FROM BITE ME TO ONCE BITTEN

One can often wonder what inspires the very young to put their imaginings to paper and which may one day lead to a more lucrative outcome on the road to writing in the professional arena. Nikki wasn't one to surround herself with Fairies and Unicorns though but took a more realistic approach. "You know, I never wrote about unicorns... I always seemed to be far too grounded in reality and always wrote these stories where my brother and I featured as the main characters," she begins with a laugh. "When I was about five I 'wrote' my first book, which was basically a retelling of Little Red Riding Hood, complete with drawings; and since I never pursued an art career, I can only imagine they were less than brilliant illustrations. Then, to make it look like a real book, I got some Scotch tape and began taping the pages together on the spine, because in my head I figured that must be how it was done. Then my mother showed me how to put three staples in the pages and I was amazed... it had never occurred to me to do that! I was only five, so my mom handled the stapler, while I sat and churned out these fairy-tale-based little books for myself. Sadly, I haven't a clue where any of them are."

Photo highlight: David Boreanaz (Angel)

After the experience of researching and writing "Bite Me! An Unofficial Guide to the World of Buffy the Vampire Slayer", compiling a similar companion book for Angel would seem easier the second time around to some. "In some ways it was easier," admits Nikki, "in others it was the same, and in still others, it was harder. Nice way to answer your question, eh? Yes, I'm Canadian," she laughs. "It was easier because I'd come up with a format, and was able to work within that format. But getting into the episodes was like starting right from the beginning because I had published Bite Me! in 2002, and it was now two years later and I was out of practice. Also, Angel the series has a different feel and aesthetic to it than Buffy, so I had to come at it from a different angle. It was harder than Bite Me!, because I was actually working on a companion guide to Alias at the same time, with another writer, and found out I was pregnant shortly after signing a contract for both of them, so as the months wore on, it became increasingly difficult to sit in front of the computer for long periods of time and just type."

Since Angel, the series was able to break apart from the world of Buffy and create its own mythos that 'different angle' would create its own challenges for Nikki. "In many ways the shows are very similar, with the same witty writing, epic storylines, and character-driven seasonal arcs. But in another way, as I said earlier, Angel is darker, and has a much, much different feel to it, and therefore I had to slightly shift the way I was working on it to accommodate that. On Buffy the characters are all dealing with the transition to adulthood, where in Angel the characters tend to be dealing with the harsh world that forces them to grow up early, in the case of Gunn, and they don't have the luxury of missing their childhood. Los Angeles is a much darker place than Sunnydale." Nikki continues, "I think Angel perhaps was even riper for character development than Buffy could be, because it had the three years of Buffy behind it, plus the five years of the actual series. So where Buffy begins in 1997, and we eventually learn what happened in the past, Angel had the three seasons of Buffy as a foundation and built on that. Where Willow is the character who changed the most on Buffy, Wesley and Cordelia both undergo massive character changes over the course of Angel, and Fred and Gunn, in the short term, also change tremendously."

"Pretty much every time Wesley fell over in Season One I loved. I just loved the physical humor." ~ Alexis on his favorite moments.

Nikki joins in the feelings of many fans when she comments, "I can only imagine how much more they could have changed, had the series been allowed to continue." For "Once Bitten" Nikki had, not only, to include all five seasons of Angel in one complete book but she also had to put a close to "Bite Me!" by adding the final seventh season of Buffy as well. With Buffy having ended the previous year and the additional time span between the two books she also had to balance shifting informational gears between the two series. "I wrote the first four seasons of Angel first, season five was still on, and I never start writing a season until I've seen all of the episodes; that way I have a sense of where the season is going to end up," she explains. "Then, when I was finished Angel, I took a break before I wrote season seven of Buffy. It wasn't too much of a gear shift; I actually found the transition fairly easy. Because I'd written six seasons of Buffy already, it was like returning to an old friend working on that season, and I really enjoyed doing it."

One of the outstanding elements of Nikki's books in general - and why fans admire them so much - is their diversity. It's not just an episode guide; it's not just the chronology of the characters or the story but a full on, wide ranging, exploration of the series and its creators. They read almost as if they are two or three different books in one which allows Nikki a variety of writing styles within each chapter. "It does, actually," she agrees, "The writing on Angel is so diverse - there are funny episodes, and there are sad episodes; action-packed episodes and quiet character-driven episodes. Thus, when I'm writing about them, I'm able to be serious, crack jokes, roll my eyes at the episodes I don't like, which is rare, and rave about the ones I do. I love writing the episode guides, and I was able to add an extra dimension to them this time by interviewing several cast members and asking them to comment on specific episodes, and then including their comments within the guide. I think it's important to step back from the show every once in a while and muse on how much the characters have changed, the series has evolved, and the writing has matured. And, of course, how much the actors have developed as their characters became more well rounded. So that's what I try to do aside from writing about the individual episodes, is look at that episode's place within the series."

Alexis Denisof chapter: "Thanks WB, you killed me!"

One of the features fan enjoy reading are the recaps of the Posting Board Parties and "Once Bitten" provides an insightful look into the event of 2003, which for the first time got to offer fans/attendees their behind the scenes look into the world of Angel. For the first time the Angel cast and crew were well represented and received much of the admiration they so deserved, but were the fans were able to bridge that transition from Buffy to Angel and support the show on even ground. "I think that really happened when Angel was in season five, actually," Nikki reflects, "Suddenly there was no Buffy to compare it to; fans and critics alike were finally tuning in to Angel, rather than watching Angel because they also watched Buffy. For the first time, Angel was suddenly getting reviewed very regularly by the critics, and wasn't being compared - either favorably or unfavorably - to the show from which it was spun off. Not to mention several Buffy fans who didn't watch Angel, something I never understood, now watched it to fill the void that the end of Buffy had left. And it seemed to be at that moment that everyone realized Angel really was its own show even though I believe that happened partway through season two, to be cemented in season three. It helped that season five was such a fantastic year."

Certainly a highlight was Nikki's interview with actor Alexis Denisof. He tends to stay under the radar from interviews and appearances but when he does make himself available, he shines through as a very honest and spiritual individual. And there was much to enjoy when talking to him and about his own explorations into the development of his closer-than-kin Wesley. "He was wonderful," admits Nikki without hesitation. "I was coming down to the wire on my deadline, and his publicist was trying to get in touch with him to set this up, knowing that I was very close to having to hand in the manuscript. She was so lovely and kept apologizing to me, but I managed to get an extension on the hand-in date, provided I could get this interview. In the meantime he was reading Bite Me!, he wanted to make sure I was the sort of writer that he would actually want to talk to," she confessed, "and after he finished the book, he gave the green light and his publicist set it up. I phoned him at his home in London, England, and he picked up and immediately apologized for having pushed my deadline so far and reassured me that he had set aside a huge chunk of time for the interview. He was thoughtful, forthright, funny, and so sincere that, where I originally intended to incorporate his comments the way I had the others, I changed my mind and decided to run the entire interview on its own. This isn't to say the interviews with J. August Richards or Amy Acker or Christian Kane or any of the others that I spoke to weren't as enjoyable," Nikki rushes to clarify, "It's just that as the interview was happening, I began realizing he was providing me with this amazing overview of Wesley and his development as a character, and to break that up would have meant losing so much of what Mr. Denisof was saying, so I kept it all together."