An Interview with Dena Straughn

 My Interview with Dena Straughn
 author of  "Dancing with my Dream"
 
Shawn   What is your book about?

Dena    "Dancing with my Dream" is a regional romance about starting over when tragedy strikes; it's about forgiveness, redemption, love, and reaching for your dreams. 
 
             The protagonist, sensual, talented, Addie Kane left her hometown in Alabama after her brother died. Rather than grieve, Addie shut the world out, and buried herself in a goal. When her parents died, there was no one to hold her or give her solace. She simply worked harder at her goal. When she reached it, she found herself utterly alone, a social hermit, transplanted in South Carolina, away from anyone she had ever known. 

             Jake Stewart came as a blinding light, piercing her darkness and reviving her hope. He was three years old, but great in stature in Addie's eyes. Through an unusual encounter with the toddler, Addie gets involved in the lives of the eight families in her cul-de-sac. She meddles, mends, and magically weaves her heart into the lives of others. She gives hope, faith and love, but in the end, she wants what she has given. 

              Colin Stewart, Jake's dad, dances with Addie in the rain, where she first feels a baptism of hope. Dave Jameson is a comfortable friend, who wants more from the relationship. Michael Addison is a volatile tempered paint and body man who needs a lot of restoration himself. A twisting and turning, controversial plot keeps the reader interested and wondering which leading man to root for. Passion and love bloom as Addie travels the road to restoration. 

Shawn   Do you have a writing ritual?

Dena     As far as a ritual goes, it is more of obsession than ritual. When fresh ideas come, I am glued to the work. I just write madly, forgetting food, sleep -you know, basic necessities in general. I keep a diet Coke and Smarties next to me and peck away at the keyboard. I try to write some everyday. I think I write best late at night when everything is still. I am new at this, so maybe a better ritual will come later.

Shawn  Where do you write best?

Dena     In the privacy of my bedroom. I like the idea that it is my personal space, and I am alone in my thoughts. 
 
Shawn  Who inspires you as a writer? 

Dena     My teachers throughout the years have been inspirational. I like Jude Deveraux, Judy Garwood, Janette Oake, and Nora Roberts as far as writers go. In my family, my dad, daughter-in-law and husband are my biggest supporters. 
 
Shawn   How do you write? (computer, word processer, typewriter, pen and paper)

Dena      I write mostly on the laptop, but I have started keeping pad and paper with me so that when ideas come, I can jot them down. 
 
Shawn    Do you write from life? (Are your characters based on people)

Dena      Sure. I think all writers base their characters somewhat in reality. I have found myself analyzing people and how they interact, in doctor's offices, department stores and restaurants. Extreme, colorful characters are the most fun. When readers identify with a character, they connect to the literary work. 

In "Dancing with my Dream, there is a little of myself in many of the characters. 
 
I have modeled two characters after a couple of rather eccentric uncles of mine. One of them is an artist that lives up on a mountain in north Georgia. He has a trailer across from where he lives with a mural painted on every exterior surface. He uses it as a storeroom for hundreds of paintings and other work that he has done. He has a long pony tail down his back and a toothless grin, but he is so talented. 

The other uncle lives in a veritable junkyard of his own making. He has gaping holes in the walls of a step down room, where you can see the dirt under the house. He calls them leprachaun holes and laughs. He's an old cursing, smoking, drinking codger that never meant to hurt anyone. He has bushy eyebrows and shoulder length gray hair, except where cigarette smoke has risen and turned it yellow. The last time that I saw him, he was riding around in his yard on a lawnmower in big brogan boots with the tongues hanging out and an aviator cap with only one side snapped up. How could I not include him? The story line that he is in has nothing at all to do with his personal life.

As far as experiences, I draw from real life, other's, and the imagination. 
 
In writing fiction, you have the privilege of compartmentalizing your different personality traits into characters. You can leave out flaws, add positive traits, and develop them nicely to carry out the designed plot. Sometimes, however, I found the plot changing, based on how the character that had been developed would have reacted, so it is a double edged sword of sorts.

Shawn   Do you prefer silence or background noise? 

Dena      Silence, except for the gentle sounds of my husband's breathing.>

Shawn   What is your favorite time to write? 

Dena      At night when the whole house is silent. It is then that symphony of ideas sing to me.
 
Shawn   What got you interested in writing?

Dena      Because of side effects from treatments for cancer, for the last twelve years I've been in a wheelchair or have had to use crutches in order to walk. Because of the painful illness, I recently made the decision to retire early from teaching. That, along with the fact that my children are now marrying and leaving home, gave me time to begin writing this summer. Dancing With My Dream is my first novel.
 
Shawn   Was it difficult writing your first novel?
 
Dena       I will admit to knowing absolutely nothing about what format I was supposed to be following. I had an idea for a story, and it was so unpredictable and fresh, that I wrote every-night almost non-stop. During the day, my husband and I would sit at the pool, and I would tell him the story as written the night before. He helped me with little details that I might have missed. 

Shawn    What teachers inspired you?
 
Dena       I had some terrific teachers along the way that said encouraging things that I remember. When I was in the sixth grade, I entered an essay contest titled, "Why I am proud to be an American." To my surprise, I won, and the school had the news come out and film me reading the essay as a speech. Mrs. Sweetenburg, my teacher was always telling me that I had talent.

              Years later, Mr. Ayers, a high school teacher, told me I had a strong writing voice that could make a difference. He was an amazing man. He had suffered from Polio as a child and had to walk around with crutches attached to his forearms, but he always smiled and encouraged. Now that I walk with crutches, I often go to him in my mind for inspiration.          

               Finally, Dr. Pollard, from Augusta State University, probably was my greatest help with my writing. He was tough on me, but when I quit mid-semester to get married at nineteen, he took the time to write me a note that said that I was talented and that he did not want me to give up on my writing.

              That inspired me to go back to school at twenty-eight. I did finish my teaching degree, but life happened, I raised my kids, I worked, I battled cancer and hip necrosis, and writing got put on hold. Since I started writing this summer, it seems like an obsession. I thrive on it and look forward to it daily.
 
Shawn    Are you currently working on a new novel?

I am actually working on two. I am trying to perfect the hook in the first two chapters, and basically, whichever one I am most happy with, will be the one I continue. One is about a couple of kids who meet in elementary school are separated in high school, and reunite just before the young man leaves for Iraq. The other is about two very different sisters, polar opposites, who have a lot that they could learn from the other.

As far as what I expect in editing DWMD and in creating other works, I will quote my own comment in an earlier article. I am not trying to proselytize in my writing. I am not even speaking of particulaly Christian literature or even inspirational; though truly there is a market for it. I am simply referring to feeling positive about the work no matter who picks it up to read it. I enjoy romantic fiction, comedy, and mysteries. I want to create believable, interesting characters and place them in settings with conflicts that keep the reader on the edge of their seat. I want strong protagonists who, though flawed, ultimately rise above in a way that leave the reader feeling glad to have been an audience to a book so well written that they feel like they were part of the story, living it, breathing it in, and savoring it. In all of that, I want the reader to feel clean and happy to have been in the story with me. I hope that explains a little better what I expect from my writing. Our faith, whatever we believe in, is in all that we create. It will be there, intentional or not. I want mine painted lovely, not to preach or teach, but to feel blessed for having been touched by it.