I live in Amish Country and horses are often used for riding and transportation. Another common use around here is a pleasure riding and sports like jumping, racing, and showing, and this drew me to ask Tiffany Noelle Chacon to be in the author spotlight
Tiffany, you're a five-time International Arabian Horse Association national champion in equitation and dressage - what made you start writing JUMP?
I’ve always loved the written word and have been an avid reader my whole life. But I originally started writing during a particularly difficult time in my early 20s. I went from being a healthy, active person to slowly being overcome by an (at the time) unknown illness. I went from teaching lessons at a local barn and riding horses regularly, to barely being able to walk because of excruciating and debilitating pain in my joints. I had to quit my job and stop school. It was heartbreaking. I couldn’t do much at the time, but I could read, and I could write. So I started writing a story I’d had in my mind for a long time. Eventually, that led me to applying to get my Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing at the University of Tampa where I really dove headfirst into the writing world.
I started out writing science fiction stories, but after a lot of rejections and my stories going nowhere, I decided to put into practice what they say: write what you know. And I knew the horse world better than pretty much anything else. Writing JUMP was a breath of fresh air for me as a writer—this story flowed out of me like nothing else had before. This is the story I was meant to write.
My main character, Mila, watched her sister go through a tragic accident and is dealing with the repercussions of that. She has a form of PTSD with the accident and it’s keeping her from competing on the highest level with her horse. This is a very real experience in the show jumping world. I’ve personally experienced it on different levels—watching someone fall from their horse and have a Grand Mal seizure right on the ground in front of me, and then, it's my turn to go in the ring—with that visual in my mind! And of course, we all take falls when riding, and you always have to get back on the horse right away or else it becomes harder and harder to get back on. JUMP deals with these realities of the show jumping world.
What is your most memorable moment while competing?
Of course, I will always remember the moments where I won my national championships: standing in line with the other finalists on our horses, waiting for the announcer to say my name. And he did! Those were truly surreal moments and I’ll treasure them forever.
However, the best part about riding and competing is the bond that you form with your partner: your horse. It's a connection like no other. We live in Florida but the IAHA national championships at the time were in Oklahoma. One year we shipped my horse, Chancellor (AKA Bug), to Oklahoma and I didn’t see him for several days. I’ll never forget the moment I saw him again and went into his stall to say hi after we’d all gotten to Oklahoma. He reached out his head, put it over my shoulder, and pulled me to his chest. He hugged me! I’d never had a horse do that before or since, but it was one of those moments that really highlighted our closeness. I'd missed him, and he’d clearly missed me too. I will always cherish my bond with Bug.
What were you striving to convey with JUMP?
JUMP was a book borne out of my own struggle and pain—physical pain, and also the pain of rejection with my previous novels. It’s really a story of facing your fears and overcoming them. And I was writing to myself just as much as anyone else. The message of JUMP is that life hurts, pain happens, but we get to decide what to do with that hardship. We can let it cripple us, or we can keep pursuing our dreams and make that jump of faith.
How difficult was it to write about a character that is paralyzed?
I have a quote hanging in my office by Ernest Hemingway that says, “Write hard and clear about what hurts.” It’s hard to dig deep into the emotional and mental pain that’s caused by life’s difficulties, but I knew I needed to do that with this story—not just for the reader, but for myself. I often found myself emotionally drained after writing, but also very satisfied with the process. It was healing for me.
In book two of the JUMP series, I delve more into Anya’s mind (the paralyzed sister) and it’s not always pretty. There’s resentment, bitterness, and a desire for something she can’t have anymore. It can be hard to write that, but it’s real. We all feel that way—even without being paralyzed!—and it's healthy to face those emotions. It's not easy, but it’s necessary in many ways.
In JUMP, I look more at the impact of Anya’s accident on her sister, Mila. Whenever someone goes through a tragedy, it’s easy to forget that those catastrophes affect more than just the injured party. Families can be torn apart, spouses decimated, sibling relationships altered and friendships ended. And when you're one of the “secondary” victims of a tragedy, so often the people around you move on, but you haven’t. I learned this first-hand with my husband—I was the injured party with my chronic illness, but he’s a victim of that just as much as I am. But people don't really realize that. Your world is falling apart, but no one notices. This was a little bit of what I was trying to convey with Mila's story.
Do you have particular practices that help you write?
Well, I have two little boys that I homeschool, so the most important writing practice is to have babysitting! I also have what we call “quiet time” which is time during the day when the boys play (not always so quietly) in their room so I can focus and write. Being a mom has certainly shifted the dynamic for me as a writer: when it’s time to write, I have to write. I can’t goof off online or even clean the house. There are short windows to write in, and if I don't utilize those, I won't have a book at the end of it.
Music is also really important to my process, and it does take me some time to find the right playlist for what I’m working on. I notice that my writing flow is heavily impacted by the music I’m playing. Finding the right song helps me get into the minds of my characters. It’s one of the reasons I chose to include a playlist of all the songs in the novel at the beginning of the book—so readers can feel the vibe of the novel in addition to reading the words on the page.
I also don’t force myself to write in a linear way—if there’s a part of the story I feel like writing in the moment, I write it. Even if it’s the ending, and I haven’t written the beginning, that’s okay. All that matters is getting words on a page. It can always be edited!
Is there one message that is more important than others in your life?
My faith in God is the most important part of my life and even though this book isn’t a book specifically about faith in God, there is an underlying theme of letting others’ belief in you bolster you. One quote people have mentioned from JUMP that they loved is when the love interest, Alex, says to Mila: “Sometimes you have to borrow people’s faith in you.” And that’s one thing I’m so grateful for is that at my lowest point, I’ve always had someone who believed in me—whether that’s God, my husband, or my family. And we all have that, because God believes in us and is always rooting for us, even when we fall down, even when we don't have faith in Him, He’s cheering for us.
Who is your favorite author?
Diana Gabaldon. I love the way she immerses you in her world—it takes her an average of seven years to write one book, and it’s clear why that is. She broke all the genre rules and I applaud her for that. And of course, she created the best-written love story I’ve ever read in Claire and Jamie.
Is there anything else you would like readers to know?
If you read JUMP, don’t skip the scenes at the end from Alex’s perspective. They’re an epilogue of sorts—bonus chapters if you will. I actually never intended to publish these chapters, but once I wrote them and realized the depth of emotion and unrequited love Alex had for Mila, I knew I couldn’t keep these from readers. You’ll thank me later!
I hope that readers will find something to relate to in JUMP. Whether you're a horse lover, a sweet romance fan, or just someone who enjoys a story of overcoming difficulty, I believe that this book has something for everyone. I can't wait for you to read it!
