ID 0:02
This is a Vision Australia radio podcast.
Kate Cooper 0:04
On Vision Australia radio, welcome to our conversations on the work and experiences of emerging writers. I'm Kate Cooper, and our guest today is Nikki Marcus, who writes fiction under the names Nikki J Markus and asta idonia. As well as being a published author, Nikki is also a book reviewer and former freelance editor. She has worked in publishing and communicates in several languages. Nikki is a musical theater enthusiast and enjoys a wide range of past times. Welcome to the program, Nikki. We have a diversity of topics to discuss. I'll begin with a question that I often ask guests on this program, where did you grow up? And what does that place mean to you now?
Nicki Markus 1:07
Hello, Kate, and hello to the listeners, as you might hear from my accent. I was actually born in England. I come from Kent in the south east, a little bit down from London. For those who know, I've been in Australia since 2007 but obviously that means I spent the bulk of my life, and certainly on my childhood, in England. I guess for me, one of the biggest memories I have from childhood actually ties into one of my interests that Kate's already mentioned, which is musical theater. Because living so near to London, we went quite often. We had a local theater as well, and my parents encouraged theater trips from a very young age. So one of my best memories, I guess, is going into London, either with my parents or as I got older, on my own, and just going out to see a show or two, grabbing tickets on the day. And that's probably one of my most enduring memories. Times back home sounds great. So what was it that brought you to Adelaide? Actually, I finished university and started a job, and wasn't really feeling it, and didn't know what to do with myself. So I went backpacking, as you do, and I went around America for a little bit first, and came to Australia, partly because I had a pen pal here to meet, and that's the reason I really went to Adelaide or came to Adelaide, because it's not really on the backpacker general route, but I did Sydney, Melbourne, and I was invited by this pen pal to come and visit her. So I ended up in Adelaide, and when I was here, I took the bus into the city one day, and a guy sat next to me on the bus, and he's now my husband, and that's how I've ended up staying here for all these years, since.
Kate Cooper 2:40
That's a gorgeous story, and on your pen pals, we'll talk about that a bit later in our conversation. So Nicky, what are your earliest memories of working creatively?
Nicki Markus 2:50
I think I've always been drawn to creative things. As I mentioned, my parents took us a lot to the theater. That's something we did from a very young age. As soon as we were of an age to be able to appreciate it from sort of Pantos working our way up. My mother likes to tell the story of when my sister and I were young, and she'd spend time playing with us, and she'd say, What do you want to do? And my sister, who's younger, three years younger, she'd be like, oh, I want to play with the dolls. And I'd be like, I want to read a book. Let's read a book. So I always loved reading. I did writing as well. When I was young, I did. Went through the whole teenage angst poem stage and tried to pen a few very bad now I look at them novels in my teens. And my parents were also quite creative in that my mother has always done things like knitting and sewing, so from a young age, she taught me how to make clothes and how to mend buttons and do hems and things like that. So I've always had sort of different creative pursuits as time's gone on. So an avid reader, and I was going to ask you, before we talk about your own writing, what about your personal reading preferences? Now? What have you got on the go at the moment, I read pretty widely. I actually just put a book review up on my blog before I came here today, which finishes my Goodreads reading goal for the year. So 180 books down for the year. So I read most genres. I probably move away a little bit from chick lit and true crime. But other than that, I read pretty much across so I've had phases. I had a bit of an early teenage horror phase when I was 11 or 12, reading Stephen King and I could stand horror, then I get too scared. Now, went through a bit of a classics phase in my mid teams, mainly because the bookstore near us had Penguin Classics, and it was six books for five pounds, so about $10 so I read a lot of those at the time, but these days, I really read quite a mix, anything from literary fiction through fan a lot of fantasy. At the moment, one of my big loves has been Dan Mei, which listeners may not know. It's a Chinese term. It means indulgence in beauty, and it's actually Chinese gay romance. And there's been a bit of a push in recent years to translate some of those into English, because of success of some Netflix series based on them. So those are one of my big loves at the moment that I'm reading several series. Every time