Nicole Hill

Nicole is a writer who utilizes her craft to escape to imagined worlds. She writes about her passions which include—art, books, film, games, music, and television. Currently, she runs her blog Black TARDIS, a Doctor Who blog where she writes about the show from her Black, queer, female perspective. She’s been featured on panels at conventions such as Gallifrey One and podcasts such as Reality Bomb and Black Girls Create’s own Who Watch: Time and Relative Blackness in Space. In her free time she also runs her general blog—DELETE THIS WHEN I’M DEAD.

Black Girls Create: What do you create?

I create articles, blog posts, and tweets about things I’m watching, reading, playing, and listening to, like on my blog Black TARDIS [@BlackTARDIS on Twitter] where I talk about Doctor Who. I also enjoy writing fiction and creating worlds where magic exists. Recently, I’ve begun streaming on Twitch, where I play The Sims 4. I create Sims and live vicariously through them in a digital world where I am God.

BGC: Why do you create?

Creativity is innate in me, so I create because it’s my default. Creating is how I cope and process. I think in “what ifs” and “why fors” and am constantly asking questions with no answers. These questions often surface in my interaction with nerd and pop-culture, which in itself is just a lens through which I see the world. Inside and outside of that sphere, I create to answer those questions and to ask new ones. I seek to bring something into existence that other people can interact with and examine, and in doing so, I hope to inspire them to ask new questions and create their own answers.

BGC: Who or what inspires you to do what you do?

In a broad sense, Black women, especially those who’ve excelled despite the odds stacked against them. Maya Angelou in particular means a lot to me. Her words and her story got me through times in my life when I felt less than. She reminded me that there is no depth from which you cannot rise.

More immediately, I am inspired by my friends and peers — including the women of BGC — many of whom are juggling 9-to-5 jobs, family, and health issues yet still make time to pursue their passions. I am in awe of them and seeing their creativity, talent, and skill on full display has made me feel more confident in my own.

BGC: Who is your audience?

I create for myself, to satisfy my own desire to see something exist; to have stories told in a way that appeals to me and [examines things] from a perspective I relate to. But I hope that what I create has value outside of what it does for me, and that it finds an audience with people who want to experience things from a different perspective or want to see their specific identities and interests reflected.

BGC: How do you balance creating with the rest of your life?

I am always writing, scribbling, and jotting down ideas so I am always creating on some level. But I am still trying to find a balance between productivity in the capitalist sense and productivity in the creative sense. I am hoping to find ways to merge the two, and make creating a part of what I do to provide for myself.

BGC: Why is it important as a Black person to create?

Because we have to tell our own stories. So much of our history is dictated by people who have only ever seen one side of us. It’s important that we create things that reflect us and all our facets. It’s important that we put so much of us into the world that the generations after us will never feel like outliers. They will know they are a part of a rich and beautiful culture and they will always be able to find themselves reflected.

BGC: Advice for young and new creators?

Don’t wait for other people’s acknowledgement or approval! Create as much as you can through whatever outlets are available to you. Create even if nobody else is paying attention. You are your audience. You are your client. You have to impress yourself first. Create things that are authentic to your perspective and your experience. Don’t focus on who may or may not get it. When you create something that is honest and that touches you, it will resonate with other people.

BGC: Do you have any future projects?

I have a few fictional stories I’ve been ruminating on for several years. Right now I’m working on research surrounding those. One is a story about nature versus nurture, identity, and creating yourself from the parts of your past you discover along the way. The other is a story about power, influence, ethics, and morality and finding a balance between what is good for you and the greater good. Both have fantasy elements, some form of magic, and Black and Brown characters at the forefront.

I recently set up a Twitch channel where I stream my gameplay and hope to also host conversational streams about current events, gaming, and pop culture.

On Black TARDIS, I am planning to watch and share my thoughts on the classic era of the series.

I am also hoping to do more freelance writing on entertainment and pop culture.

You can find Nicole on Twitter at @queerspecimen.