Interview Nikki Z. Richard Author of Demon in the Whitelands
Give a warm welcome to Nikki Z Richard, author of Demon in the Whitelands.
Pull up a chair, grab a drink of your choice from the cooler, a Chocolate Chip or Peanut Butter cookie from the plate, and let’s find out a little about Nikki and Demon in the Whitelands! Pssst… Don’t forget to enter the Rafflecopter at the end of this post!
How long have you been writing?
I’ve been writing creatively (in some form) since I was in middle school. I started out mostly writing sappy emo poetry and vampire stories, none of which will ever see the light out day. It wasn’t until my sophomore year of college that I decided I wanted to be a novelist. I love books. I love stories. There’s nothing else I enjoy more than writing.
Do you see yourself in your characters?
It’s an old writer’s cliché, but I always see aspects of myself in every character I create. I’ve felt, thought, witnessed, and experienced a lot of great and awful things in my life. I also probably spend way too much time imagining what I would do in hypothetical situations, like living in a post-apocalyptic world. When I write, in some egotistical form or another, I am writing about myself.
Why do you write what you write? Contemporary, paranormal, suspense, etc
I am a dystopian literature fiend. From Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower to Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Game, I fell in love with any story set in a post-apocalyptic world. There are so many interesting things that can happen in an advanced society that has somehow regressed to primal acts of violence. I also love writing about teens and young people, maybe because I still think I am one. For Demon in the Whitelands, I wanted to write a dystopian series about a young person who struggles to find his identity (religious, sexual, moral) in a world where his father’s religion is used by the ruling class as a tool of oppression.
If writing is your first passion, what is your second?
Music! I’ve been in punk, metal, church, and emo bands since I was thirteen. At the moment, I play bass and sing in a pizza-punk band, Infinite Pizza. Music is one of my favorite things. I usually can’t write unless I have my headphones in blasting tunes. (Tunes…I’m so old.)
Excerpt:
the buck quieted its struggle. It panted wildly, its dark tongue hanging out
the crack of its mouth. Samuel got to his knees, drawing closer. The deer
twisted its neck in horror, its dark eyes watching him. They were wide and
black. The eyes of prey.
inside his jacket and got the knife.
said softly as he straddled the deer’s torso, making sure to fully secure him
underneath his legs. The buck’s muscles twitched, but the creature could do
nothing. How had the girl felt when she’d been caught in the bear trap, iron
teeth snapping into her leg? Like the buck? Did she think she’d be free?
Somehow, he couldn’t picture her as a deer. She was more like a scrappy wolf
cub.
Or a demon.
It was wonderful having you with us today. Please feel free to stop by anytime. Good Luck with Demon in the Whitelands!
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Posted in Authors' Secrets Blog and tagged Demon in the WHitelands, Nikki Richard, YA Fantasy by Tena Stetler with 3 comments.
This book sounds like a very interesting read.
I’m intrigued.
I’m intrigued as well–and I know several young readers who will also be interested!