D.N. Lyons (But please call me Nicki.) Interview

1: What is the most productive time of the day for you to write?

I have hypergraphia, Kipp, so I end up writing very productively at various times. Unfortunately, it also means that if I write 5000 words in about an hour (no joke), I’ve gotten myself worked up on the story enough that I’ve ruined a night I might have had planned.

2: Do you start your projects writing with paper and pen or is it all on the computer?

I actually start them drawing, not writing! ^_^  I set up some sort of scene for a book cover, and then an idea tips me over onto the computer, where I use a programme called Q10. It’s a plain text editor (think Notepad) with the compatibility of color-changing, sound-changing, font changing, a timer and a spell checker. (http://www.baara.com/q10 )

3: What do you draw inspiration from?

Various places. I once started a story from the first line of a fan-fiction. ^_^

4: Do you set goals for yourself when you sit down to write such as word count?

No, because from August 8^th to August 10^th of 2010, I wrote a 56,000 word novel. I didn’t intend to----I actually wanted to take that week off.

5: Are you a published or a self published author and how do you come up with your cover art?

I was published with Freya’s Bower (http://www.freyasbower.com/), and they were good enough to come up with the cover art, which turns out to be a Greco-Roman artifact in the background with a fine font face in front (say that five times fast ^_^).

6: What drives you to choose the career of being a writer?

Not the money, that’s for sure! I’ve barely sold fifty copies if that. But the fact of the matter lies that I’ve been a storyteller since I was a child, my imagination takes me literally out of reality sometimes, and I almost failed high school and junior high because I was writing when I should have been working. If something takes that much time, it must be a sign.... (whistles nonchalantly)

7: Do you own an ebook reading device?

No, but the Kindle 3 is on my wish list. Ironic, hmm? I was e-published with a Kindle edition, and I don’t even have a Kindle.... o_o;;

8: Who are some of your favorite authors and What are you reading now?

Huge plug. FB’s site, WCP’s site, MLR’s site, they’ve all got great authors with wonderful writing. (MLR Press actually was started by a friend, Laura Baumbach.) But on the personal note, Kayelle Allen, Tabitha Shay, Jerry Race, they’ve been in a tightly-knit fabric of awesome in terms of inspiration for me, and their books kick ever-loving tail too.

9: What do you think of book trailers and do you have any plans to have any?

HAHAHAHAHA! (Sorry, not laughing at you.) I actually DID make a book trailer on Youtube! It kind of stinks, but if you look for the account “StarWizardGanymede”, and the trailer for “What Flavor Are You?”, you might still find it. Unless of course, Janet Jackson objects to me using her song “Feedback” with some cruddy drawings I made on MS Paint.... (Not that I’m taking credit for anything but the drawings and the book, though.)

10: How did you come up with the title of your latest book?

Well, I thought of Popsicles first, because in my series world, there’s quite a few people who are treats of a different flavor entirely. And it happened to be a hot time of the year at the moment, and I said to myself,

“You know, I wish I had a Popsicle right now. But what flavor would I eat?”

And so the title, “What Flavor Are You?” was born.

11: What are you working on now that you can talk about?

The first three novels of my Neptune series are about ready for publication, and I’d really love to get the Mantle series up and running. But first I have a short story about Cupid and Venus that’s kind of fun, generally lacking the *ASPLODEY POOF* “Destruction of LOGIC and PHYSICS!” that most paranormals seem to have. I like my characters to “relate” to humans while at the same time being sufficiently different.

I mean, come on. Wizards, Trolls, Elves, giant-walking-mushroom-people, they’re PEOPLE. Whether or not they can shoot fire out of their fingers is irrelevant...and who says a dragon is any easier to housebreak than a piddle-minded Chihuahua? No amount of magic could make ME want to do it. xD

If you’d like to visit me online, my blog site is:

http://nanoedmofimowrimo.blogspot.com/.

(But keep in mind my age, which is 25. I’m a Super Mario baby with a Sonic the Hedgehog mindset. Meaning, I’m not exactly the current generation, but I’m darn close, and my language might be somewhat off-putting in a few of my more “enthusiastic” posts.)

Thanks for having me, Kipp, I really appreciate it!

~ D.N. Lyons (But please call me Nicki.)