Meet the Voices presents Nick Daniels!
Nick was born in the late 1970s, in a bustling city in South America. He wrote his first short story in third grade about a explorer lost in the Amazon jungle, then discovered Jules Verne during sixth grade and was hooked into fiction for life. He spent the next few years reading literature classics (mostly Dostoievsky) and contemporary Latin American writers such as Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Jorge Luis Borges, Julio Cortazar, and Mario Vargas Llosa, plus every book in the library that picked his interest. At age fifteen, he decided to write a novel about a woman who loses the ability to love. It remains (thankfully) unpublished.
After graduating from journalism school, Nick moved to the United States to continue his education and write about science and faith issues. He worked as a science writer for several years until he gradually found his way back into fiction. Nick now lives on an island in the pacific, in what can be described as a writer’s paradise.
What is the biggest writing challenge you’ve encountered this past year – craft, career, writing life, etc.
My biggest writing challenge has been to stay productive in my writing through the hardships of life: fleeing from a hurricane, relocating to a different country, virtually loosing my job and going freelance, house hunting. Hey, but I’m happy and ready to publish my first novel!
How did you solve it?
Being part of the Christian Writers Guild helped a lot. The fact that I had deadlines for my lessons and a group to be accountable to, helped me to keep writing.
What is the one thing you learned that you can share with other writers?
I learned to be more concise in my writing and ruthless when cutting unnecessary words. I was blessed to have great writers and editors look at my manuscript and point what was wrong, like a few months ago, when Jerry Jenkins read my first few pages and cut them almost in half.
For instance, I had a tendency to narrate every movement my character made in certain situations, but now learned to describe the action in less words
Tell us about your current WIP.
The Jihad’s Messiah
A man’s dream of becoming a General in Iraq’s army is threatened by false accusations that he is an Israeli spy. When a childhood friend whose brother has gone missing invites him to Jerusalem, he seizes the opportunity to spy on the Israelis and vindicate himself. But war breaks out between Iraq and Israel and he has to run for his life—both Muslims and Jews wanting to kill him. The missing brother’s Christian faith proves to be the key to putting the man’s life back together, but first he must reevaluate his Muslim beliefs and his prejudices against the Jews to discover the truth that would set him free.
Nick, thank you for being our featured Voice this week. To learn more about Nick, visit his website.
Visit the Voices forum and Meet the Voices thread to discuss writing, life, and everything in between with Nick. Be sure to join us on Friday evening at My Book Therapy at 8 pm EST, 7 pm CST for a guest chat with Nick and our book therapists, Susan and/or Rachel. To access the chat forum:
* Log onto My Book Therapy.
* Click on the forum button.
* Sign in with your username and password, if necessary.
* Along the bottom of your browser window, you will see MBT Voices Chat. Click on that and the chat window will pop up.
* Your name will show up in the box on the right hand side. To comment, type in the box in the bottom under the yellow smiley face.
*In the chatroom, we will abide by chat etiquette–type ? for question, type ! for comment, and type GA for go ahead after you’re completed your question or comment.
* If you have any questions, send an e-mail to meetvoices@mybooktherapy.com and put Chat in the subject.