Nick Orsini | Mary M. Forbes

Nick Orsini is a young-adult fiction writer.

Tell us a little about yourself: I’m a writer, a grower of a half beard, from New Jersey. My favorite Star Wars character is Boba Fett even though he didn’t really DO anything throughout all the films. I am a fan of Attitude-era pro wrestling, slip-on shoes, and tattoos. I am the self-proclaimed king of Netflix Instant and a consumer of pop culture.

Tell us about your novel: Fingerless Gloves is a story that takes place over 24-hours. Anton, a 20-something looking for some direction, is faced with one of the most difficult situations of his young life when he best friend, James, collapses and is rushed to the hospital. It’s a journey about discovering the mile-markers throughout your life … about letting old romances and habits go. It’s a story about what it feels like, stretching beyond comfort levels, to really grow up.

What are your experiences in publishing? My experience with publishing, an industry I had previously known nothing about, has been absolutely positive. I’m excited to now work with Apostrophe Books, an e-publishing company that really has an ear to the future of the industry. I self-published much of my early work, so I was art directing books and working with editors and understanding each bit of the process. It helped me learn all the different factors that go in to creating published work.

Were there any authors who influenced or helped you? No famous authors really helped me. I have some really talented friends – they are musicians and writers, painters and photographers, just real thinkers. They all have a very swift sense of humor and are the most engaging people to talk to. They inspire my work. The times we’ve had together and memories forged are really the elements that go into my characters and stories.

What advice would you give new authors? Observe. Young authors want to sit down and type out a book … and they write and rewrite and talk themselves out of stories. I was speaking at a high school and I told an English class to pick a scene (they picked “prom” of course) … and to give me every possible detail of that scene: the music playing, the dresses, the flasks hidden, the teachers, the food, the king and queen … Being a good writer is allowing a story to tell itself. You have to be comfortable with your own imagination and allow things to happen organically inside of that world of fiction.

What was your best experience in writing? The first and last sentence of my books.

What is your worst experience when writing? Feeling like a story is coming close to ending. When a story is over, it feels odd, like a piece of your imagination has been removed and you have to wait to fill that tank again.

Credentials: Articles on Tellmesomething and ThoughtCatalog …over 2000 published poems on Adorkablelife, two novels, tours, speaking engagements.

Fingerless Gloves is out now, published on 1^st October 2012.

My goal is to have Fingerless Gloves be the most downloaded YA title out in 2013.

Links to buy Fingerless Gloves:

Links to find out more about Fingerless Gloves: