Not all furry works are created by those within the community. Sometimes, those out-of-fandom creators can find their way towards our wonderful community, and sometimes they like what they see so much that they decide to stick around! That is very much the case with today’s author spotlight – Joaquín Baldwin.
Joaquín was kind enough to answer a few questions about his writing process and works. I hope you find them insightful and interesting!
For those who aren’t familiar with you, did you want to introduce yourself and your novel?
You might know me better for posting dank Zootopia memes, or for my work at Disney or in animated shorts, but I’ve been working on my own novels for quite a while now and trying to make this my main, big project for the next several years. Wolf of Withervale is the first book of the Noss Saga, an ambitious epic told in six parts (all six books are fully written, don’t worry, I won’t leave you hanging). It’s an intrinsically queer story, the kind of tale I wanted to read growing up (although this is an adult novel, not YA, but that wouldn’t have stopped young me). It deals with a magical mask, with themes of transformation, of the nature of consciousness, of gender and identity. It’s a very sex- and size-positive series, but it also has all that you’d expect from an epic tale of massive scope.
What is your writing process like? Do you outline and plot, or are you a pantser?
I’m in the middle. I outline key events I want to get to (including the ending), so I know what I’m telling is something that will go somewhere important, and then I write linearly from start to finish trying to reach those moments. In my outlines I don’t know much about the characters I’ll encounter, except a few, so I’m always surprised at who shows up and what their personalities are, and sometimes the assholes end up taking primary roles and screw up my plans, making me have to reshuffle certain things in my outlines. I enjoy those surprises, but I also need structure. Key moments to me can be a philosophical debate, a romantic thing, a time of self-discovery, a big battle, a death, an arrival at a key piece of information that will unravel the next stage in the adventure. It varies a lot, but it’s those chapters I just can’t wait to write, so once I get to them they pour out truly fast.
The first few days of writing a novel can be the most exciting and daunting part of the writing process. How easily did the first idea for The Noss Saga spawn into a functioning story? Where did that initial spark of an idea come from?
There are many ideas put together into one here. There is one core idea that came to me at 4 am on October 3rd 2020, that core piece tied all my other ideas together into something I could use for worldbuilding at a scale I had not considered before. I didn’t sleep much after that 4am dreamlike moment, and just kept planning around this new idea, then told myself I’d start writing on November 1st to coincide with NaNoWriMo (that’d give me enough time to mull it over, plan a bit, while also forcing me to actually start and not put it off forever). I don’t know where the idea came from. I’m a light sleeper, I wake up all the time at night and semi-hallucinate as I try to fall back asleep. It just came, unprompted. What was that core idea? I can’t tell you because it’d be a massive spoiler, but it has to do with the way the magic of Noss works.
What was the most enjoyable part of creating this series?
The epiphanies. Like that 4am one mentioned above, I had many others where things just clicked together, where a big story problem was solved (often between 2am and 4am, unfortunately), and it feels so great to have that happen. Often it also happens while writing, during those moments of pure flow where something clicks in place and it makes it look like I had planned setups and payoffs for ages just to get to this point, but it just happens in the spur of the moment and it brightens my day.
What was the most challenging aspect?
Giving up on having a life. I started this at the start of the pandemic, which at that time made it easy since there was no going out anywhere anyway. But it’s been consuming every moment of free time I have. I watch only a handful of movies a year, one or two TV shows at most, zero videogames, been going out on fewer photo roadtrips (what kept me sane before this all started), etc. I’m doing too much in too short a time, and it’s taking its toll.
Which authors or specific books have most influenced your work?
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien.
As obvious as this may be, I have to include this here. I read it when I was 15 years old, and I immediately fell in love with the world as much as with the characters.
The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King.
King’s series adds a grittier tone to fantasy that I truly enjoyed. The tone through a lot of the Noss Saga borrows from it. Even the very first line in my prologue echoes the first line of The Gunslinger!
The Broken Earth Series by N.K. Jemisin.
Orogeny, the magic system in this series, greatly inspired me to create my own magic system based on strict rules leaning more toward sci-fi than traditional fantasy. Incredible series that tackles themes of racism and climate change.
Dhalgren by Samuel R. Delany.
I don’t recall enjoying this thick book, but I’m still thinking about it. It’s weird, it’s visceral, chaotic, and I can’t even explain what it’s about. It’s a love it or hate it book, or perhaps both.
The Aleph and Other Stories by Jorge Luis Borges.
Reading Borges is knowing you’ll never write as well as Borges. These short stories are much larger than the scant pages they inhabit, and their imagery is elusive in their clarity. It’s poetry in prose. Read them in the original Spanish if possible.
Mars Trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson.
This series tackles sociological issues in a compelling way, and evolving through time. It’s the best kind of sci-fi, already starting big but then getting so big that you could never had seen it coming.
A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr.
A different kind of post-apocalyptic story. In the Noss Saga I explore similar themes of discovery about what was left behind by an ancient world, and how future generations reinterpret old norms and technology.
The Demon-Haunted World by Carl Sagan.
Sagan in general taught me to be a skeptic, to think with clarity and reason, but also to be a dreamer. Despite there being a “magic” of sorts in my fantasy world, it is tightly grounded in scientific concepts.
Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas R. Hofstadter.
The prevalent themes of consciousness and self-awareness in my saga are tightly linked to me reading this intimidating book. It is, to this date, my favorite non-fiction book of all time. It tries to explain consciousness from as close to a scientific way as can be approached, while playing mindtricks on the reader in increasingly more complex self-referential ways.
