Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃
➽ QUESTION 1. ❝What is your name (or nickname/pen-name if preferred)?❞ — My name is Nija Spencer, that's my pen name as well.
➽ QUESTION 2. ❝What started you on the path to writing?❞ — What started me on the path of writing was my great grandmother passing. Her death took a toll on me and writing was an outlet and it's still an outlet for me. I have trouble expressing myself to people but I have no problem picking up my pen and letting everything go.
➽ QUESTION 3. ❝When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer, and specifically in the genre of urban fiction?❞ — I began to grow out of Fan Fiction after my third installment of my "His Miracle" series. I loved Urban Fiction, so I did a lot of reading, I did my research and I tackled writing it, and here I am.
➽ QUESTION 4. ❝When did you write your first book and how old were you?❞ — I wrote my very first book at the age of thirteen. It was a Mindless Behavior fanfic called "I'm In Love With A Nerd".
➽ QUESTION 6. ❝How long have you been writing?❞ — I've been writing for eight years now.
➽ QUESTION 7. ❝How do you think you've evolved creatively?❞ — I think evolved creatively by reading, experiencing a few things as I got older. Writing from experience is a great thing, I tend to live through my multiple personalities through my characters.
➽ QUESTION 8. ❝Why did you choose to write in your particular field or genre? If you write more than one, how do you balance them?❞ — Well being a die hard Mindless Behavior fan (I love me some Princeton), I had to write about them. Everybody was doing it, so I tried it and everybody loved it.
➽ QUESTION 9. ❝What are the upsides and downsides to being an author?❞ — The upsides to being an author is inspiring others and doing what I love the most.
The downsides are having writer's block and not being able to please your readers.
➽ QUESTION 10. ❝What do you love most about the writing process?❞ — I love the editing process and getting a book cover. I'm a published author outside the app and that is the best part. Like when i get my book covers, I get excited and that motivates me more to write.
➽ QUESTION 11. ❝Why do you write? What keeps you motivated during creative slumps?❞ — I write to inspire and to give teenagers a voice in certain aspects of life that they feel like that can't speak about or don't feel comfortable speaking about it. What keeps me motivated is my music. It gets me through a lot and allows me to let my creative juices flow.
➽ QUESTION 12. ❝Do you outline books ahead of time or are you more of a by-the-seat-of-your-pants writer?❞ — I free write on Wattpad but for the books I publish it outline. I don't get it. Outlining helps me know what to write and it's very helpful but when I free write sometimes, my writing is my natural and not so forced.
➽ QUESTION 13. ❝How many books have you written?❞ — I have five books written.
➽ QUESTION 14. ❝Out of all the books you've written, do you have a favorite?❞ — Yes, "This Gangsta Love For You" would have to be my favorite. I put my heart and soul into that book, I wrote it in a month which is the fastest I've ever written. That's my baby forever.
➽ QUESTION 15. ❝If someone is brand new to your work, what book do you think they should start with?❞ — They should start with "His Miracle". As bad as I think that series is, you'll see my growth in my work from back in 2014 to now. You'll see my heart as an author which is why I love that series so much and it's still a fan favorite up-to-date.
➽ QUESTION 16. ❝What do your fans mean to you?❞ — My fans mean the world to me. Without the unconditional love and support, I wouldn't have made it this far without them. They constantly pushed me to do better and to not give up my craft and for that, I love them all from the bottom of my heart.
➽ QUESTION 17. ❝What advice would you give to aspiring authors?❞ —NEVER and I mean EVER give up. Invest in yourself, continue to perfect your craft. You're time is coming, I promise. If you don't believe in yourself than who will? If you don't invest in yourself than who will? You'll have writer's block, you'll get frustrated, you'll want to give up but it's normal. Don't let anybody tear you or your work down. Don't be your biggest critic either. Don't allow yourself to be in the way of something so beautiful. Be a voice through your work. Inspire others to speak up, inspire others to do better, inspire others to be comfortable, just be an inspiration. Find your niche, find something that when readers read your work, they know what to expect. I'm not a best-selling author, I'm still perfecting my craft and working on getting my name out there. If anybody ever needs help, I'll be more than happy to because somebody helped me and now my work is being shared with the world.
▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃
Thank you so much for accepting to do this interview nijaspencerbeautiful advice in the end. Please take the time to check out her works; her books are outstanding.