the new volume comes out, I grab a copy you mentioned before about writing when you were a teenager and Nicky, your website tells us that you began your writing career in 2011 and since then, you've written extensively. What was it that inspired you to take that initial step from, I guess, amateur writing, to writing more professionally? It was actually one of those things I just fell into, which is pretty gonna be the theme of quite a few of our topics. Today, I was writing fan fiction, and through various blogs and things, I got to know a lady who was a big fan of Percy Granger, and she'd written a fan fiction about Percy Granger. And I'd recently discovered Percy Granger through the film passion, and had become interested in him, and so I read her fan fiction, and we got talking, and she was just getting into publishing some original works, and put me in touch with a lady she was talking to. And so I had my first short story published through that small press when I read it. Now I hate it, but at the time, that was my first work that came out, and so from it sort of went from there. So it kind of just was one of those things. I wasn't looking for it. It just sort of a contact became another contact, and that's how it got going, great. And as we mentioned in the introduction, you have two pen names, your own name, Nicky J Markus, and also asta edonia. This next question is in two parts. Firstly, what's the story behind the choice of name? Astor edonia? That one came about because I'd started writing as Nicky J Markus, which also has a mini story because I don't have a middle name. But my husband's family all have middle names. Begin with Jay, and there was a bit of a joke when I first got together with him, of Can, can I join the family? Because I haven't got this, this J initial. So for them, I put it into my pen name. And I wanted, when I started writing as asteroidonia, that was my first original work that was in an LGBT category, and so I wanted a new pen name to keep them separate, not for anonymity, but more just so that readers would know what they were getting when they picked up one of the works. And that came about because the first story I wrote was a sort of Viking, Anglo Saxon era piece. And so I kind of picked a pen name, I looked through some names that were from those sort of origins and put them together to create the name. It's a really lovely sounding name, I must say. So how does your creative style differ when you're writing under each of the names? Now you've told us about the origin. How has it changed? I don't think there's much difference in what I guess you'd call the author voice in both I've written across various genres, so obviously that was a bit of historical fiction that I started as asteroidonia with, but I've written contemporary I've written historical fantasy, and that's true of both pen names. So I'd say that it's not really an author voice difference. It's only that content of whether we're talking about heterosexual romance. Most of my works have an element of romance, but it's not necessarily the bulk of the story as Nikki J Marcus, whereas it does tend to be the focus more as asteroids, perhaps the main difference. And do you write equal amounts under both names, or does it come and go in waves? It comes and goes in waves. But it's also influenced, I think, by at the time when I was most prolific, because I haven't published anything for a little while lately, it was about where I would was getting stories accepted as well. And writing LGBT fiction, or LGBT plus fiction, is sometimes a lot easier to get published than the more mainstream, because there are lots of little niche small presses for just those genres. So it was a lot easier to find people to submit to and to get acceptances, whereas sending out the more sort of mainstream fantasy, if you like, you obviously got a much bigger pool that you're competing against to get those stories in print.
Kate Cooper 8:59
Niki, would you read us an extract from your writing under each of your pen names?
Nicki Markus 9:05
Sure. So this first extract is from for the devil a crown, which is one of my Nikki J Marcus works. It's actually the only Nikki J Marcus work that's currently available anywhere. Most of them are not available to buy anymore. This one happens to be a free to read story that I published online, and it's, I guess you'd call a cockpunk, a bit of steampunk, but with a mechanical bent and historical it said in the 1860s. This extract comes from pretty much the first chapter, almost the opening of the story.
She made it to the first of the steps. As the bell struck, she scurried up them, eyes fixed on the doors, but in her haste, her heel caught on her hoop and she plummeted. She flung out her hands, squeezed her eyes shut and braced for impact. However, she never hit the ground. Someone wound an arm about her waist and pulled her forward up the steps. They went the action so fast she could scarce register the movement. Then they stopped.
