My series interviewing my fellow First Love authors continues. Meg Boepple has contributed a romantic fantasy tale for the eponymous Dragon Soul Press anthology entitled Message in a Bottle. Here are her thoughts on her story and more…

What drew you to the First Love anthology?

I’ve been a fantasy fan since junior high and a reader of romance since high school. In college I read an essay by JRR Tolkien where he basically said we humans have an innate yearning for fairy stories, happy endings, good news. And I took that as total validation for my penchant for fantasy and romance. So…fast forward… First Love is a fantasy-romance anthology. Totally my cup of tea.

Give us a little tease for your short story for First Love.

Boy meets girl on the beach. It’s instant attraction… but he’s already promised to wed the daughter of his king even though he’s never met the future bride… Meanwhile, the pretty girl looks at this handsome dude with a ring on his finger and assumes she’d never be in his league even if he were available… and just to add a twist, he’s pretty sure she’s a siren out to break his heart and destroy his life.

Do you prefer your romantic fiction to end happily-ever-after, happy-for-now, tragically, or does it depend on the story?

Oh, totally HEA. There are way too many sad events and okay-for-now moments in real life. I want to escape to a better place when I pick up a book or go to a movie.

What fantasy elements (if any) do you use in your First Love story?

There are significant themes of Celtic mythology in a very modern setting, such as Manannan Mac Lir (the god of the sea) who weaves his magic throughout the story as well as heads up a multi-billion-dollar global enterprise…. The hero Sean is a Selkie (Seal/human shifter) and Moira might be a mermaid. Or a siren. Or just a pretty girl with a thing for rescuing sea turtles and cleaning their habitat on her spring break vacation.

What major theme(s) are you exploring in this story?

Love. Destiny. Identity. Faith. And a few others.

What inspired your story?

I think it started with something someone said to me in church, of all places… “We’re all daughters of the King. It’s just that most of us don’t think of ourselves as princesses. And we definitely don’t see ourselves as worthy enough to be pursued by the heroes.”

Next, a friend on Facebook shared an article about how ancient Inuit kayakers lost in the currents and washed ashore in northern Europe might have given rise to legends of Selkies and Mermaids. A few other random things came together and suddenly I had these two sweet young characters with issues and instant attraction and a story I really wanted to tell! About the only thing it wasn’t inspired by was a recent DCU movie. I didn’t even see a trailer, much less the movie, until after I’d finished the story story and submitted it. I think any resemblances to that are purely products of our culture. Or maybe the magic of Manannan Mac Lir, shaping our reality around us?

To what extent are your characters based on you or people you know?

These characters are totally out of my own head. Although some of Moira’s insecurities might be similar to mine, I absolutely can NOT sing and you’d never want me to try karaoke. Not ever. Even my cat gets upset when i sing in the shower!

Do you know your ending when you write, or do you start and see where the story or characters take you?

I usually know the ending in a general sense, but I’m more a pantser (write by the seat of my pants) than a plodder. And in this case the characters surprised me with this ending (Although the original ending I had planned is the basis for a sequel story).

What is the best thing about being a writer?

From the creative perspective: Asking “what if,” and being able to say “I don’t like that answer.” And from the communication perspective, hearing that something I’ve written has resonated with or impacted someone I otherwise would never have met.

What is the worst thing about being a writer?

For me…The years it takes to bring a project to completion of the first draft, and then looking at the beginning and realizing that my skills have grown to the point that it needs a complete re-do…which will take another year or so again!

To what extent (if at all) do you agree with the statement “write what you know”?

Meh. I really don’t. Homer did all right imagining the fall of Troy even though he wasn’t there. Jules Verne and HG Wells went pretty far from their personal experiences with their time machines and journeys to impossible places. Madeline L’Engle took me to Farandolae, battling Echthroi, on unicorn rides, and I’m pretty sure she wasn’t “writing what she knew.” Imagination counts for a lot, in my book. (Pun intended, of course).

Are you promiscuous or monogamous with your genre of choice?

I write 2 very distinct genres under 2 different names. So… you make that call. Monogamous but with split identity disorder?

Which writers inspire you?

Madeline L’Engle, definitely. I adore her children’s books, but also her deep spiritual connection to the soul of the artist. Then there’s those in my writing community, my circle so to speak, lesser known but still inspirations to me like Jessica White and Lena Nelson Dooley and Lisa Miller Crane. I’d give a shout out to a jillion more, too, but that will do for now.

What other books or short stories have you written?

Well, let’s see… A novella Explosions and Fireworks was published in a collection titled Summer Fireworks in 2017 which I’m hoping will be re-released as a stand-alone this summer… I had a short story Intentional Consequences in Forbidden Rites in 2016 … and I’ve written some drama pieces ranging from monologue to full three-act musical that were performed in local churches several years ago.

What is your current work-in-progress?

I’ve got a couple irons in the fire, including that sequel to Message in a Bottle. I’m about half or ⅔ through the first draft of a magical realism romance set on a horse ranch in Oklahoma called Horsing Around. And I’m also the same distance through the first draft of a women’s fiction, about a refugee/survivor of a civil war in an African country and her need to deal with the past in order to embrace the opportunities of the future – working title Out of the Desert.

What advice would you give someone who tells you they want to be a writer?

Oh, I’ve got lots of advice! First… It’s not something you WANT to be, it’s something you ARE the moment you write or type that first word on the page, so go for it! Second …To be a good writer, a strong communicator, takes practice. You can’t practice until you start…so go for it! Third, the first draft is for you; the revisions are for your market/readership/audience. Since you can’t edit till you’ve got a draft in front of you, just go for it, and write! I guess you could sum it all up as: “Go for it!”

Read more from Meg Boepple here.

To pick up a copy of First Love either in paperback or on Kindle, click here (in the UK) and here (in the US).