Thanks for joining me for Sunday Speed Dates. This week I have multi-genre author Denise Deegan joining me.
Award winning author, Denise Deegan lives in Dublin with her family where she regularly dreams of sunshine, a life without cooking and her novels being made into movies.
Denise has been a nurse, a china restorer, a pharmaceutical sales rep, a public relations officer, an entrepreneur and a college lecturer. Her most difficult job was being a checkout girl, although ultimately this experience did inspire a short story…
Denise writes for both adults and teenagers. Her novels have been published by Penguin, Random House, Hachette and Lake Union Publishing. Writing under the pen name Aimee Alexander, Denise’s contemporary family dramas have become international best-sellers on Kindle.
Under her own name, Denise has written a much-loved contemporary Young Adult trilogy, the Butterfly Novels, the second of which was nominated for an Irish Book Award.
Denise’s most recent novel, Through the Barricades, won the international SCBWI Spark Award.
Welcome Denise! Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
I’m a storyteller, mum and optimist. Writing is my escape. Having said that, I’m an emotional writer – I make myself laugh and cry. I love when readers get in touch to let me know I’ve done the same to them.
With each book I learn something new about myself.
I changed career so many times – until I started writing. It is the most challenging and engaging work/play I have ever done. I don’t see myself moving on from it any time soon.
It sounds like you have a lot of stories to tell. I hope you stay writing for a long time. :)
Tell us a little about your latest project.
I’m just back from New York where I picked up an award for my latest novel, Through the Barricades. It’s a story of love and revolution, of Maggie and Daniel, two people who are deeply in love but find themselves on opposite sides of a rebellion. It is a story that explores the tug between duty and love. It is a story of family. And sacrifice. And the pressure that can come from a last request. Years after her father died trying to save her from a fire Maggie still struggles to honour his dying wish: ‘Make a difference in the world, Maggie.’
Through the Barricades became a labour of love for me. As I wrote, I developed a very real, emotional connection with the soldiers who fought and died in the trenches of Gallipoli during WW1. I had to tell their story.
It sounds like a beautiful story. I’m such a sucker for historical fiction, and this isn’t something we read a lot of here in the states. I’m impatiently waiting for my copy to come in the mail. I can’t wait to start reading it.
Where are you currently living? What do you like or dislike about it?
I live in a coastal neighbourhood in the suburbs of Dublin. I love that it’s by the sea and has lovely coastal villages. Every day I walk my dog, Homer, on a nearby hill with views over Dublin Bay. It is food for the soul. And it helps me write.
What a beautiful location, and such a wonderful companion to walk it with.
You’ve had quite a few different occupations. How have they influenced your writing?
I’ve been a nurse, china restorer, pharmaceutical sales rep, public relations executive and entrepreneur.
I’m always careful saying what affects my writing because so much of it is subconscious. Having said that, medical subplots always seem to sneak into my stories. In the case of Pause to Rewind, the main plot is medical. I have always beenintrigued by how the body works, how it can go wrong, how to put it right and how out of control we can feel when we’re not well.
Working in public relations introduced me to the process of editing and working as part of a team. As a result, I welcome feedback from editors and enjoy polishing my work through editing. Given my PR background, I’m also very comfortable working with graphic designers, which made self-publishing easier, especially in terms of cover design. No matter how I publish, though, it helps to be familiar with how to make the book/s visible.
Some stories I have written have been directly influenced by jobs I’ve held. I wrote one about a checkout girl and another about an antiques restorer. This last one, I’m developing into a short film.
I have had so many careers. I have probably been influenced in one way or another by all. I most certainly have been influenced as a person.
You have had so many professions, all of them so interesting!
Can you tell us a little bit about Homer?
Homer is our gentle, playful, loving and forgiving golden retriever. He is the only real life character I have ever put in a book. He stars in my YA series, The Butterfly Novels, as the beloved pet of Alex a sixteen year old girl coping with loss. He is a golden retriever who doesn’t retrieve and who enjoys a good view.
Aw, he’s gorgeous! I love goldens, they have so much personality.
When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?
It took a while! After all the careers I outlined above, I embarked on a Masters in PR. While conducting the literature review I discovered that a book didn’t exist that needed to. So I wrote it. After it was published, I got an overwhelming, inexplicable urge to write a novel. I gave up my PR business to do so – with no idea for a story, no agent, no publisher.
