Author Interview – DA Serra

Who or what influenced your writing once you began? In the beginning, it was all about getting paid.  I needed to support myself first.  I understood that very practical exigency, and so I was influenced to write what I believed would sell.  Later on, I began to do more of what appealed to me.  Not surprisingly, when you must make money writing, the drive to turn-out pages is enhanced, and so I do not think that was a negative at all.  While I was creatively frustrated at the time it taught me so much, and it has influenced the way I work ever after.

What do you consider the most challenging about writing a novel, or about writing in general? The most challenging element is always plot.  Character-specific dialogue comes effortlessly to me once the character exists.  I have no problem with argot or education appropriate word order.  I can easily speak from a well-defined character’s place and voice.  I’ve been known to agonize over plot.

Have you developed a specific writing style? Style must shift with genre and format to stay authentic; however, I prize evocative language and reach for it whenever it is fitting.  I am always hoping for the palpable metaphor and a lyricism in my sentences.

Have you ever had writer’s block? If so, what do you do about it? I believe that writer’s block is a necessary part of the process, a kind of needed pause in the continuum – a place for your imagination to breathe and reconstruct.  When I teach writing workshops I always encourage students to relax and just stare if they need to.  It is not that nothing is going on – lots is going on.  The next day, or the day after, it will all break through as long as you don’t get paranoid. Creative people are creative people:  it doesn’t disappear or run out.

Can you share a little of your current work with us? I am working on two projects currently.  This first is a novel that explores the line between conscious and unconscious decision-making and what it says about Free Will.  It is the story of a young woman who was adopted at birth and who has come to question the choices she has made in her life.  On a lark she searches out her birth family and what she learns derails her perfectly planned life.  It is titled The Blurry Line.  The second is a comic travelogue memoir I am writing with my sister titled 2 Broads Abroad.  Yes, a thriller Primal, Free Will, and a comedy?  Two paths diverged in the woods and I took them all.

How did you come up with the title? The title Primal refers to that most primitive of emotions:  the bond of attachment between mother and child.  This animal instinct lives in mothers, and if tapped…watch out.

Can you tell us about your main character? Alison is a gentle quiet woman.  She loves her husband, adores her son, and enjoys her job teaching grammar school.  She is most of us:  thoughtful, kind, caring about her family and her neighbors.  She is everything special and nothing special.  She is familiar and easy to love – initially that is.

Who designed the cover? My cover was designed and shot by Dave Preciado a very talented Photographer/Artist who works regularly in the film world.

Will you write others in this same genre? I often think about writing another book in the thriller genre.  I have a loose idea that surfaces every now and then.  First I need to finish the two other projects I have working.  If I get a good response from Primal that might spark me back to thrillers.

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Genre – Thriller

Rating – R

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