Introductions
"Life was like living in a comic strip": The dark (and funny) stories of Nik Steven's life
When talking about a polymath like England-born author Nik Steven—a true Renaissance man—it's hard to know exactly where to begin.
But since we're showcasing his work as an author, we'll start with his coming-of-age memoir,
Naughty Thoughts & Crosses, which has been described as a collection of "darkly funny vignettes."
Nik "finds humor in the havoc of family life," as one reviewer put it, before adding: "The reader laughs, then winces, then laughs again."
"Humor has always been my survival technique," Nik says. "I enjoy turning disasters into comedy. My dad was a TV scriptwriter and my grandfather a French novelist. So I think storytelling is in my blood."
Intrigued by the rich and fascinating life Nik seems to have led, I had some questions.
Here's Nik to talk a little about his life and work:
Welcome, Nik! What's been the greatest challenge in keeping up with your many talents?
My biggest challenge in life was not being taken seriously. People don't like to hear you're a filmmaker, a photographer, a jeweler, a sculptor, a product designer, and a writer. They want to give you a single label and put you in a sensible box. It's not a problem for me because like Popeye says, "I am what I am!"
What's your best advice for success?You need to be thick-skinned. Not take things personally. When things don't work out, analyze your problem through the eyes of a cold-blooded scientist.
What makes time fly by for you?Building electric guitars while thinking about what I'm going to write next.
When things don't work out, analyze your problem through the eyes of a cold-blooded scientist.
Biggest influence on your writing?My father. He had a spartan style of writing. To the point. With a brisk pace. He once said you should be able to open the page of any book at random and be instantly captivated. I try to work to that rule to this day.
How about your daily routine?I sit down to write several times a day. Sometimes two minutes, or two hours. My routine is like a carousel: I go from writing to sculpting, then to playing my saxophone or bass guitar and then to doing some masonry in my daughter's house and then back to writing. This way, I never get bogged down. Taking a break from any creative process is highly beneficial. Doing mundane tasks, too, like washing dishes, is also a great way to reset.
My only ritual: a cup of tea at four p.m.
What inspired your first novel?A good bottle of Valpolicella and my father's eccentric friends, who frequently dropped by our house for drinks. Artists, writers, poets, and musicians. All of them caricatures and heavy drinkers. Life was like living in a comic strip.
Nik Steven was born and educated in England. At fifteen, he won a BBC film competition and made several short films thereafter. Nik's father, a television writer, then moved the family to Italy to avoid taxes. When they ran out of money five years later, Nik went to Rome, where he worked as a television cameraman and lived with the American sculptor Zev. In 1980, Nik traveled to Warsaw with the intention of going to Roman Polanski's film school in Lodz. During his time there, martial law was imposed by the Russians and he had to get out. Nik was probably one of the few westerners to witness firsthand the collapse of Soviet rule.
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