Kudos to you! It is a brave thing to give up what you know to try something completely knew. Much respect to you for it. We can all see it worked in your favor.
Congratulations on the SCBWI Spark Award. Can you tell us a little bit about it?
The SCBWI Award is an international award given to the best indie book in 2016. The SCBWI is an amazing organisation that I have huge respect for. To be singled out by them in this way is a huge honour.
That is a huge honor indeed! Congratulations. For more information on the Spark Award, see here.
Do you have a talisman or mascot? Maybe something that has to sit on the desk, or a favourite pen?
On my desk, I have a sculpture of swimming fish, to remind me of Dory’s great philosophy: Keep on Swimming! I also have a painting that reminds me to dream.
Oh my, how cute is that!
You write for both young adults and adults. What is the hardest part about writing in different genres?
The hardest part isn’t the writing, it’s the marketing. I write my contemporary family dramas as Aimee Alexander (my children’s names combined). I write my teenage fiction as Denise Deegan. My latest challenge, was the name I would choose for Through the Barricades, which is a crossover story. Until this one, it has always been pretty clearcut. In the end, I went with my gut. It felt like a Denise Deegan story, so that’s what I opted for.
Another issue of having two identities is that I feel more myself as myself. So my social media presence as Denise Deegan is much stronger.
I can see that how that could be an issue. Being yourself is always much easier.
Is there a message in your butterfly novels that you hoped to impart on the young adult readers?
I didn’t write The Butterfly Novels with messages in mind. However I have been contacted by a huge number of teenagers who really related to the characters’ struggles with various issues (eg loss and bullying). Reading about others trying to cope with these issues has helped readers find solutions, not just for themselves but for friends. This is perhaps the best reward I get from writing.
This is so awesome! Connecting with readers is one of the best parts of being an author. It’s even more rewarding when you can help them in some way.
What were the some of the challenges in bringing Through the Barricades to life?
I had to learn that the recording of history involves interpretation so there will always be conflicting reports of events. All you can do as a writer is go to the most original sources. And there are some amazing ones.
I also learned to step back from the (fascinating) history and focus on my characters. That’s what makes a story.
It’s hard sometimes, balancing history and story and characters. It’s one of the things that make historical fiction so amazing.
Do you speak another language? Which one? Which language would you like to learn?
French, Spanish and Irish, all badly. I would love to speak Italian – but I’d like to magically absorb it rather than learn it!
Oh, wouldn’t that be an amazing way to learn a language!
If you could travel to the past or future, where would you stay and why?
I’d like to try the Amish life – right around the time that Harrison Ford arrives at my farm! Joking aside, the simplicity of that life is appealing. The sense of community. But there are of course things I’m not sure I could live without eg music.
lol! I hear you on Harrison Ford. 😆 And the music, that would be hard.
When people look at me, they would never guess that I…
…hear voices in my head. I hear the dialogue of my characters as if they were in the room. That’s how The Butterfly Novels began. I heard Alex’s angry, sarcastic, vulnerable voice and I had to write it down. I had never set out to write about teenagers.
I always find it so fascinating how the stories pick the authors, more often than not, without their idea or influence. Those always turn out to be the stories that need telling.
What one piece of advice (negative or positive) drove you to become a better writer?
The very first novel I wrote, I sent out into the world without editing, without even reading over it once. Call me naïve – I deserve it. A lovely literary agent took me aside and taught me not only the importance of editing but how to do it. I will always appreciate that.
Oh no! That is one of the great things about the writing community. It’s full of so many helpful people who want to see everyone succeed.
What’s the next project you’re working on. Can you give us a little sneak-peak?
I am feeling around for a story, right now. Part of me is waiting for it to magically arrive, part of me is watching out for interesting scenarios. I’m dying to get cracking. I feel edgy when I’m not writing.
I completely understand. It’s nearly impossible for a writer to not be writing.
Where can we find out more about you and what you write?
As Denise Deegan
Amazon Author Page ~ Website ~ Twitter ~ Facebook ~ Instagram ~ Goodreads
As Aimee Alexander
Amazon Author Page ~ Website
Wonderful! I can’t wait to see you around online. Thanks again for stopping by!
Thanks so much for having me, Christina
~oOo~
Through the Barricades is currently on sale st amazon. Click the image below to get your copy.
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