Stolen Skye: Character & Author; Nina Loard.
Nina Loard is the beautiful and talented author of Stolen Skye, a book she hopes to turn into a trilogy with the sequel already in progress; "In Stolen Skye, we have a heroine, Evelyn, who loses her job and is going through a fairly dull period in her life. But, we soon learn that that wasn't always the case. Years before, a car crash robbed her of her memories of living abroad after she dropped out of college. Two chapters in and her past comes to find her in the form of a very sexy Irishman. She travels back to London with him to learn more about her past and to understand how she could have fallen in with a band of thieves. Pieces of her past come back to her, culminating in a final memory that shatters what she has come to believe. Telling her story has been one of the most fun and challenging things I've done in my life. I am truly hooked on the characters and proud of the way the story reflects my constant journey as a writer."
Nina is known for her passion of passion shall we say, for love and adventure through her writing and even this interview; "I've always carried around this event from my younger days when my friend and I considered running away to the airport. Of course, we were just sheltered teenage girls and there was no way anyone was running away from a hot meal, but I've always toyed with the fantasy in my mind. What would we have done? Where would we have gone? When I got the time to write, I wanted to see how I could bring this element of adventure into a romance novel. Even now, as I type this, I still think about how this beginning can blossom into different stories.It doesn't surprise me now that during a trying period in my life, I threw up my hands and decided to write. Stolen Skye begins with a layoff of my main character and it closely mirrors one I went through. The rest of Evelyn's story is a combination of some modern day fantasies, a teenage dream of running away to Europe and my interest in elegant thieves. I've always enjoyed reading romantic adventures and fantasy fiction, but I hadn't tried to write as an adult or have anything published. With nothing to do, I simply decided it was time I write a book. Leave it to me to commit to a trilogy right out of the gate!"
Nina Loard is the creator of Fiery Verse, a twitter for all aspiring poets and poetry lovers and I asked her more about it and what her role was within it; "In recognizing that I needed an outlet for my creativity and something that wasn't as high-pressure as writing a trilogy, my editor suggested I begin writing more poetry. From that, he encouraged me to build my own site on Twitter where other poets could take part. Inspired by @HeartSoup, I created @FieryVerse where I post evening word-prompts for poets to incorporate within their writing. Each prompt is created by me, based off the work of another poet on Twitter and I encourage followers to read their work throughout the day. On Wednesdays, I ask them to recite their poetry and post the audio recordings through audioboo. Fridays are Fiery Fridays where I try to provide a poetic outlet for the erotic writers out there who may shy from participating in other word-prompts. On Sundays, I find an inspiring sentence from great literature and the poets are encouraged to interpret it in their own words. Hosting a daily word-prompt poetry site has been a true gift as the inspiration just comes in waves and I've met some incredible writers and people."
With such amazing words and an amazing love for every one of them, I ask her how she got into writing in the first place; "Writing was one of the few things that came easily to me in school. Proper grammar was a struggle, but sitting down and writing about ideas and feelings was something I did from a young age. I have early memories of being in my bedroom, writing poetry, and knowing if I could make myself tear up, then it must be good. I'm sure this was when I began to fall in love with words and how the right ones in a pleasing order can move people.
Nina is known for her passion of passion shall we say, for love and adventure through her writing and even this interview; "I've always carried around this event from my younger days when my friend and I considered running away to the airport. Of course, we were just sheltered teenage girls and there was no way anyone was running away from a hot meal, but I've always toyed with the fantasy in my mind. What would we have done? Where would we have gone? When I got the time to write, I wanted to see how I could bring this element of adventure into a romance novel. Even now, as I type this, I still think about how this beginning can blossom into different stories.It doesn't surprise me now that during a trying period in my life, I threw up my hands and decided to write. Stolen Skye begins with a layoff of my main character and it closely mirrors one I went through. The rest of Evelyn's story is a combination of some modern day fantasies, a teenage dream of running away to Europe and my interest in elegant thieves. I've always enjoyed reading romantic adventures and fantasy fiction, but I hadn't tried to write as an adult or have anything published. With nothing to do, I simply decided it was time I write a book. Leave it to me to commit to a trilogy right out of the gate!"
