Embracing Your Voice with AK Nevermore
Hey writer. Welcome back to another episode of the Write It Scared podcast. This is episode eight, and I'm your host, Stacy. I'm so happy you're here. I think you're going to love this episode. You're going to laugh and chuckle, and you're definitely going to walk away inspired.
Today I'm interviewing AK Nevermore, who is an amazing example of someone who embraces their voice and their authenticity. And is willing to be vulnerable and share how that has not always been an easy road.
So, let's jump into the interview.
AK Nevermor writes Sci-fi and dark romantasy with spice. She enjoys operating heavy machinery, free basescoffee and gives up sarcasm for lent every year.
A Jane of all trades, she's a certified chef, restores, antiques dabbles, and beekeeping. When she's not reading voraciously orr running down the dream in her beat-up camo chucks, unable to ignore the voices in her head and unwilling to become medicated. She writes full-time around a nest full of Ravens. Her books explore dark worlds, are perversely irreverent and profound and are always entertaining. AK belongs to the Authors Guild, is an RWA chapter board member volunteers for far too many committees teaches creative writing and on the rare occasion sleeps. She is the author of the spicy urban fantasy romance series: The Dae Diaries. The Dark Sci-fi romance series: The Price of Talent. And the Dark Paranormal Erotic Series. The Maw of Mayhem.
Stacy
Welcome to the show. Thanks for being here.
AK
Thank you for having me.
Stacy
Yeah, so we've probably known each other for about a little more than a year now.
AK
It might be longer than that.
Stacy
Maybe longer. Time feels elusive when you're a writer. I'm just so excited to see all of your books coming out in the world. It's been amazing and I wanted to ask you somequestions. So, if you don't mind, share with our listeners just a little bit more about your writer's journey. How did you get here?
AK
By accident. Yeah, I mean, I worked towards it, obviously, but it was, it's really, this has been a series of unfortunate events. And then really.I've had some crazy fortunate events, and I've been tripping over myself and finding myself in this whole new world that is really crazy and half the time. I don't know how I've gotten here, but I'm going to be here while I am.
STACY
I think you've worked your ass off for it too.
AK
I, I have, but it's really weird because, you know, when you start the whole, I want to be a writer thing it seems like there are these very specific steps that you need to take to get there.
You know, you have to, alright, so you've got to take some classes and you have to learn what you're doing. You have to write something amazing. You have to then query it and be out there and look for an agent that you have to find an agent. And then your agent will take care of you and all of your dreams will come true.That's kind of where I was coming from when I started on this journey. And it didn't happen like that. You know, I've never been shortlisted for a contest, which is, you know, everyone talks about doing. I've never had a full manuscript request. I've never had a partial manuscript request.I've never gotten off the slush pile. But I've got, as of right now, six books published, and two of them are going to be traditional. I've got a bunch of digital first, and then I'm coming out with self-publishing. It's really weird to think that all of that happened, but I didn't do it the way that you're supposed to, I guess.
STACY
So how did it happen?
AK
So my traditional book deals came about because I like to say that 90 percent of my success is due to spite. And that's totally true. I got turned down a lot with my first book and I finally was like, I ended up in a place that was really dark, and it was, you know, a good six months before I wrote anything, after I had been through this whole traumatic whatever, and when I got out of it, my big thing was like, okay, so, it was pretty much this, this really horrible manuscript assessment that just shredded everything that, like, I stood for more or less and I kind of sat back and I sewed over that for a good six months and then I just got really mad.
I got really angry because I was like, and who the hell are you? And I ended up basically, writing this really passive-aggressive like, revenge piece, more or less, that took everything that they said that it should be, and I twisted it so that it was, but oh yes, no, it really was not. And that was, that was Flame and Shadow, my first book that got published traditionally, and I put it into a mentorship program through the RWA.
And I promptly forgot about it, because I was like, this is never gonna go anywhere. And lo and behold, they were like, oh yeah, by the way, you've been selected, and I'm like, what? No, because the other book I had spent like seven years literally writing this thing and taking it through all of these, you know, workshopping things and courses and getting developmental edits on it and all of this kind of stuff.
