Ask the Author: Nike N. Chillemi
Answered Questions (7)
Nike N. Chillemi
Janalyn, The things I most often research are technical law enforcement regulations, new equipment and how it functions in the field, etc. My eyes sometimes blur reading about handless communications devices and how they work and what might go wrong with them. I'm very aware of the criminal mind and find it upsetting. I write detective stories and am starting to get into the homeland security area of law enforcement. Fiction doesn't have to be real. Many things real criminals do are much to horrific for me to write about in true and accurate detail. Crime fiction should be realistic (not the same thing as real). It should be plausible within the context of the story. There is grit in my stories, but I don't show and tell every terrible detail. I try to emotionally show evil as it is. Try to show it as a force on the earth. The reason I do this is to juxtapose evil against God. Even though there is grit in my stories, there is also an uplifting element. My readers have never said they were depressed at the end of the book.
Nike N. Chillemi
My most recent murder mystery, HARMFUL INTENT, started as a writing promp of sorts. I was to place a character in the western part of the US and make it interesting. There was also the suggestion of placing the character in an uncomfortable situation. Well, right off the bat, I knew if I placed Veronica "Ronnie" Ingels, my Brooklyn female private investigator in Abilene, TX, she's be out of her element. So, I sent her there to get away from her cheating husband. She discovers he's not only there, he's been cheating with her best college girlfriend. Then he's murdered and the deputy thinks Ronnie shot him.
Nike N. Chillemi
I guess life inspires me. I have an over active imagination. I keep a list of story ideas. I think that list has over 50 potential books. Not all the ideas are good enough to make it to novel status. That doesn't stop me from having them and adding them to the list.
Nike N. Chillemi
I'm working on the second book in my Veronica "Ronnie" Ingles/Dawson Hughes mystery series. Book one was set in Texas. This next one, DEADLY DESIGNS, is set in Connecticut and involves, the kidnap of a small child, murder, and possible terrorism.
Nike N. Chillemi
My advice for aspiring writers is to write and write and write and keep writing. Also get engaged with other writers. Talk to them, get into a critique group. And read the very best writers in your genre. Read the writers who thrill you, who mystify you. Don't copy them, but watch how they do it.
Nike N. Chillemi
The best thing about being a writer is writing a good story. I love a good story. Love to listen to someone who can tell a good story. It's fun to write a good story.
Nike N. Chillemi
I don't get writers block too often. Sometimes I get stumped for a short while. Then I have a trick I use. I make two lists: 1) places my hero/heroine would never go and 2) things my hero/heroine would never do. Then I start writing a chapter (keeping to the direction and themes of the novel) and place my hero and/or heroine in one of those placed, doing one of those things. Now that's a first draft. I can rewrite and alter things in the final version. But this method will get me out of the doldrums of writing.
About Goodreads Q&A
Ask and answer questions about books!
You can pose questions to the Goodreads community with Reader Q&A, or ask your favorite author a question with Ask the Author.
See Featured Authors Answering Questions
Learn more