I have a special guest for the spookiest holiday of the year...
Please welcome Dianne Salerni!
I have nine quick questions for Dianne...and she has some really cool news...plus I am giving away my gently used copy of her book
WE HEAR THE DEAD (which is awesome) and a signed book mark for her upcoming release of
THE CAGED GRAVES.
Dianne, when
did you begin writing?
I’ve been writing since before I could
write. I illustrated my first book, THE GIRL AND THE DRAGON, and my father took
dictation for the text. I think I was about 4 years old. But if you want to
know when I started my quest for publication, I’ll have to cite my unsuccessful
submissions to Isaac Asimov’s Science
Fiction Magazine in high school and my husband’s attempts to get two
(really awful) children’s books published when I first got married.
Do
you have an agent? If so, who?
My agent is Sara Crowe of Harvey Klinger, and she is
amazing.
Can
you tell us the journey WE HEAR THE DEAD (Which is totally awesome!) took until it reached publication?
Originally, I had an idea about writing
a MG book about séance frauds. But when I started researching séances, trying
to learn more about them, I kept coming across the story of the Fox sisters,
who are credited with the invention of spiritualism. When I learned that one of
the teenaged sisters became embroiled in an ill-fated celebrity romance, I decided
I had to write this story. So, ultimately I switched from a MG humorous tale to
a YA historical romance. Originally, I self-published the book (back in 2007
when this was still taboo), and the good reviews attracted the attention of
Sourcebooks, who offered a traditional publishing contract. In 2010, the book
was published with a fresh edit and a new title.
Is
there anything special you would like to share about WE HEAR THE DEAD???
Yes! Around the same time Sourcebooks
contacted me about publishing rights, an independent Hollywood producer emailed
me after stumbling across my indie book on Amazon. I ended up selling her a
film option in a separate deal – which may now be coming to fruition. The
producer, Amy Green, has acquired funding through her company ARC49
Entertainment, to produce a film short, tentatively titled THE SPIRIT GAME.
Hopefully I will have more information to share about the film and casting
later this fall!
When
does your next book, THE CAGED GRAVE, come out?
THE CAGED GRAVES comes out in May 2013
from Clarion Books, an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and it is my first
agented deal. THE CAGED GRAVES is about 17-year old Verity Boone, who returns
to her hometown in 1867 to take part in an arranged marriage, only to discover
her mother’s grave confined in a cage outside the cemetery walls and the secret
behind her death likely to put Verity in a grave right beside it.
What
one thing would you say to prepublished (I love that term. It sounds so much better than unpublished.) authors?
Do not EVER give up – and do not stop
writing! Persevere with your projects, but not to the point of excluding new
projects and even new genres. If I were to make a list of the manuscripts I’ve
written, you would find that the first ones written were not necessarily the
first ones sold, and my biggest deal is not in the genre/audience I started
with.
Do
you have any special news you’d like to share???
HarperCollins has just bought my MG
fantasy THE EIGHTH DAY in a 3 book deal, proving the point I made above. THE
EIGHTH DAY is about a mysteriously orphaned boy who discovers a secret day
hidden between Wednesday and Thursday and a reclusive girl living next door who
exists only on that eighth day, hiding from people who’d use her to destroy the
regular seven.
What
is your favorite holiday?
Summer vacation. That counts as a pretty
important holiday when you’re a teacher trying to become an author.
One
last question and it’s an important one:
What is your favorite kind of cheese?
Sharon, how can I possibly choose? It
depends on what I’m eating it with, or if I’m eating it alone, and what kind of
mood I’m in. There’s extra sharp Vermont cheddar, baby Swiss, mozzarella,
shaved Parmesan, feta and port wine cheddar – and goat cheese with honey is a
local specialty in southeastern Pennsylvania.
Thanks so much for having me here today,
Sharon!
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I so appreciate Dianne for being here with us. If you haven't checked out her blog, please hop over...If you would like to check out her author website here it is.
If you don't win my copy of Dianne's book and the signed bookmark on November 8th, here is a link where you can purchase it... (It's really good...but you guys know I'm a sucker for historical fiction...)