And this other thing I had spent three months on writing, like just venom and whatever it was and making it very strange. And they picked it up and I was like, okay. So I ended up going through the program and they had this thing at the end where you skip the slush pile and people are looking for your work.
And I got people that asked, I had two publishers looking at it and I ended up signing with one of them. And I really think that the reason why that happened, like, in retrospect, right, so what made this book that I spat out so much better than this one that I had literally worked to death for seven years, I think that what Set it apart.
And what basically made that appealing was that it was authentic and it was in my voice and I wasn't trying to squish it into these molds that I had been told, Oh no, but it needs to be X, Y, and Z, which is what I had done with my first book for those seven years and had really just like choked all of the life and everything that made it mine out of it, trying to make it.
You know, super marketable or to fit all of these other kind of molds that it wasn't supposed to be. It wasn't it wasn't meant to be that. That wasn't my story. So that was kind of a very. Refreshing thing to learn, I guess. But from that is when I really started just saying, you know what? Screw it.
I don't care what people say. I'm just going to write what I want to read. I'm going to write it in my voice. And if you don't like it, Meh, whatever. So I went and I reworked that first book again. And I took it through a workshop again, but I took it through the workshop. Specifically for erotic scenes, believe it or not.
And the instructor who was teaching the course, she really, really liked my work. And it kind of, Got weird because she gave my work to her publisher and her publisher was like, yes, we want to publish this. Can we take it and like break it apart? And I'm like, no, at this point, I, I'm not breaking this apart.
This is mine. I'm going to self-publish this. That was like, I'm set on that. And they're like, okay, well, do you have anything else? And I was like Maybe I have this idea. And they're like, okay, write us that. Okay. So I wrote him that. And then they, they picked it up and I got a four book contract out of that.
But it was like, like I said, it's a series of really weird events. It's not, it wasn't normal, Stacy.
STACY
That's, that's cool. Right. And I think it's, it's awesome. Actually. It's awesome to show that there's way more than one way to do this. And that trajectory of. You know, learn what you need to learn, write the book that will appeal, and put it into the, put it into the world of slush piles.
Is that the way for everybody? A lot can be learned just from you sharing your story right there and being able to look back. You learned a lot, and it sounds like you learned your voice. You learned to trust that again.
AK
Yeah, I would say so.
STACY
When we're first getting here, we don't know what our voice is. You know, not really. It takes time to find that. And if somebody starts to poke some pretty big holes in that early on, I can be hard to come back from. I love what you said about my success being dependent upon my spite level.
Right? Sharing your story will do nothing but encourage other people to dig in and be authentic. Write what makes them, them. And I'll tell you what, the first book of the Day Diaries reads like lightning like you can't put it down.
I love everything about what I'm reading. That's so clearly why it has such great reviews on Goodreads. It's awesome. So, and that book that you were, you know, That you workshopped that kind of set you back after that, that was that, was that Breaker?
AKI
That was Breaker, yeah.
STACY
I think that was about the time we met. Or maybe it was a bit after that.
AK
Yeah, it was probably, it was a little bit after that, I think. And I remember, like, it was, it was really actually pretty cool because you were one of the people that gave me clarity on that. And it wasn't anything like, it wasn't a huge, what you said was just a little ping, but it was this massive lightbulb in my head.
And basically what I had been going through at that point is because One of the things that they had a lot of problems with when I workshopped this, and keep in mind that I write genre fiction, and Speaking from experience, you don't want to go through a literary course with your genre fiction. It's really not a good idea.
So that's one of the reasons why they like totally tore it apart. And, you know, it was like, okay, there's too much swearing. There's too much violence. There's too much sex. It needs to be more of, of a message. You know, I had a male protagonist And they're telling me, well, no, no, no, it has to be female.
It has to be in first person. It needs to be more like the hunger games or the power or something. And I'm just going, are you effing kidding me? But it's like, no, this isn't, this isn't what I want to do. And you know, the other thing too, that I had to kind of wrap my, my mind around, which seems so fricking bizarre to me now.