Stopped and her new companion released her that her Savior was a man came as no surprise for his firm grip around her torso and his strength in lifting her had already attested as much, she tried to meet his gaze, and for a brief second, she thought she saw a flash of red. It was gone The instant she perceived it, though, and she attributed the sight to an overactive imagination following her fright,
the broom of his top hat cast a shadow over his face, and he further obscured his features when he reached a tilted and respectful greeting. It was that polite action which belatedly reminded Clara of her manners. Thank you, sir, she said, inclining her head so clumsy of me, she adjusted her skirts, relieved to find her attire mostly in order. When she looked up again, her rescuer had stepped away and now stood in the shadows to her right, she could make out his tall, slim form, but little else, hardly, if I may be so bold, I would venture to surmise that any lady is liable to move without her usual grace and poise when being pursued. You saw my assailant at this reminder of the reason for her flight to her heart, which had started to slow return to an elevated state. Who was it? Where did he go? She peered down the steps, but seeing nothing unexpected, she calmed her breathing. A well bred young lady such as yourself should think twice before walking the streets alone, especially when evening approaches dark things lurking dark places. She sensed his close scrutiny when he paused for now, however you're safe, your attacker will not return. Her fear was gone. For indeed, she no longer sensed the strange malevolence that had set her running. In its place was a burgeoning curiosity. Her rescuer appeared to know many things, and she had ever possessed an inquisitive mind. The thought occurred to her that he may have been her pursuer, but she dismissed it at once. It seemed unlikely, and he'd done nothing to arouse her suspicions. Doubtless he only intended to comfort her. Nevertheless, how can you know that? I have some experience in these matters? There was a faint touch of humor in his tone, along with something else she couldn't name. Now, if you'll excuse me, I must be on my way. He bowed and turned his decision to leave without offering to escort her home or even hail her, a carriage seemed in marked contrast to his otherwise gentlemanly behavior, and it made her all the more determined to learn his identity. Wait. She called after him a little louder than would be deemed proper. He halted and glanced back over his shoulder, but remained silent. I don't yet know your name. He shook his head and turned to face her once more. That's unimportant. It matters to me. She stepped toward him. You helped me, sir, at the very least, let me thank you properly. By name, there was a moment's hesitation before he said, Finch, who treated backward into the darkness. Mr. Eldon, Finch, at your service.
Kate Cooper 12:42
I've got a question. Listening to that. How do you so successfully nail the style of writing for a different historical period? Is it from your reading, listening? What's your background, preparation?
Nicki Markus 12:59
I'd say reading predominantly, as I mentioned at the start hair period, where I read a lot of classics, I went through all the Dickens, the Jane Austens, pretty much any of the well known ones I've done, and I'm working through some of the more obscure ones, still, a few a year. So that gives you that sense of period and the style of speaking. And I've been very interested in history as well. I hated it in school, I will say. But we they did make us study the Romans twice. So it was only when I was became older and I was able to choose my own interest areas that I got really into history. So I've done a lot of background reading on the topics and periods as well, because it would be quite challenging to make sure that the words you use, even in the broader description, are more contemporary to the time you're writing about, so that you don't slip modern speech into any historical works. Yes, and the Internet helps here, as does books. If I'm ever in doubt about a word, the online Merriam Webster Dictionary usually gives you a first usage, and even though it's American, that's, it's close enough you can see it's, that's pretty much the right time period, or, Oh, dear, that's 50 years after my story is set. But I have a few books at home as well that are actually dictionaries of Victorian slang and other older slang. I think I've got, like, a 16th century slang dictionary as well. So you can refer to those if you just want a little word, just to give it that period flavor,
Kate Cooper 14:28
on Vision Australia radio, you're listening to our conversation program, emerging writers. Our guest today is Nicky Marcus, who writes fiction under the names Nicky J Marcus and asta idonia.
So Nikki, you've also got some readings from your work under the name asta idonia. Would you read from those now,
Nicki Markus 14:50
of course. So I bought, first of all an extract from Super for you, bad for me. Now, this is a superhero fantasy with a gay romance element.
And our hero, Oswald utterage, has acquired superpowers. I won't tell you how, won't ruin the story, but he's just recently saved his crush from a very nasty accident doing some stunt work on a film. So we meet up with him as he's thinking about this afterwards,
what a day. Thank God I'd caught Cain in time. From the sound of things, I probably saved his life. In a way, I was just like a superhero. I sat up and ruminated on that a superhero me. Was it true? Did I want it to be? Although I'd considered my telekinetic abilities to be super powers, I'd not taken the next logical step to think of myself as a superhero. Superheroes such as those Cain played in this new film didn't exist outside the realms of movies, video games and comic books. There was no one actually out there patrolling the city, keeping the citizens safe and defeating bad guys, not least because they were no such things as super villains either. Yet, here I was with these powers, using my new skills for my own amusement or to carry out mundane tasks like fetching my drink from across the room, suddenly felt frivolous. Was it not a waste, a sacrilege even? Who was I to employ these talents solely for selfish trivialities when I could use them to do good? It wasn't as if I had a busy schedule in my free time, I should be helping people I'd rescued. Cain, so surely I could save others too.
