{"id":40707,"date":"2014-01-22T15:19:26","date_gmt":"2014-01-22T04:19:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.booktopia.com.au\/?p=40707"},"modified":"2016-03-01T09:30:55","modified_gmt":"2016-02-29T23:30:55","slug":"nicola-moriarty-author-of-captivation-and-paper-chains-answers-ten-terrifying-questions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/2014\/01\/22\/nicola-moriarty-author-of-captivation-and-paper-chains-answers-ten-terrifying-questions\/","title":{"rendered":"Nicola Moriarty, author of Captivation and Paper Chains, answers Ten Terrifying Questions"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The Booktopia Guru asks<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nicola Moriarty<\/h1>\n

author of Captivation<\/em><\/a> and Paper Chains<\/em><\/a>
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ten Terrifying Questions<\/h2>\n

_____________<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0To begin with why don\u2019t you tell us a little bit about yourself – where were you born? Raised? Schooled?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I was born, raised and schooled in Sydney \u2013 but as that sounds a bit boring, I\u2019ll be a little more specific. Let\u2019s see, I was born in Hornsby, raised in Kellyville and schooled in Baulkham Hills. Nope, still not overly exciting. Ahh, if only I was born on a yacht in the Caribbean, raised in a jungle in Brazil and schooled in a boarding house in the country. Oh well.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0What did you want to be when you were twelve, eighteen and thirty? And why?<\/strong><\/p>\n

When I was twelve I wanted to write and illustrate children\u2019s books because one of my primary school teachers\u00a0 (Mrs Walsh \u2013 she had cascading curly hair and I adored her) had made a big fuss over a story I wrote. When I was eighteen I wanted to be an actress because I was performing in various amateur theatre productions at the time and I loved the rush of being up in front of an audience and becoming a different person. At thirty I very much wanted to be a writer \u2013 so it\u2019s lucky that that\u2019s what I seem to be doing!<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0What strongly held belief did you have at eighteen that you do not have now?<\/strong>\"NicolaMoriarty\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I believed that I would never get married because I thought that marriage was too conventional for me. Ha! I\u2019ve been married now for just coming up to eight years.<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0What were three works of art \u2013 book or painting or piece of music, etc \u2013 you can now say, had a great effect on you and influenced your own development as a writer?<\/strong><\/p>\n

First off, Coldplay\u2019s song \u2018Warning Sign\u2019 definitely helped me to write my first novel. I love listening to emotional music as I write, it helps me to get into the right head-space. Secondly, My Sister\u2019s Keeper<\/em> by Jodi Piccoult<\/a> \u2013 I can specifically remember exactly where I was when I was reading the final chapter of this book. I remember being outside on our balcony in the apartment we used to rent in Parramatta, and there was a huge storm and when I read the final twist I absolutely SOBBED. And I thought, I would love to be able to affect readers in this way. Finally, the play \u2018Death of a Salesman\u2019 \u2013 however it wasn\u2019t the actual play that reached me, it was while I was involved in an amateur theatre production of it. I had a very minor role, and while I and the rest of the cast were backstage I decided to write a spin-off for all the minor characters. Creating the small play and then watching it come to life (we performed it for the rest of the cast and crew on closing night) reminded me how much I loved creating something.<\/p>\n

5.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Considering the innumerable artistic avenues open to you, why did you choose to write a novel?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I love to write, it makes me happy, it\u2019s hard to stop \u2013 simple as that!<\/p>\n

\"paper-chains\"<\/a>6.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Please tell us about your latest novel\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

My latest release was a supernatural romance novella called Captivation<\/em><\/a>\u2026 But my latest full-length novel was called Paper Chains<\/a><\/em>, and that\u2019s about fate, friendship, post-natal depression, loss, love, London and Luna Park.<\/p>\n

Grab a copy of Paper Chains<\/em> here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

7.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0What do you hope people take away with them after reading your work?<\/strong><\/p>\n

First I want them to use my book to escape from the world for just a little while. And then I want them to be left with that feel-good glow, even if it\u2019s just for the rest of the day after they finish reading. Finally I want them to be hungry for more words \u2013 and not necessarily just my words!<\/p>\n

8.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Whom do you most admire in the realm of writing and why?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"captivation\"<\/a><\/strong>Can I name two people, is that okay? Liane<\/a> and Jaclyn Moriarty<\/a> \u2013 my two wildly successful author sisters who encourage and support me and who\u2019s novels I absolutely adore. When I read Liane\u2019s books for the first time, I generally end up neglecting other things in my life because I can\u2019t put it down \u2013 my writing, the washing that needs to be hung out, my children\u2026 her books make me laugh out loud and they make me cry and they twist my stomach. Jaci has an amazing ability to constantly reinvent herself. One minute she is writing YA fiction that connects with her readers on an unprecedented level, next she is creating a novel that is quirky and clever and sweet and sad. Now she\u2019s moved on yet again \u2013 to a magical realism trilogy that is utterly delightful. How does she do that?!<\/p>\n

9.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Many artists set themselves very ambitious goals. What are yours?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Here is my most ambitious and ridiculously unachievable goal: I want to write a book that EVERYONE loves. I mean every single person who reads it, thinks that it is amazing. And even those people that haven\u2019t read it, they just love the look of it. Oh and even those people that haven\u2019t seen it or heard of it, they have this strange, psychic connection with it that they don\u2019t quite understand, but they can identify that it is love for a work of fiction somewhere in the world. Too much? Yeah, I guess I got a bit carried away there didn\u2019t I?<\/p>\n

10.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0What advice do you give aspiring writers?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Write when you want to write, when you\u2019re in the mood and you\u2019re feeling creative. Let your fingers trip across the keyboard, let your pen run away with your hand. Try out different styles and different genres. Take a creative writing course. Eat chocolate. Quit smoking (contrary to Hollywood movies, you don\u2019t need to be a sleep-deprived, chain-smoking, coffee-drinking struggling romantic to be a writer \u2013 although cappuccinos are okay).<\/p>\n

Nicola, thank you for playing.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Check out Nicola’s books here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Booktopia Guru asks Nicola Moriarty author of Captivation and Paper Chains Ten Terrifying Questions _____________ 1.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0To begin with why don\u2019t you tell us a little bit about yourself – where were you born? Raised? Schooled? I was born, raised and schooled in Sydney \u2013 but as that sounds a bit boring, I\u2019ll be a little more specific. Let\u2019s see, I was born in Hornsby, raised in Kellyville and schooled in Baulkham Hills. Nope, still not overly exciting. Ahh, if only I was born on a yacht in the Caribbean, raised in a jungle in Brazil and schooled in a boarding house in the country. Oh well. 2.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0What did you want to be when you were twelve, eighteen and thirty? And why? When I was twelve I wanted to write and illustrate children\u2019s books because one of my primary school teachers\u00a0 (Mrs Walsh \u2013 she had cascading curly hair and I adored her) had made a big fuss over a story I wrote. When I was eighteen I wanted to be an actress because I was performing in various amateur theatre productions at the time and I loved the rush of being up in front of an audience…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[4,9,24,62,84],"tags":[1144,3955,4137,5184],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40707"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40707"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40707\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56510,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40707\/revisions\/56510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}