But it's true. like two years ago, you said, okay, so you write romance. I would slap you like, I don't know, because my covers are not Fabio. I'm not doing this Harlequin thing. You know, it's no, no, absolutely not. I write sci fi, you know, and yeah. So just trying to. Wrap my head around the fact that romance today is not your mom's romance.
It's not your grandma's romance. It's so much different. And romantasy in particular, is so huge right now. And it doesn't have to be sweet. It can be dark, and it can be all of these different things that I was writing about, but I didn't have that label for it with that connotation. And until I kind of like was.
Oh, oh, I think I write romance. You know, I needed to have that kind of light bulb thing. And especially with the erotica, I remember saying, well, you know, I like writing, I like writing intimacy and that kind of thing, but I'm not sure how, if I really want to do erotica. And you were like, why not?
And I was like, I had no answer for that. And And so I'm sitting there and I'm thinking about it. And I think that you'd mentioned you're like, well, it's really just a journey of discovery of oneself through, you know, intimacy. And I'm like, Oh, I never actually thought about it that way. Okay. Yeah.
That's kind of shit. That's what I'm writing. Oh my God. And that was like, and from that, I was able to really lean into that as a strength. and write the book that it needed to be. So thank you.
STACY
That is awesome. And you know what? To me, it's so exciting when people let go of whatever is holding them back. Their insides match their outsides, and they march into the world that way.
And that is fricking cool. I am so proud of you. I'm so happy for you.
Okay. So sci-fi. Fantasy. Dark romantasy. Whatdraws you into that world?
AK
Oh, it's weird. It's just, it's weird. I like I mean, if you're, if you're reading Flame and Shadow, it's like, I very much like the unexpected. I very much like the twists.
I very much like the, oh, and then something happens and it's the worst possible whatever, but you've got to, you've got to get out of it. And I mean, this is it's very subjective, but the stakes, the stakes are higher. You can make the stakes higher. You can make the you know, the twists twistier than if say, like, in a cozy romance or something like that.
I just really like that and I really like being able to bring in mythology and folklore and all kinds of stuff like that and just have these these weird tropes and things going on.
I just, I, I just love that. And as far as the you know, the, the darkness in it, I, I like assholes. I think that that's what it is, is that guys that are dicks, I just think are, I don't know. So I like bringing that quality into my books too, where I just think that they're more fun to write. Like the, the, The dialogue is more fun to write.
The scenes seem like they're hotter. It's just, you know, you've got that whole bad boy-esque thing going on. And yeah, it's just, it's, it's a lot of fun. It is.
STACY
How do you feel about antiheroes?
AK
my books are full of them. Like, I, I really, please give me more. Yeah. Like I, the, the person who's going to do it, not because they want to do it, but just because, you know, they get something out of it or whatever, and maybe good things happen.
Okay, fine. I like that a lot more than, you know, the, the, the hero where he's out to do good. And this is going to be wonderful. No, like morally gray is my favorite color and I will stand by that. So yes.
STACY
Yeah, I think it's a, well, I think it's a more fair representation of humanity because we've all got a dark side, whether we want to look at it or not.
So, when you write these type of stories what about the happily ever after? You know, that, that comes with the romance genre convention, right? So, how do you handle that in a dark story? Right. Yeah, the happily ever after or the
happily for now is required when you're writing romance. It's what separates say romance from women's fiction, basically.
So you, you do need to have that. And I think that it's really important. To go back to what I said about how today's romance is not yesterday's romance So a happily ever after now is not getting married and having kids that's not you know, that's not the definitive answer of what happily ever after means So you've I mean you've got all of these really cool different kinds of relationships going on where you know, same sex polyamorous all these things and Yeah, sometimes that just that isn't part of the equation at all.
It's more of just making sure that your characters end up in a satisfying relationship and situation that is there happily ever after, I think. So, which is still can be really freaking tricky with dark romance and everything else. Like. I know with my Mayhem series those are just novellas and I really, really struggled sometimes to get to a place where, okay, they're happy right in this moment now, but shit's gonna hit the fan like on the next page as soon as they turn the whatever, but, but no, it's happily right now.
So yeah, that can, that can be definitely difficult, but it's easier when you take that new kind of definition into mind, I think.
