On Tour With “The Nearly Girl”

Today we are delighted to share an article written by the author of The Nearly Girl.  The award winning author will be touring with Partners In Crime Virtual Book Tours during the entire month of November.  There is a link below that will show you the various sites she will visit.

Do stop by to learn more about Lisa and her novels.  You will find reviews, articles, interviews, and more.

Her newest release will have you questioning what is actually normal?  Who’s to say?

We asked Ms. de Nikolits what it takes for the germ of an idea to become a book she will write.

Thank you so much for sharing with us, Lisa!

What does it take for an idea to become a book?

I wrote the first draft of The Nearly Girl in December of 2013. The trip was memorable for three things. The first was that my nephew Grayson was just six months old and I met him for the first time. The second was that I was writing the book on a tiny ancient Macbook Pro (on which I write most of my first drafts as there is no internet or other distractions), and the third thing is that I got caught in a flash storm and was stranded at a ferry stop in Sydney, with the computer tightly tucked under my t-shirt and wrapped in a plastic bag I had found – I had no backup of my work and I couldn’t bear to lose this story!

But before that, how did I come to have the idea itself?

I start with a single idea. For example, with The Nearly Girl, it happened like this. I was on a bus, in winter, going to a book event. I didn’t know if I was on the correct bus since I had not been to that area before and I was anxious. Then I realized how interesting it was, to be on an unfamiliar bus, on an unfamiliar route, with all kinds of interesting people. What was fascinating was how significantly visually collective they were as a group and how extremely different they were to the usual bunch on my regular bus. I wondered about their jobs, their families and their lives and I thought that I definitely should take more random busses.

At one point, I looked out the window as we drove past the beach and the sun had just set and there was a snow storm and I felt sad that we were prohibited by bodies that forced us to follow the seasons and obey the rules – what we could just have a picnic in the snow? Sit on the snow in shorts and a t-shirt, with the sleet hitting our bare arms while we made Smores.

And there it was. The Nearly Girl. The nearly girl would be out there, she would be doing exactly that, sitting on the snow, toasting marshmallows.

And then I had to figure out the rest from there. But I had a protagonist, an idea and a name for the book.

I always have a bunch of ideas floating around in my head, a cast of characters that I’d like to write about.

For example, in The Nearly Girl, we have Dr. Frances Carroll and he (or the idea of someone like him) had been with me for quite some time.

My very first inspiration for a crazed psychiatrist as a character came about in 1984.

1984 was, as those of you who were around at that time would agree, a stellar year for shoulder pads, Bananarama, Wham! (yes, still with George Michael), Billy Ocean and Bryan Adams’ Summer of ’69. TV shows were all fired up: Magnum, P.I., Dynasty, Falcon Crest, Hill Street Blues, Cheers, Knight Rider and The A-Team. Cindy Crawford, Elle Macpherson, Brooke Shields and my own personal fav, Paulina Porizkova, were hot on the covers of Elle and Marie Claire. Hair was big, jeans were pleated and the fashions will never see a revival, as dreadful as they were but there’s no doubt, we were living large and loving every moment!

And none of that has anything to do with The Nearly Girl.

But one book did. The Dice Man. Penned by George Cockcroft under the pen name of Luke Rhinehart, the novel is about a psychiatrist who makes decisions for himself and his patients according to the cast of the dice. Hailed as a cult classic that would change your life, it did change mine. I read it in 1984 and it made me want to write a book of my own with a crazed psychiatrist with his own therapeutic methods of treatment.

It took a long time for my psychiatrist to come to me with his own unique therapy – there was no short cut to my meeting with Dr. Frances Carroll. The road involved an intense study of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for insomnia and claustrophobia – the treatment was successful for the latter but not for the former but hey, the less you sleep, the more time you have to write, I guess.

And one day, mulling over my problem(s) and feeling super-annoyed with myself for having said problems, I snapped at myself – ‘just stop it! Just do the opposite thing and you will be cured! Just sleep! Just get in elevators, just go on subways, just get on planes!’

Of course, not being a qualified therapist, this did not achieve the desired result BUT it did spawn my dearly beloved Dr. Frances Carroll who is one of my favourite characters to date and I immediately knew that he would fit into The Nearly Girl and be my evil genius, the murderous villain that my protagonist would have to take down.

