AUTHOR AUTHOR: THE DIVINE NICKI ELSON

Gentle Readers . . . and Maxwell,

Today I bring you an interview with our sweet blogger friend Nicki Elson of Nicki Elson's Not-So-Deep Thoughts (click HERE to visit her blog).

Nicki recently published her second novel, and I'm just as proud of her as I can be.

This is the photo from the cover of her book, Divine Temptation.

And here's the synopsis of the book (also from the cover):

Maggie Brock has everything under control. Even her divorce, though painful at the time, only registers as a minor blip in her carefully constructed universe. Her life in Prairie Oaks has once again returned to a smooth predictable pace . . . until an angel shows up in her bedroom.

The angel is just as bewildered as Maggie about why he's been sent to her; but their unsuccessful efforts to gain understanding of the mystery fade to the background as their relationship grows. Soon, Maggie's biggest problem becomes the angel himself, as her feelings for him develop into something less than saintly.

While Maggie struggles to keep her desires pure, a nefarious being lurks in the shadows of Prairie Oaks, watching and waiting for the opportunity to fulfill his ambiguous purpose. Preying on her conflicted emotions, the demon manipulates her at every opportunity, but the one to deliver Maggie directly into his hands is the last person she'd expect.

Doesn't it sound exciting? It is. It's such a good book.

Now, let start our interview with Nicki:

Q.. What's the very first thing that popped into your head that led to the plot of this book? Was it an incident or a character, or did something happen in your life that led you to this story? It's okay to have more than one answer. I read in the Acknowledgements that the seeds for this book were sewn at a Bible study. What were you studying?

A. The very first spark came from an Abercrombie & Fitch bag. That's right, a bag. Want to see it? Yes, I thought you would (attached). His knowing, earnest eyes led me to to dream up a wise, beautiful stranger from another realm. The darker aspect of the story came to me while studying Death by Suburb: How to Keep the Suburbs from Killing Your Soul. I became smitten with the idea of evil lurking behind every perfectly pruned shrub and Pilatesized PTA-mom's bum. 

Here's Nicki's inspirational fellow.

Q. What's your writing process like? How did you stay organized? A lot is going on in this book. Did you plan the entire plot in advance or did the characters control the action? If you planned it in advance, how did the finished product compare to your original plan?   

A. When I decide to get serious about writing a novel, I have to designate large chunks of sacred writing time---usually that's only possible on the weekends. With Divine Temptation I made a deal with myself to bang out one chapter every weekend with no looking back or editing until the first draft was complete. But before fully diving into the writing, I make a rough outline of the sequence of events and have a general idea of the characters' personalities and relationships with one another.

I tend to do a lot of getting to know the characters during the first draft, so sometimes their personalities or relationships evolve a bit in future drafts, but I rarely let a character change any of the major plot points, so Divine Temptation ended up fairly well in line with the outline, although a few opportunities to mess with readers' minds revealed themselves while I was writing, and I just couldn't resist. Before I created the outline, however, I'd done a lot of twisting the story around in my mind, so the finished product is much more complex than I originally envisioned. 

Q. What if Divine Temptation was made into a movie? Who would you want playing the lead roles?

A. Can bags act? I have a really hard time with this question because I have such specific visions of the characters that it's difficult to find an actor who perfectly matches, so it's comforting to know that if the movie rights were picked up, I'd simply be handed a wad of cash and then relegated to the sidelines, not having to worry about things like casting. But before slinking quietly away, I'd put in a request for Richard Burgi to play Maggie's ex, Carl.  

Forgive me, please, but we'll stop here for today. Be sure to join me tomorrow for the rest of the interview. I'm going to ask Nicki how she writes such great sex scenes. You won't want to miss that.

Infinities of love,

Janie Junebug

P.S. You can buy Divine Temptation at http://www.amazon.com/Divine-Temptation-Nicki-Elson/dp/1623420083. You'll be glad you did.