Imajica by Clive Barker.
Barker’s writings never hold back. He simply digs into his guts and pulls out the imagery that is needed, the emotions that are most raw. This book is huge in scope, and how it deals with sex and gender was refreshing, honest, uninhibited.
His Dark Materials Trilogy by Philip Pullman.
Another series that ties magic to tightly grounded scientific concepts, while still allowing itself to remain whimsical when needed. The animal and anthropomorphic aspects of the series remain a strong influence in what I crafted with Noss.
American Gods by Neil Gaiman.
The kindness of Gaiman is what strikes me most about his writing. His observations, his knowledge, his way of crafting myths of myths always come from a place of empathy and understanding. Sometimes when I’m stuck editing my own work, I try to read it in Gaiman’s soothing and mellifluous voice, then I find where the pacing is off.
The Kingkiller Chronicle Series by Patrick Rothfuss.
Rothfuss’ voice is lyrical, flowing effortlessly. His worldbuilding is entrancing, and his magic system solid and engaging. Being a debut author himself, it became a big inspiration for me to keep on pushing with my own work.
City of the Beasts by Isabel Allende.
A more lighthearted kind of fantasy written for young adults. As in Noss, this one deals with hidden worlds and the beauty of nature.
The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern.
Another poetic voice that hit me deeply. Beautiful imagery, iconic, mythical, made of so many snippets of other stories and voices but tying them together perfectly. My favorite fiction book in the last decade.
Xenogenesis Series by Octavia E. Butler.
Sci-fi that cleverly deals with sex and sexuality, as well as how the hierarchical mindset of humans ultimately become self-destructive.
Contact by Carl Sagan.
The movie was cool, but it’s an abbreviated thought. The book is vast, reaching to an idea so big and mind-blowing that was not possible to put into the film version. Although Book 1 in my series starts relatively small in scope, by the sixth book things do expand to unexpected places.
A Passion for Nature: The Life of John Muir by Donald Worster.
There is a character in Book 1 clearly inspired by Muir in his demeanor, philosophy, and even voice. This is a great introduction to Muir’s life and his life-long struggle to preserve wilderness.
The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
The man knows how to craft magic systems and write action sequences.
Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! by Richard Feynman
Unbounded curiosity. I often try to recreate that sense of wonder and discovery in Noss, and how joyful and exciting things small and things big can be.
What is the last book you read that you really love?
The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern. Pure poetry, visually mesmerizing.
What character of yours do you most identify with? And why?
It’s gonna be pretty obvious that Lago, the protagonist, is the closest. Gay, loves big bears and big guys, loves adventure, the stars, is kinda nerdy. But he’s not me. I put a lot of myself into all the characters I write, even the villains. Particularly with the villains I think that’s important, since it’s a way for me to make them more real and not just caricatures.
Besides writing, how do you like to spend your free time?
*cries at the mention of “free time”*
I used to have a life…
My biggest hobby is nature photography, but I haven’t had a chance to do it that often lately. It’s the perfect excuse to explore the world and see remote places you normally wouldn’t get to. My husband and I like to roadtrip and just wing it as we go, mostly skipping the touristy crap and getting lost on smaller roads, finding the good stuff.
You were embraced by the furry community after Zootopia. How much do you credit this community for shaping this book, and for wanting to see it through to the end?
A huge amount! As I said on the Acknowledgments page of the book, “In particular, thank you to my fervent furry following, who taught me to be courageous enough to be myself, to write a story that speaks my truth. You inspire me.” I’ve always enjoyed anthro art but wasn’t involved with the community till Zootopia, and that changed my path entirely. There’d be no Noss without the fandom.
Do you have any advice to give other writers?
Set a starting date between now and, say, 3 months from now. No more. Then start writing that day. You’re never ready to get started until you get started, so you have to take that first step. From there, it’s just a matter of consistency (I won’t say “write X amount every day” because I know people have different ways of working, and my own is for me alone, you have to find what works for you).
What types of stories would you like to see other people write more of?
I’d like to see more stories that feel consequential. An event, an opus, a grand orchestrated epic that has a purpose and it’s not just a way to sell books or to wing it from side story to side story. To me, themes of discovery, of the beauty of the natural world, of diverse ways of thought, those are the things that fascinate me. Sexuality and sex written in a natural, nuanced and revelatory way can be amazing.
It’s still early days, but what is next after The Noss Saga? Are there more stories waiting to be told?
It’s a huge world! I have ideas for stories that take place during certain events of the six-book series, and also ideas for a sci-fi story set in the same world but thousands of years in the future. There’s also the possibility of a tabletop RPG game, card game, and other things of that sort, but I promised myself I would not jump onto those things until after Book 6 is out, otherwise they’d become distractions. I want this project to last till I’m gone and after. I have too many illustrations to do, too many characters to design, too many more maps to add details to.
Most importantly of all, where can we find your work?
At https://www.joaquinbaldwin.com/
And also find me on Bluesky, at https://bsky.app/profile/joabaldwin.com, where I post stuff about what I’m working on. And you can also find me on that other website but who wants to go there any more? Screw that other website.
Please do check out Joaquín’s new book – and I hope some of the answers he has provided has helped discover something a little new about your writing process – or given you some great new books to read from his fantastic recommendations.
I am hopeful to bring back more of these author spotlights in the future – either from similar Q&As or guest blogs, or any number of possible avenues!
Until next time. Enjoy the remainder of Furry Book Month and share those great furry stories.
J.F.R. Coates
Furry Writers’ Guild 