Once I have my single idea and my gang of characters, then I set down and work out the plot. I feel as if I am stuck in a café off some deserted Texas highway (I have no idea why it’s Texas) and my single idea is scrawled across one wall in neon writing and my cast are gathered around the diner counter, looking at me accusingly, all wanting to know their role in the story.

So I gather some people, tell them to sit down with me and I figure it out. Sometimes one of them will object and tell me that the action I had in mine wasn’t in his repertoire of personality and then I’ll be stuck for a bit but then another one will volunteer for the task and that can change the whole mood – suddenly the whole gang are helpful and next thing you know, dawn is breaking and we can all eat pancakes and settled down to actually write the thing.

I am a fast writer. I wrote the first draft of No Fury Like That in 12 days (18 hour days) at 90 000 words. But they are not nearly all that fast. Usually an unbroken six weeks of writing can result in an honourable first draft – if the map worked out as one hoped it would.

And reading is an essential part of writing.

I am one of the fastest readers I know – I can read a book in two evenings – a standard 600-page paperback. And I don’t miss a thing – my husband quizzes me to make sure! This is a hugely handy talent to have because reading is the foundation of any writer’s life.

I read anything and everything – here are some of my most recent reads (some of which are still works in progress, in a pile next to my bed): Jess Walter (The Financial Lives of Poets), Margaret Atwood (The Heart Goes Last), Garth Stein (A Sudden Light), David Adams Richards (Principles to Live By), Richard Flanagan, (The Narrow Road to the Deep North), Steve Burrows (A Cast of Falcons), Dietrich Kalteis (Triggerfish). Annie Proulx’ Barkskins is lined up, along with The Complete Book of Spells, Ceremonies and Magic by Migene Gonzalez-Whippler (research), The Odyssey by Homer (research), Paradise Lost by Milton (research).

I very much hope you have enjoyed this blog post and I would love to hear any comments and feedback! Thank you!

The Tour

Synopsis:

Fans of “A Prayer for Owen Meany” and “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest” will love this clever, fast-paced and enjoyable thriller.

Like a modern-day Joan of Arc, Amelia Fisher attempts to carve out a ‘normal life’, showing us how mythic the idea of ‘normal’ really is.

With a poetic genius for a father, an obsessed body builder for a mother, and an enchantingly eccentric group seeking the help of an unorthodox therapist, what could possibly go wrong?

A chance discovery propels Amelia and fellow therapy attendee, Mike, with whom she is in love, into a life-threatening situation instigated by the crazed doctor’s own dark secret but Amelia’s psychosis saves the day.

Told with warmth, humor and populated with vividly original characters, this sprint-paced novel has it all, from restraining orders to sex in office bathrooms, and a nail-biting ending.

A novel about an unusual family, expected social norms and the twists and turns of getting it all slightly wrong, the consequences of which prove fatal for some.

Book Details:

Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Suspense
Published by: Inanna Publications
Publication Date: October 2016
Number of Pages: 301
ISBN: 1771333138 (ISBN13: 9781771333139)
Purchase Links: Amazon ?, Goodreads ?, &INANNA ?

Read an excerpt:

Amelia lay still. Mike was next to her, snoring slightly.

Amelia wondered how much time had passed since she and Mike had vanished. She wondered how Dr. Carroll had covered up their disappearance but she was sure his story was airtight. She wondered if anybody was worried about them and looking for them. She hoped Ethel was out of hospital and she tried to send messages to Nana with her mind, telling her to look for them.

Amelia’s eyes were wide open and she was trying to make little growling noises in her throat and eventually she was able to make a sound.

She graduated to trying to form words. Ma….. Ma….. Mak….. Mak!

Mak? The word was hardly decipherable but she was grateful for the utterance.

Mike? She growled the guttural utterance as quietly as she could but there was no reply.

Amelia lay on her back and she closed her eyes and concentrated very hard on trying to roll over. It seemed impossible to do in one big motion and she broke it down, first just trying to move her right arm across her chest. When she achieved this gigantic feat, she was drenched in sweat and she felt exhausted.

