Welcome, writers. So, today is a very special day on the Write It Scared podcast. Today, I'm going to interview Nicola Taishi. Nicola is an American author writing romantic fantasy, paranormal, and urban fantasy, and other women's fiction.
A sucker for the happily ever after, she loves suspenseful plot twists, strong heroines, Relatable villains and melt your insides anti heroes. Yes, please. That is very yummy. Her romantic fantasy debut crowns, which is a complete trilogy was released in July of 2023. And the books are in order North queen, shadow queen, and war queen.
Nicola lives in Vancouver, Washington with her husband and three daughters. When she isn't writing, she enjoys tacos, traveling, gardening, exploring the great outdoors and other creative projects. Nicola is also recovering from stage two breast cancer and is a strong advocate for breast cancer awareness.
And today she is going to talk to us about her writing journey. So thank you so much for being on the show today.
Thanks for having me.
I gave you a bit of a bio, but please share with our listeners a bit more about your journey to becoming a writer.
Oh my gosh, it's been all over the place. So I've always been a writer. As, as far back as I can remember. I've always just done it as a hobby you know, writing in my spare time.
And. You know, I think it was a few years ago that I had a colleague who, who actually said, Hey, you should publish. And at the time I was just like, that's, no, that's not, that's not in my, in my wheelhouse. That's not something I'm really interested in. But it really just kind of planted the seed. And then I got to the point where I thought.
I, I could publish some of this. And so then I started to just get more serious about it. And I picked a story that I had been working on for a long time to be the first thing that I really, you know, wanted to try to put out there and I just set to, to finish it and to get it out. So it's been a long journey,
yeah, wonderful. And so how long ago was it that you decided to publish? How many years ago was that?
So it was right before COVID. I think, once I started Working at home, I mean, COVID transitioned a lot of us to be at home, right?
And I think I just found myself with more time on my hands. Not having to commute an hour every day to work, not having to, you know, do do things that really had eaten up a lot of time in my day before and that's. Kind of really when I thought I have, you know, I'm going to take this time and I'm really going to try to buckle down and make something of these stories.
So I think that that's probably, you know, that kind of gave me the opportunity that I needed to dedicate some more time to it. But I think that probably that initial conversation or initial initial discussion of publishing was probably might have been 5 years ago. So it was quite a long time ago.
It took a while for that kind of seed to grow a little bit. But but, yeah, I'd say probably through cove. It is is really when I. Buckled down and try to make something of it
Were all the books finished when you, you know, decided to become serious about publishing?
The first book was done in a draft form, nowhere near what the story it is today.
But I knew how I wanted the rest of the story to go. And I had pieces in books two and books three that were written. And I just thought yeah, I'll, I'll just, I'll finish this. But I knew how this, how I wanted the story to go. I felt like book one had been finished, but through the process you know, it, it went through a lot of changes
I did end up deciding to wait until they were completely finished before I put out the first one, just because the story is so interwoven across all three books. Each one doesn't have its own independent arc. They all together make the story. And so. Just for continuity purposes for being able to go back and make tweaks where I needed to as I finished books two and three.
I just felt like for this, I need to, I needed to make sure that they were all, that they were all complete.
Sounds like it was a process decision.
Yes. And, you know, maybe selfishly too, because I I'm a binge reader. I won't start a series if it's not finished. I mean, I have, I don't know how many books on my shelf downstairs that I just haven't started yet because I'm waiting for the next ones to come out.
I cannot handle a cliffhanger. I just can't handle it. And so I thought my book has cliffs, man. I I should probably put them out kind of close together. I just felt this guilt of, of stretching them out. So that was kind of the other piece too.
I really wanted to release them closely together.
Well, that's, that's impressive. I know a lot of writers we, we face, we get to this place where , we just. We just want to let it go. We just, you know, and there's a, Oh, I, and I have battled that and made mistakes because of it, because I leaned into that to my impulsive impulsivity.
So it sounds like holding them back and releasing them you know, with being intentional and using discernment has really paid off for you.
It has. And. You know, that may or may not work for others. Some folks can write a book in a linear fashion, finish 1 story and be ready to move to the next.
And they kind of have it all planned out in their mind. They're very good at that. That just is not a skill set of mine. I. Think that for me, it just works best to kind of keep them together and make sure. That they all, they're all right. And then, and then releasing them.
Thank you. Thank you for sharing that. And , I should have prefaced, but share just the, the gist of what the story is about.
The story follows a young queen just through the challenges of, you know, Being young and, and navigating, this, this world where things are dictated to her and she's trying to find her way in it all.
