Meet Nick Kelly; a fascinating and talented writer. I’ve gotten to know Stacia, his brilliant wife, and because this power couple intrigues me, I’ve asked Nick a few questions. He’s was kind enough to answer them!
Here is my blog post on Nick’s page: CLICK HERE
When did you begin writing?
I was really into drawing long before I was in to writing. I remember drawing comic book super heroes and G.I. Joes as far back as I can remember. I enjoyed reading everything. I tore through Choose Your Own Adventure books, or anything Dungeons and Dragons, David Eddings, Lloyd Alexander, Tracy Hickman, you name it. As a matter of fact, the hero in my sci-fi series originally appeared in a comic book, not a novel. It took over a decade before he actually made his first novel appearance.
Catwalk Messiah
How did you find your style?
I’ve been told that my style is incredibly visual, which makes perfect sense (and is exactly what I shoot for). I like to write so that the reader feels like they’re reading a movie. With high-impact and action-packed sci-fi, visuals are an essential piece of the puzzle.
One of my favorite interviews was on the special features of the Blade Runner DVD. Apparently, the initial script was very compact and took place in a single room. (Director) Ridley Scott came in with a stack of Heavy Metal magazines and said, “this is how we’re going to do it.” Can you imagine Blade Runner without the incredible visuals of the Tyrel Building or the giant freaky Japanese woman?
How did you find your characters?
My sci-fi (anti-)hero is Leon “Catwalk” Caliber. The first version of Cat came from playing the role playing game, Cyberpunk 2020. He’s evolved a bunch since then, and so has the universe and the supporting cast. Heck, I didn’t even release the novels in the order I wrote them.
My cop in the urban fantasy novel, “Ichi”, the first of the Urban Samurai series, was built as a counterpart to Stacia’s samurai heroine, Shia. She’s a 1000 year old samurai who hunts all things demonic and supernatural. Naturally, my guy, Detective Ryan Calder, is a total skeptic. He simply loves his unmarked car and his classic rock and doesn’t believe in any of that mumbo-jumbo until he starts seeing it first hand.
How both have evolved?
I love, love, love my writing friends and partners. I’ve learned so much from working with fellow authors like Stacia Kelly, J.T. Bock, Tee Morris, Pip Ballantine, and others. I highly recommend that writers find accountability partners and writing groups (either local or online). I absolutely tore apart my first few works following feedback from other writers and my beta readers, too.
Did either your style or your characters, or your frequency of writing, change upon finding your partner in life, the lovely Stacia?
My style didn’t change but my writing process did completely. Stacia introduced me to NaNoWriMo, the annual writing event each November. The goal is to write 50,000 words in 30 days. That helps to flesh out a straw man that I can go back and edit for better quality and continuity. Then there’s a lot of red ink from the editors and feedback from the beta readers. (I’ve learned from my beta readers that they are a bloodthirsty group!)
Writing with Stacia requires a completely different tone than writing alone. Having reviewed horror films for years has made me numb to gore, I guess. When you watch that much blood, you tend not to mind it when you write it, and my readers like to clamor for lots of blood.
What are you working on now?
Combined, Stacia and I have at least four books coming out in 2014. I have a short story, “Catwalk: Jericho”, which connects the first two books in that series. Stacia’s 2nd book in the Goddess Chronicles, “Gaian”, will be out, and then “Catwalk: Lineage” and “Ni”, the 2nd Urban Samurai book will be out later in the year. I have a zombie thing I’m working on, also, but those are the only ones we’ve committed for this year.
Thanks for letting me ramble. Time to grab my red pen and get to some edits!
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Nick Kelly is a musician, professional speaker, and an author. His works include the cyberpunk/sci-fi novel, “Catwalk: Messiah” (Book One in the Leon “Catwalk” Caliber series), and “Ichi” (Book One of the Urban Samurai series). Both are available on Amazon.
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