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Author Interview: Dia Reeves

Today I have author Dia Reeves. Dia's debut novel Bleeding Violet

hit the shelves January 5! If you are participating in the Debut Author Challenge, you might want to add Dia's debut to your list!


What was your road to publication like?

Pretty smooth. I wrote Bleeding Violet for NaNoWriMo 2005, then spent about two years revising it. In June of 2008, I began querying agents, and by June 19 I scored a really good one. I revised BV again for her in July, and by August, she was shopping it around to publishers. At the end of August, we hooked up with Simon Pulse, and that was that. Except for the loooong wait until 2010.

What is the most thrilling thing about being a debut author?

The most thrilling for me are the reviews: the good ones AND the bad ones. They lend an air of legitimacy to the whole thing, you know? Real writers are read and then talked about. Sometimes they even get trashed, but that's all part of the magical mystery of being published.

What was the easiest thing about writing Bleeding Violet? The hardest?

The dialogue was the easiest part. I can write dialogue in my sleep. I love it when characters get into these intense and sometimes bizarro conversations with one another. The hardest part is description. I have a tendency to underwrite, so I'm always having to go back into the manuscript and fill in details so that readers can actually see what's going on.

Describe Bleeding Violet in three words.

Dark and stylish. I actually stole that from my Publishers Weekly review. ;p

Describe your writing in three words.

Unconventional. Uninhibited. Unapologetic. I'm all about the "un".

If you could travel back in time for one year anywhere in the world, what year would you choose, and where? What three things would you take with you?

I'd travel back to either biblical times when Christ was alive and check him out with my own eyes to see if he was the real deal, or I'd travel back to the cretaceous period and check out the dinosaurs. In both cases, I would take some toiletries (because who wants to have bad breath or b.o. in the presence of the lord?), a ray gun to discourage any carnivores or Philistines, and also a jetpack, just in case I have to make a quick getaway. I'm assuming that since I can travel back in time, I can also have ray guns and jetpacks. Right?

What is something surprising about yourself, that some people wouldn't believe?

I never learned how to drive. And I don't really want to learn. People are always shocked by that.


Thanks so much Dia for stopping by!