And, , I think that what's important about this story is just the character relationships, the challenges that, people face with both, people that we love. the challenges of just life in general, navigating all of that. So I think it's more about just the story of the struggle.
It's a story of friendships and of love and Some hate in there. Just all the range of emotions that go into life in general and just, what people are willing to do for what they believe in and, and what they're willing to sacrifice for the people that they love. And so it's just kind of a, a story of, of overcoming challenge.
Do you find that you're drawn to write that type of, of arc, that type of theme and. Does that carry forward for you?
It does. I mean, I found, I find myself. It's really drawn to the realism, I guess, of all the dynamics that go into just trying to get by day to day. You know, the challenging struggles that come up that you're trying to figure out solutions for.
Political maneuvering. Everybody's trying to , run their own agenda. Not necessarily good or bad, just everyone has something that they're trying to advance forward. And sometimes that works well with others and sometimes it doesn't. And so, just kind of navigating all of that. Of course with higher stakes, right?
Like I, I've drawn a lot of inspiration from the corporate political world. That's given me a lot of, a lot of content there. I mean, people aren't trying to kill each other in the corporate world that I know of but it'd be some, some good content to be able to translate over. To very similar situations.
So I think part of it is just the experience of kind of things. I've seen things in my own life. And then add a little bit of add a touch of fantasy to that.
So. What is your process like to go from an idea to, to the polished draft? What does that look like?
Absolute chaos.
Everyone kind of has their own approach. And I know that this approach does not work well for some folks. It works beautifully for me. I write. What inspires me when it inspires me, regardless of where it is in the story, I am not a linear writer. I'm currently, I think, working on a chapter, I don't know, 44 out of 58 right now, and there's a bunch of chapters not written in the current, my current work in progress.
So I'm all over the place. And really on that 1st draft, it's just meant to get stuff out. Right. Just meant to get the ideas out. There's a lot of different directions. A story can go a lot of different you know, splits in the plot decisions being made. And I think that that's really made in the edit process.
So that's when the story really comes together is in the edit process. And so that first effort is just to get ideas out. The way to come up with the best idea is not to just come up with the best idea. It's to come up with a lot of ideas and then pick. From there, so I try not to be too hard on myself for if, you know, a plot point is cringe or I don't really like it or something.
I will just put whatever comes to mind that could work potentially for the story and then I'll just refine it as I go. I rewrite a lot. Cause I'm not a good planner, but that's just, I've come to accept this. And then, you know, I, I think the most important part is relying on feedback. I have critique partners who read my work and tell me like, this is not working.
Or, you know, things that are working they help bounce ideas off. I may or may not take what they. You know, offer, but it could help me come up with even different ideas, right? Like it's just to get the wheels turning. But I think that that feedback piece is such an important part of the writing journey.
And then, you know, again, I know my strengths and weaknesses. I rely on professional services for, you know, that final polish editing. I have a developmental editor. I have a copy editor. I have a proofreader. You know, these are all stages of, of the process to really produce a finished book.
Yes, absolutely.
We don't we don't do this alone.
No, no.
A big part of this podcast is dedicated to telling the truth about why writing can be so hard and exposing unhelpful internal narratives that many writers face when they craft their stories. And the reason behind this is, if we identify those narratives, if we normalize them, if we can learn to work through the doubts and help other writers do the same, then that means more stories in the world.
So can you share a time? When the writing was a real struggle for you when and what was it like and how did you get through it?
I faced a number of different kinds of struggles. So I would say 1 is. Just the practical struggle of writing, which I think a lot of people encounter. Most writers are working full time somewhere.
I am too. You know, writing is not their full time focus. You have family obligations, you have other Societal obligations, you know, things that you need to be involved in and that take up your time. So there is the challenge of just how do I make this work and and kind of trying to balance it all?
You know, and for me personally, all through last year, I was going through chemotherapy at the same time. I was going through radiation and. I got shingles at the same time that all of that was happening. And then I got COVID also at the same time. So it was like, I really felt like the universe was trying to kill me for a little bit.
I think trying to break it up a step at a time I'm not going to focus on all the overwhelming things that need to happen to put this book out because if I look at it at a macro level, it's too overwhelming. I'm not going to be able to handle it. All I'm going to focus on is the next thing I have to get done.
So, whether that's the next chapter, the next sentence, like, it doesn't matter. Just I'm going to focus on the next thing to get this done. And. Just took away a little bit at a time and it will happen when it happens. And that's how I kind of went through all of last year is just one thing at a time. I think the other struggle is having the confidence to put your work out, right?
Like there's a lot of barriers of is this good enough? Are people going to like it? I think that imposter syndrome is just this huge thing that, that all writers face. And I don't want to say like don't care about what other people think because like I care about what other people think.
