globalgrind.com

As always, I was doing my usual trip through globalgrind.com and found this interview they did with author Nikki Turner. I decided to share…this is straight from globalgrind.com:

What are you most excited about with Relapse?

I think it’s a story that so many girls need to hear and can relate to.

How do you come up with such strong female characters?

I put a lot of thought trying to come up with girl characters that make sense. 

What writers do you admire?

Ernest Hemingway, Jackie Collins, Sister Souljah, Maya Angelou, the list can go on. 

What was the decision behind continuing with your other characters?

The readers wanted it. You have to give them what they want. Its about giving them great stories. some characters they won’t let me get rid of.

Out of all your characters which do you have the most personal connection to?

I think I connect to each and every one of them but for different ways and where I was [in life]when I wrote the book. Of course Yarni because she was the first one but just each and everyone I have a connection to. In the front of my books when I write my letter to the reader I always talk about giving birth. Its like giving birth, so like children I have a connection with each and everyone of them even though there are so many. 

How do you feel about being a best selling author and being able to walk in a book store and see your book sitting there? 

Oh my God, it’s like a feeling I can’t even explain. Its amazing. Just to go inside a bookstore and see my book on a shelf feels good. You know how they have bookstores at the airport, I’ll go in and say ‘do you have any Nikki Turner books?’ and they’ll have them and then  I’ll  be like ‘I’ll sign them for you!!!

What’s your writing process like?

First I map the whole story out in my head before I even write it.  After I get it mapped out I try to figure out what the first chapter is going to be. A lot of time the first chapter changes but I try to figure out the first chapter, the impact and the drama in it. Once I get that I just start writing.  Sometimes I outline. The more recent books in my career I’ve learned to outline, I found outlining to be very helpful and how I figured that out was I did a treatment for my book “Death Before Dishonor” with 50  and when I did the treatment it became a big outline and when I did the next book I did an outline. It definitely works.

What advice would you have for new writers?
I just think that they have to have that book completed. Don’t focus on how your going to get it out or how you are going to promote it. Get the book done. Make sure it’s a great book and it’s in good condition and you have a beginning middle  and end.

Was it hard transitioning to a full time writer?
Yeah, sorta kinda. It’s so structured when you work a regular job and when you go to full time writing you do your own schedule. But I learned quick. It’s harder now being a full time writer than it was to work a full time job. Just the discipline.

What do you think the readers will enjoy the most from Relapse?
Wow there’s so much. The drama of course. Just the relationships, with [Beijing’s] sister, her mom, her father, with her boyfriend and just how I equate relapse to how she’s addicted to the guy. I think everybody can relate to her relationship one way or another.

What is one thing you hope readers gain from your novel?
I hope that they can find an escape through my books they can escape from real life and I just hope they get the message because each book has a message.

What is the message in Relapse?

For those who are in those volatile relationships I want them to know they don’t have to stay. There are other options. They can get out.