Author Q&A: Kirsty Dallas

What would we do without our friends?

We might not have known to interview Kirsty Dallas, an international bestselling and award-winning author, without our friend Randi’s recommendation.

And Dallas might not have turned her lifelong hobby of writing into an actual career, if her new friend David hadn’t offered to help her polish her skills and encouraged her to take the leap into publishing.

She certainly threw herself in, with a dozen books (including the Mercy's Angels series about violence against women as well as several standalone books) already out, and two more about to hit shelves in the next few months.

As she prepares to launch the dark romance Beauty and the horror-action-comedy mashup Zombie Playlist, Dallas took the time to answer a few of our questions (plus one, of course, from her fan Randi).

SADYE: How did you decide to write novels and seek publication? 

KIRSTY: I've always been a writer. I began writing short stories for fun when I was fourteen and continued on periodically until I published my first novel in 2013 at the sprightly age of thirty-five! 

My decision to take the step from hobbyist to published novelist came when I met a wonderful man by the name of David Bryan Russell. 

He is a storyboard artist who has worked on films such as Star Wars, Narnia, and The Avengers. 

His stories about the world of film just captured my imagination, and I mentioned that I liked to write. 

He had me email him through some of my work, and we spent a year working on my writing technique. 

Eventually he told me I was ready to spread my wings and fly, and he pushed me out of the proverbial nest. Lucky for me, I flew. 

I'll be forever grateful for his help and friendship.

SADYE: Can you tell me more about your screenwriting adventures?

KIRSTY: I found (film director) Chris Sun through Facebook around 2007, and we began exchanging messages. 

When I took the plunge into publishing, he was super-supportive, and when he screened his first full feature film, Come And Get Me, I was there in the cinema with him. 

One day Chris rang me and decided he wanted to try writing a novel. I helped him work through his awesome slasher novel, ED, and in exchange he had me work on his film Boar. 

We made a great team, often bouncing ideas off each other and laughing at how stupid we could be. We could both be pretty damn stupid! 

That was my first foray into the world of script writing. It was super-challenging as it's a whole other beast compared to writing novels. It's difficult not to be too wordy.  

Chris has future projects on his mind that we will hopefully get to team up for again, and I've begun converting my novel When Nothing Is All You've Got into a screenplay. 

I've got every limb crossed that one day I might just see a world from my imagination come to life on the big screen. 

SADYE: What’s your favorite genre to write in?

KIRSTY: That's really hard to answer. I love all the genres I've written in. 

I guess if I were to be honest, I absolutely loved the world-building in When Nothing Is All You've Got. 

That has a bit of a dystopian flavor to it; it's very raw and edgy (and) dark. I absolutely loved working on that novel. 

SADYE: You offer to serve as a mentor to debut authors — can you share a particularly rewarding experience? 

KIRSTY: I've had quite a few new authors reach out to me for advice and help on their projects, and every moment spent helping them navigate the literary world and perfect their craft has been rewarding. 

Like I said earlier, I had help in the form of David Russell, and he wanted absolutely nothing in exchange for his time. I promised him I would pay it forward, and I'm doing just that. 

Watching H.B. Butler go from avid reader to published author was super special. 

She's a lovely lady with a heart for Australian romance, and she was so nervous to put herself out there. She did it, though, and I am so very proud of her. 

Same goes for Angela Marie. She struggled to hit the publish button, but she got there with perseverance. 

Sitting back and knowing the absolute joy these ladies felt when they finally reached that goal was something else.  

SADYE: Beyond those mentoring successes, what has been your proudest achievement as a writer?

KIRSTY: When I hit publish on my first novel, Saving Ella, I didn't know what to expect — perhaps a badly edited novel to disappear into the vast electronic bookshelves of Amazon never to be seen again. 

I certainly wasn't expecting people to actually contact me and tell me how much they loved my book. That blew my ever-lovin' mind! That was absolutely my proudest achievement. 

The success I had with Decker's Wood was also a real buzz. Definitely another proud moment. 

Reaching the top ten of comedy in the Goodreads Readers’ Choice awards was pretty amazing. 

I've had such a wonderful career thus far. I can only hope that I'm still writing and publishing into my old, grey, and slightly senile years that are yet to come.  

SADYE: What is your biggest grammar pet peeve?

KIRSTY: When I'm writing, I'm not sure I have a particular pet peeve. ..

When I'm reading I absolutely hate unpolished and childlike grammar.

"Should of" and "till"— gah, I hate those words. "Should have" and "until" is what we're looking for, people!

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Learn more about Kirsty Dallas on her website, where her books can also be purchased; like her on Facebook and follow her on Twitter. 

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