It gives me great pleasure to welcome Nikki Dudley onto the website today. Nikki's second psychological thriller Volta won the Virginia Prize for Fiction 2020 and will be released in May.
Alex: Tell us a bit about yourself, Nikki.
Nikki: I was born and grew up in London. I think my family were a little surprised by my immediate love for words. I vividly remember writing stories in my notebook at school. When a poet came in and taught us all about similes and metaphors, I fell in love! After that, I wanted to write poetry forever. I wrote my first book on an old shared family computer in the living room. It wasn't very good but it was fun! Since then, I attended university at Roehampton (University of Surrey), where I did my BA and MA. On the MA, I started writing my first proper novel (a thriller) since I was a kid and it was actually published back in 2010! I am a big lover of translated fiction, poetry, thrilling films and books, and travelling as much as possible. I spent two years living in Spain and would love to see much more of the world when that's possible.
Alex: How would you describe your writing, and are there particular themes that you like to explore?
Nikki: I tend to write succinctly, I think. I don't like to spend pages writing about the same thing so my chapters can be quite snappy. I actually got told off at university for having chapters that were too short! I love to write about memory, dual characters and unreliability. I also like to have some humour in my novels, even if they're psychological thrillers!
Alex: Tell us a bit about yourself, Nikki.
Nikki: I was born and grew up in London. I think my family were a little surprised by my immediate love for words. I vividly remember writing stories in my notebook at school. When a poet came in and taught us all about similes and metaphors, I fell in love! After that, I wanted to write poetry forever. I wrote my first book on an old shared family computer in the living room. It wasn't very good but it was fun! Since then, I attended university at Roehampton (University of Surrey), where I did my BA and MA. On the MA, I started writing my first proper novel (a thriller) since I was a kid and it was actually published back in 2010! I am a big lover of translated fiction, poetry, thrilling films and books, and travelling as much as possible. I spent two years living in Spain and would love to see much more of the world when that's possible.
Alex: How would you describe your writing, and are there particular themes that you like to explore?
Nikki: I tend to write succinctly, I think. I don't like to spend pages writing about the same thing so my chapters can be quite snappy. I actually got told off at university for having chapters that were too short! I love to write about memory, dual characters and unreliability. I also like to have some humour in my novels, even if they're psychological thrillers!
Alex: Are you a writer that plans a detailed synopsis or do you set out with a vague idea and let the story unfold as you write?
Nikki: I wish I was a planner but unfortunately, I never have been! It means I have to re-check things quite a lot and hope my proof readers spot my errors! I always have an end goal in mind but the rest just flows in between and I write things as they come to me.
Alex: Tell us about your latest novel.
Nikki: Volta is a psychological thriller about a lawyer (SJ Robin) who's asked to represent a woman with no memory of committing a crime. As he begins to work the case, his past trauma re-emerges and similarities between he and his client become more apparent. As the case becomes more complicated, the stakes also rise, but can anyone uncover the truth?
Alex: What was the first book you read?
Nikki: Ever? Wow, that takes me back a bit... I used to love reading Point Horror as a kid! I rinsed the library of those and then had to move on to more adult books like Mary Higgins Clark. I also loved Christopher Pike though - I used to buy those ones and I still have a few on my shelves!
Alex: How much research do you do and what does it usually entail?
Nikki: I tend to write and research as I go. However, when Volta won the Virginia prize and I received initial feedback, I realised how woefully under-researched the book was! I ended up going on a Custody and Interviewing course with the Professional Writing Academy (PWA), which was brilliant. The guy running it, Graham Bartlett, gave me such a great insight into the whole process and also gave us all feedback on a chapter from our novels. I also had lots of chats with people I knew (or friends of friends) who were therapists and lawyers as I wanted to improve the credibility. Lastly, I found some brilliant Facebook groups to consult with (Trauma Fiction and Writers Detective Q&A).
Alex: Do you ever base your characters on people you have encountered in real life?
Nikki: No, not especially. Perhaps there are parts of me and people I know in there because I think that's unavoidable but never anything concrete.
Alex: Which was the last book you read that blew you away?
Nikki: I really loved My Sister, The Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite. It was so nice to see a thriller that was written by a Black woman and set in Nigeria. It was also darkly funny, which isn't always easy to achieve. It made me laugh in places but was also disturbing. I was impressed.
Alex: Which authors do you particularly admire and why?
Nikki: I tend to like individual books more than writers overall but I can name a few I really enjoy - Ruth Dugdall, Yoko Ogawa, Raymond Chandler, Andrey Kurkov, Michael Marshall Smith... The thing I like the most is a writer who surprises me or makes me really care about the story/characters, whatever the genre.
Alex: Thank you so much for sharing your writing journey with us, Nikki. I look forward to reading Volta.
Nikki: It's my pleasure, Alex.
Nikki: I wish I was a planner but unfortunately, I never have been! It means I have to re-check things quite a lot and hope my proof readers spot my errors! I always have an end goal in mind but the rest just flows in between and I write things as they come to me.
Alex: Tell us about your latest novel.
Nikki: Volta is a psychological thriller about a lawyer (SJ Robin) who's asked to represent a woman with no memory of committing a crime. As he begins to work the case, his past trauma re-emerges and similarities between he and his client become more apparent. As the case becomes more complicated, the stakes also rise, but can anyone uncover the truth?
Alex: What was the first book you read?
Nikki: Ever? Wow, that takes me back a bit... I used to love reading Point Horror as a kid! I rinsed the library of those and then had to move on to more adult books like Mary Higgins Clark. I also loved Christopher Pike though - I used to buy those ones and I still have a few on my shelves!
Alex: How much research do you do and what does it usually entail?
Nikki: I tend to write and research as I go. However, when Volta won the Virginia prize and I received initial feedback, I realised how woefully under-researched the book was! I ended up going on a Custody and Interviewing course with the Professional Writing Academy (PWA), which was brilliant. The guy running it, Graham Bartlett, gave me such a great insight into the whole process and also gave us all feedback on a chapter from our novels. I also had lots of chats with people I knew (or friends of friends) who were therapists and lawyers as I wanted to improve the credibility. Lastly, I found some brilliant Facebook groups to consult with (Trauma Fiction and Writers Detective Q&A).
Alex: Do you ever base your characters on people you have encountered in real life?
Nikki: No, not especially. Perhaps there are parts of me and people I know in there because I think that's unavoidable but never anything concrete.
Alex: Which was the last book you read that blew you away?
Nikki: I really loved My Sister, The Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite. It was so nice to see a thriller that was written by a Black woman and set in Nigeria. It was also darkly funny, which isn't always easy to achieve. It made me laugh in places but was also disturbing. I was impressed.
Alex: Which authors do you particularly admire and why?
Nikki: I tend to like individual books more than writers overall but I can name a few I really enjoy - Ruth Dugdall, Yoko Ogawa, Raymond Chandler, Andrey Kurkov, Michael Marshall Smith... The thing I like the most is a writer who surprises me or makes me really care about the story/characters, whatever the genre.
Alex: Thank you so much for sharing your writing journey with us, Nikki. I look forward to reading Volta.
Nikki: It's my pleasure, Alex.
