Saturday Spotlight | Corruption By Nick Wilford

In addition to the usual blog posts every Monday and Wednesday about our travel adventures and day-to-day life living aboard a sailboat, I also occasionally post on Saturdays, focusing on things related to writing such as cover reveals, book launches, reviews, interviews with authors etc. So if you're a bit of a book nerd like I am, check in on Saturdays - you never know what might pop up.

Today, I'm featuring an interview with Nick Wilford to celebrate the release of >>Corruption<<, the second book in his dytopian Black & White series. I first met Nick through the Insecure Writer's Support Group. He's an all around good egg who supports and encourages new writers like myself. He also lives in Scotland, not too far from where we used to live, although our paths never crossed when we were there. So scroll on down and have a read about what Nick has to say about writing, penguins, and cookies.

1 - What inspired you to write this book?

Well, the whole series was inspired by a desire to deal with injustice and prejudice through the medium of a fictional world – although it is a future version of Earth so maybe it’s not too far removed! That was probably subconscious at the time I started writing though – which was NaNo 2012, so it’s been in the works for a while. You try and write a good story and afterwards you start to see any layers that might or might not be there. A lot of dystopian fiction deals with a decaying, post-apocalyptic future, but what if the scary thing was that the society was seemingly perfect – a utopia – but that perfection came at an alarming cost?
 
2 - Do you have any writing rituals?
 
Nothing too out there! I need a steaming mug of tea on hand before I can get down to business.
 
3 - What's more important - character or plot?
 
They’re both important, but if you don’t have characters the readers can sympathise with and root for, the best plot in the world won’t hold their attention. I know that in the beginning I don’t plot much. I might have a vague idea of what the story will be about, but I’ve usually got a character bumbling around and asking for attention. It all starts from them!
 
4 - What do you like best about being an author? What do you like the least?

The part I like best is what many people would answer, I think – being able to create entirely new worlds and have fantastic adventures without leaving my desk. The only limit is your imagination. It’s hard to say what I like the least, but maybe it’s when my imagination isn’t playing ball! And I could say marketing, but it’s good to be creative and try different things there, too. I’m trying!
 
5 - What's your favorite cookie? If you don't like cookies, what's wrong with you? Oops,
sorry, scratch that. My follow-up question was meant to be far more polite - "Why don't you
like cookies?"

I don’t know who doesn’t like cookies! My favourite is double choc chip – our local
supermarket does them fresh baked. Mmmm, cookies.
 
6 - A penguin walks through your front door wearing a sombrero. What does he say and why
did he come visit you?
 
“Excuse me, I seem to have lost my way trying to reach Mexico.” I’d ask him why he’d want to holiday in a location where the climate might not entirely suit him. I’d persuade him to stay because he’d probably feel much more at home in Scotland!
 
7 - What else would you like us to know about you?

It’s something I’ve talked about recently, but I had dramatic ambitions as a child. I never made it as an actor, but I’d still like to write a Hollywood blockbuster one day!

Thanks for stopping by, Nick! I really enjoyed Corruption (check out my review on Goodreads here.) Now, I'm trying to figure out what local supermarket you buy your cookies at and wondering how come I never knew about the double choc chip cookies when we lived there.

CORRUPTION BLURB

Wellesbury Noon and Ezmerelda Dontible have found themselves in a position where they can make their native land somewhere that lives up to its name: Harmonia. However, they’re setting their sights further afield for their number one task: eradicating the disease that has plagued the neighbouring country of Loretania for generations and allowed the privileged Harmonians to live in a sterile environment.

After dispatching a team of scientists to Loretania, armed with cratefuls of an antidote and vaccine and headed up by their friend, Dr George Tindleson, Welles, Ez, and Welles’s brother Mal – who grew up in that benighted nation – start to worry when they hear nothing back, despite what they had agreed. Commandeering a fishing boat to follow the science teamover the sea, they soon find that,  while the disease may be on the way out, a new kind of infection has set in – the corruption they thought they had stamped out in Harmonia.
 
Can they get to the root of the problem and eliminate it before even more damage is done to an innocent people? 

*** Warning – this book contains themes that some sensitive readers may find upsetting. ***

BUY LINKS

Amazon US | Amazon UK | Smashwords | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | iBooks 

Add it on Goodreads
 
MEET THE AUTHOR

Nick Wilford is a writer and stay-at-home dad. Once a journalist, he now makes use of those early morning times when the house is quiet to explore the realms of fiction, with a little freelance editing and formatting thrown in. 

When not working he can usually be found spending time with his family or cleaning something. He has four short stories published in Writer’s Muse magazine. Nick is also the editor of Overcoming Adversity: An Anthology for Andrew. Visit him at his blog or connect with him on Twitter, Goodreads, Facebook, or Amazon.