Danielle Trussoni interview and GIVEAWAY!

After reading your memoir, Falling through the Earth, it is appearent you have lead an interesting life. To say the least. Out of all your experiences, what do you think lead you down the path of writing books as a career choice? And when did you realize that this was what you wanted to do?

I ALWAYS LOVED WRITING, AND THERE ARE SEVERAL MOMENTS IN MY CHILDHOOD WHEN I KNEW I WANTED TO WRITE, BUT I DIDN’T DECIDE TO MAKE WRITING A CAREER CHOICE UNTIL MUCH LATER, EVEN AFTER I BEGAN WRITING FICTION AND WAS ACCEPTED TO THE IOWA WRITERS WORKSHOP. I LOVED WRITING, AND IT WAS ALL I WANTED TO DO, BUT I NEVER FELT THAT IT WAS REALLY A VIABLE WAY OF LIFE. I ASSUMED THAT I WOULD TEACH WRITING TO SURVIVE. NOW THAT I AM WRITING FULL TIME (WITHOUT TEACHING) I REALIZE HOW LUCKY I AM TO BE ABLE TO DO IT.

Angelology was released in early 2010, and Angelopolis isn't set to come out until 2012. How long does it usually take you to write a book? Is most of that time spent researching? We see that you do a lot of traveling for your research. Is that a really big part of your writing process? Getting the feel of the actual places you will be putting in your book.

MY FIRST BOOK, FALLING THROUGH THE EARTH, TOOK ABOUT TEN YEARS OF THOUGHT (AND MANY, MANY DISCARDED VERSIONS OF THE BOOK) BEFORE SPENDING TWO YEAR WRITING THE BOOK THAT WAS PUBLISHED. ANGELOLOGY TOOK FOUR YEARS TO WRITE, WHICH INCLUDED A SOLID YEAR OF RESEARCH. I LOVE TO GO TO EACH PLACE THAT I FEATURE IN MY BOOKS (VIETNAM FOR THE MEMOIR, AND BULGARIA, FRANCE AND NEW YORK FOR ANGELOLOGY). EXPERIENCING THE LOCATION FIRST HAND IS A LARGE PART OF MY PROCESS—I ACTUALLY NEED TO SEE THE LOCATION. IT ALLOWS ME TO IMAGINE WHAT THE CHARACTERS WOULD FEEL IF THEY WERE TO BE THERE.

Where do you get your inspiration to write your books? Do they come from your dreams, imagination or has something in your life made you want to bring Angels/ Nephiliam to life in the real world?

MY INSPIRATION COMES FROM WILDLY DIFFERENT PLACES. THE IDEA BEHIND ANGELOLOGY AROSE OUT OF A TRIP TO A CONVENT, WHERE I WAS DOING RESEARCH FOR WHAT I THOUGHT WAS GOING TO BE A HISTORICAL NOVEL INVOLVING A FRANCISCAN NUN. WHILE I WAS THERE, I BEGAN LOOKING AT AND THINKING ABOUT ANGELS, AND THIS TRANSFORMED THE BOOK.

What was one of the most interesting things you learned while researching for your books? and Where is one of the most interesting places you have been? Traveling is something we would love to do. It's an amazing experience when Author's are able to put the real world feel into their books, especially if they really enjoyed their visit.

THE HISTORICAL INFORMATION ABOUT ANGELS—AND HOW DIFFERENT THIS IS FROM OUR PRESENT DAY IDEAS ABOUT THEM—WAS VERY SURPRISING AND INTERESTING TO ME. I ALSO LOVED LEARNING ABOUT THE ORPHEUS MYTH AND ABOUT THE HISTORY OF THE DEVIL’S THROAT. THE RHODOPE MOUNTAINS WERE AN INCREDIBLE PLACE TO VISIT. I LOVED GOING INTO THE CAVERN.  IT WAS UNFORGETTABLE.

Do you have a Character most like you, in your Angelology series? Of course You are most like You in Falling through the Earth :) But if you had to pick, which of your characters would you say is most like you, and in what ways?

I WOULD SAY THAT I’M A MIXTURE OF EVANGELINE AND GABRIELLA, ALTHOUGH IN TRUTH, THESE CHARACTERS TAKE BITS AND PIECES FROM MANY PEOPLE I KNOW. I WROTE A SELF PORTRAIT IN FALLING THROUGH THE EARTH, AND SO IT IS LESS INTERESTING TO DO SO AGAIN IN MY FICTION.

Do you read reviews of your books? Is that one of the things that helps you in making the book better? Not that it could get much better than Angelology.

