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Thursday, January 30, 2020

BookSparks 20 Questions with author Dana Faletti... that's me!

Tomorrow I'm going to Eden Hall to speak with 4th graders about writing and literacy, and in my prep time, I came across a 20 questions about BookSparks Author Dana Faletti. This interview happened after I wrote Wake, but before I pubbed War And Wonder, book 3 of my trilogy, or Beautiful Secret, my women's fiction "Italian" romance. Thought it might be fun to share the interview. This one's from 2013-ish. Enjoy!





20 Questions with BookSparks author Dana Faletti!


1.       What was your biggest inspiration while writing WAKE?
So many things inspired me while I was writing the sequel to Whisper, it’s hard to narrow it down to one. I can say, though, there is a radio show called “Grace to You” with John Macarthur, and he did a series about angels. I listened to it several times, and it gave me some incredible insight into the Biblical writings of angels as warriors.

2.  What is usually on your nightstand? A glass of water, my Kindle, several books, my earrings, my wedding rings, random toys or trinkets that belong to my daughters, a candle, my cat trying to sip from the glass of water.

3.  Which character in WAKE is most like yourself?  Hmmm… my mother told me Callie reminds her of me as a teen. I always had super amplified feelings, kind of like Callie has for Joshua. Callie is much cooler than I ever was, though.

4.  Which authors have most influenced your writing? Frank Peretti and Ted Dekker in subject matter.  They write about Christian themes –angels and demons, end of the world type stuff .Jodi Picoult and Karen Marie Moning in style. I am a big fan of writing from different points of view. I love short powerful sentences that drive home an emotion.

5.  What is your favorite scene in WAKE? My favorite scene is when Callie visits Joshua at his house after she is worn out from fighting Darks all day. Joshua is her happy place, so to speak. The two of them struggle with how passionate their feelings are for each other and how to keep themselves from crossing the line. The scene deals with authentic desire and restraint.

6.  What do you think is Callie’s best trait? What I love most about Callie is that she has no idea how amazing she is. She doesn’t realize that she’s beautiful or brave, and it always surprises her when she gets a glimpse of her true nature.

7.  Are any characters in WAKE based on a real person? All of the characters, except for Silas and Jules,  are loosely based on real people. Callie is based on my niece, Cassie. Her parents are my brother and sister-in-law. Romuel’s character came from a dream I had about my father-in law, dressed in a toga with long hair and crazy abs. It was a really weird dream J

8.  What is something your readers would be surprised to learn about you? I am a die-hard fan of a capella musical groups.  I love love super love Pitch Perfect, and I am so bummed that The Sing-Off was cancelled last year. Best singing show ever.

9.  Where is your favorite place to write? I have a comfy oversized orange leather chair with ottoman that a friend was going to throw in the garbage. He gave it to my husband and I instead, and it ended up in our bedroom. This is where I wrote Whisper. Lately, I’ve been writing prolifically at local coffee shops. Much of Wake was written at Starbucks – how cliché, right? J

10.  What did you want to be when you grew up? I wanted to be a Broadway star. Now, I live that dream through watching my girls sing on stage. I still love singing… with them.

11.  What is your favorite book of all time? This is just a crazy question. I can’t narrow it down to one book. One series – The Fever Series, by Karen Marie Moning – has seemed to ruin all other books for me.

12.  When is your birthday? September 10th.

13.  What is your dream vacation? A year in Europe. I’ve been to Italy three times and France several times. I have wonderful family in both countries, and we visit often. I’d like to spend a nice chunk of time there, eating, drinking, sleeping on pebble beaches in the afternoons and speaking Italian or French with strangers- that- have- become -family late into the nights.

14.  Describe your writing style in three words. Unique. Unapologetic. Tangible.
  

15. When naming your characters, do you give any thought to the actual meaning? No, most of the time, names just come to me, they feel right. Evil characters’ names are harder for me to nail down. I confess to having tossed around the idea of naming villains after some people who have given me grief in real life. You know – cross me and I’ll write you into my book – and you won’t be a pretty character! No, I actually don’t do that!  I love Joshua Pride. My favorite name.  I have no idea how I came up with Silas and Jules.

16. What is Callie’s favorite song (or theme song)? Beautiful Soul.

17. Any recent works that you admire? Beautiful Ruins, by Jess Walter. Delicious book.

18.  If you could co-write a book with any author, who would it be? Again, a really hard question… Pat Conroy, maybe? His writing is so vivid, it places me wherever the characters are. I’ve read Prince of Tides three times, and every time I even think of the book, I can smell sulfur, taste sea salt on my tongue. I can close my eyes at any moment and be at Luke, Savannah, and Tom’s little shack-like house on their tiny plot of island. I’d like Pat’s writing style to rub off on me a little. It would help me in my next project.

19.  How have your personal experiences affected your writing?  Shortly after I started writing Wake, my husband had a very serious health scare. He was extremely sick for a few months, and I couldn’t write Wake at all. I did write some of another project I am working on. The story is much more serious.  For a long time after his health improved, I was still not in the right place to write something as whimsical as Wake. 

20.  What is your writing process? It is still very much evolving, as I think it always will be. With Whisper, I didn’t plan much. I had an idea and wrote a scene that ended up being in the middle of the book. Later, I started at the beginning of the story and wrote from chapter one through the end, then came back and wrote a prologue, then an epilogue. I never had an outline – I’ll confess. With Wake, I outlined some, but honestly, some ideas just come to me as I’m writing, and I go with them.  One thing I really believe in as a writer is the importance of critique partners – good ones. I’m so lucky to have a group of them. There are six of us who critique each others’ work twice a month. They help me to know what works and what definitely does NOT and also edit for grammar, typos, the dastardly extra spaces!