And I think most people do. But one thing I kind of just keep falling back on is. I like things that other people like. I mean, most things that other people like I like, like if, if, if a book comes out and it has a bunch of high ratings and people love it, chances are I will love it. And the things that I like shows books, whatever it is that I have liked have followings of people who also like the same thing.
So I don't think I'm an anomaly in my personal taste. Of of things. And so if I like my story, I just kind of fall back on this. I think there are people out there that will like it too. I just have to find the right people. My book is not going to be for everyone. I'm not trying to make it for everyone.
I'm trying to make it for the people. I'm writing for the people who, who like what I write. And so that's kind of the mindset that I try to use to get over that challenge too.
I love that. , we're not alone. And we're not as unique as we think we are right in our struggles or our triumphs or our quirks really. So, yeah. Yeah. So, as far as when you look back on your writing life.
What did self doubt look like for you initially and. Do you still, do you struggle with it now? What's it look like now? How has it changed or evolved?
I mean, I, I go through the whole, Oh my gosh, I don't think people are going to like this. Or I don't think this is good or, or something along those lines.
It, it hits a lot. But again, I just kind of fall back on that knowledge that writing is a process. And if I don't currently like it. I try not to get disheartened with that. Because I know that I just haven't reworked it enough. I, you know, it just needs more development. I never like my work in the early stages.
That's usually when I'm most, critical. Yeah, I'm always critical, but I just remind myself that the book is not written in the first draft. So just, I'll keep working it and take stuff out that I, that's not making me happy. You know, add stuff in to make it better and it will eventually get there.
So that's pretty much how I kind of power through that, but also imposter syndrome, like there's emotional ties to that too. So sometimes you just need to be in a funk for a while and eventually get out. I, think a lot of writers. Go through that. I've seen some, some pretty big name authors share, their own vulnerability around imposter syndrome and, and how they struggle with that too.
I think that it's a very common thing, which also helps me as I think through it., a lot of folks feel the same way about their own work. People that I absolutely love and adore and will read anything that they write, they feel that way. So that kind of helps that kind of helps me get through that too.
Yeah. And I think that's important for all of us to recognize and realize is that this is a phenomena that knows no economic or socioeconomic boundary. It knows no boundary with success. It is there. I do believe that we can get much better about managing self doubt and imposter syndrome, but I don't think that it will ever go away.
What would you say have been the most helpful resources for you to learn the craft?
So this one's a little bit hard to answer. I mean, I think that if people truly are serious about publishing, there's just an ownership of research.
Google is your friend. There are unlimited podcasts, YouTube videos, wiki pages. The information is endless. I just found so much online. You know, so I would say step one is, start with Google. There's so many resources out there. Read Z provides a lot of just free how to articles, things like that.
I'm talking about like, just things that don't cost money. You can just get on and read for yourself. Kindlepreneur is another fantastic author resource website with so much information around anything you can possibly think of. And then I would just say fellow writer groups I've gotten a lot from just seeing what other authors are doing, being on social media, seeing what, you know, kind of what they've put out there.
I try not to focus too much on things like How to structure your story and all that. I mean, I don't want to make it sound like those things aren't useful, but I do think it's easy to be caught up in the mechanics of things and not really make progress or complicate things for yourself, just write your story and then start researching the process to make it better.
You need to accept very quickly that you don't write a perfect story the first time, but you're writing something that you can then develop. So, write your manuscript that you will then develop into something magical, and then start looking at all the, steps out there of what you can do to make it better.
I think critique partners are hands down, probably critique partners and beta readers are probably the biggest area that have helped me grow. I think I learned. More about grammar and punctuation from critique partners, beta readers and my copy line editor than I did in like four years of English in school, right?
Because you're, you're applying it, you know, and you're you're, you're getting better as a writer structurally. And when you create a story out of your own mind or in your own mind, like, it's clear to you because you're creating the story, right? But you may or may not be giving enough information to the reader to follow, and it's a really hard gauge of that for you as an individual.
So having critique partners and data readers is just such a huge part of that. piece to, to learn from and grow from. Those have been the areas that I've gotten the most from.
Yeah. I would agree and that's the challenge of writing is, especially if you start from a place where you don't. Have much of a grip on anything. You don't really know what you're doing. You're you're learning as you're going. And it's just this iterative process and it can feel very overwhelming. So your take and your advice on just doing 1 thing at a time. Just the next right thing that's in front of you is incredibly helpful.
And then knowing that in order to really get better at this, we can't do it alone because we don't have the perspective. By ourselves, you know, we have a significant amount of bias when it comes to our own writing and that's not our fault. It just is is the case. We know exactly why that character is doing what they're doing and where they're going most of the time.
