Well, hello there! Thank you for coming back to read another interview given by me. This month, we've had the chance to speak with an avid member of Wattpad. She's a star and one who truly deserves the title. This month, we've had the pleasure of interviewing AuthorishNicole. In advance, we'd like to thank Nicole for taking the time to answer our questions! We hope you enjoy this interview!

ToD: So, our theme for this month is "to honor". What are some things in life you honor?

Nicole: I honor myself, first and foremost. I believe it's important to continually work on yourself, and that means honoring yourself, flaws and all. Next, I honor my family, my friends, and my fellow writers by supporting them, even if it becomes hard.

ToD: How would you describe honor in your own personal opinion?

Nicole: I think honor is something that should come back into popular use, but in a healthy way. I want more people to focus on personal accountability, inner strength, community outreach, respect, loyalty, and kindness. That's what honor means to me.

ToD: Would you say honor is important in life?

Nicole: Honor is important but shouldn't be the sole focus on someone's life. As a history buff, I've seen the issues about making honor your sole reason to live; it often results in violence and I don't support that.

ToD: What are some genres of writing that you think you honor?

Nicole: I honor historical fiction by writing history in a realistic and accurate way. A pet peeve of mine with fellow historical fiction writers is when they completely distort a period of time or events just to make a part of their story "work" for them.

I also honor fantasy by creating the best fantasy world possible, including sensible and a faultless magical system. If the magic system makes sense, nothing does!

ToD: In your latest WIP (work in progress), is there a character who consistently shows honor?

Nicole: All of my "good guy" characters are honorable, even if they make mistakes. I enjoy reading honorable main characters, so I always put forth the effort to write my main characters and side characters with honorable intentions, values, and beliefs. I write a lot about war, so it's important to show civility, honor, and justice during difficult, violent times.

ToD: In your latest WIP (work in progress), is there a character who lacks that quality about them?

Nicole: Many of my "bad guy" characters and always my antagonist aren't honorable, but sometimes I like throwing my readers for a loop and adding in an honorable deed here and there regarding my antagonists because it's extremely rare to find someone 100% evil.

ToD: How would you say writing has helped you in the past year or so?

Nicole: Writing has helped me grow as a person, especially the last year. I finished my second book and I felt like I could conquer the world. Not many people have finished writing a book, but two? I have to remind myself often that writing is very hard for a lot of people and many people don't think it's a fun hobby, much less something to do as a long-time career.

ToD: Is writing a factor in your life that may keep you going more than other things, or is it something done for fun?

Nicole: I'm a career writer, not a hobby writer. I was born to tell stories through writing, and I can't see myself doing anything else. Quite frankly, I really only love literature. I enjoy baking and hiking and many other things, but do I love those things with all my heart? No, literature has that space, and it's a very big space.

ToD: If writing no longer existed as an art form, where do you think your characters would be?

Nicole: I'd be utterly devastated if writing was no longer considered an art form, but there are many artists out there that create art not considered "real art" and they haven't given up. So, I'd be just like those other artists and give a big middle finger to anyone that didn't count writing as an art, collect my characters, and go somewhere else. I'll find my writing tribe no matter what.

ToD: Is there any advice you can give to new or old writers?

Nicole: The biggest take-aways I've figured out is: discipline is more important than inspiration when it comes to writing, luck has a lot to do with becoming popular on Wattpad, you have to read a lot (inside and outside of your genre), and you have to write a lot.

Well, there you have it, folks. Thanks again to Nicole for taking the time to give us such real and in-depth answers. As always, we appreciate being able to connect with various writers on this platform and learning about their thoughts, experiences, etc. Now, I've had the pleasure of reading one of Nicole's works (The Two Foxes), and if you guys haven't had the chance, head on over and check her out. That's AuthorishNicole!

Sky

Team Of Dreams