Ask the Author: Danielle Flood
Answered Questions (11)
Danielle Flood
Dear Jacky,
I am happy for you that you have your answers.
Best kind regards,
Danielle
I am happy for you that you have your answers.
Best kind regards,
Danielle
Danielle Flood
Jane to Janice: How long were you married to him? Janice to Jane: How long were you married to him?
Danielle Flood
I just finished Antoine Laurain's THE RED NOTEBOOK, which I liked very much -- it's a love story and a mystery in Paris, very short, a novela, and somewhat profound, so I'm very excited to read more of Laurain's little books: THE PRESIDENT'S HAT and THE PORTRAIT are next....Then I want to read THE GOOD PEOPLE by Hannah Kent, set in 1825 County Kerry, Ireland, and which begins with magnificent bring-you-there writing depicting a character whose husband's body has just been brought to her in her doorway...I'm working on my next book, a novel this time, so reading may compete with my writing that, but I am tempted to also read Randi Davenport's THE END OF ALWAYS; she wrote a New York Times Modern Love column recently and she is a magnificent writer. Promise.
Danielle Flood
The bewildering question of who my father was, which is answered in my memoir, THE UNQUIET DAUGHTER, A Memoir of Betrayal and Love...
Danielle Flood
Scarlett O'Hara and Rhett Butler -- because Margaret Mitchell manages to maintain a tension between them that blends with the historical and emotional aspects of the story seamlessly. Also, though both characters are selfish, she makes us want them to be together, because, I suppose, everyone loves lovers. I have to think about this more.
Danielle Flood
I haven't had writer's block in about fifty years. But I remember when I had it, I believe it was due to not having done enough research. Even for fiction, I've always browsed or actually studied subjects because it's your oeuvre that is unique -- it's what you have to give -- and so when you are going over material you'll see something that others may not have noticed because you are you. I think writer's block comes from a fear; if you realize that each of us is unique and that you're out and about to give your special focus to others, there's no reason to be evasive or afraid of it.
Danielle Flood
Getting thoughts from readers -- reactions to my writing, questions from them, hearing about what moves them, learning that they have been so moved that they have told others about my book. Today I received a note with a phone number. Two days ago a Mom said she read the first 20 pages of THE UNQUIET DAUGHTER and promptly bought a copy for herself and one for each of her two teenage daughters. It's all unexpected, refreshing, delightful, sometimes somber -- like the time six years ago when someone I went to high school with read the manuscript and said she wanted to buy a copy for everyone in her family. Family -- and the lack of it -- is such a universal subject. We are all in this life together and so when I hear from my readers, I am reminded of that and that when we communicate, whether by my writing a post like this or a story or a book, or by my hearing from you in a comment or note, that means we are surely making a difference. It's all wonderful.
Danielle Flood
From loneliness, I suppose, to know people who are now loved ones; most of my family was kept from me for more than three decades. But what really pushed me to commit and dive into it was 9-11. For those of us who lived through it, one might recall the fear that that particular terrorist tragedy elicited: I was afraid that we might not be able to travel to Europe as easily as we had been able to at that point; I was afraid it would become as difficult as in wartime Germany to cross borders and that simply having a passport was not going to be enough. Even when I went to the UK and France, creams that were more than 3 ounces and bars of soap were confiscated from me because of fear of explosives on planes. I was fifty when I first met my three uncles in France whom I had to interview about my mother and father and stepfather -- the love triangle in the Saigon of French Indochina where I was born, the love triangle upon which THE QUIET AMERICAN was based. That led me to interview dozens of others who lived and or worked in Saigon at that time, 1947-53. It was quite strange to be a journalist and cover so many stories when I was sitting on one of the best stories in my life -- my own and that of my search of my father after having been lied to about who he was for so long.
Danielle Flood
I have no idea. Somewhere in a daydream.
Danielle Flood
A novel set in the 1970's, based on a true story, about a fed up New Yorker who ends up in Florida. No spoilers here. Sorry.
Danielle Flood
Relax. If you're driven to write, you will write. You will work hard. You will realize that rewriting is the core of improving your writing. You need to live with stories until you see them many different ways and see the many possibilities in them. You need to take care of yourself and eat well and exercise so that you have a clear mind when you make choices and stamina. When you don't want to change them anymore after a long time of living with them and editing and rewriting, then you'll feel more comfortable with what you're working on and know what it's done.
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