But as a writer, it's really hard to put that on the page in a way that conveys it to the reader in a way they can experience it and understand the logic as well. So getting outside help and outside feedback is incredible. And then, you know, when you are getting ready to go and publish investing in outside resources to make sure that you're bringing a product to the market.
That is that is as good as it can be, because at the end of the day, when you decide to push publish, this is a product for our market. . So, all right. So what do you think the best piece of writing advice is that you've ever received? If you could imagine, if you can, if you can narrow
it down. I wouldn't call this advice because I don't know Michael Crichton personally, but he has a quote that I think about regularly and that is a book isn't written, it's rewritten. And so it just is kind of that motto that just helps me overlook and get past kind of the doubtful stages and know, like, trust the process.
You know, trust the process of the development. And so, yeah, I I think that that just single line has been the most influential, uplifting thing that I've, I've had over my, writing tenure, I guess, is just kind of knowing that he is a significant We can't. You know developer of stories is saying this and it's true.
I've, I've just, I've experienced it. I lived it. That happens with every single book that I'm writing. So yeah, I just kind of keep that front of mind. Say it one more time. A book is not written. It's rewritten.
What gives you the most joy and satisfaction when it comes to the writing process, when it comes to your writing?
I do love just the actual craft of story writing. So I get a lot of satisfaction there, but I think that really where it comes to life is sharing it with others. And when people read the book, they connect with it. They love it. Then I just feel like, you know, on top of the world.
I think that writing is, an art. And art is meant to connect people. And so The connecting with people part over my writing and other writing and other books and other authors has been, a really fulfilling piece of this as well.
That is beautiful. That is beautiful. And I, I agree as well.
We're meant to, we're meant to be in community. And in connection, not in isolation and our writing is a way for that to, to make that happen. , what is your wish for your fellow writers out there?
Just success in whatever form that comes in, whether it's just writing to write and that enjoyment.
If, if that's kind of what speaks to them, then that's what I want for them. If it's someone who wants to publish a book, if it's someone who wants to, you know, make it big. I mean, the thing is, is that we all. Want we don't want the same thing. We all want something kind of different. And there are some similar veins of different paths that you can take that people tend to gravitate toward.
I just want people to do what makes them happy. I want them to write what makes them happy. I want them to publish what makes them happy. And, and, you know, I, I want that success for them and whatever that looks like.
Think that we each have a North Star.
Some of them look similar. And some, some do not. But the ability to, to follow it and To kind of narrow our focus down to just that as we move forward in, in our creations and filter out the noise of the expectations is where the key, you know, it's kind of like the keys to the kingdom. If we can get into that headspace.
We're, we're happier, we're happier, we're happier creatives. So where can what, what do you currently, I know you have some things in the, I know you have some exciting things coming up, especially for next year. So what are you currently working on? What can you tell us about, and where can we find you?
Oh gosh. Okay. I know I said that crowns was a complete trilogy and it is. It's a complete story. I didn't miss market it you get a full story. But I am not ready to be done. There's more. So I'm working on something right now. That's all I can say about that.
And then I have also another project that I'm working on. It's different than my normal storylines. It's a modern day fantasy romance. May or may not involve some supernatural beings and deities. I, I feel like, you know, this has been a really fun project just because it's been so different.
Most of my work takes place in Fantasy world medieval type settings. Nope. Modern day here now. And it's also in first person, which has been interesting for me to write because I've always been a third person writer. So I do plan to put these out early of 2025, if I can stick to my writing schedule and, and make good progress.
I'm looking forward to kind of sharing more when I'm a little bit closer. I want to make sure I have a realistic timeframe before I come out with anything. Well, we are looking
forward to it. So where can we tune in and find you?
So, I mean, I'm on social media, Instagram, threads, Facebook.
I'm really scared of TikTok, but I've made a commitment to myself that I'm going to do more soon. All of those are at Nikola Taiki. Just my name. Is the handle. And then I also have some in person events that I'm really excited for coming up. I'm going to be a signing author at Romanticy Book Con in Orlando in October.
And then in LA in February of next year. And then I'll also be at Rare London in July and Melbourne of October of next year. So. If you guys are around, if you're planning to go to those events, we'd love to see and meet anybody who wants to stop by.
Wonderful. Well, thank you so much for your time today and for sharing more about your author's journey and being honest and being vulnerable about your process of being a writer and how you go through it.
How do you get through it? It's wonderful. And I wish you all the success. And please, I am not kidding when I say Nicola's books are beautiful. They're wonderful, romantic fantasy series, and you won't regret it if you enjoy romantic fantasy.
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