Last autumn, I read and posted a review on Denise DeSio’s first novel, Rose’s Will which was released in September 2011 by 48Fourteen. I loved her book and feel very fortunate that she was interested in doing this interview. So here it goes…
Please discuss why you write about the theme of the consistency of family love even through dysfunction:
I think the indestructibility of familial love can be somewhat of an illusion. In Rose’s Will, Rose, the matriarch, has no understanding of familial love. People belong to her like possessions. She either controls them or makes them disappear, forcing her children, Ricky and Glory, to choose between two equally dysfunctional outcomes. They each make a different choice, which drastically affects their lives. But only one of them faces the question: If I must pretend to be someone I’m not to receive love, is it really love?
Since Rose’s Will is a semi-auto biographical: Do you have a little brother and is he embarrassed to be portrayed as Ricky?
Yes, I do have a younger brother, and I was a little nervous about his reaction, but I sent him pieces of the manuscript as I was writing it, and he has been nothing but supportive. Much of the content happened exactly as I wrote it, but I really tried to give him a voice that expressed and validated what he was going through at the time. In fact, some of the scenes written in his voice were more difficult for me to write than for him to read, because it forced me to face some negative things about myself from his perspective.
How does Claire feel about being in the novel? Your adult childern? Did they have the chance to vet the manuscript? I’m nervous about asking about your mother, but since I don’t know what is true and false, feel free to elaborate on any part of the story or how your life inspired the story you wish.
My partner has mixed feelings about being in the novel. She is a much more private person than I am, but she gives me a lot of room to be who I am and after twenty-two years together, she’s accustomed herself to the fact that “who I am” includes her. My children were thrilled to be the prototype for my characters; my niece and nephew actually changed their names on Facebook to match their character names; and my mother and most of my relatives were dead before Rose’s Will was released. I took some creative liberty, but not much. When you have a dysfunctional family there’s a fair amount of deliciously juicy gossip that’s so crazy, you just can’t make that stuff up.
What is your next book is going to be about?
I have two books in varying stages of completion. The one that’s further along is the product of spending the entire month of November 2010 in my writing cave taking the Nanowrimo (National Novel Writing Month) challenge – complete a 50,000 word novel in only thirty days. Writing at that level of intensity, I didn’t know what the book was about until it was done and I discovered that I’m obsessed with authenticity. The extent to which people keep secrets and tell lies has devastating effects on individuals, in relationships, and on society as a whole. The book will follow a group of friends, whose lives are in turmoil as a result of deceit.
I’ve also started a humorous, non-fiction, handbook documenting my five years in hell as a property manager for an eight-unit investment property in a very bad neighborhood. It will be for people who want to purchase cheap investment property in this depressed market and think it’s a good idea to manage it themselves.
You can buy Rose’s Will from the following links:
BUY ROSE’S WILL for KINDLE
BUY ROSE’S WILL for NOOK
BUY ROSE’S WILL TO READ ON YOUR PC OR LAPTOP (use PDF file)
BUY ROSE’S WILL for ALL OTHER DEVICES (PDF, MOBI, EPUB)
While some people might say its too late to start my Summer Reading list, I say, this is my first week I’ve had off this summer. So I’ve gotten behind on my readings.
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