Ask the Author: Nicki Elson
Answered Questions (5)
Nicki Elson
Night Circus has been recommended to me by a few friends, so I look forward to reading that this summer. Code Name Verity is another one I hope to get to as well a Bernard Cornwell historical...and I imagine I'll sneak in a light chick-lit in between.
Nicki Elson
I hope it's not too weird that I've asked myself a question. It's one that I'm guessing lots of readers will have though they may not ask.
My initial reasons for wanting to give Three Daves a makeover were #1 - I wanted a new cover more consistent with the current New Adult (i.e. college age) romance market, and #2 - I was curious to try out the idea of shorter, bite-sized novellas, and this story split very easily into 3 parts. Plus there was this---every time I pulled out an excerpt from Three Daves for promotional purposes, I ended up tweaking it before sharing. So, if the outside of the book was getting a makeover, I wanted the inside to get one, too.
Oh, boy, did I have fun slicing and dicing the Daves. The writing’s been purged of unnecessary verbiage and passive phrasing. Scenes have been reworked to “show” more and “tell” less. The narrative is less judgmental. It's the same story, but told in a more engaging, active way.
And then there's the minor detail of changing decades...
I’ve always said Three Daves could be told in any modern era. For me, the 80s are an appealing hook, but I’ve learned that’s not so for many readers of the New Adult romance genre. Since the 80s thing was only ever a lark and not important to the story, I became curious to see what Three Daves would look like in a current setting. It was shocking how simple it was to time-travel Jen and all her Daves to the new millennium. But don’t worry, fellow 80s lovers—that most awesome of eras still gets a nod through David’s retro playlists.
Some of you will also notice the psalms have been removed from the end of each chapter. Adding them in the original version was a personal exercise for me, and I can see now that it should’ve stayed that way. Including them in the book led some to expect a Christian fiction, which this story is most definitely not. It's true that God's Word is for sinners and that He belongs everywhere, but He can be there in not-so-blatant ways, perhaps even more effectively in this case.
I'm excited for the novellas' upcoming release and can't wait to hear what you all think of Three Daves 2.0.
My initial reasons for wanting to give Three Daves a makeover were #1 - I wanted a new cover more consistent with the current New Adult (i.e. college age) romance market, and #2 - I was curious to try out the idea of shorter, bite-sized novellas, and this story split very easily into 3 parts. Plus there was this---every time I pulled out an excerpt from Three Daves for promotional purposes, I ended up tweaking it before sharing. So, if the outside of the book was getting a makeover, I wanted the inside to get one, too.
Oh, boy, did I have fun slicing and dicing the Daves. The writing’s been purged of unnecessary verbiage and passive phrasing. Scenes have been reworked to “show” more and “tell” less. The narrative is less judgmental. It's the same story, but told in a more engaging, active way.
And then there's the minor detail of changing decades...
I’ve always said Three Daves could be told in any modern era. For me, the 80s are an appealing hook, but I’ve learned that’s not so for many readers of the New Adult romance genre. Since the 80s thing was only ever a lark and not important to the story, I became curious to see what Three Daves would look like in a current setting. It was shocking how simple it was to time-travel Jen and all her Daves to the new millennium. But don’t worry, fellow 80s lovers—that most awesome of eras still gets a nod through David’s retro playlists.
Some of you will also notice the psalms have been removed from the end of each chapter. Adding them in the original version was a personal exercise for me, and I can see now that it should’ve stayed that way. Including them in the book led some to expect a Christian fiction, which this story is most definitely not. It's true that God's Word is for sinners and that He belongs everywhere, but He can be there in not-so-blatant ways, perhaps even more effectively in this case.
I'm excited for the novellas' upcoming release and can't wait to hear what you all think of Three Daves 2.0.
Nicki Elson
Writing.
I've never wanted to "be a writer" - I just want to write. Having books out in the world and having readers enjoy them helps me give myself permission to continue crafting new stories in lieu of all the other things I could be doing with my time.
I've never wanted to "be a writer" - I just want to write. Having books out in the world and having readers enjoy them helps me give myself permission to continue crafting new stories in lieu of all the other things I could be doing with my time.
Nicki Elson
Write. Don't think about writing. Don't read about writing. Don't talk about writing. Write.
And then, after you've got your first story out of you, go ahead and read some about writing and talk to other writiers about writing, maybe even attend some workshops on writing. It's important to learn and continuously improve your craft. But be careful to not let all the "rules" drain your creativity along the way.
And then, after you've got your first story out of you, go ahead and read some about writing and talk to other writiers about writing, maybe even attend some workshops on writing. It's important to learn and continuously improve your craft. But be careful to not let all the "rules" drain your creativity along the way.
Nicki Elson
The only thing to do is sit down and write. I might spew gibberish for a while, but eventually inspiration strikes again. I had trouble getting motivated to finish my curren WIP, so last month I required myself to sit down for 90 unplugged, uninterrupted minutes a day. At first the words came slowly and painfully, but after about a week I found myself fully immersed in the story again and the words flowed like crazy. I still have less-than-productive writing sessions, but as long as I move forward, even if only an inch, I count it as time well spent.
About Goodreads Q&A
Ask and answer questions about books!
You can pose questions to the Goodreads community with Reader Q&A, or ask your favorite author a question with Ask the Author.
See Featured Authors Answering Questions
Learn more