Posted on April 22, 2019 at 8:00 AM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

Today we're interviewing Diane Dickson, who writes mostly crime fiction with just one or two little romance stories in the mix for seasoning. 

Her work has been published by The Book Folks for nearly five years now, and she still delights in the idea that she is in fact a published author. 

She leads a sort of dual life: half of the year in an apartment in the West Midlands with a lovely view of the Stratford-upon-Avon Canal, the rest of it in the Dordogne, France, in a beautiful forest surrounded by all manner of wildlife who decimate the garden.

She love the internet, warts and all, and spends an inordinate amount of time in front of a keyboard. 

SADYE: How did you come to see yourself as a writer, and what inspired you to seek publication?

DIANE: I don’t remember a time when I didn’t write.

I still have a book of poetry that I started when I was about seven years old. I loved English lessons in school, and “composition” was my favorite thing. 

As a teenager, I wrote a couple of truly awful novels for my friends; so it has always been there, it is just part of what I am. 


As for being published, the first thing ever was a poem in an anthology. I was truly ecstatic and I think that must have planted the seed to have my work “out there.”

I started with a blog and then leapt into self-publishing quite early in the development of e-readers.

I loved that, but when a friend suggested I submit to The Book Folks, I never actually believed that I would be accepted for publication. 

Every time a book is published, it is a thrill.

SADYE: Which of your characters would you most and least like to become romantically involved with?

DIANE: Quite a number of my “baddies” have been really awful, but I suppose the one I would least like to have anything to do with would be the villain in Broken Angel, a disturbed and unpleasant man with no redeeming features. 

Though I think his evil comes from his damaged psyche and so not entirely his fault, I still wouldn’t want to meet him.

Charlie Lambert from the Tanya Miller books is lovely. He is good looking, brave, honorable and he can cook. 

Most importantly, though, he’s got his ego under control, and that’s pretty rare, I think, so I guess if I was looking for a bloke it would be him. 

Having said that, after fifty years with the same lovely man, I can’t really see me straying at this stage!

SADYE: What has been the most touching or memorable piece of reader feedback you’ve received?

DIANE: Single to Edinburgh addresses the issue of sudden infant death syndrome and I received reviews from mothers who had lost babies who said that my telling of that dreadful thing was believable and sympathetically handled. 

That moved me very much.

SADYE: What advice, as relates to your writing career, would you give your younger self?

DIANE: I think I would probably send myself back to school to concentrate more on punctuation because comma placement is the bane of my life. 

Apart from that, I think I would just say submit more often, rather than sticking manuscripts in the cupboard only to throw them away later.

SADYE: What experience in your past or general aspect of your life has most affected your writing? 

DIANE: I’ve had a number of different jobs during my working life. 

Veterinary nurse, medical secretary, human resources officer are just a few – mostly jobs which dealt quite closely with people. 

I have also been lucky to travel quite widely with the resultant little hitches and dramas that occur when you’re away from home. 

I am an incorrigible people watcher, so airports and stations are rich picking grounds for me and I weave all manner of stories about my fellow travelers. 

Quite a number of real-life experiences show up in my books but often I don’t realize I’ve put them there until somebody from the family points it out to me.

Because it’s a long time since I lived somewhere for more than just a few years, I find Google Earth the most wonderful resource because now we can “go” wherever we need to for the plot and even have a bird’s eye view of the locations. 

As I said – I love the internet.

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Learn more about Diane Dickson on her website, where her books can also be purchased; like her on Facebook and follow her on Twitter

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Categories: Author Interview

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