Friday, October 31, 2014

HALLOWEEN SPECIAL Pt. 2: Nicky Peacock Interview

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1. When/why did you decide to become a writer?

I'd always wanted to be a writer. My mum got me into writing at an early age and I've always been an avid reader. But it has only been in the last couple of years that I've been published. 

2. What authors inspired you when you were younger? What books do you enjoy reading today?

Growing up I read a lot of Anne Rice and Kelley Armstrong. I then moved on to Charlaine Harris and Laurell K Hamilton books. I still read all these authors to this day. I've recently been introduced to Karen Marie Moning books (which are great) and, for my horror addiction, I've been reading all the lovely gems coming out of Dark Fuse Publications. 

3. What was the inspiration behind your novel Bad Blood?

I really loved zombie and vampire books and wondered what would happen if they were thrown in together. But when I looked around i couldn't really see anything like that available - so I decided to write it myself!

4. Will we ever see these characters again?

Yes, the Battle of the Undead series is planned to at least a trilogy. I'm currently beavering away on the 2nd book entitled, Bad Timing.

5. How would you act if you were in Britannia's position about being turned without permission?

Good question! I always try to inject a piece of myself in all my protagonists, but Britannia really only had my sense of humor. I'm not as angry as she is or as impatience. I'd probably be pissed about it for a few hours, until I realized that I was going to be young and beautiful for ever, I'd then get over it pretty quickly (yes, I am that shallow! LOL)  

6. Why vampires vs zombies?

I think it's because they are both technically 'undead' but are so different in terms of what they are, what they do and how they kill. Vampires are usually portrayed as pretty ruthless and with them having so long to live, they are intelligent and scheming. Zombies are just shuffling, pack animal killing machines - I've always said that 'at least you know where you are with a zombie' they're not going to deceive you or pretend to be something they're not.

7. What other genres would you like to try your hand at?

I write horror, urban fantasy and paranormal romance. I'd like to give steampunk a proper go - I think its a very under-estimated genre with a lot of potential.

8. Do you believe in magic?

I'd like to say I do. I did growing up. But unfortunately, the older you get the more you realize that magic is a belief rather than a reality - man, that sound so depressing :( I actually had a recent experience watching that mermaid documentary on Animal Planet. It was shown in the UK a couple of months ago and I didn't realize that it was a fake. For a brief twenty minutes I was actually convinced there were real mermaids and out there! Magic was real! Of course I discovered later that the whole show was a lie, but I still remember that feeling of thinking that anything was possible. I called Animal Planet a lot of nasty names that day! 

9. Where did you get the idea for the vampires' backstory?

In all honesty, to make Bad Blood work, the vampires really had to hate one another, other wise there would be no tension. So I deliberately created Britannia with a stubborn streak a mile wide and Nicholas with a kind of old world 'I know better attitude' and their back stories pretty much wrote themselves. 

10. Would you like to see Bad Blood in theaters or on TV? If so, what actors would you like to see play your characters?

It would lend itself to either a movie or TV (there's too many locations for it to work on the stage) For the actors - For Britannia, it would have to be Emma Watson, I think she would rock the attitude Brit has and she definitely has the right look. For Nicholas, he was a little tougher, but I'd go with Andrew Garfield, more for his earlier performances than his current Spiderman hi-jinx. For Philippe It has to be Tom Hiddleston - he could work both angels of this complex character. Jack would be a Nicholas Hoult, Tate would be Daniel Kaluuya (I just loved him as Tea Leaf in Psychoville - UK program) and Josh would be Liam Hemsworth. Lyle isn't in this book as much, but he features a lot in the next two so I'll pre-cast him as Eddie Redmayne. 

11. Where do you see yourself and your career in the next ten years?

10 years goes by quicker than you think! I'd hope to still be writing books I love to write, and with the readers still enjoying them. I'd like to say that, at that point, I could give up my day job and write for a living, but I'm not that naive. Probably only the top 10% of authors get to live that sort of lifestyle, so I would have to be very fortunate indeed to achieve that.

12. What would you be doing if you weren't writing?

My day job is advertising sales and marketing, so I'd be doing that. I'd probably be reading twice as much to fill the gap - so living in a semi-functional literary coma!

13. Can you tell KSR what you're working on next?

I'm working on Bad Timing (2nd in the Battle of the Undead series) and also an adult retelling of a Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale - I've turned it into a historical urban fantasy. 

14. What authors, dead or alive, would you like to collaborate with?

A few years ago I worked on a project called the 48 hour Book for the UK's World Book Day. It was basically 20 authors writing a book in 2 days. Although we managed it, it was probably the hardest thing I had to write as most authors are very stubborn,  and everyone had a specific vision of where they wanted to go with the story - so I'd politely decline doing anything like that again with any author. But, I'd love to meet Richard Laymon and talk to him about the horror genre.

15. Thank you for participating in the interview. Can you please leave the readers with three things that may surprise them about you?

Okay.
1) I have no sense of direction.
2) I'm a bit of a shopaholic when it comes to clothes and nail polish.
3) I'm always honest in interviews.
*Thank you for the interview Kelly! Happy Halloween everybody!

Find Ms. Peacock online via:

Blog: http://nickypeacockauthor.wordpress.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/nickyp_author

Face Book Page: https://www.facebook.com/NickyPeacockYaBooks

Amazon Author page: http://www.amazon.com/Nicky-Peacock/e/B007UH2ACW/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_4

Good Reads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/list/4958833.Nicky_Peacock

Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/nickypauthor/

Tumblr: http://nickypeacock.tumblr.com/

Website for my Writers' Group: http://creativemindswriting.wordpress.com/

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