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mollyringleToday my author spotlight falls upon Doralynn Kennedy, who has a background in the military police as well as being a great writer. She's the author of Sleeping with Skeletons, a thriller-romance about a double-crossed American spy hiding out in Ireland (from both the bad guys and the CIA), who knows it's a bad idea to fall in love with a famous film star working nearby on a movie adaptation of Jane Eyre, but can't help doing so anyway. Welcome, Doralynn!
As I've let you and the rest of the world know, I loved Sleeping with Skeletons. It didn't hurt that you incorporated two of my favorite fandoms--Jane Eyre and The Phantom of the Opera. Did you choose those for their appropriate themes, or simply because you love them too?
I did choose Jane Eyre and The Phantom of the Opera mostly for their appropriate themes, but also because I'm a fan. I wanted to use those particular stories to bolster Sleeping with Skeletons -- by incorporating certain aspects of those stories... the little girl with the neglectful mother; Riyad as shadowed by the Phantom. I even used the Bugatti Veyron because Veyron sounds similar to Varens - the last name of the child in Jane Eyre. I hope I was successful, but that's for the reader to decide.
Your story's set in Ireland (along with a touch of France and Afghanistan), and you describe it so beautifully that I ached to be there myself. Have you spent much time there? How much of the story's setting comes directly from your travels?
I have traveled a lot, but for the most part I was never in any one place for long. Some of the settings do come from my travels. As for Ireland, I chose to place Margaret in a fictional Irish town. It freed me up in the story. I don't like using real places as a main location in my stories. Real places are always changing. If you describe a real pub that your character goes to, and it closed down two years ago, you've automatically dated your novel. If it's someplace a character doesn't spend much time, then I'll use a real location. In my latest novel, the action takes place in Colorado. Even though I'm a native of Colorado, I'm using a fictional locale. It gives me more latitude in my writing.
From your writing I could believe spies move among us at a far higher rate than most of us suspect. Is this true? Are you allowed to say? ;)
Actually, spies do move among us at a far higher rate than most people suspect. I can almost guarantee you that there is cloak and dagger going on in a city near you. There's nothing romantic about it though, especially where recruiting is concerned. And a lot of spying takes place online nowadays. The CIA loves Facebook and the social media. Crowdsourcing is used to great effect by all the various spy agencies. But a lot of people aid the enemy without even realizing what they're doing -- the media is constantly revealing information that spies once risked their lives for -- and they endanger everyone in the process. Our enemies consider them "useful idiots."
Give us a line from Sleeping with Skeletons that you personally love.
"Only a very foolish rabbit would stop and let the fox eat her."
If you could take a vacation to the fictional world of any novel, which would you choose?
That's a hard question ... hmmm ... I want to go to Thornfield. (Before the fire.)
What's your most unusual hobby (aside from writing stories)?
Podcasting. I do Bible prophecy related podcasts at Podbean. I post those at Tangle and You Tube. I also do podcasts for a ministry that exposes cults.
What's up next for you and your writing?
I'm looking for a home for my latest manuscript, Stranded (about a sheriff and his new female deputy tracking a series of unsettling crimes in rural Colorado). I'm also trying to find an agent. No luck yet, but I haven't contacted very many, and I only started about a week ago. I continue to write, though I do get burned out by it! Writing... just one big flirtation with rejection. I write - therefore I'm a masochist.
---
Thank you, Doralynn! To visit Doralynn Kennedy and find buy links to her novel, please visit her webpage.
As I've let you and the rest of the world know, I loved Sleeping with Skeletons. It didn't hurt that you incorporated two of my favorite fandoms--Jane Eyre and The Phantom of the Opera. Did you choose those for their appropriate themes, or simply because you love them too?
I did choose Jane Eyre and The Phantom of the Opera mostly for their appropriate themes, but also because I'm a fan. I wanted to use those particular stories to bolster Sleeping with Skeletons -- by incorporating certain aspects of those stories... the little girl with the neglectful mother; Riyad as shadowed by the Phantom. I even used the Bugatti Veyron because Veyron sounds similar to Varens - the last name of the child in Jane Eyre. I hope I was successful, but that's for the reader to decide.
