This past October, Florida Writers Association (FWA) was pleased to announce the winners for the Royal Palm Literary Awards (RPLA) at a special banquet during the Florida WritersCon conference. RPLA is a prestigious writing competition that recognizes extraordinary writing and is exclusive to FWA members. The winners represented over 28 genres and included both published and unpublished works.
As part of the annual RPLA Showcase, FWA interviewed the winners of the grand awards (Published Book of the Year; Unpublished Book of the Year; Best Children’s Book; and the Candice Coghill Memorial Award for Youth) to learn more about their writing journey, advice for other writers, and favorite things to do in Florida.
Unpublished Book of the Year: Daphne Nikolopoulos
Daphne Nikolopoulos is a multi-published, award-winning author of historical fiction and thrillers, as well as editor-in-chief of Palm Beach Illustrated magazine. She holds an MFA in creative writing from University of California, Riverside.
She wears many hats, including writer, editor, teacher, and mom to twins. During her career as a journalist, she traveled extensively, experiencing world culture both on and off the beaten path. For her, travel creates empathy and exposes you to the unexpected, which helped shape her fiction writing.
Her novel My Daughter’s Mother, won the 2022 RPLA Unpublished Book of the Year award. Now FWA chats with Daphne about her book, her writing journey, advice to other writers, and her favorite thing to do in Florida.
Tell us about your book and why you felt compelled to write this story.
Having had personal experience with complicated grief, I wanted to explore the ways this can impact an individual’s mental health and interpersonal relationships. The main character, Poppy, has complex emotions—guilt, self-blame, an inability to feel joy—over the loss of her child, so she shrinks away from love, mainly because she doesn’t think she deserves it. She also makes some bad decisions, including keeping vital secrets from her family, and this comes back to bite her.
Putting these thoughts down on paper, and digging deep to find clear motivations for my characters’ actions, helped me see how destructive unresolved grief can be, and how far it can go if left unchecked.
What did it feel like to hear you won the Unpublished Book of the Year?
It was a big surprise. When I got over the shock, I was moved and humbled to win such an award from my fellow writers. Our peers are the toughest critics, because they know the craft inside and out. They can see the mistakes from space; likewise, they know when you nail a metaphor or craft a particularly beautiful turn of phrase. A title like “Book of the Year” from a group of writers is really meaningful.
Can you tell us about your writing journey?
I started my career as a journalist (I still work as a magazine editor), so my training was in non-fiction. I’ve also been a lifelong traveler, particularly off the beaten path, which has taught me a lot about the world and the vastly different people who occupy it. Travel builds empathy; it humbles you. And when you don’t have the distraction of a routine, you see things you wouldn’t ordinarily see. All this came in handy when I decided to write fiction.
My first novel, a thriller with a dual timeline, was published in 2012, but it was a long journey to publication. I sent it out to some agents and got rejected about 50 times. Then I took a step back and decided to workshop it through Writer’s Digest, and that was very beneficial. I rewrote the heck out of that first manuscript, and sent it out again. I sold it to a small traditional press, without an agent, and that book went on to win the gold medal in the Florida Book Awards, and later was published in Japan and Germany, where it became a best-seller. I wrote three more in that series, plus a historical novel, and then my publisher filed for bankruptcy. The books still sell well internationally, but they are out of print here.
My Daughter’s Mother was my first attempt at women’s fiction. It was a project I started when I went back to school for my MFA. I have recently started the process of finding a home for it. And this award can’t hurt, right?
What advice would you give to your past self or other writers?
Nothing happens until you dedicate yourself to your writing practice. That means writing every day, even if it’s a couple hundred words. It may not seem like a lot, but it adds up. I wrote four books in the early morning hours, before getting kids ready for school and going to work. Also, get a good editor and don’t query anything unless it’s been professionally edited.
Something fun: what’s your favorite thing to do in Florida?
I love to go to a secluded beach to watch the moonrise. There’s nothing like being in the pitch black and seeing that sliver of bright white light break through. I’ve always seen it as a metaphor for hope, but that’s probably just the nerdy writer in me.
Where can we learn more about you and your writing?
Website, social media accounts, Amazon author page, etc. I’m in the process of redoing my website, so nothing is up at the moment. I’m most active on Instagram (@daphneniko), but that’s a mix of all the hats I wear: writer, editor, teacher, mom of twins, etc. I probably need to do a better job on social media.