ACTUALLY, I TRY NOT TO READ MY REVIEWS. I ADMIT, I READ THE REVIEW THAT WAS ON THE COVER OF THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW, BUT OTHER THAN THAT, I HAVEN’T READ ANY OF ANGELOLOGY. THIS ISN’T BECAUSE I DON’T WANT TO HEAR WHAT PEOPLE HAVE TO SAY ABOUT MY WORK—I CARE VERY MUCH ABOUT MY READERS’ REACTIONS--BUT MORE BECAUSE I NEED TO RETAIN A SINGULAR PERSPECTIVE ABOUT MY PROJECTS IN ORDER TO MOVE FORWARD. IF I ACCEPT EVERY BIT OF CRITICISM, AND TRY TO CHANGE MY WORK TO ACCOMMODATE THESE PERSPECTIVES, MY BOOKS WOULD FEEL UNFOCUSED.  

On your Facebook page, you have befriended lots of people who are fans of your work, is that an important aspect of the job for you? Getting closer to the people who love to read what you have written?

 I LOVE HAVE DIRECT CONTACT WITH READERS. FACEBOOK IS A WAY FOR ME TO HAVE AN INSTANT CONNECTION WITH MY AUDIENCE, WHICH IS WONDERFUL. I TRY TO IMAGINE A TIME WHEN WRITERS RECEIVED PAPER LETTERS FROM FANS. WHAT A DIFFERENT WORLD WE’RE IN NOW!

Now that we have asked quite a few serious Author/Interviewer questions. We want a few silly answers, goofy questions that are actually rather interesting :)

Growing up, who was your favorite super hero? Were you a Batgirl, or a fan of the Incredible Hulk? Maybe you were even slightly off kilter with others like Punky Brewster or Rainbow Bright. ( those were my personal favorites )

 THE WONDER TWINS (ONE COULD TURN INTO A FORM  OF WATER AND THE OTHER INTO AN ANIMAL).

When doing an interview, what question are you most sick answering? ( If we asked it, feel free to ignore it :) )

 DO YOU REALLY BELIEVE IN ANGELS…IT IS LIKE ASKING AGATHA CHRISTIE IF SHE THINKS THAT MURDER IS A GOOD IDEA.

Do you have a favorite smell? Something that maybe takes you back to when you were a little girl, or something that reminds you of a very happy, or even sad moment in your life?

 MY FAVORITE SMELLS ARE LEMON, CHOCOLATE AND COFFEE . I DON’T KNOW WHY—THEY DON’T REMIND ME OF MY CHILDHOOD—BUT THESE SCENTS MAKE ME FEEL AT EASE.

If you could offer one suggestion for people to try, with you being a worldly traveler. What would you suggest for your fans in each of these catagories? This also gives us as fans a small glimpse into some of your favorite things :)

Food: STUFFED RED PEPPERS FROM BULGARIA

Dessert: CHOCOLATE FONDANT FROM FRANCE

Drink ( non alchoholic ): MA CHA GREEN TEA FROM JAPAN

Drink ( alchoholic ): LIMOUX WHITE WINE FROM FRANCE

Book: SPEAK MEMORY, BY VLADIMIR NABAKOV

Movie: TO CATCH A THEIF (HITCHCOCK), WHICH IS SET IN THE SOUTH OF FRANCE

Beach: THE BEACH IN MONACO

We want to thank you more than you can imagine for taking time out of your schedule to answer our questions. Not only will we be posting this Interview for all of our readers to see, we will also be hosting a giveaway at that time for a copy of your amazing book, Angelology. We want to make sure your work is in as many hands as possible, and if we can help to get it to at least one more person then we are happy campers. What you do is a gift, to all people. It brings the imagination to the forefront and takes most of us places we can only imagine going. Thank you for all that you do.

Again thank you for your time and patience with us. Have a Great day, wonderful trips, and speedy writing. ( we are waiting as patiently as we can for Angelopolis as it is :) )

And now for our giveaway! The winner will receive a FREE copy of Angelology by: Danielle Trussoni with a SIGNED BOOK PLATE already inside! Rules are as follows. Sorry guys but this is US only :( as we pay all shipping out of pocket!

1) You MUST be a follower! If you are not following us yet, you know you want to! Just scroll to the top of this page, find the follow button on the right side and CLICK IT!

2) Leave a comment on this post including your VALID EMAIL ADDRESS so we can contact you if you win!

3) Your chances of winning are better the more you share our blog and contest! Please leave links to your "share" as a comment or email them to middleroadreviews@yahoo.com

Contest closes Friday, May 27th at 9pm so make sure you get your comment posted before then!