ePress Readers Forum

A Virtual Tour Visit by Nikki Leigh 
Author of Lady Lightkeeper

Who is your favorite author? Did he/she inspire you to become an author?

I have all kinds of favorite authors. But, if I had to narrow it down – I absolutely love the way Maeve Binchy puts you in the middle of the setting and makes you feel like you’re beside the characters. Also, I love the way Jeffrey Deaver can give the reader whiplash with the shocks, twists and turns in his books. I’ve gotten great feedback on my settings and characters, now I’m working on learning to include twists in the story – I’ve done several of those, just need to fine tune and practice the techniques. 

What does writing and being an author mean to you?

Writing is all about creating to me. It’s a chance to tell the stories racing around in my mind and sharing them with others. It’s an opportunity to transport readers to places and times that intrigue me. It’s also given me an opening to work with other people who want to be published. One of the things I’ve always loved about reading is that books have the power to transport us to any place and time and to help us learn about anything. The fascinating thing is that writing is like that, only better. The feeling of being transported to other places and times was the idea behind the authors/writing group that I founded with some friends. For anyone who would like to take a look, the address is www.readersstation.com. I should mention that people from Writers Village will see some familiar faces at the Readers’ Station.   

When and why did you decide to become an author? 

I originally knew that I wanted to be an author when I was in grade school. But, I put the dream away for a long time. In July 2001, I revived the dream.   

I love your strong female characters. Are they based on real people or just from your extraordinary and fertile imagination? 

A lot of the characteristics of these women are from my imagination. Wimpy, whining people who make excuses through their life drive me nuts. So, I had to focus on strong women who deal with many trials in their lives and I can throw problems at them. If you think these are strong, wait until you meet Georgette in Rebels and Rogues. I was asked about where these female characters come from and the independence and determination come from me. But, there’s no part of me in Mrs. Stevens or Ida.   

I know you have been to the very scenic area where your stories take place. Is that why you picked that locale for your setting? 

I searched for a long time for the right setting for my fictional town of Misty Cove and it had to be right for the Stormy View lighthouse. I’d toyed with the idea of Cape Cod, but as soon as I visited the area – I knew it was all wrong. On the same trip, we went to Cape Ann and Gloucester was the perfect place. It turned out that the place I planned to put my lighthouse, actually is the location of the Eastern Point lighthouse. Guess it was a good place J The more I researched the background for the area, the more story ideas I got.  

My other series is set on the Outer Banks and Lilah and the Locket is set at Cape Hatteras lighthouse. I love the Outer Banks and there is so much wonderful history to weave into my stories. I’ve also talked with two great historians who are helping me get the details right in my stories. The people in both areas are resilient. The women of Gloucester from the 1800’s inspired a number of things in Lady Lightkeeper and the people of Outer Banks will continue to play an important part in other Cape Hatteras stories.   

Tell me a little about what inspired you to write Lady Lightkeeper.

It all started with Stormy View (which is being re-released later this year under the name Stormy Shores). My main character is the daughter of a lighthouse keeper who is extremely proud of his family heritage of about 150 years of keepers at the Stormy View lighthouse. During that story, I created family history and then it dawned on me that I should write about the family history. The great great grandmother is mentioned in Stormy View and she is the focus on Widow’s Walk and then Lady Lightkeeper. In Stormy View, Kennalyn finds out about her grandmother who was a lighthouse keeper.   

How do you go about your development of a story? Do you do an outline first? Character development? Plot? Or just start writing? 

I interview all my main characters first. I plan the main elements of the book and loosely plan what will happen in each chapter. But, I allow myself the permission to go off in a different direction if the characters and I feel that we need to make some changes. I do a lot of planning and that enables me to write much faster and since I freelance fulltime for other people, I have very little time to work on my own books.   

Aside from this Virtual Tour, how do you promote your books? 

I have an extensive website (www.nikkileigh.com), an author/writer’s group (www.readersstation.com), I blog extensively (my main blog is – www.muzesmusings.blogspot.com), I’m the Self Promotion Topic Editor for the Inspired Author website (http://www.inspiredauthor.com/v3/node/12), I attend local author events, and am working on a wide series of online promotional options. I try to have at least a profile at any of the online author promotion site and I’ve honestly lost track of all of them. MySpace has worked out pretty well and I’m always looking for new promotional venues. I also spent a week on the Outer Banks promoting Lilah and the Locket – you know me, whatever I have to do to promote. Actually, I had a blast and the summary is at http://www.nikkileigh.com/lilah_launch1.htm. 

Anything else you would like to add about Lady Lightkeeper or other projects you are working on? 

I’ll give you the inside track on what I’m working on -  

1- Journeys of a Lifetime – Readers’ Station anthology – November release

2 - Book Promo 101 – Basics of Book Promotion – release in November

3 – Book Promo – Writers’ Resource E-book – November release

4 – Stormy Shores – re-release of contemporary Misty Cove book – late this year

5 – A Whisper on the Waves – a short story about Sara arriving in America in the early 1800’s. This story brings her to America and to the Sullivan household.

6 – I’m starting to plan Rebels and Rogues – 3^rd book in Misty Cove series. This book will move the focus of the story to Wilmington, NC in 1864-1865 and you will meet friends and family of Duncan Jones (from Lady Lightkeeper). Aidan will be a central character in this story, but we will still visit Lizbeth and Sara.

7 – I’m planning to write Book Promo 201 in November and December for release in early 2008.

8 – There is also some initial planning for a sequel to Lilah and the Locket. Kristie, Nathan and Lilah will be back and Kristie is expecting a baby.

9 – I’m also working on plans for some new promotional services for authors. For more information, visit www.nikkileigh.com/promo.htm.

10 – I’ve got a place to offer classes for authors and I hope to have a class based on Book Promo 101 and a series of character development classes available around January or February.

11 – I also have another short story that’s set in an area like the place where I live and its my first story without a lighthouse. We’ll see how that goes.  

To keep up with the latest news, visit www.nikkileigh.com and www.muzesmusings.blogspot.com. Any author who would like to learn about a free way to promote their books should visit www.muzesmusings.blogspot.com and look for Book Promotion for You in the left column.  

Anyone who posts a comment to this blog will be entered in a giveaway. I’m giving one copy of Lady Lightkeeper to one commenter from the tour. Also, for anyone who buys a copy of Lady Lightkeeper this month, needs to email me their receipt and they will be entered in a drawing for a free copy of Widow’s Walk. Any questions, feel free to contact me – nikki_leigh22939@yahoo.com 

Thank you so much for hosting me today. 

Each person who buys a copy of Lady Lightkeeper, needs to email me a copy of their receipt. I just need a receipt that shows you bought a copy of Lady Lightkeeper and I'll enter you in the drawing for a copy of Widow's Walk. That seemed like a good giveaway since the story starts with Widow's Walk. However, if the winner already has a copy of Widow's Walk, I'll be happy to send a copy of Lilah and the Locket instead. 

In addition, each person who posts a comment on any or all of the blog stops will be entered in a separate giveaway. Each comment will be entered in the drawing and at the end of the month, one person will win a copy of Lady Lightkeeper. Again, if the winner bought the book already, I'll send them another book as a prize. Any questions, let me know. nikki-leigh@excite.com.