And when you're writing in series, because all of your books are series, right? No standalones at this point, how do you handle, like, let's say you've got a couple that tracks through the whole series.
STACY
How do you handle that satisfying ending across the series? Because you can't give it to them completely in the first.
AK
No, I think that it's more, and series are really kind of, they're fun to do. They're, I, I really love series because I keep going and I like to stay in these worlds that I create. I think that, so the series would be an overreaching arc, and then each book has its own arc underneath that umbrella.
So, maybe, you know, their happily ever after is all the way down the line, and then you've got all of these little for nows. And each book is, like, deals with a different aspect of their relationship. So, Like in the one that I just wrote for mayhem, it was, I had to do, you know, the happily ever for now.
And so how do you do that with the relationship? Well, An X comes into the picture. So it's the dealing with this is the huge drama and then going through it and how do they move past it to get to the next point in their relationship. Or I have you know, in, in the breaker series, it's like, okay, well, they're getting through the, the going to getting to know each other thing.
And now they're happily for now. But now you got to meet the family. Or if it's in the day diaries, that one's a little bit different. That one, that one's kind of crazy, but it would go, you know, the first one is basically just admitting that you're falling in love and then you're together. So I think that each relationship kind of, I mean, it's got its ups and downs and you've got all of these little, like.
Crosses you have to bridges to cross as you go through it. So each book is kind of a, a bridge, a section of that moving towards their happily ever after. I would say
STACY
I love that answer. From my perspective. Tell me if you agree or not, or shove it but from my perspective. The thing you have to give your reader in that kind of situation is hope.
AK
Yes.
STACY
They have to have hope and see potential in this relationship. To move forward, they also have to be really worried that something's going to screw it up.
So yeah, many writers struggle with accountability and finding time to write.
You are one of the busiest people I know. How do you do it?
AK
So, yeaI, I do. I've got a lot of stuff going on especially lately. And I think that it's definitely a matter of prioritizing. When I first started writing, and I homeschool my kids,I hadt a bunch of stuff going on, you know, taking care of the house,and all this other stuff on top of it.
So, And the first thing that I was like, okay, if I want to do this and if I want to do it seriously. I cannot be spending, you know, an hour, two hours every night zoned out in front of the TV. So I stopped watching television. That was like the big thing. And I was like, if I'm going to read, it's going to be to help,, forward my career.
If you know, I want to watch movie fine, watch a movie, but I'm not just going to do that zone out type kind of thing. I'm going to focus on stuff. And it was hard for like the first week and then it was, I totally don't miss it anymore. I don't think that I've actually watched television and I don't know, 3 or 4 years now.
And social media. That was the other thing that I cut out totally. I cannot do that anymore because I do have to work on social media. So that has snuck back in and I will catch myself scrolling and I'm like slap my hand. No, don't do that. Stop it right now. But the other thing that I do is I wake up really stupid early.
So my husband he's up at like 4, 4 30 every morning because he's a foreman. He's got to be on the job site. So I get up with him and I write, that's what I do is I write, then I end up having. You know, five hours before my kids get up and it's time for school which I usually start around 10, 11 o'clock.
Do all their stuff during the afternoon. And then in the evening is when I would typically , do emails and do the business side of everything. You know, what you've got to do for your marketing. You've got to, you know, plan out your social media. You've got to take care of your website, your newsletter, you know, all that other kind of stuff.
Junk. And then my husband is home. He kind of takes over the kids at that point, and I've got time to sit down and do my work. That said, I, I'm putting in eight hours a day at this, I would say, you know which I'm, I'm very grateful that I have that ability to do. I know a lot of people don't but that's, that's pretty much this.
Is like my job at this point.
STACY
So it's minimizing distractions and it's prioritizing. Big time. Yeah. Big time. And, and choosing, making some hard choices.
AK
Yeah, you really do have to. And I mean, that's not to say that some days I'm just like, fuck it, and go rage clean my stove or something because that happens a lot, or I'll just be like, you know what?
