Get to know the writer:
1. What is your novel about?
.Dani Marie Dobson, a High School student, suffers from low self esteem and feelings of inadequacy that makes her life grim, especially when it comes to love. Then she runs into Dane Ransom, a High School graduate, with a full-time job and an ambiguous past. Immediately Dani’s understanding of the world turns upside down, and she finds herself thrust into a dangerous and frightening world of gripping truth. Faced with her life imploding, “To Dance with Ugly People,” follows Dani through a gauntlet of trouble and turmoil, the birth of her adorable son, DeAndre, divorce and a new love full of passion and feelings. But, the explosive reality of life leads up to a final stirring climactic realization that may lead to her own unraveling.
The good is sensitively written, the bad is portrayed as the reality of life and the ugly are the things in life we hope will never happen to us.
2. What genres would you say this story is in?
African American Women’s Fiction
3. How would you describe this story in two words?
Provokingly Truthful
4. What movie have you seen the most in your life?
The Color Purple
5. What is your favorite song? (Or, what song have you listened to the most times in your life?)
Greatest Love of All
6. Do you have an all-time favorite novel?
To Kill a Mockingbird
7. What motivated you to write this story?
The thing that motivates me to write is the need to observe and comment on the damage humans can inflict on one another. I have to honor it. There is something to be learned from every experience. Understanding the journey of others could help them release themselves and possibly do better if needed. Speak to someone. Speak to their intentions. We don’t know it all; we all can learn. Everyone has a story and there is something to be learned from every experience.
8. If you could have dinner with one person (dead or alive), who would that be?
Maya Angelou
9. Apart from writing, what else are you passionate about?
Sewing, Cooking and Building Doll Houses.
10. What influenced you to enter your story to get performed?
I want the reader to feel every emotion my character’s does no matter how shocking because if you give your audience something powerful; they will cheer.
11. Any advice or tips you’d like to pass on to other writers?
A great writer is one who is not scared of what people think of them and their wrting. They are the ones who can take a bad situation they know about or have experienced and turn it into a great story. You should not be scared of what your pen bleeds onto the paper, just let your heart and soultalk to your readers.
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Producer: Matthew Toffolo http://www.matthewtoffolo.com
Director: Kierston Drier
Casting Director: Sean Ballantyne
Editor: John Johnson
Camera Operator: Mary Cox
Novel Writing Festival 