Page Turning Books: Author Interview

Author Interview – DA Serra

Who is your favorite author and why? Sounds like a simple question – it’s not. Writers are so different it is like asking what is your favorite thing to eat? I’d ask for which: breakfast, dessert, dinner, on a hike, a picnic? You get the picture. I admire and appreciate so many writers for different reasons: if I’m reading history I love Thomas Cahill and I’ve read his hinges of history series several times; for essays, to my mind, there is not a living or dead writer who can match David Foster Wallace in psychological insight, humor, vocabulary, or erudition; for fiction, I will always read Ann Patchett and Barbara Kingsolver. All that said, if I were forced to choose one writer, just one, I would choose Charles Dickens. Dickens is in a world of his own. His fiction writing literally changed society, influenced child labor laws, helped to abolish debtor prisons, and gave a human face (however ugly) to both sides the French Revolution and Reign of Terror. He makes me laugh and cry while composing some of the most beautiful and often recited passages in English literature. Can anything more be expected of a writer?

Are you reading any interesting books at the moment? On my Kindle I’m reading Justine by Lawrence Durrell, on my iPhone I listening to Kafka on the Shore by Murakami, and in paperback I just picked up The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey by Walter Mosley.

Are there any new authors that have sparked your interest and why? Yes, I just read a book by Alice Albinia titled Leela’s Book. Albinia is a British writer who spent a number of years in India. This is a captivating modern take on an ancient epic text. She is a beautiful writer.

Do you have any advice for writers? Here it is – my absolute best piece of practical writing advice. Do not ever get up from the desk at the end of a chapter, a scene, or the resolution of a dramatic moment. Get up before the end. It will serve as the much appreciated jump-start you need the next day. Always leave yourself somewhere to go.

If you could leave your readers with one bit of wisdom, what would you want it to be? Try to read outside your usual genre. I run into readers who say they only like thrillers or romance or fantasy. I believe this is more habit than reality. Dabble a bit. Now that you can do this inexpensively with ebooks I encourage you to reach out and about. You may surprise yourself.