Wednesday 15 August 2012

AUTHOR INTERVIEW - DIANA NIXON





What is your name, where were you born and where do you live now?
My name is Diana Nixon. I was born in Minsk, Belarus, where I still live and work on my books.

Did you always want to be a writer? If not what did you want to be?
Frankly speaking, I’ve never thought of becoming a writer. I’m a lawyer by profession, but I always admired people who could turn their imagination into some good stories, and I was pretty sure I would never be able to do the same thing. But one day everything changed, I started my first book and when I finished it, I liked the result and decided to write a whole series of fantasy novels.

Did it take a long time to get your first book published?
I’m a self-published author, so it took me about half a year to publish my first book. It seemed like an endless waiting but when I found out that some authors have to wait two or even more years to get their books published, I realized how lucky I was to do it in such a short period of time.

What is the name of your latest book, and if you had to summarise it in less than 20 words what would you say?
The name of my latest book is From Scratch. It’s a short story about love, passion and heartbreaking reality of the word of supernatural beings.

How long does it usually take you to write a book, from the original idea to finishing writing it?
My first book was ready in five weeks. It was my personal best! But now it takes me a few months to write a book, to proof-read it and to make some changes.

Do you have plans for a new book? Is this book part of a series?
Now I’m working on my Love lines series. It will consist of five novels, but only two of them are ready. So, I’m going to write 3 more books to complete this series and then I will start a new one.

Do you have a favourite character from your books? And why are they your favourite?
There is one character I like the most. His name is Evan Murray. He’s a real friend and a living dream of every girl. He’s young, talented and attractive. But his inner nature is very complicated. He seems to be indifferent to the problems of his life, but deep down in his heart he’s fighting really hard to find a solution to every of them. He’s always ready to help his friends and he doesn’t care if helping someone else he will ruin some part of his own world. He has lost his love, but he never gives up hope to find a real happiness one day. And he has a good sense of humor that definitely enriches the narration.

Do you have anybody read your books and give you reviews before you officially release them? Your partner, children, friends, reviewers you know?
I didn’t know I could do that when I published my first book, but later when I created a page on Goodreads.com, I realized that communication with readers is the best way to promote books and even get some new ideas for my future plots. If someone asks me to give a copy of my book and write a review, I’m always happy to provide the reader with some free copies. Besides, I like reading reviews!

Would you ever ask a reviewer to change their review if it was not all positive about your book/books?
I’m more then sure that people’s opinion is something that can’t be changed simply by asking someone to rewrite a review. I appreciate honest reviews and even if they are not very positive, they give me a chance to think about improving my books. Of course, there are things I would never change, but everyone’s opinion is very important to me.

How do you come up with the Title and Cover Designs for your book/books? Who designed the Cover of your books?
The title is one a few things I want to be sure about before writing a book itself. All the other details I invent on the fly. The covers of my books are my own creations too. I like working on them and I think that no one else would ever know how they should look like better than I do :)

What do you think makes a book a really good/bestseller ?
I think that a book is really good if readers want to re- read it, if it leaves them with the desire to meet with the characters again, cry and laugh with them. When some book makes you pause to think about something important or simply pleasant, such a book is definitely can be called a good one.

Have you ever based characters on people you know or based events on things that have happened to you?
I don’t copy my friends or family, but I do take some of their features to describe my characters.

Which format of book do you prefer, eBook, hardback, or paperback?
Well, it doesn’t really matter, I read a lot of e-books, because it’s easier to get them, but I like the feeling of paper books in my hands too.

What are you currently reading? Are you enjoying it? What format is it?(ebook, hardback or paperback)
I’ve just finished Sweet evil by Wendy Higgins. It’s an amazing story and I can’t wait to get to the second book of this series.

What do you think about book trailers?
I like to watch them and I enjoy creating book trailers for my own novels. They give reader an opportunity to see the inner world of the story, and it’s a very good way to promote new books.



Goodreads author page - http://www.goodreads.com/diananixon


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