Ask the Author: Nicholas Diak
Answered Questions (5)
Nicholas Diak
Writing was not something I always wanted to do. I was not one of those children or teenagers growing up that has apsirations to write. I was a tech-child of the 90s, my aspiration was to do something amazing with computers.
That didn't quite pan out. It wasn't until my later 20s when I went back to school and started to read more film books that perhaps I could do something great there. I was a terrible writer working on my master's, but working on it along with presenting at conferences, I started to enjoy it more. Getting feedback from conference folks saying they enjoyed my film presentations really did bolster some of that.
Post school, I was determined not to let that degree flounder and do something worthwhile with it, turn my love of cinema into something that actually contributed to cinema studies. Finding niches to carve myself into, and writing about something unknown but worthwhile and then realizing it, that's very inspirational to me.
That didn't quite pan out. It wasn't until my later 20s when I went back to school and started to read more film books that perhaps I could do something great there. I was a terrible writer working on my master's, but working on it along with presenting at conferences, I started to enjoy it more. Getting feedback from conference folks saying they enjoyed my film presentations really did bolster some of that.
Post school, I was determined not to let that degree flounder and do something worthwhile with it, turn my love of cinema into something that actually contributed to cinema studies. Finding niches to carve myself into, and writing about something unknown but worthwhile and then realizing it, that's very inspirational to me.
Nicholas Diak
The transition to being a consumer of things to being a creator of things. Being able to hold a tangile, physical artifact in your hands - that other people can do as well - and knowing that what you wrote can potentially have some sort of impact on academia somewhere - it's really mindblowing. It makes one very proud and you want to replicate that success.
Nicholas Diak
Currently I am working on reviews for Heathen Harvest and two essays for my own blog.
Soon I should be starting an essay on bad Italian Space horror films. In the pipeline I want to do an essay on the 20th's anniversary of the movie Hackers.
My first book I want to actually work on is a book about Italian Spy films as vernacular films, to mimic/apply the Mikel Koven book "La Dolce Morte"
I have a short story that takes place in HP Lovecraft's Dreamlands I'd like to realize as well some time.
Soon I should be starting an essay on bad Italian Space horror films. In the pipeline I want to do an essay on the 20th's anniversary of the movie Hackers.
My first book I want to actually work on is a book about Italian Spy films as vernacular films, to mimic/apply the Mikel Koven book "La Dolce Morte"
I have a short story that takes place in HP Lovecraft's Dreamlands I'd like to realize as well some time.
Nicholas Diak
I don't really have a recent book, but my first writing to be legit published was an essay on bad Italian spy films of the 1960s in an academic anthology on James Bond.
The genesis of this essay came from completing my master's degree on Italian filmmaker Antonio Margheriti, which got me submerged into Italian genre films. My girlfriend became the area chair of James Bond studies at the PCA/ACA conference, and expanded the studies to include all aspects of spies and espionage. To be supportive, I began presenting at her panels on Italian spy films. It only seemed natural to turn those presentations into an essay which got published in her book.
The genesis of this essay came from completing my master's degree on Italian filmmaker Antonio Margheriti, which got me submerged into Italian genre films. My girlfriend became the area chair of James Bond studies at the PCA/ACA conference, and expanded the studies to include all aspects of spies and espionage. To be supportive, I began presenting at her panels on Italian spy films. It only seemed natural to turn those presentations into an essay which got published in her book.
Nicholas Diak
I take the Andy Sidaris approach, and submerge myself in hot water - be it a hot tub or a shower or something. Where the guys and gals of a Sidaris film usually do their planning in a hot tub, that's were I can set back and suss out all my ideas, thoughts, internal editing and next steps. It shuts out the rest of the world, makes things quiet and comfortable, and put things into perspective for the next bit of writing I need to do.
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