Mid-July Featured Author: Nicky James

Meet Nicky James

(click name for FB page)

Nicky James lives in the small town of Petrolia, Ontario, Canada. She is mother to a wonderful teenage boy, and wife to a truly supportive and understanding husband, who thankfully doesn’t think she’s crazy.

Nicky has always had two profound dreams in life; to fall back hundreds of years in time and live in a simpler world, and to write novels. Since only one of those dreams was a possibility, she decided to make the other come alive on paper.

Nicky writes MM romance books in a variety of styles including contemporary, medieval, fantasy, and historical.

Author Interview Questions

Tell us a little about your published works.

• Most recently this year I have released what I like to call, “The series with no name”. It all began with No Regrets and went from there. Soon after followed New Beginnings: Abel’s Journey. These two books follow a heart-breaking journey of a man with terminal cancer who learns to live everyday with no regrets and rides life’s silver lining while he can. Allowing love into his life despite his shortened time. New Beginnings follows his partners journey through the pain of losing the man he grew to love and seeing how he learns to pick up and find his footing again through loss. The third installment of this series comes out July 14th and is titled The Escape: Soren’s Saga. This one stands alone and follows the brother of the main character in the first two books.

• Previous releases include, Trusting Tanner. A story of domestic abuse, breaking free and finding love. It is a friends to lovers read. Until the end of Time is a historical mm taking place in 19th century, England. A story of forbidden love in a time where being gay was not only frowned upon, but being caught could mean severe punishments. Lastly, my Tales from Edovia series, which is three books, is a fantasy, medieval type style and quite different from any of my other releases. It was my first experience publishing and was intended for my teenage son. For that reason, it is a little tamer than the rest, but still an mm romance that follows the lives of a soldier and a King

Does writing energize or exhaust you?

• Energizes. Writing is my stress relief. It clears my mind and helps me cope with everyday life. Days where I don’t get to write are the ones where I feel more drained because I didn’t get to eliminate my tension through words.

What are common traps for aspiring writers?

• Thinking the only way to make their dream come true is to get an agent or to go through a publisher.

Does a big ego help or hurt writers?

• I think it has the potential to hurt

What is your writing Kryptonite?

• Noise. I like my solitude and when my environment is too chaotic, I struggle.

Have you ever gotten reader’s block?

• Never.

Have you ever considered writing under a pseudonym?

• Not really.

Do you try more to be original or to deliver to readers what they want?

• A combination I think. I have put writing historical and fantasy on hold because I don’t feel my audience is as interested, however, I enjoy breaking the rules and writing outside the norm with my contemporary. For example, writing a terminal cancer patient and refusing to write a miracle cure. HFN can frighten a lot of people as does dealing with such heavy topics, but I enjoy the challenges they provide.

Do you think a person who can’t feel strong emotions can be a good writer?

• I can’t see why not. Not all writing is the same. Some books are emotionally driven and others are more heavily weighted in facts. I think there is a place for all kinds of writers out there.

Are you friends with other authors?

• I have two very close author friends and many who I recognize and touch base with on occasion.

Do you want each book to stand on its own, or are you trying to build a body of work with connections between each book?

• Without intending it, I have been enjoying building a body of works that connect together. Although, I try to make them individual enough they stand alone as well. I’ve written both and don’t know which I prefer to be honest.

If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be?

• Yes, you can! The younger me was filled with doubt and that doubt held me back for many years. If I had let go of that doubt, I could have begun this journey long ago.

How did publishing your first book change your process of writing?

• Every book I publish teaches me something new. I am always working to improve my writing skills and feel I have changed a great deal from my first book to now. From eliminating excess words in writing to new grammar rules and simply how to market myself. Everything is a learning process all the time. We only get better as we go.

What’s your favorite under-appreciated novel?

• Until the End of Time. I have a soft spot for history and this book came from my heart. The characters are so special to me and I only wished more people found the same love in them as I do. Sadly, I’ve personally found it difficult to find the audience for mm historical.

Do you utilize real people to base your characters on?

• Sometimes. Mostly I want my characters to be unique. Although, three of my characters have a place in the real world, but I won’t say which for privacy.

How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have?

• At the moment I have two. I have a half-finished Christmas novel I began two years ago. I’m making an honest effort to release it this year. It’s hard to write Christmas in the off-season, for me anyhow.

• Also, I have another completely finished fantasy/historical piece that needs heavy edit that I continually bury and push aside. Maybe someday it will see the light, but again, I find it lacks an audience so I hesitate to put the time into polishing it.

What does literary success look like to you?

• For me, it is seeing people take joy from my written word, nothing more. If people are sharing my stories that, for me, is all I ever wanted.

What’s the best way to market your books?

• Haha, I wish I knew. This has been a huge learning experience. I have tried all kinds of things. Some work and some fail. The best marketing I’ve found is simply readers sharing their love for my books by mouth to one another.

What kind of research do you do, and how long do you spend researching before beginning a book?

• This would depend what I’m writing. With my historical, I research endlessly before I even dove in and then it was ongoing as I wrote because every last thing needed to be checked.

• When I write contemporary, I tend to research as I go unless it involves a major plot point in the book, such as No Regrets. With that book, I did extensive research into types of cancer and their effects long before writing a single sentence.

Do you write full-time? If not, can you tell us your ‘day job’?

• I do not write full-time. Perhaps in the future. I work as a support worker in homes with people who have developmental disabilities. I help them live life the way everyone else does. I like to say, I make people’s dreams come true.

How many hours a day do you write?

• This really varies. I write every chance I get. I work a full-time job which takes a lot of my time, but any home time is strictly dedicated to writing

What are your ethics of writing about historical figures?

• I would always try to be as true to history and fact as possible.

How do you select the names of your characters?

• Very carefully. It’s like naming a child. It can take forever sometimes. Other times it just hits me and I know right away. I often spend a lot of time on Pinterest looking up names and saving ones I like to a private board.

Do you read your book reviews? How do you deal with bad or good ones?

• As a habit, no. When I’ve sent out ARC’s or people message me with their reviews, I look. After a book had been out about a week or two, I never look. Bad reviews are soul crushing and I’m of tender heart. I don’t ever want a stranger to influence how I feel about my dream and my passion.

Do you hide any secrets in your books that only a few people will find?

• Absolutely. There is a little piece of me and my life in every book I write and unless someone knows me well, it remains just a work of fiction.

What was your hardest scene to write?

• Honestly, there are two things I struggle to write. Sex scenes and something I like to call bridge scenes. Those would be the connecting scenes to get from this idea to that. The ones that need to happen, but aren’t always clear in my mind.

Do you Google yourself?

• Lol…never.

What was your favorite childhood book?

• Oh this is the hardest question because I loved so many and was read to extensively. I will have to say anything by Dr. Seuss.

What is the most difficult part of your artistic process?

• Editing. I write quite frantically and don’t go over it until the end. Boy is it a disaster when I get there. Lol.

Does your family support your career as a writer?

• My family is very supportive. My husband is my number one fan and reads all my books. I couldn’t be more grateful.

How long on average does it take you to write a book?

• Probably two months. Longer depending on time I can commit to writing since I have to work around my working schedule at my job.

Do you believe in writer’s block is a ‘thing’?

• Yes. I hope I never experience it though.

Do check out Nicky James's Author Page for her currently published titles and more about the author.