A Story Not Wished To Be Read: An interview with Nicola Black

Today I'm taking with poet and author Nicola Black about her poetry collection, A STORY NOT WISHED TO BE READ.

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1) Please tell about your collection.

This collection of poems was written over several years. It was an easy way to express my emotions. Eventually, I decided to compile them all in one place. I've added to them several times over the past couple of months, but kept many of the originals, even though I didn't like some of them.

2) What sort of themes do you explore in your collection?

The themes that I explored in this collection are my own weaknesses really. Self doubt, love, heartache, and hope--these all poured out of me as I wrote. I was hesitant to draw much attention to the collection for that very reason, but I got over it. :)

3) Do you have a particular style for these poems or do they vary? Could you tell us a bit about your style?

My styles definitely do vary. Mostly I try to have a rhyming pattern. Sometimes I challenged myself to fit the poem into a metrical rhythm. Very rarely I wrote in free verse. I have never been comfortable with improvisation, but for those particular topics, I thought that's what they needed. I like the idea of structure though; so much of my life, past and present, have been rather chaotic.

4) What sort of advantage do you feel the poetry medium provides you over prose fiction?

Poetry allows me to be vague and symbolic. In prose writing, you need to add detail to allow the reader to see what you want him to see. With poetry, you can use symbolism and abstract concepts. The reader interprets the work how they need to, and you don't have to come right out and say "I made a mistake, so I lost." or "Oh my God, that guy is so dreamy." There is still privacy in that, so I don't feel like I'm completely wearing my heart on sleeve.

5) Do you have any particular writers or poets who have influenced you?

I've read a lot of Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, and Emily Dickinson. I would like to think all three have made an impact on my work. From Charles Dickens I have the idea of fictional autobiography, such as he did with David Copperfield. He was also rather pessimistic, which I certainly am. Jane Austen depicted every day living in her society. That's something that I try to emulate. Emily Dickinson's forms and themes were very close to my heart, so I try to get that same affect in my readers.

6) Do you have any other work you'd like to tell us about?

At the present moment, I haven't finished anything else. However, I do have several projects in progress. TELEPATHETIC is a novel about a girl who believes she is going insane. She has a voice in her head who insists that he's a real person. A SPY OF KINGS is about a young female spy who is sent on a long journey. She has to join forces with a warlock and a crime lord. And she has a dragon who is her daughter. NUMB KILLINGS is a new project about a man-murderer telling her story in prison. And my final work is NIGHTMARES AND DREAMS, a collection of short stories.

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Thanks, Nicola.

Her collection can be purchased at Smashwords.

You can read more from her at her blog, http://generalhavoc.wordpress.com/.