Stuart Conover (SC):You write in a variety of genres, do you have a favorite between them?
Nicky Peacock (NP): My genres tend to bleed into one another – to be honest as long as there’s a dark, sharp edge to a story, I’m going to enjoy writing it!
SC: Who is your favorite character that you’ve written and what makes them special?
NP: Hmmm, difficult question, they are kind of all special in a way – it would be like trying to pick a fav child (although secretly I think parents, gun to their head, would tell you) I like different aspects of each; Britannia in Bad Blood has a very dry sense of humor which is fun to write and I just finished a horror whose main character had a fear of being lost, which is my main phobia, so I felt very close to her.
SC: What initially drew you to writing in the horror genre and what has kept you in it?
NP: I think the lack of limitations. In horror, anything can happen and frequently does! I read a lot of horror when I was growing up and I guess some might say that it spiked my imagination with a bit of darkness. I’m very a much a ‘what if’ kind of person and even doing the most mundane tasks can find my imagination indulging in some rather nasty ‘what if’ scenarios!
SC: How has your real life experiences factored into your writing?
NP: Fortunately, as I write mostly horror, not too much! To make stories feel more real though, I do tend to give characters one of my own attributes and sprinkle in a few incidents that have happened to me in the past (especially in my more romantic novels)
SC: Do you have any advice for other writers who are writing in or who want to write in the genre?
NP: Read. Read some more and just when you think you’ve read enough books, read another ten. Oh and don’t forget to actually write something! I meet a lot of writers who don’t seem to put pen to paper/ finger to laptop much so never seem to get anywhere. The trick to getting published is to write something and keep writing!
SC: When writing do you prefer to plot your stories or put pen to paper and see where your characters take you?
NP: I’m a crazy hybrid of both methods. I do generally plot the storyline, beacuse if you don’t the whole thing can end up a giant mess that doesn’t go anywhere or reveal anything to the reader, however you still have to be open to change for the better while you work. When I start a new book I usually have a list of important scenes that I need to write to keep the story going. I write the scenes I’m most excited about first and they then birth more ideas which can be sewn into the next scenes.
SC: What helps you get into the mood for writing and where do you prefer to write?
NP: I’m a bit of a hobo writer with a laptop for a spindle! Like most modern writers I have to work full time whilst attempting to still live my life – so writing needs to be slipped in whenever I can. I write on my lunch hours, early in the morning and also in coffee shops and restaurants whilst waiting for friends. I also carry round a notepad in case the urge strikes me whilst I’m on the move. I find music helps to get me in the mood for certain scenes and usually have a playlist for each novel I write.
SC: Who are your three favorite authors or books that you would recommend to readers of your work?
NP: I’m currently reading Sebastian Gregory’s books – which are dark and twisted and written to perfection. I do think that Poppy Z Brite’s early works were amazing (somehow she made even the grotesque sound beautiful) and for an urban fantasy fix, you can’t beat a bit of Keri Arthur.
SC: If you could write a novel with any other author, who would it be and why?#
NP: I wouldn’t write with another author. A few years ago, for UK World Book Day I entered into a 48 hour Novel Challenge with 20 other authors – it was a nightmare to try and include everyone’s ideas when we all wrote different genres and had different styles. I learnt my lesson – never again!
SC: What is the next project that you plan to be working on?
NP: I’m beavering away on the next Battle of the Undead book which is the sequel to Bad Blood. I’m also working on adult retelling of a Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale (I’ve twisted it into an erotic historical urban fantasy)
SC: If you had to do it all again from the start of your writing career, what if anything would you do different?
NP: I think I’d delve into the short story market sooner, and stop that delving sooner. Anthologies are a great way to build up a portfoilo to show potential publishers for your novels, but I did get a bit obsessed with them and should have stopped sooner and started on the longer novels – short stories are a great way of learning the craft of writing and a great doorway into the world of publishing, but they don’t pay very well and when I looked at the whole word count they were the equivalent to three novels worth of writing – so I definitely wished I’d stopped the short story submissions sooner and concentrated on the longer pieces of work.
SC: Do you have any other information for my readers who may be interested in finding out more about you or your writing?
NP: You can find me here:
Blog: http://nickypeacockauthor.wordpress.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/nickyp_author
Face Book Page: https://www.facebook.com/NickyPeacockYaBooks
Amazon Author page: http://www.amazon.com/Nicky-Peacock/e/B007UH2ACW/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_4
Good Reads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/list/4958833.Nicky_Peacock
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/nickypauthor/
Tumblr: http://nickypeacock.tumblr.com/
Writing can be a very lonely, difficult career, so if you’d like to talk to me, just drop me a message through my blog. Thanks for reading, and thank you, Stuart for having me on your blog today.
All the best,
Nicky
Recent Comments