Today's interview is with the talented author, Ron C. Nieto. I fell in love with Ron's books while reading her Faerie Sworn series. I enjoyed all of the fun word play and power play between Lily and Troy. There were plenty of twists and turns and just enough romance that you felt the chemistry. I've reviewed two of those books on this blog and have included the links below. Now she has a new project in the pipeline and needs your help! If you're interested, then visit her campaign on Kickstarter. There's more information about her latest book project below and also inside the author interview.
Book Description:
They say power makes monsters out of men, so what will an ancient artifact of near-absolute power make of a monster?
The race is on for Aisling. With her place within the Fianna in question, she must enlist the help of Ancient History professor Ronan O’Neill to make sure that the Spear of Lugh, one of the four Irish Treasures and reputed to grant victory to whichever side wields it in battle, doesn’t fall into the wrong hands. She just never thought that there would be so many “wrong hands” vying for it, or that the professor she had started to feel attracted to would have quite such a big secret to hide…
Author Interview:
Ron C. Nieto
Ron C. Nieto
1. Where do you normally write or where is your favorite place to write?
Okay, I pledge guilty! I’m one of those café writers. I have a collection of little shops I love to go to, where I can just find my corner, order a drink and spend the next couple of hours typing away. My selection ranges from the Starbucks cliché to a neighborhood place that’s always empty and quiet if you know to hit it at the right time. And when a deadline is upon me and I need to put in some serious hours, I like to visit the library. I’m lucky enough to live in Madrid, Spain’s capital, and the National Library is just a short fifteen-minute stroll from my place. Just entering that building makes you want to work harder, I promise!
2. When do you find time to read and what do you usually like to read?
I don’t find nearly as much time to read as I’d like—because if it were up to me, I would never put a book down. While I’m plotting my own novel, I find spots to read all through the afternoon, but when it’s time to buckle down and start writing, those extra minutes go into typing rather than reading. At those times I fall back entirely to my backup plan (and guilty pleasure): audiobooks. I listen to at least half an hour of my current book before falling asleep, and when the book is particularly good and the narrator is just right? Well. Let’s just say I’ve pulled a number of all-nighters that have nothing to do with parties or work.
I enjoy most genres, but my favorites will always be fantasy, urban fantasy, paranormal, and historical and sci-fi romance. Not necessarily in that order.
3. What was the first book that you wrote and did you publish it?
Yikes. As I recall, it was a liberally embellished accounting of my summer adventures. The book was influenced by The Famous Five and The Little Vampire. I was eight. It hasn’t been published, and if I’m lucky, the floppy disk where I stored the file has been lost and damaged beyond salvation.
I wrote an epic fantasy influenced by (guess who?) Tolkien and Dragonlance during my teen years. Also, mercifully, unpublished.
Then I wrote a series of stories and full-length novels around videogames. People actually read those and enjoyed them, even if they were far (very, very far) from quality material. That’s when I finally got the idea, “hey, I can do this! Writing is a real career, and I can make it!”.
So, another novel. A first person, stream-of-consciousness vampire novel, gritty, with lots of mood and little point. Unpublished, but the seed for my routine, my style and my dedication.
That means the first novel I published was the fifth I’d written. I’d learned a lot from those past attempts, and I’ve learned even more since then. I hope never to stop learning!
4. What are common traps for aspiring writers?
I think the worst trap is that they think of themselves as “aspiring writers”. If they write, they are writers, period. They can be successful, or bestselling, or just writers, but they have the title.
Now, what they actually mean is that they are “aspiring authors”, as in writers who want to publish their work and make a living out of it. Again, that little word, “aspiring”, is a trap. If you want to make writing your career, you have to take it seriously. There are no “aspiring lawyers”, just “students” and then “lawyers”. Same thing here: take the time to understand story structure, narrative devices, genre conventions, market behavior, publishing trends… And once you have your “degree”, don’t treat writing as your hobby: treat it as your job, because it is.
Believe me, there is much more to being an author than “just” writing good books, but if you want to be an author, and you put in the hours as you would in your regular eight-to-five, you can do it. Forget about “aspiring” and start “being”.
5. Do you use your own name or a pseudonym?
A pseudonym… rather, a penname. Ron C. Nieto is based on my actual name, with a few minor tweaks:
I shortened my full name to the unisex “Ron” because I started out writing fantasy, and women don’t have that much luck in the genre. While I’ve shifted since then, I’ve come to think of myself as Ron at such a level that going back to “Veronica” would feel odd, and definitely not me.
And I have a two-part surname. The first part starts with “C”, and includes strange characters that would make it difficult for people to remember and pronounce, so I just initialed it and went with the second part.
6. What would you like readers to know about your latest book or book project?
I’m so excited about it! Fianna’s Awakening is an action-packed paranormal romance featuring a Celt warrior and an undercover druid on a race to recover an ancient artifact that threatens modern-day Ireland.
I’m currently running a Kickstarter campaign to fund the production of an audiobook! Success would also mean that backers get the book about six months before its planned release date, and there are also some interesting bonuses—like an exclusive personal planner, a limited print edition and the option to include the ebook boxset of my complete Faerie Sworn series in the bundle.
If you want to check it out and claim your copy, you can do so here on Kickstarter.
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