrated, um cautionary tell on obedience. It's in English, it's in Spanish, it has a coloring and activity book that goes with it And it was inspired by my daughter when she was probably like you know, five or six She's being. You know, as most kids are disobedient, and she didn't want to go to bed And so she was like mommy, tell me a bedtime story. So I made up a story about a little girl named Grace Grace is her middle name and um, grace gets lost because she didn't listen to her mom. So it's um, it has remnants of the practical child in it and that welcoming home aspect of the parents and teaching kids. You know the importance of following rules, because rules are given because we love you and we want to protect you And um, she meets friends who try to help her and she's still not learning the lesson. So she goes through a few stages where she's giving chance after chance to be obedient until she finally gets it.

That sounds good. I want to get that from my youngest daughter. Do you have any more children's books that you're going to work on? Yes, you just said you did So yeah.

I have two manuscripts that are actually completely done, you know, working on getting them illustrated. So I have a children's devotional that's good for kind of like um, probably closer to middle grade, So like eight to 10, and um another flower girl book, but this is like a traditional wedding style flower girl book.

Oh neat. Tell everybody the titles of your canisie series.

So that trilogy is called tales of El Hanai and people was like well, what does that even mean? Is that a real word? And no, it's not a real word.

Um, i was wondering that. I was like I hope she talks about that. Do I not know this part of the Bible?

That's what's funny, though, because, well, we know, el is Judeo-Christian for God. So that part I kind of understood. But like when I was writing that, you know, that morning, when I woke up and I was writing the first chapters and everything I'm you know, i'm having this whole dialogue with God going back and forth, like you know well, where is this all happening? You know what's the name of this place, and I, like it was almost audible as I'm getting into the car to go to work El, hanai. And I'm like, well, what is that? And so I Google it. As you know, there's no, it's not a word. So I just break it down into two parts El, which is, you know, for God, and then Hanai is actually Hawaiian or, you know, polynesian for adopted family, and when you read the story it totally makes sense for being adopted into a family. So, in essence, we are God's adopted children.

That fits so perfectly. I feel like it could be a really good television series too.

From your lips. I mean, i've heard it so much like people like, oh, it should be a movie, it should be. I'm like, well, i would love to get it in front of producers, but I don't really know how to do that.

Well, i'll do some research and help you out, because I think it would be like a good series or a movie or something. I feel like the visuals would be so awesome Yeah.

And I mean it has. You know, there's dragons, there's wolves, It's just like all the stuff that I love about fantasy, without the extra stuff that we just don't need, because I feel like our young adults and teenagers, like they're going to come in contact with all of that stuff daily. When I read fiction, it's because I want to escape the, you know, all that excess. I don't need it. So I wanted to give, you know, i gave them a place where they could still get all that stuff without that, because it doesn't add to anything.

Right. So managing a creative life alongside motherhood can be quite challenging sometimes, right? So how do you strike a balance between your creative pursuits, your writing and being a mom?

A lot of early mornings or late nights when everybody else is asleep. For me it'd be early mornings, because I'm not a night person at all. I'm usually like the baby goes to bed nine o'clock, i'm going to bed.

So you're going to bed right after this, probably right.

Very close to it. You know, got to clean up and all that stuff, but, yeah, very close to it. So, as usually I'm up, you know, four o'clock in the morning is like a golden hour for me, just to be up when everything is still silent and I get my devotion in and then I can, you know, get any writing done that I need to get done. Aside from that, like I take them with me, if I have a book vendor, come on, kids, we're going out, you know, and my oldest, she's 10 now, so she's able to help, and she helps with the baby who's 11 months, and you know she's a big helper, so she's we go out anywhere. She's like buy my mom's books. My mom's books are awesome, that's the best. She's my own personal height man.

That's amazing. It's like they say you're like a mom of yours, she's like your daughter George.

She is Absolutely.

Oh, and that's nice that you have an older daughter that can help with the baby too. Yeah, 11 months old, oh, so you're probably still tired, i'm tired, i'm exhausted, always. For any overwhelmed, tired moms out there who aspire to like, become writers and follow their passions, do you have any advice to them or just simply words of encouragement?

Give yourself lots and lots of grace, because it's not a race. You know it's a marathon, and take your time. There's no deadline for a dream. You know. If that's really what you're called to do and what you're passionate about doing, just take your time and do it. Whether that's five minutes between you, know naps for the babies and the kids, or while they're at you know whatever practice they're at. If you're just jotting down notes, you know in Google Docs on your phone, and then you can come to it later and put everything together the way you want it to. But one step is still a step in the right direction.

So see, sometimes I have that attitude and that personality of like instant gratification. If I get a big idea of something I want to do, i'm like, okay, i want to do it now. And if it's like I can't get it done within the next week, why do it? Why try? It's going to take too long, like first. like I'm telling myself that I have this deadline to get my own made up dream and passion done in a week. And that's not how it is. It can take a long time, especially with a mom, with a baby too. It can take a long time to complete something. So I love that you said don't put a timeline on yourself. It's your own dream, it's your own. it's like when you're an entrepreneur and you're starting something oh, can I do this in my business?

Like sure, it's your company, you can do whatever you want.

You know you can take it to the sky. You could just drive it to the ground, but it's all your choice. What do you want to do Exactly? So where can our listeners connect with you online or social media, And where can they also purchase your books?

Well, i'm online. I tried to make it really easy for people to find me, so it's literally my name, nicole Patrice T. I'm the same name on Facebook, instagram, twitter, tick tock. Nicole Patrice T, my website. You can purchase books that'll be signed and you'll get a little extra swag in there when you when you do buy books through them. Again, the cold patrice Thomas, calm. My books are also on Amazon, barnes and Noble, target, calm. Walmart, calm. And if you're in New York, you're in upstate Poughkeepsie, new York. You can go to the Poughkeepsie Galleria Mall and there is a vendors market called low Kelly and my books are on the shelves there. And there's also a vendors market here in Queens, the Green Acres Mall. They also have a low Kelly market, my books on a shelf there as well.

Perfect. I will put your links to all your social media and places to buy your book in the show notes of this episode. So if you're on Apple podcasts, just swipe up on the episode and there will be the show notes. Sometimes it is tricky to find show notes, but it'll all be there and also on the website Mom2createcom and you know Facebook, instagram, all the things, so then you can have a quick, a quick tap or click to get to Nicole And Because I saw you know the name of your podcast Mom's who create and I literally just had a shirt made up that says I was created to create and I was just like. That is awesome, see, it was meant to be there. Find you in that Facebook group and we would connect. That's so awesome. Thank you so much for joining me today. You have been a pleasure to talk to and I am so glad that I have met you, and Thank you for writing these awesome books for you know, young adults that like fantasy and like some clean fantasy and some good message fantasy too. So thank you so much.

Thank you, Kelly. It's been wonderful. I love talking to you. You're awesome and easy to talk to.