We're just going for the day and we're just doing things, so it's not totally nose to the grindstone, but it is, I mean, it's, it's also treating it like a job, and being like, no, you have to sit there and you have to write, and I don't care if you don't want to write, I have I've got a reader magnet that I'm trying to get out and I really have to get out by the end of this, the end of this week excuse me yeah, it's not happening, but I'm still, like, this is something that I have to do, and I want it to be around 20k, I've got, like, 7k down, I pretty much know what I want to do, but I just have to sit and freaking write it, so it's a matter of, Sitting there and making myself frickin write it even if it's just outlining Even if it's just like the worst kind of crap ever.
There's something on the page and I can build off of that the next day Until finally you get to that point where you know what the words are coming out and it's flowing and then I can go through and edit it It's basically not waiting for the muse, which can be painful at times.
But sometimes, you know, that bitch is on vacation and she's not taking my calls.
STACY:
So I totally feel that. What is the best piece of writing advice you think you've ever received?
AK:
Oh, the best piece of writing advice I've ever received. I, you know It definitely, I mean, it's to keep writing, and that's totally lame, and people are like, eh, whatever, along with, you know, don't throw away anything that you write, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, yeah, says I have, you know, a whole freaking terabytes full of just crap I will never look at again in my entire life but I think that that is really true, , and from what I can tell, and this is, like, painful to say too, but.
I really don't think, I really don't think talent counts for much, and that's like a crappy thing to say, but it really kind of doesn't because I know people that are so incredibly stupidly talented, so much more than I am, I mean, like, wow, type kind of writing, but they just don't want to, push themselves, or they don't want to, you know, they don't want to, you know, I don't want to say put in the effort because they do put an effort, but it's kind of like if someone says no, they're just like, oh, okay, I'll, you know, I'll, I'll look at something else or I'll do something, I refer to myself as a bulldozer.
They're not a bulldozer. And I really think that persistence is what counts the most in this industry. It's the people that are crawling up the mountain with their, you know, manuscript between their teeth that are like, no, someone is going to read this. Or, you know, it was funny because someone had said they, they had made a post about how, you know, they were knocking on the doors and.
And nobody was answering. And how do they get in if the gatekeepers don't open the gate? And I was like, well, then you put a flaming bag of poo on there. So they have to come out and you sneak in when they're not looking like you just, you find a way it's, it's no, is not. I mean, it's an answer, but it doesn't mean you have to take it.
Just because we have, it's, as writers, it's, it's like, we almost need that validation that getting an agent and getting, you know, top five publisher kind of brings.
And, okay, yeah, but that validation is kind of crap at the same time. Like, it doesn't make you any more of a writer if you're self published or you're traditionally published or anything else. And I think that a lot of times What I have seen is that I have some writer friends who are incredibly, incredibly talented, but they would never consider being self published because That's just not it's just not what they want to do because they don't see it as like an option and it's kind of sad to me because it's like but you are so good and just because this what you're writing is not the thing at the moment that it will never see the light of day because it wasn't the thing.
Even though maybe if you self published it, it would become the thing because it's really freaking good and people just need to see it. So that's like, that's kind of sad,
STACY:
And from the business side of it, I don't think traditional publishing can hold a candle to what independent publishing is capable of. Because there's not very many people sitting in that one to 5 percent margin that are really making a lot of money at this on the trad side. It's true.
AK:
It's totally true. And I think that, you know, just looking at it from a business perspective is so I have, I do have a traditional publisher and it takes 12 to 16 months for them to put a book out. If you're looking at it from building a buzz and building a following and getting, you know, people, your fans and everything, if you're putting out only one book.
Every 12 to 16 months. It is really freaking hard to sustain that. I mean, if you're J. D. Robb, okay, yes, she can totally do it. Stephen King, he can do it too. But even they put out two books a year. But it's like, you know, it's It is impossible, in my opinion, to start from nothing and to get any kind of momentum if you're just, if you're putting out on that, on that pace.
You know, if maybe if you were with one of the big five and you were their author that they were going to push for that entire year and this was like the big thing that they were doing, okay, then yeah, I can see it happening. But how likely is that? For everyone else, you know what I mean? That's like the one golden child that comes along, you know, every century or something.
