My book group had a Zoom meeting with author Barbara Nickless yesterday. The author of the Sydney Parnell series, Nickless was charming and informative--many thanks to her and to group member Jan, who set it up.
Some tidbits from the conversation:
- When she was hospitalized at age 3, she "wrote" stories on the back of the cards she received. She couldn't actually write, but she tried to imitate her mom's writing. Then when her mom came to visit, she would make up stories to go with the "writing."
- Her first book, written at age 11 or 12, was Blackie the Wolf Dog, a revenge tale!
- Nickless began seriously writing after her family's home burned in the Waldo Canyon fire in 2012--sometimes a terrible event can stimulate something good!
- According to her publisher, sales of series books drop after the fourth book (as an inveterate series mystery reader, I question this, but I'm sure they've got data!). As a result, her next book will be a spin-off from the Sydney Parnell series.
- I asked about the epigraphs she places at the beginning of each chapter. They are excerpts from fictional primary sources (e.g., Sydney's journal, articles in the Denver Post). I wondered if she kind of sketched out the "sources" in advance and then came up with suitable quotes to go with the chapters, but that is not at all how she does it. She just makes them up as she goes along and doesn't pay particular attention to whether they match the chapters. She said she really enjoys writing them, although she forgot to do it for one book and had to write them all at the end.
- She doesn't outline before she writes. She said she'd like to be the kind of writer who outlines, but when she tries to do that, she gets bored!
- She's developing a course to be taught at DU on the "History of Mystery Fiction." Would love to take that course.
Thanks again to Barbara!
