"Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way."
- E.L. Doctorow
Hi, I’m Desiree Douglas! I’m what you’d call a seat-of-the-pants writer. I usually start with the germ of an idea, and begin writing just to see if it goes anywhere. If it does, a character’s personality may form in a way that I didn’t expect, which leads me down a path that I didn’t see coming. I wrote three-fourths of Smolder before I knew who the killer and the arsonist were! Many writers begin with detailed outlines (I think that’s the “correct” way to do it) but that just doesn’t work for me.
My characters are usually flawed, as we all are in real life, and I fall in love with them. My heroes and heroines aren’t perfect, as they have baggage of some sort that they’ve accumulated through life. (Don’t we all?) But the most fun I have is writing about the villains, how their minds work and what motivated them to become the criminals they turn out to be. Taking a peek into their inner thoughts, revealing wrongs done to them in the past which negatively shaped their lives, is something that I find very intriguing.
Fortunately, I didn’t grow up with much of the drama that I love to write about. I was raised in the South by parents who laughed a lot, and a father who pretty much said yes to whatever hare-brained idea I wanted to try, if it didn’t cost much.
I enjoy reading almost all genres, from western (I once got on a Louis L’Amour kick and didn’t stop until I ran out of his books) to science fiction to sweet romance. I’m still trying to decide exactly what kind of writer I am, which is why my first two books are mystery/suspense, and my third is a clean contemporary romance. I’ll eventually figure it out, probably with more feedback from you guys. I just completed a fun novella series and am working on my fourth novel.
As for my personal life, I married my high school sweetheart, and lost him to cancer a few years ago. That’s when I began my writing career in earnest. (If you’ve ever felt the urge to try your hand at writing, I highly encourage you to do so!) My two children are grown, and I’m enthusiastically enjoying my four grandchildren. When I’m not writing, you might find me entertaining friends on the stone terrace in the garden, sharing stories in the firelight.
Read on! Write on!
Desiree Douglas
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