This decision had an aura of one of those turning points in life. I found myself filled with a sense of purpose, the likes of which I'd never experienced in that moment, it truly felt as if I'd uncovered my calling. Acting wasn't my raison d'etre. This was what I was born to do, and I only needed to address three things before I embarked on this new venture. First up, I had to find a way to methodically test the limits of my powers to know what I could and couldn't accomplish. Secondly, I required a suitable costume to conceal my identity. And finally, I ought to choose a pseudonym for the same reasons. This latter task looked set to prove the hardest, since the name needed to be both memorable and heroic sounding. I racked my brains, but I soon realized that comic book creators had already snagged all the best monikers, and I didn't want to commence my crime fighting career with a copyright lawsuit hanging over my head. At last, I hit upon it. Something noble, something awe inspiring, something to strike fear into the heart of London's criminals. I would be telekineticus Rex,
Kate Cooper 17:24
You mentioned that this is a fantasy work, and that you enjoy reading and writing fantasy. To what extent is that, because of the creative freedom that fantasy allows you to explore,
Nicki Markus 17:39
I think that definitely helps, because obviously, there are no no rules. To a certain extent. You can build your world however you want. The only difficulty, perhaps, is that if you're going to do that, you have to do it well. You have to do that world building really carefully. You have to know everything in in your mind, even if it's not all on the page, because otherwise it's very easy to pour holes in things as well,
Kate Cooper 18:01
And you've got a gentle thread of humor running through your writing as well. Is that something that you think about beforehand, or does it flow as you're drafting the narrative style?
Nicki Markus 18:14
I think it varies from book to book. Some books are a little bit more humorous than others. This one particularly was, I think, because of the nature of the story. You know, he's very much the sort of unconventional superhero, and so having it in first person as well, with him narrating his tale, which I do tend to do more third person. So this was a bit of a change for me as well, to go into first I've only done that a handful of times, and it just lent itself a bit more to humor. Some stories have that more obvious than others. There's usually a joke or two somewhere, but I think it just depends on how it feels as I start writing.
Kate Cooper 18:53
Now, you write novels, novellas and short stories, Nikki, and you have some audio extracts on your website. Would you tell us about those?
Nicki Markus 19:03
Sure that was just a decision I made when I was trying to promote my works, which has been one of the hardest things, which is probably why I'm mostly the reason why I'm on a bit of a break at the moment, and it's very hard. You spend all the time writing, and then you have to get people to buy it at the end of the day. And I've always found that marketing sort of pushing myself forward by my book, by my book, difficult. So I wanted sort of another way to connect with readers. I thought, you know, if they're not going to come on my blog and click the PDF excerpt, perhaps when they're on their commute, on the bus, I listen to podcasts and things myself, maybe having audio excerpts would be another good way to reach out to to people who perhaps didn't want to or unable to read the written versions.
Kate Cooper 19:46
So is that something you're planning to continue doing?
Nicki Markus 19:50
Certainly Yes, as long as I'm still putting out works. As I said, I am on a mini break. It's been about four years since I last did an original publication, which is partly.
Unknown Speaker 19:59
Because my day job has taken over. I started two days a week there, and I'm now four, so I've obviously got a lot less time, and I became a little bit disillusioned with all that marketing push, and I needed a bit of a break. So I haven't stopped writing completely, but I've been just pinning the odd fan fiction and things, and I have a few ideas that are kind of sitting on the back burner, which I hopefully will come back to eventually.
Kate Cooper 20:22
Well, I was going to ask you about the day to day practicalities of creating your stories and novels. So thinking back to the last major piece that you did, when and where would you sit down to write, and what are the strategies you use to keep yourself on track, both with the storyline, but also with the characterizations getting into your protagonist's heads, as you've shown us, you do for the characters first.
