Today I’m excited to feature Lydia Nyx, author of the White City series by Torquere Books. Lydia writes male-male romance of varying heat levels, but really, I should let her introduce herself and her work.
1. Can you tell us a bit about your White City series?
The series at present time is meant to be a trilogy, though we’ll see how that works out. If it does go beyond a trilogy, the setting will probably shift somewhere else and I’ll be addressing some of the core issues of the main character. Goodness knows he’s got enough baggage to explore. I tried to do some things with this series that I haven’t seen before in urban fantasy, including using some very different mythologies and giving the characters supernatural abilities that are lesser explored in fiction. I’m also trying to put a different spin on vampires, which feature more prominently in the second book.
2. When did you first realize you wanted to pursue writing as more than a hobby?
When I was a freshman in high school. That was when I started writing for ‘fun’ and filled notebook after notebook with stories. I was a huge Stephen King fan at the time and I decided I wanted to be just like him, which was what got me started seriously writing. I’m sure the seeds must have been there before though, or I wouldn’t have stuck with it.
3. How did you get the idea for your White City series?
The first book started out completely different than the way it ended up. It actually had a female narrator (who isn’t even in the story anymore), a somewhat different plot, and Jude was a secondary character. Then I later realized Jude wanted to tell the story and he was much more interesting, so I moved him to the front. That meant rewriting the whole thing. But even that rewrite didn’t stick, because I had him with a completely different love interest (who also isn’t in the story anymore) and I rewrote it again. So as you can see, this story has gone through a lot of terraforming and the ideas in it have been shaped by two major rewrites.
4. What are some of the challenges of planning a series?
Continuity. Making sure you don’t contradict yourself or leave something out. Or forget something that was important before. I have flowcharts and notes that would make a person’s head explode and I still stumble around a lot.
5. Your White City series takes place in Chicago. What kinds of research did you have to do to make your story fit in this setting?
Unbelievable amounts! I’ve been to Chicago three times and I love the city, but I had to do so much research I feel like I know more about Chicago than anyone who doesn’t actually live there ought to. And I’m still learning.
6. How do you edit a novel?
I usually do an initial comb-through and rewrite, then go through it again, and if I change a bunch more on that pass, I go through it yet again. You actually have to make yourself stop editing at some point or you’ll drive yourself insane. Then of course, once a publisher picks it up, you’ll go through even more edits with your editor. By the time the book comes out you never want to look at it again.
7. Do you find yourself making revisions to your long-term series plans when you finish one of the individual books?
I’m a very organic writer in that I go with the flow and know very little about what’s around the bend. So with every chapter I write, I’m shaping what comes not only in the rest of the book but the book following that.
8. What piece of advice do you think is most important for aspiring writers to remember?
You have to write. It sounds so simple, but it’s actually the hardest part of writing. You have to write every single day, tirelessly, with absolutely no guarantee it will ever amount to anything. Not very inspiring, but that means you have to write for the right reasons–yourself and your well-being.
9. What are you reading right now?
Prisoners of Twilight by Don Robertson. It’s a very dark, gritty story of the Civil War.
10. What are you working on now that readers can look forward to?
The sequel to Black Shore of the White City, titled Red Rain in the White City. It’s very nearly done–at least the first draft, that is!
Bio: Lydia Nyx is from Cleveland, Ohio. She writes everything from contemporary to historical, as well as paranormal, horror, and urban fantasy, and she prefers all her fiction with a male/male twist. She currently resides in a little apartment with her teenage son and a crazy cat and spends countless hours of the day entertaining the dirty fantasies in her head. As a ‘day job’ she works as a waitress, which gives her lots of free time to slack off and plot stories. Writing since the age of 13, she has always wanted to be an author, and hopefully one day writing will be her only ‘day job.’
You can purchase Black Shore of the White City here.