The Z (Zodiac!) Files: Nicky Black ~ Aquarius and Capricorn

Welcome to my new feature The Z Files, in which writers show how the characteristics of their star sign influence their work... I gave the instruction to treat the subject as seriously (or not seriously) as they liked!
Links to previous posts are listed at the end.

Why Aye, today it's a canny pair of bonny lasses from up The Toon... er, sorry about that.  Ahem!  I'm delighted to introduce Julie and Nicky, who together make up the writing team Nicky Black.  I got in touch with Nicky after reading their gritty Geordie drama The Prodigal which I enjoyed very much; you can see my review HERE with links to both Amazon sites.

 Julie blonde and Nicky black!

Okay, so Nicky is Capricorn and Julie is Aquarius....

...how has this combination affected their working relationship, and how did The Prodigal come about?  This piece is the longest I've received, by far,  (partly because there are two of them, of course!), but I've only chopped it down a little bit because it's most interesting :) 

Nicky: "Since there are two of us in Nicky Black it makes it a little less straight forward as you can imagine, but it really made me think about how much Julie and I have in common, how much we don’t and how that makes us a brilliant team.  Also, when I look at the list of Capricornian traits, I wonder why I have any friends at all...:)."

(Note: that's only the bad ones...

...let's look at it more positively!)

"I think as writers and friends, we share some of the characteristics of both star signs, but we are clearly individuals."

"I met Julie when I was about 28 and she was in her early 40s (I’m 47 now, but don’t tell anyone...).  She was, indeed friendly but chose her friends with care and certainly didn’t suffer fools gladly.  She was a community worker, and her humanitarian and unprejudiced empathy with people living in riot-torn estates was clear to see. I’d known her for several months before she casually told me over a cup of tea that she’d written a movie, as if she were buttering bread for sandwiches. The screenplay was called ‘Heads’, and I asked if I could read it. I read it and I loved it.

In awe of this amazing writer, and being a determined and ambitious Capricorn, I took up her challenge to work with her to get the movie made. She knew I was a hard worker, meticulously organised and not in the least ‘arty-farty’.  In 1998 we set up Hard Place Productions (based on a Fringe play Julie had written and directed called Between and Rock and a Hard Place).  

We can both be self centred, and are both most definitely independent.  We both gave up our jobs (okay, that’s batty) to try something new.  In the end, ‘Heads’ didn’t make it, but my goodness we had some laughs. "

"I began to edit Julie’s work.  She liked my ruthless ‘red pen’ and honesty.  And in 1999, she shoved a writing competition in my face and said, ‘you could do that, Nicky.’ I dismissed it pessimistically and though I was thoroughly sceptical about the whole charade, I came second in the competition.  And that’s how it all started. I wrote some short pieces for the Live Theatre and started taking being a writer more seriously, but never thought I could make a living out of it, so a hobby it remained.

Julie began writing for Hollyoaks and Casualty, but her ambition was always to be original and produce her own work.  The Prodigal was commissioned by Granada in 2001.  She would write ten pages, and I would read and edit.

Sadly, again, time moved on, ITV regions ended and the producer moved on to other things. The Prodigal gathered dust. Julie, stubborn to the core when she wants to be, refused to let the option run on and on and bought it back from ITV with a view to selling it to independent producers." 

"By 2006, never satisfied with my income, I’d moved to London for my day job and I forgot about writing all together.  Then about 5 years ago, my career going really well, director of a company, I sensed that typical Capricornian depression descending.  I needed something to do that would make me proud. 

 

Julie, too, was feeling a little down.  The Prodigal was going nowhere, another rejection.  ‘Why don’t I try writing it as a book?’ I asked.  I took the Prodigal by the (Capricorn!) horns and started editing - locked away, solitary for hours and days at a time.

So what’s next?  Well, I mentioned ‘Heads’ earlier.  It’s set on Valley Park in the rave era of 1989.  That’s all I’m saying for now, other than it certainly demonstrates the youthful outlook of a pair of old birds."

I am very much looking forward to Heads!  If you'd like to keep up with Nicky and Julie, you can follow Nicky on Twitter.

.... and I've chosen these writers of some reknown as typical examples of the two signs....

Cynical Capricorn, Douglas Kennedy (one of my favourites) ~ 

many of his characters embrace long periods of solitude....

... and independent and forward thinking Aquarian, indeed: Virginia Woolf

Up next, a Sagittarian lady with a few strings to her bow, followed by a sceptical Leo!

Previous posts:
Leo and Aries: Terry Tyler and Julia Proofreader
Gemini: Shelley Wilson