An Interview with Diane Kelly

Q: Patty Campbell talks about the germ for a piece of writing being like the sand in the oyster. What is your grain of sand? Do you begin with character or setting or something else?

My grain is always a character and, as a result, I write character-driven stories. Because I write in first person, I essentially become my heroine while I write since everything is said in her voice and from her point of view.  It’s fun to step out of myself and into a different persona and to experience someone else’s life so intimately, especially when my character is a kick-butt federal agent with some darn good-looking men in her life.

Q: What do you hear from your readers?

My readers love the humor in my books.  My series is pure entertainment and really fits the bill when someone needs a good laugh.  They also enjoy the sexual tension between my heroine and her love interests.  Several readers have told me that I do a good job with descriptdiion, which I’m glad to hear.  That means I’m effectively transmitting the mental images in my head to the page and thus to the reader.

Q: In high school, where did you fall? (Prom Queen/King, Gamer Geek, Brainy/Book Nerd, Jock, Shy/Quiet Scholar, Skate Rat, Stoner, Class Clown, etc.)

All of the above?  I think there was a little of each of those stereotypes in me, and I had friends from each clique.  I made pretty good grades, ran one year of cross country, unwittingly dated a pothead, and loved to go to the skating rink (and later to nightclubs when I got my fake id).  So I’m not sure where that puts me. Even then I think I was attempting to amass a variety of life experiences. It’s a good thing, too, because I draw on many of them now in my writing.

Q: Do you have a pet (pets)? Tell us about it (them) and how they help/hinder your writing.

I have two dogs, a Dalmatian mix and a shepherd mix, both of whom we adopted from the pound.  I also have eight cats.  Strays just keep showing up and I don’t have the heart to turn them away!  But I get them all fixed so we don’t contribute to the overpopulation problem.

My cats aren't much of a problem, other than one who likes to rub her face on the corner of my laptop screen while I’m working.  The dogs like to be in and out a zillion times a day, which can be a pain.  But I’ve found that if I take them to the dog park for a couple of hours in the morning they are much more mellow the rest of the day.  I bring my netbook with me to the dog park and can usually crank out a thousand words or so while they are running around having fun.  It’s a great routine for all of us!

Thanks so much for your time, Diane! We look forward to seeing you at the festival.

To read more about Diane Kelly, please visit her website.