How would you describe your style of writing to someone who has never read your work?
I would describe my style of writing as vocal. I know that this sounds strange, but I like to look at everything I can from a dialogue exchange—either discussion with another character or with the character’s self. I think that this is where emotion can be brought to light so naturally that one is not even aware that things are being learned, mysteries solved, horror realized. If the character is thinking so is the reader, if the character is talking the reader is listening. Sometimes if the author is describing, the reader is skimming. I like to avoid that if I can! I do, of course, use description as every author must, but I like to keep it less flowery and more to the point of a picture painted right in front of the reader’s eyes. The big picture they call it—whoever they are.
Do you feel that writing is an ingrained process or just something that flows naturally for you?
I think that this can and does go both ways. I believe I have some natural ability, especially related to dialog, that shines through most times, but at the same time there is a deep-rooted balance that comes from learning the craft from the bottom up and practicing until it becomes second nature. I’ve been writing a long time, and, at the beginning, my style was rough. That needed to be shaved into a cohesive correctness that wasn’t always fun to do. But going back to that earlier work, I can clearly see that as good as I felt then doing the work, it was not anywhere as good as it needed to be. Oh, the story was there. And the characters. Plot. The works. But the presentation was not clear and it was shaky. I didn’t find that out until much later—after the skill became part of me and the process faded back into the shadows. By then it had become a natural talent. But it didn’t start that way. So my question then becomes: Is that process ever entirely natural or ingrained? Or is it one thing feeding on the other. My work feeds. In the paranormal, there’s always a feed…
What mindset or routine do you feel the need to set when preparing to write?
My routine is sketchy, I’m ashamed to say. I like to say I have one, but…well, uhmmm, No. I usually leave my story up on my computer, write when the muse strikes me, walk away when it doesn’t and then I go back again at my will. I might write five or six or ninety pages. Or I might write a paragraph. I might do the work from my own mind, or allow the Light Beings (who help me a lot) time to channel through me. Sometimes I seek the Tarot or an oracle to give me a scene or direction, or walk in nature to see what the outside world has to give me. I write at midnight. At three a.m. At 9 a.m. or any other time that strikes me. I can be mad or sad or full-blown crazed and I’ll write. If the story is a large one, I do like to start with an outline. If there’s a short story or flash, I just go as it flows. That’s about the only real routine I adhere to. I’m an open book and open to all possibilities of routine and mindset.
Do you take your character prep to heart? Do you nurture the growth of each character all the way through to the page? Do you people watch to help with development? Or do you build upon your character during story creation?
I consider the story first and then decide what kind of person would have the most conflict with the development of said story. That takes my figuring out character depth and personalities. It means noting fears and pitfalls. This means looking at real life. Do I people watch? I do more than watch. I listen very carefully because people will tell you all you need to know about the nuances of conflict, excitement, and (in my books) horror. All I have to do then is throw the character into the mix on the paper (computer) and watch the magic.
Where would you spend one fully year, if you could go ANYwhere, money is not a concern? What would you do with this time?
This is both a hard and an easy question. I would spend time having experiences that I can fit into story lines. For example: I once took a trip out to Long Island, NY, to visit a lighthouse. Everyone loves lighthouses, and so do I, except going up those stairs. I know what stairs feel like—don’t need to repeat the experience to the point of a heart attack. But I had never walked to the very edge of a cliff in view of the lighthouse. No fencing. No warning signs. Just a sharp ledge and straight down to the ocean. Rocks and crashing water. You know the drill from watching these kinds of things on TV and at the movies. I wanted to FEEL how that felt. Not to fall mind you—I’m not that much of an adrenaline junkie. I just wanted to be close to the edge to feel the nearness of disaster. It was pretty scary. I know how it feels now and I can write about it if I need such a scene. (I don’t think I’m going back on purpose, though.)
So, ideally anyplace with an amusement park or a place where I can learn how it feels to do SOMEthing would be a place to go for a year. Disney World comes to mind, in Florida, except that a psychic who has read me well for many years, told me to stay out of Florida at all costs because she saw me being killed there in a terrorist attack. Yikes. So though I lived there in earlier years and loved it, I don’t feel that going back is worth the risk, just to learn something I could probably get someplace else! Space Mountain will have to wait (though in reality I really have already been on that coaster). There are some bigger coasters in other places, but some make me out to be quite the chicken. I’m picky about my experiences.
Hi everyone! Thanks for stopping by to read a bit about my new book of paranormal flash! Dinah
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