Nina Loard is the creator of Fiery Verse, a twitter for all aspiring poets and poetry lovers and I asked her more about it and what her role was within it; "In recognizing that I needed an outlet for my creativity and something that wasn't as high-pressure as writing a trilogy, my editor suggested I begin writing more poetry. From that, he encouraged me to build my own site on Twitter where other poets could take part. Inspired by @HeartSoup, I created @FieryVerse where I post evening word-prompts for poets to incorporate within their writing. Each prompt is created by me, based off the work of another poet on Twitter and I encourage followers to read their work throughout the day. On Wednesdays, I ask them to recite their poetry and post the audio recordings through audioboo. Fridays are Fiery Fridays where I try to provide a poetic outlet for the erotic writers out there who may shy from participating in other word-prompts. On Sundays, I find an inspiring sentence from great literature and the poets are encouraged to interpret it in their own words. Hosting a daily word-prompt poetry site has been a true gift as the inspiration just comes in waves and I've met some incredible writers and people."
With such amazing words and an amazing love for every one of them, I ask her how she got into writing in the first place; "Writing was one of the few things that came easily to me in school. Proper grammar was a struggle, but sitting down and writing about ideas and feelings was something I did from a young age. I have early memories of being in my bedroom, writing poetry, and knowing if I could make myself tear up, then it must be good. I'm sure this was when I began to fall in love with words and how the right ones in a pleasing order can move people.
I have a friend who loves reading romance and I began sending her my chapters. I also have a friend who was completing his book, I'll Sleep When You're Dead. Both of them read Stolen Skye before I knew what I was going to do with it and were very encouraging. Without their support and my family's, I'd never believed strangers would want to read anything I wrote. All my writing up to now has been purely for me. I'm grateful to those who pushed me to share my work.
As a new writer who had published nothing, I did not get a lot of attention from the publishing industry. I tentatively sent out about fifty query letters looking for an agent, but most of them said that it was a challenging time in the industry, I was an unknown and my work didn't seem a good fit. As is my nature, I quickly decided to self-publish Stolen Skye as an e-book so that I could use it as a jumping-off point for future work. I must say a part of me wishes I had the support of a publishing house and an agent while I learn how to be a successful writer, but I also wouldn't want to lose the experience and knowledge I've gained doing it myself. I tend to be a bit of a control-freak, and managing the promotion and distribution of my e-book has been very rewarding."
Like all the wonderful people who agree to do interviews with me, I asked Nina;What are your inspirations?
"Oh, I seem to be able to get inspiration in the strangest places... while ordering a latte, while driving, walking the dogs, in the tub - all the times you never have a pen and paper! All types of media can inspire me as well; books, art, poetry, music, magazines, theatre, film, television - I try to open my mind up as much as possible and see what takes hold. So many people pan TV and popular movies. It's a shame because there is brilliance everywhere and you never know where you'll hear a particular line of dialogue or see an amazing image and it will send your mind racing. It happens for me all the time.
Writers and poets inspire me as well. I'm such a innate writer, that I don't feel as if the way I write has been influenced by anyone - I'm sure it would be great for me if someone did! But, when I read words that communicate emotion clearly and succinctly, it really helps my brain wake up. It's like turning a key in a lock for me. I read something wonderful and my mind says, "Okay, that's what we we're here for. Let's get to work." I've recently fallen in love with works by Diana Gabaldon, Leigh Bardugo, Stephenie Meyer, Jonathan Digby and Rae Carson."
So fellow Velveteers, what does the future hold for Nina and her fans? Should we be getting excited?
"Absolutely! I began writing Stolen Skye as a trilogy and I am in the final chapters of it's sequel, Broken Skye. In addition, I am also writing a paranormal romance. My goal is for both to be completed by the end of the year. As a new writer, I wasn't well-prepared for the way life can interfere with writing and the last year has known a number of challenges. It's taken a long time for me to figure out how to get my mind clear enough to create, focus and write. I am tremendously grateful for my editor and writing coach, T.R. Perri. Without him, I'm not sure where I would be as a writer."
VF.
LINKS YOU ARE DEFINITELY GOING TO NEED TO KNOW!
Follow Nina @TheSkyeTrilogy
Follow #fieryverse @FieryVerse
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