STACY: Yeah. I mean, those are your, to me, like the best seat in the house to be in. you write what you want to write. You put it out in the world, people find it and it develops its own following and its own thing.
And then you go off and write whatever else you want to write. Right. That's, you know, that to me, that's the dream. That's the dream is leaning into what you like and, and not what other people are expecting of you. Yeah. I mean, but also, I mean, also you have to consider and honor your readers, but you are your reader.
Right? You, you are the reader of the thing that you like to write if you're being authentic. So let it rip. It's true. It is. Yeah. Learn, learn what you need to learn, learn how to make it good, but let it rip.
AK
Yeah. It, it all comes back. I really think to just being authentic with your voice because that's what people respond to.
It really is. And you know, you end up talking about author brand and talking about, how you're going to present yourself and this and that. Yeah. And When that doesn't align with who you are at your core, you're setting yourself up for failure.
STACY
100%. All right, well, what gives you the most joy and satisfaction?
AK
Bourbon. Ah! Bourbon. Bourbon.
STACY
Okay, but let's, let's, let's zone in on writing. What gives you the most joy and satisfaction?
AK
Oh, I was going to say cheese is a close second, but all right in writing, I would say it is that I'm a pantser. So it is literally that moment when I look back on what I wrote and I'm like, holy shit, it all works.
Like, that's my favorite moment. Yes. I love that. And what is your wish for your fellow writers out there? Oh my God. I, my wish is for you to go out and do it. Yes. Like, that thing that scares you, do it, because I will say that 99. 9 percent of the time, it is not the thing, it's the anticipation of the thing that you're afraid of.
And once you kind of get that fear out of it, and you just jump, it's like, why didn't I do this sooner?
STACY:
I love that. And can you share what you're currently working on?
AK:
A lot. Right now. So right now I am working on a reader magnet for, for Breaker. And that's what's kicking my ass.
I'm working on an anthology story. I have to get out the fourth book in the Mayhem series.
And I've got a bunch of book launches that I'm trying to deal with. I think I have my newsletters due too, so I probably should start working on that.
STACY: And I just have to say it is one of my favorite author newsletters to, to read.
It'ss so funny. It's so yo. It'ss so your voice. It's you, everything. And that' what we gravitate t: the people whot are you know, that, there's a little bit of soul sister there because I like your gri,t and I identify with your grit.
AK
Right. Yes.
So maybe crazy parents because that's what it's been. been writing about lately. So this episode, it's gotta be whatever's in there. It has to include my father chasing birds with a leaf blower because that was like classic. They were roosting on his deck and they were crapping on it and that's not cool apparently.
So yeah, he's out there with a leaf blower and I'm just like this, this dude, he's like, he's this tall, skinny, gray haired guy, you know, like 70 something years old. And oh my goodness, like dad. You're going to hurt yourself. And is he chasing them with the leaf blower? Yes. Yes. He is. He's like chasing, like, do not come over here.
Like, no, you cannot roost. And yes. Facing them with the leaf blower. I, you know, it's just swap out, swap that out for like a 22.
He's crazy. He's crazy. I don't know. It's like, well, no, because my mom likes them, but they're bluebirds. Bill, you can't. It's this whole thing. So this is their compromise is, you know, he doesn't kill them, but he's going to go after him with a leaf blower.
STACY
I'll just send you the transcript of this piece and you can plug that in there, right? Okay.
And where can listeners find you?
AK
Oh, on my website, which is aknevermore.com. I am on social media, pretty much every platform with that same aknevermore.com. I am really terrible at being on social media though, unless it's Facebook.
I seem to Find time for that because I'm old and that's like our, you know, generation type kind of thing. TikTok hates me. I hate TikTok. I am on IG sometimes, but other than that, yeah. Right on. Well, thank you so much for your time today and just, you know, your authenticity and your vulnerability.
STACY
It's, it's amazing. This podcast is dedicated to helping other writers, you know, overcome things that get in their way. And I think you're going to inspire a lot of people.
AK: I hope so. Go do it. Thanks. And listen to Stacy because she's very wise.
STACY. HA. Yeah. Thanks. Not everybody thinks that.