Will SciFi Exclusive Author Interview is here! Welcome, Will! I’m so excited to have you join me for this exclusive author interview. Those who don’t know Will, he is the author of Nova’s Blade!
Now, first things first—without giving away spoilers, tell readers about Nova’s Blade?
It’s set in the late 22nd century, in a cyberpunk world. Everything is privatized. Most people are poor, while the rich are ultra-rich. Since corporations own everything and there is no government, the police won’t even assist you unless you have a paid subscription to their services.
A major pastime for the world is watching Last Valkyrie, a show where women fight to the death to marry a member of a rich and powerful family. It’s like Hunger Games meets The Bachelor.
I do want to say that it is deeper than finding love and getting money. It’s the complete opposite of what people may think when they hear that premise. To some, they may see it as over the top and selfish that people kill each other just to get married. But throughout the story, we know why they’re actually on the show and the main point of the show. I will say it isn’t to find love or get money.
What inspired you to write the sci-fi novel Nova’s Blade?
I was given a writing tip that told me to combine popular genres to get ideas. So I thought about dystopian and romance, and by combining them, I got the idea of Nova’s Blade. Also, the MeToo movement and the death of George Floyd inspired me heavily, especially the MeToo. Both movements were eye-opening to me and the world, so I wanted to write a book that would be eye-opening to readers as well as the characters within the book. Obviously not trying to compare my book to those movements. I wanted to create a book that served as a mirror into our society. In my opinion, dystopias are meant to mirror the world and time they were written at. Seeing how much those two movements revealed about our world, I took some aspects of our world that were shown and put them into a book.
Are any of the characters based on people you know?
No, all of this comes from my mind. The main character Nova is featured on the front cover. Her face is actually drawn from a picture of my mom when she was younger. And yes, my mom knows her face was being drawn into a book cover.
What is your favorite chapter?
That’s a good question, but I would say the chapter(s) where Nova goes on a date with Octavian because it dives more into the other side of things. We see how life is for the people on top in the book. Not only that, but from there, things sped up for Nova. They really took off. Things were finally going her way.
How long did it take for you to write Nova’s Blade?
Wow. So, believe it or not, Microsoft word has this feature to show your editing time. So mine was around 720 hours. I started writing this book back in August of 2020. I took a couple of months off, then went back at it in December of 2020, and finished recently. This doesn’t include the hours I spent writing the outline, doing research, watching tv shows, and reading books to get an idea of concepts.
Did you always want to be a writer?
I would say I always wanted to be able to tell stories and ideas. I remember I asked my dad what his opinion was on an idea I had for a movie. Basically, I said, “wouldn’t this be a good idea.” I wasn’t trying to make a movie. I just wanted to see the idea become a movie so I could watch it. I thought it would be great if someone made it. He suggested I write a book since many movies came from books.
Walk us through a day in your life when writing. Are you a morning writer? Afternoon?
With school and my job, I usually write whenever I can. So that includes in the morning before work and even at night after work. That was pretty much what I was doing. Whenever I write, I tend to have background music with no words: so ambient music, epic music, movie soundtracks, whatever allows me to get focus. And of course, like all writers, there are times I just stare at a blank white screen.
How was the publishing process? Were you involved in picking the title and cover?
Yes, I was involved in all of it. I chose the title and cover. The original title was Death Dating Games. But my dad suggested I change the name because he believed that it wasn’t appealing enough. Well, when I read the name back to myself, I realized he was right. So I had a couple of different names, and I brought them up to my dad and brother. I had names like Death Games, The Red Channel, I don’t remember the others. That tells you how unappealing they were. So we kept talking, and then I stumbled upon Nova’s Blade. The name comes from the character. My dad told me to name the book after the character, so I started looking for cool names. I searched for names of gods and goddesses in other religions, and I looked up names of stars and constellations which led me to Nova. I liked the sound of it, so did my brother, and I ran with it.
Will there be a book two, or are you working on a new project?
There will be a book 2. I don’t know when I’ll write it, but it will come out.
Before I let you go, tell readers how they connect with you on social media.
It’s best to hit me on Instagram, but Twitter works as well. I have a Facebook page.
So that concludes today’s interview with author Will SciFi! Thank you, Will for joining! You can follow Will on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. Also, you can also purchase Nova’s Blade on Amazon.
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