Nicole Murphy’s first book, The Secret Ones, was launched in July 2010 by HarperVoyager. Bookseller + Publisher said “fresh and interesting approach to an urban fantasy series'” and A Writer Goes on a Journey blogged “urphy is not restrained in her work, either by tradition or cliché … There is so much to love in this one volume, and it only makes it better that it is just the first we’ll see of the gadda!” Rather a good start, really! 🙂
Here, she discusses, among other things, who would win in a death match between Batman and Dracula.
1. How long did it take you to (a) write The Secret Ones and (b) sell it?
Write – Seven years, although there was a gap of about four years in the middle there when I didn’t do much with it. From when I decided to make it a priority until it was ready for submission was about twelve months.
Sell – Started submitting it in November 2008, sold it to Stephanie Smith at HarperVoyager in July 2009. That was the seventh publisher I’d submitted it to.
Honestly, the whole thing was obscenely fast, and I really wasn’t ready for it to happen. Had to get over myself and learn to deal with it pretty quickly.
2. If you weren’t a writer, you would …
… be a very sad little puppy. I had a period in the nineties where I didn’t write much and I was quite a mess – didn’t do much, freaked out about things all the time, suffered. For the sake of my mental health, I must write.
3. Have you ever had a secondary character burst onto the scene and write your main character off the page?
Not completely. There’s a few of the characters in Secret Ones that went close to it but luckily, Maggie and Lucas are pretty strong individuals who can stand for themselves. Maggie in particular.
4. Who would win? Batman or Dracula?
If Batman got in a lucky shot, he’d win. But if it dragged on, then it would have to be Dracula. I mean, Batman’s got all those ace gadgets but at the end of the day, he is a man whereas Dracula has the whole vampire strength, endurance and canniness from living for centuries on his side.
5. Donuts or danishes?
Danishes. I’ve never been big on the donut – too stodgy – whereas a lovely danish, with some fruit inside – yummy, sweet and able to be considered healthy (if one ignores the sugar and flour aspect and just focuses on the fruit).
Well, being a writer in fantasy at least is all about believing the impossible is possible :-).
Nicole blogs over here.