Today we’re happy to feature Danika Dinsmore, author of Brigitta of the White Forest.
What is your favorite thing about writing? What is your least favorite thing?
There’s so much I love about writing, but one thing is that AHA (!) when I’ve been trying to figure out how to solve something and it suddenly hits me. That’s magic. I also enjoy being lost inside my imaginary world.
My least favourite thing right now is figuring out how to merge and organize all my various notes and maps and timelines and histories into one cohesive world book. Creating a world is a huge endeavor. And while I like the process of it, I’ve got pages and pages of typed and written notes all over the place.
What is your writing process like?
Um . . . messy?
Generally, I do a lot of thinking and talking and musing and brainstorming (on the page and in my head) before the story happens, so that when I do sit down to write the story, it’s all at once in the shortest amount of time possible. For instance, I like to write screenplays in 10 days once all the prework/writing is done. It’s like wind me up and GO!
Brigitta of the White Forest was adapted from a feature film script, so I basically cut and paste it into a word document, changed the verb tense, and added all the fun stuff (like description and inner monologue) that you aren’t allowed to write in a screenplay. Then I realized there was so much more I needed to know about this world, so I went back and worked on the world book for several months to flesh everything out.
The second novel was from scratch. No blueprint, so that was a little scarier. Since I had done all the world book work, though, it saved a lot of agony. The more I know about my world, the easier the stories come to me.
What inspired Brigitta and the White Forest?
I was actually looking to write a commercial screenplay for a wide audience. Something “bigger” than the dysfunctional family indie dramedies I was so prone to writing. Something with merchandising potential – lol.
Then one day I was store-sitting for a friend in her Fantasy/Wiccan/Renaissance shop and noticed all these faeries in the space. At the time, I couldn’t think of any stories with faeries as main characters, and couldn’t think of any faeries except for Tinkerbell. I thought it was a pretty original idea at the time (2003). Now faeries have entered into the collective consciousness of writers and readers.
I mulled over some ideas, but was ultimately inspired while working on set on the Sunshine Coast in B.C. If faeries live anywhere, they definitely live in the moss dense forests of British Columbia.
If you could live in a world from any book, which would you choose and why?
None of the worlds I’ve been reading about lately, that’s for sure (Behemoth, Ship Breaker, Un Lun Dun). Can I live inside Pablo Neruda’s 100 Love Sonnets? Does that count? How about in Dr. Who’s Tardis? I know that’s not a book, but I think I would make an excellent sidekick for him and I would definitely like to see the past and present universe.
I think I’d like to visit some of my favourite book worlds, but wouldn’t want to stay. Too much mayhem.
What books/authors have influenced your writing?
Oh, geez, that’s an impossible question! I’ve been influenced by all kinds of authors from Norton Juster (Phantom Tollbooth) and Katherine Dunn (Geek Love) to Neil Gaiman (Stardust) and Phillip Pullman (His Dark Materials). I am drawn towards the odd and quirky. For world building: Robin Hobb and Cinda Williams Chima have more recently inspired me.
And that’s sticking to the realm of children’s literature and fantasy. I’ve been influenced by countless poets and screenwriters and non fiction writers as well. I was a poet first, then a screenwriter, then a novelist.
When not writing, what sort of activities do you enjoy?
I enjoy reading, film making, collage art, cycling (my husband and I are cycle commuters), and anything involving treeple. I am fascinated by birds and bird politics. I teach world building (and creative writing) to adults and children. I love to perform spokenword. I love, love, love to travel. My ideal life would be a perpetual world-exploring booktour with a universal library card and access to nature on a regular basis.
Are you working on another book at the moment?
Right now I’m (behind on) editing the second book in the White Forest series, The Ruins of Noe, which is due out in Spring 2012 by Hydra House (a new imprint of en theos press). I’m also working on a YA dystopian novel called Silk Rivers of the Moon.
Thanks to Danika for stopping by!
[Check out the giveaway we have going of her book Brigitta of the White Forest]
