Ask the Author: Rachel Dacus
Answered Questions (9)
Rachel Dacus
Something Borrowed, Emily Giffin
Blackbird House, Alice Hofmann
The Woman on the Orient Express, Lindsay Jayne Ashford
Nuttycracker Sweet, Megan O'Russell
Truly, Madly, Guilty, Liane Moriarty
Blackbird House, Alice Hofmann
The Woman on the Orient Express, Lindsay Jayne Ashford
Nuttycracker Sweet, Megan O'Russell
Truly, Madly, Guilty, Liane Moriarty
Rachel Dacus
What a great question! I've always wondered what it was my grandfather said that made my father punch him so hard he knocked him down and they didn't speak for seven years. Both of them are dead now, so I'll never know. That was the feuding side of the family, and so I've imagined many scenarios, most of them book-worthy. I believe it should revolve around an insult to my grandmother, don't you think? But what the insult was, now there's a book plot ...
Rachel Dacus
I'd have to say Romeo and Juliet. There's nothing like starry-eyed and highly sexed young lovers spouting the world's most enchanting, poetic love lines as they barrel toward their doom. Right behind that pair are, for me, Jane Austen and Tom Lefroy in the book and movie BECOMING JANE. I'm a devoted Austenite, and would of course include all her lovers, Emma and Mr. Knightley first among them. The biodrama about their author, starring the compelling James McAvoy, is based on an imagined (but possible) love affair between Jane and the Irishman. I love that story because the demise of their plan to run away together rests on noble feelings on both sides. They recognize what in the long run would be best for the other. Swooning and spiritual upliftment, quite a combo! They're in some ways the opposite of Romeo and Juliet.
Rachel Dacus
It's a good question and the answer is always elusive to me. What I do know is that I have to be in a certain state of mind to catch inspiration. I give myself an hour every morning to attempt nothing but be ready for everything. That's the state I allow myself to have. Then I simply look at the world around me, and look deeply. The small silver and tan dog curled at my feet, the leaves of the eucalyptus tree outside my window, the line of distant hills. I ask myself if they remind me of anything. I start there and allow things to come through and I grab words to clothe them as they do. And I make no judgments as I write!
Rachel Dacus
I write every day. And I respect my Muse. If she doesn't want to show up on one project, I turn to another. But I keep putting words down after words.
Rachel Dacus
Losing yourself in exploring yourself.
Rachel Dacus
Write like a maniac. Write every day. Get advice, education, and read like a maniac. Know that your voice will shine through if you keep at it.
Rachel Dacus
I'm currently working on a time travel novel about a woman who goes to Italy on an art history tour and with the help of an enigmatic tour guide, falls briefly back in time to meet one of the geniuses of the Renaissance, Gianlorenzo Bernini. But then, one meeting with a genius is never enough, is it?
Rachel Dacus
My current WIP was inspired by a fabulous art history tour of Northern Italy, preceded and followed by courses in Renaissance art. I began to wonder, as I browsed through the masterpieces by Michelangelo, Donatello, Bernini, Giotto, Raphael, and so many others, what it would be like to meet these geniuses and learn about how they created their WIPs.
My current book of poetry, prose, and drama, GODS OF WATER AND AIR, was greatly inspired by a childhood as the rocket scientist's daughter, child of a painter, and growing up alongside the Pacific Ocean and the industries it spawned and people it attracted from the Old World. From that eclectic mix came a wish to capture portraits and landscapes in words.
My current book of poetry, prose, and drama, GODS OF WATER AND AIR, was greatly inspired by a childhood as the rocket scientist's daughter, child of a painter, and growing up alongside the Pacific Ocean and the industries it spawned and people it attracted from the Old World. From that eclectic mix came a wish to capture portraits and landscapes in words.
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