Your story's set in Ireland (along with a touch of France and Afghanistan), and you describe it so beautifully that I ached to be there myself. Have you spent much time there? How much of the story's setting comes directly from your travels?
I have traveled a lot, but for the most part I was never in any one place for long. Some of the settings do come from my travels. As for Ireland, I chose to place Margaret in a fictional Irish town. It freed me up in the story. I don't like using real places as a main location in my stories. Real places are always changing. If you describe a real pub that your character goes to, and it closed down two years ago, you've automatically dated your novel. If it's someplace a character doesn't spend much time, then I'll use a real location. In my latest novel, the action takes place in Colorado. Even though I'm a native of Colorado, I'm using a fictional locale. It gives me more latitude in my writing.
From your writing I could believe spies move among us at a far higher rate than most of us suspect. Is this true? Are you allowed to say? ;)
Actually, spies do move among us at a far higher rate than most people suspect. I can almost guarantee you that there is cloak and dagger going on in a city near you. There's nothing romantic about it though, especially where recruiting is concerned. And a lot of spying takes place online nowadays. The CIA loves Facebook and the social media. Crowdsourcing is used to great effect by all the various spy agencies. But a lot of people aid the enemy without even realizing what they're doing -- the media is constantly revealing information that spies once risked their lives for -- and they endanger everyone in the process. Our enemies consider them "useful idiots."
Give us a line from Sleeping with Skeletons that you personally love.
"Only a very foolish rabbit would stop and let the fox eat her."
If you could take a vacation to the fictional world of any novel, which would you choose?
That's a hard question ... hmmm ... I want to go to Thornfield. (Before the fire.)
What's your most unusual hobby (aside from writing stories)?
Podcasting. I do Bible prophecy related podcasts at Podbean. I post those at Tangle and You Tube. I also do podcasts for a ministry that exposes cults.
What's up next for you and your writing?
I'm looking for a home for my latest manuscript, Stranded (about a sheriff and his new female deputy tracking a series of unsettling crimes in rural Colorado). I'm also trying to find an agent. No luck yet, but I haven't contacted very many, and I only started about a week ago. I continue to write, though I do get burned out by it! Writing... just one big flirtation with rejection. I write - therefore I'm a masochist.
---
Thank you, Doralynn! To visit Doralynn Kennedy and find buy links to her novel, please visit her webpage.
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Cool.
Date: 2010-09-02 08:00 pm (UTC)ann elle altman
Re: Cool.
Date: 2010-09-02 09:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-02 08:37 pm (UTC)Thanks Joy
Date: 2010-09-02 09:29 pm (UTC)Thanks Molly
Date: 2010-09-02 09:25 pm (UTC)oops
Date: 2010-09-02 09:31 pm (UTC)Re: oops
Date: 2010-09-02 09:55 pm (UTC)Re: oops
Date: 2010-09-02 11:05 pm (UTC)Re: oops
Date: 2010-09-03 02:26 am (UTC)Re: oops
Date: 2010-09-03 02:30 am (UTC)Re: oops
Date: 2010-09-03 02:39 am (UTC)Re: oops
Date: 2010-09-03 03:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-03 12:05 am (UTC)But it's definitely true that writing is a form of masochism :-).
Pern and Dune
Date: 2010-09-03 12:46 am (UTC)Re: Pern and Dune
Date: 2010-09-03 09:10 pm (UTC)Well, then, Thornfield it must certainly be :-)! Pern's got that nasty Thread problem, anyway...
Re: Pern and Dune
Date: 2010-09-04 04:50 am (UTC)Re: Pern and Dune
Date: 2010-09-04 01:27 pm (UTC)Re: Pern and Dune
Date: 2010-09-04 10:02 pm (UTC)Re: Pern and Dune
Date: 2010-09-05 01:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-03 02:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-04 01:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-06 04:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-03 12:17 am (UTC)Bisi
Bisi
Date: 2010-09-03 12:48 am (UTC)Miss Molly
Date: 2010-09-04 04:50 am (UTC)Doralynn