Interview Dina Keratsis

by

Kev Richardson

1) Do you consider your writing style developed automatically, or was it manoeuvred?

I have written creatively since I was a child, but I think education stifled my personal style. I had to unlearn academic writing in order to tap into the true me and it’s an ongoing process. I think Cake, my third book, is probably the authentic me, the automatic me, but it’s taken a lot of manipulation to get back to that style.

Charlesgate was a mix of my academic and creative writing, Kicking Sideways was my calculated attempt to write a traditional contemporary romance in order to break away from academic writing, although my approach to writing it was very academic. Also, the heroine turned out to be a brooding gothic hero in that book. Cree was so Byronic, in fact, that when the ideas started flowing for Cake, I’d decided that I didn’t care if Cake was publishable--I just wanted to write for fun, a children’s romp, a through-the-wardrobe, down-the-rabbit-hole tale.  I wrote most of it with a smile on my face.

2) Which authors most influence you? Why?

George Eliot, Mark Twain, Emily Bronte, Richard Russo, Zora Neale Hurston, Charles Dickens, E.M. Forster are brilliant at character growth (or lack thereof).  Neil Gaiman, Teresa Medeiros, Isak Dinesen, Alice Hoffman because they make magic a part of everyday life.

3) What influences guided you into your chosen genres?

Love of reading primarily led me to writing. I wanted to be part of that literary conversation. Characters in books have always been moral guides for me, teaching me right from wrong. Huck Finn, Lily Bart, Daniel Deronda, Lucy Honeychurch, Zorba, Catherine Earnshaw, Moll Flanders, Gwendolyn Harleth, Scarlett O’Hara, Elizabeth Bennett… so many… I’ve learned as much from their lives as I have from real life. Does that make me crazy?

I write romance because it reflects the core message of all literary fiction--find yourself, find happiness. The romantic in me factors in romance as part of that happiness. This is due in part to genes, my parents’ marriage, which is based on love and respect, and reading too many Jude Deveraux novels by my grandmother’s pool when I was a teenager.

4) Is there a particular book among your three that particularly touches the inner you?

I love all my children equally.

5) Do you bounce texts off friends or family for their feedback, either in part or whole?

I do, despite the advice to the contrary. My husband is my harshest critic and biggest supporter. He’s a writer as well so I trust his opinion and when he tells me something is off, I go back and re-think, re-write. My mother, as well, is not shy about telling me when things don’t make sense in one of my stories or when a character is out of character for no good reason.

6) Do you plot your tales beginning to end or vice versa?

Initially, I take all the elements floating in my head--usually characters and idea snippets--and write it all down. Then I focus on getting to know my characters, giving them history, flaws, strengths, nicknames, physical bodies, etc. By that time, the plot begins to unfold. For instance, with Cake, I had my hero and the idea for a land called Cake as well as a few other influential ideas. I fleshed out my hero--the brooding warrior type and decided that the best heroine for him would be a naïve, optimistic bookworm type. At that point, I knew my fantasy would be about the heroine’s journey to discover her true self, both literally (as Queen of Cake) and figuratively, mirroring the journey we all need to take as humans. From there, I’ll map out key plot points that will help the characters fulfil their personal arcs, but I never know specifically what will happen until I write it.

7) Do you always have a particular finish in mind?

Never. I write romance so I know that the hero and heroine must ultimately find happiness together but I never know how they’ll get there or how they’ll define happiness. Character determines destiny, as George Eliot said. I just follow my characters.

8) How do you ensure keeping every character true to type throughout?

During the initial stages of writing, I create a one-page reference for each character with facts such as age, birth date, physical characteristics, home, occupation, etc. I also give the character a “type.” Cake’s Rune is a warrior so his personality needs to reflect this. I write down three specific flaws and three specific strengths. Rune has a specific goal--to keep the Queen Likely safe until she decides whether or not she wishes to fulfil her destiny, but he’s fooling himself. His real desire is to have a normal life, the life he had before he took his vow as Protector. So now my job as a romance author is to make sure he attains that hidden desire.

These character sketches are key references for me. If I get stuck during writing, I often find it’s because I’m not listening to my character and am trying to make him do something he just wouldn’t do.  I gnash my teeth and fret over the imminent demise of my book until I remember my handy-dandy character sketch. Often, just a glance at the sheet reminds me to stay on the character’s growth arc.

9) How much of your own personality do you lend to characters?

I’m not sure. Readers who know me say they saw a lot of me in my first heroine, Zylla. I think more of me ended up in her than I like to admit. As I learn my craft, however, I find that the characters dictate to me. Sometimes, I have to dig deep into my own personality to channel the character so some aspect of me does become a character, much like an actor “becomes” his role.

Cree, for instance, from Kicking Sideways is not at all like me, yet I had to access some of my own fears to lend her motive for her utterly stubborn behaviour. Mike, also from Kicking Sideways, is the person I’d like to be, and Bree, my Cake heroine, gets a lot of her self-doubt from me, yet all three characters are very much their own entities.

10) What lines of personal promotion do you create and/or follow, and which have found most responsive targets?

Promotion. Now there’s something that is taking me a while to learn. If you have no money, like most of us struggling writers, I think it’s most effective to get out there and talk about your writing to everyone who will listen and even those who won’t. Maintaining a website is key, blogging, giving back to the writing community in any way you can, using MySpace, joining a community of writers where you feel comfortable… I’m experimenting with a contest for Cake’s release so we’ll see if that lures any readers… they say food is the way to a young woman’s heart, don’t they?

11) …and congrats on such a teasing name as Cake …! It creates questions in one’s mind!

Ha! It just makes me hungry. I can’t take credit, really. The word popped into my head and I simply had to use it. The book, and its title, found me. I think it’s a true case where the muse just used a human as a vessel to speak.

But to all of you readers who now have a craving for cake as a result of all the talk, visit my website at http://www.dinakeratsis.com  to read more about the baking of Cake and to enter a contest to win your very own Dancing Deer Cake. How’s that for promotion? (Wink.)