Hi N.C.! Tell us about your most recent release or an upcoming release:

Tides of Torment (Sea of Souls #3) is out now!

What was your original perception of indie writing and how has that changed?

I did a lot of research on self-publishing before I made the decision to pursue it myself, but I wasn’t actually that familiar with many indie authors. It’s funny to think about it now, but I wasn’t even really on social media until I published my first book, so I didn’t have that much awareness of the indie book community – I was in my own wee bubble!

That has changed a lot. I’ve been fortunate to make some genuine connections across the last few years, not just with other indie writers, but also the blogger and reviewer community that does so much to support us. I’m really glad I’ve been able to get to know so many amazing people!

 Do you feel like you’ve ‘arrived’ as an author yet?

I’m not sure I’ll ever truly feel like I’ve ‘arrived’ as an author. I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished so far, but once you reach a milestone, you’re immediately focused on the next one! I want to keep growing and keep improving and hopefully if I do that, I will properly ‘arrive’ one day!

 What element of writing life do you find the hardest?

Discipline! It feels easy to write when you’re in the right mindset, but if I only wrote when I was in the mood, I’d never get anything finished. It can be hard when you get distracted or don’t feel motivated to write, but you have to learn how to navigate that and still try to make progress.

 What’s the best piece of critique you’ve ever gotten?

I’m fortunate to have an incredibly supportive critique group who have undoubtedly made each of my books better with their feedback. It’s hard to single out a single critique, but it’s really useful to get four or five different voices who can identify things in your writing that you might not have noticed. 

For example, it was pointed out to me that I often double down (or even triple down!) on body gestures. E.g. A character who was frustrated might frown AND sigh AND wring their hands. But you probably just need one of those gestures to convey what they’re feeling. So that’s something I try to be more conscious of now when it comes to my first draft.

 What common mistakes should new indie authors watch out for in their MS?

Overwriting. Sometimes you think you need to go into detail about everything so the reader will see exactly the kind of scene or image you have in your head. But you have to trust them and let some things go unspoken (unwritten?) Sometimes, the things you DON’T say can be just as important as the things you do say.

 What’s a myth about the writing process you’d like to dispel?

That your first draft is always going to be rubbish. That doesn’t have to be true. My first drafts are probably 80-90% the same as the final book, because I edit as I go and make sure everything is as good as I can get it the first time around.

Some people prefer to just get words out on the page and then come back later to rewrite extensively, but that doesn’t work for me. You have to get a feel for what process serves you best, and if that means taking more time on your first draft and getting it into a place that’s almost as good as the final product, that’s not a bad thing!

What have been your greatest indie author successes/milestone achievements?

There have been a few milestones I’ve really enjoyed hitting over the last few years – the first time one of my books reached 100 reviews, reaching 5,000 copies sold, reaching a million Kindle Unlimited page reads, coming runner-up in the second Self-Published Science Fiction Competition. But as I mentioned earlier, as soon as I hit a milestone, I’m always looking towards the next one!

I’ve hit 7,000 copies sold now, so my eyes are definitely fixed on hitting that 10,000 mark!

You can find N.C.’s works here

This is a shortened version of N.C.’s interview. The full interview will be available to members on our soon-to-be launched Patreon page, coming January 2026.