Nicki Markus 20:51
I do tend to begin with them. Mostly. I may have sort of a vague plot idea, but it tends to be that one or two of the characters will really leap out in my mind. So one of the first things I like to do is write a character profile, which is usually for the main characters, maybe two pages. I have sort of set questions about their hobbies, their likes, just to try and get a sense of them, what sort of clothes they would wear, things like that. When it comes to plotting, I've always been a bit of a pan star, so I usually have the idea, and often I'll know how I want it to end, but I don't often plot through. There has been one exception to that, which is actually my most successful book in terms of sales, which is an astrodona title called Blood is forever. And that one has a murder mystery element. And the murder mystery element relies on these murders taking place at set times, and so I had to have an entire timeline mapped out in advance for that, so that as I was writing, I knew I was putting the murders on the right days, and everything was going to marry up, and I wasn't going to end up with some sort of weird plot hole where I had something happening at a time when it shouldn't have been. That's the only time I've really majorly plotted. Generally, I sit down. I have a library slash music room in my house, and I usually sit there. And I'm a very much a writing by hand beginner. I like to just sit and scribble as I'm then typing it up. I usually write you know, a chapter at a time, I go and type it up, and I start to edit as I'm doing that typing, and I have to watch, I don't edit too heavily, because obviously, coming from an editing background as well, there's that, there's that wish to make them perfect, and you have to try and let yourself to get that draft done first before you go into too much detail.
Kate Cooper 22:40
Yes, I wanted to ask you about the editing, because you've worked in the past as a freelance editor, and you've also worked in publishing. So I've got a couple of questions here, but I wanted to ask you about how you managed to keep control of the different versions. How many versions you would do of a particular work.
Nicki Markus 23:02
Generally, I would do the first draft, I'd then do a round of edits, and those would be fairly substantial edits after that, another round of edits, and then, depending on the book, I might then be ready for just a proof read, or it might need one more round of edits after that. So three to four rounds. Generally.
Kate Cooper 23:20
How do your experiences in editing the work of other people influence, then your thoughts about editing your own work? I guess. What are the lessons from your professional experience?
Nicki Markus 23:34
As I mentioned, I think it does make it hard in some ways, because you're used to looking in all that detail at the language, and it becomes a sort of habit that you want to pull every sentence apart, and that can really sort of break your flow as you're writing if you're trying to do that, which is one of the reasons that I do draft in pen first, because I feel more inclined to fiddle and edit when I'm on the computer. So that's why I always try and get that first draft down, and I can't edit as much when I'm in pen as I can when I can go back easily and change it on the screen. So it's definitely made it more difficult in that way that you have to kind of control yourself and remember you're in writer mode and not editor mode. But it does also give you the advantage that as you're changing other people's works or giving them advice you're seeing the things, oh, that's something I could do better, like I tend to, you know, be too flowery in my description of this and things as well. And so it makes you more aware of your own writing as well, I think.
Kate Cooper 24:34
And it would make you more alert too, to the type of pitfalls that can hamper a particular writing style?
Nicki Markus 24:42
Yes, definitely. And a lot of my experience in editing has actually been with foreign authors as well, particularly when I went freelance, because I did work briefly for some small presses, and then when a few of those closed, some of the authors who'd been writing for those presses decided to Self Publish, and.
Unknown Speaker 25:00
Came to me and recommended me, and my name got around. So a lot of them, I had a couple of authors from Romania, for example, so they're not writing in their native language either. Actually, sometimes better, though, than some of the American authors, but you kind of still, you can see in the mistakes they're making. Sometimes it's just the difference in grammar between the native language, and so you can sort of point out to them, and it's not, it's not a mistake in a way, but you see it appearing because of the way they're thinking in their native language.
Kate Cooper 25:33
And we'll cover your interest in language a bit later in our conversation. Nick, it's great to speak with you about your work and about your experiences. So let's continue with part two of our conversation in next week's program, our guest on emerging writers today was Nicky Marcus, who writes fiction under the names Nikki J Marcus and Astor edonia. This program can be heard at the same time each week here on Vision Australia radio, VA radio, on digital, online at va radio.org
and also on Vision Australia radio podcasts, where you can catch up on earlier episodes you
Unknown Speaker 26:20
music.
ID 26:25
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Speaker 1 26:36
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