Today, I'd like to welcome Dana Faletti, author of “Whisper” to The Thursday Interview. Before we get started, a quick intro!
Dana Faletti is the author of The Whisper Trilogy, a young adult paranormal romance. Her debut women’s fiction novel, Beautiful Secret, is set mostly in Italy and France. The sweeping drama of family secrets and forbidden romance is set to be released by Pandamoon Publishing in Summer of 2016. Dana blogs about whatever inspires her, writes poetry as a survival skill and attempts to tweet something relevant a few times a week. When she’s not writing, Dana can be found reading on her kindle, cooking something delicious, or daydreaming about her upcoming travel destinations. She lives in in a suburb of Pittsburgh with her husband, three young daughters and a hypo-allergenic Siberian Forest cat named Fluffy G.
OK - HERE WE GO !!
No.1 Would you break the law to save a loved one? .. why?
It depends on the law. If one of my daughters’ lives were on the line, then I would do what I needed to do to save her! I break the law by going over the speed limit. I am sure I have trespassed, but I would never do anything to hurt another person.
No.2 What is the difference between being alive and truly living?
Truly living means interacting with loved ones daily, doing things you’re passionate about, fighting for what’s important to you. Truly living requires taking risks. You could stay in a job that may not inspire you but pays the bill, or you could become a writer and free your soul. There’s a risk involved, but the second one is truly living for me.
No.3 What motivates you to write?
Everything motivates me. People I see in a coffee shop. My children’s unique take on life. The sea. Family. When I was in high school, I was angsty and lovesick like the majority of the teens my age. I wrote a ton of poetry then. It allowed me to express myself in a way that helped me make sense of my feelings. Often times, I wouldn’t even understand what was going on inside my heart until the words hit the paper. I always felt better after writing. My motivation for writing today is not so different. The Whisper Trilogy was a response to watching kids hurt themselves, struggle with depression, even commit suicide. It broke my heart to see these teens with their entire lives in front of them just throw themselves away. Writing Whisper, in my mind, connected these kids’ struggles to a perpetrator and a savior. Again, I used my writing to organize the chaos of my emotions over this issue. So many readers have reached out to tell me that my story has changed their lives, has helped them see that they have a choice about which path to follow in their lives. I’m grateful for that. Beautiful Secret, my women’s fiction novel, bled out of me in just a few months. It was also a response to emotions I’ve held inside my heart for a long time. It’s based partly on my own grandmother’s life and partly on my experiences with my precious family in Italy – the place that holds my most precious heartbeats.
No.4 Why do humans want children?
Because children are hope, personified! I am sure our desire for having kids is somewhat Darwinian. Continuation of the species or something. We are programmed for this somewhere in our makeup, right? I always envisioned myself as a mom, have always loved children. My own mother was a stay-at-home mom. She worked as a florist for awhile and also ran the accounting end of father’s company, but she put her whole self into raising my brother and me. I think she is definitely my standard when it comes to mothering, and she was a great teacher. We had a carefree and wonderful childhood. Each summer, she’d pile my brother and me into the car and drive us from Pittsburgh to Melbourne, Florida, by herself. We spent several summers, just my brother, my mom, and myself at our little summer cottage near Indian Harbor Beach. My dad would fly down some weekends, but mostly it was just the three of us with some visitors here and there. To this day, I credit her for taking us away from it all and helping to solidify the close relationship that my brother and I have. In college, I worked as a teacher in a daycare center for three years. I remember thinking that even on the worst days, I could walk into work and have my mood transformed. The kids always made me smile. They were so innocent, and their unique takes on life were both hilarious and uplifting. I have three daughters of my own now – 11, 10, and 6 years old. I love being their mom. It’s exhausting at times, for sure, but it’s so worth it. My girls are the best part of my life.
No.5 What was the biggest challenge in creating your book "Whisper" ?
The biggest challenge I faced with Whisper was the publishing process. It was all so new to me. Writing the book was easy. Learning about the business end of things was a feat. With Wake, I struggled most with publicity, trying to find new ways to get the book in front of the audience I wanted for it. War and Wonder, book 3 of the trilogy was the most challenging to write. Keeping the stakes and the stamina up when writing a trilogy takes a ton of creativity and discipline. I had to put a lot of other things aside and focus on writing to complete book 3!
No.6 What is the most important thing you have learned in life so far?
There is nothing more important than kindness. It’s more important than wealth or winning or beauty or brains. If everyone was kind first, the world would be a simpler and lovelier place. I see so much competition in today’s world. Competition to be the best, the smartest, the most athletic. I watch parents push their kids into activity after activity, lesson after lesson but little emphasis on just being nice to everyone. I see cliques form, nastiness and exclusion occurring in real life and on social media. We, as parents, don’t realize how harmful it is until it’s too late. When those words are out there on Instagram or texting even for all to see, they can’t be taken back. We need to teach our kids to be kind.
No.7 How did you come up with the title "Whisper" ?
In Whisper, demons called Darks whisper to teens in attempt to sway them into destructive behaviours, such as drug use and self-harm. This is why it’s called The Whisper Trilogy. A whisper suggests subtlety. I believe that it how evil works. It is subtle and sneaky.
No.8 How do you handle personal criticism?
If it’s about my writing, I appreciate it. Critique can only make my writing better. I belong to a writers’ critique group. We read and critique each other’s work twice a month. It’s invaluable to me. My group has helped me so much to make my books better.
No.9 Why should people read your book?
Whisper is so much fun. It’s a whimsical story with a heavy theme. Kids get so wrapped up in the characters and adventure that they don’t realize the story is about spiritual warfare and how it can affect decision making. The message is one of hope, grace and second chances. Young people need to hear that no matter what kind of bad decisions they make, they can ALWAYS start anew. There’s always room for another second chance.
No.10 Why is there something rather than nothing?
Wow, that’s a deep question. J In my humble opinion, there is something much greater that has decided to put something in place. In Whisper, this question is actually answered. Some of the characters are angels who have been around since the beginning of time and were there when God created the world. They tell a story that portrays the time when God created Earth and humans. There was a contest in which angels competed to be the face of Eve.
Thank you Dana :)
For taking the time to answer my questions
& the best of luck with your new book!
Check out “Whisper” on
Callie’s mind has been Cloaked for the past sixteen years, so she has forgotten who and what she really is.
On her sixteenth birthday, all she really wants is a cell phone and a date with Joshua Pride, the super-hot new guy at school who harbors a secret of his own. Instead, Callie is visited by Silas and Jules, a pair of outlandish Micro Angels whose job it is to coach newbie angel warriors in training. The gift they bear is her true identity. While the rest of the world grows up and moves on, Callie will stay sixteen forever, a permanent structure on the teenage social scene. After all, this is precisely where the battle between good and evil is being waged, and she is a highly sophisticated weapon.
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