She wasn’t sure why but the sedative was metabolizing in her system in a different way to the others, it seemed to be leaving her bloodstream much faster. She was worried that Dr. Carroll would notice and administer the next dose before the current one had worn off.

She was about to roll over onto her stomach when she heard a noise. Alarmed that Dr. Carroll had returned, she flopped over onto her back, and adjusted herself into the same position as he had left her.

No sooner had she done this, than the doctor pushed his way into the room.

He sat down on the floor and heaved a great sigh.

You two have caused me an inordinate problem, he said. Really and truly you have. Why did you have to come here? Why?

He sat cross-legged and put his head into his hands.

I don’t know what to do with you, he said, his voice muffled. I have to get rid of you but I don’t know how to do it. I’m not a violent man, I’m not. I never thought it would come to this.

He rubbed his face. I could kill you very easily, that part is not the problem. It’s the disposing of the bodies. Hmm…

He fell into deep silence. If your bodies were ever found, the drugs in your system would lead you right back to me. But it’s very tough to dispose of bodies. Much harder than you would think. They make it look so easy in the movies but I wouldn’t even know where to start. Although, that said, I could drive north for a few hours, find a couple of side roads and dump you in the swamps. But I’d have to wade into them, carrying you, and you are both so heavy and there are snakes in those waters and frogs and god knows what, so no… that won’t work.

Oh, this is such a problem. I wonder if I should disappear instead. But why should I have to give up everything I have worked so hard to achieve? Why should I be the one to lose everything just because two nosy parkers poked their nosy noses where they shouldn’t have?

What about fire… I could try to burn you both, but bodies don’t burn entirely in fire and how and why and where would you have set yourselves alight? I don’t think I would be able to create a scenario in such a way that it would be believable to anyone.

There’s dismemberment of course. I could dismember you in the bathtub but the blood, ugh, blood. And I would have to buy saws and knives and plastic and containers and from what I’ve read, the evidence of blood is very hard to rid of. And how would I get rid of the body parts? I am back to square one. Disposal.

A lover’s pact? Suicide? Yes… but I’d need to get you both into a motel which would be a logistical nightmare. Slitting your wrists would be easy but I’d also have to make sure enough time passed for all the drugs to clear out of your system. And how am I supposed to carry you two lugs into a motel without being seen?

He gave a great sigh. I have to prepare dinner for my family. I don’t care about you two. You can starve to death for all I care.

He got up. I’m one of the top two percentile of brilliant geniuses, he said. I will think of something.

Author Bio:

Originally from South Africa, Lisa de Nikolits has lived in Canada since 2000. She has a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature and Philosophy and has lived in the U.S.A., Australia and Britain.

Lisa de Nikolits is the award-winning author of five novels. Her first novel, The Hungry Mirror won a 2011 IPPY Awards Gold Medal for Women’s Issues Fiction and was long-listed for a ReLit Award. West of Wawa won the 2012 IPPY Silver Medal Winner for Popular Fiction and was a Chatelaine Editor’s Pick. A Glittering Chaos tied to win the 2014 Silver IPPY for Popular Fiction. The Witchdoctor’s Bones launched in Spring 2014 to literary acclaim and wide readership. Between The Cracks She Fell launched in Fall 2015 and was well reviewed by the Quill & Quire and was on the recommended reading lists for Open Book Toronto and 49th Shelf. Between The Cracks She Fell was also reviewed by Canadian Living magazine and called ‘a must-read book of 2015’. Between The Cracks She Fell won a Bronze IPPY Award 2016 for Contemporary Fiction. All books have been published by Inanna Publications.

Don’t Forget to Visit Lisa de Nikolits’ website ?, her Twitter Feed ?, & her Facebook Page ?!

Tour Participants:

Click here to view the ‘The Nearly Girl by Lisa de Nikolits’ Tour Participants

 

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Merry Citarella, often writing as Merrci, writes on a wide range of topics. Recently relocated to the Oregon Coast in the northwest United States, she frequently writes travel features on the beautiful Pacific Northwest. She specializes in health and aging, Alzheimer’s Disease, food, lifestyle, and book reviews. For more information you can see her on The Writers’Door. You can read more articles here or at her websites Alzheimers HQ and Simple Living Ideas