I would love if you all took a look at our author Bio.. We have some good questions and answer for her to answer. Please also I had the opportunity to read her latest book called "Almost Perfect". I have a review on it here at NRC and I also got a giveaway as for all of you as well. Almost Perfect Review & Giveaway, The author is giving away a prize of 13 copies of "Almost Perfect" by Diane Daniels Manning (5 print copies - USA only, 5 e-book copies and 3 audio-books from Audible - international) and one $25 Amazon Gift Card. Here is the author bio for before we enter the interview. We welcome Diane to our community. #Interviews, #Interviewsaroundtheglobe, #NRC, #Giveaways, #fiction #autism #dogshow @DianeDmanning
and @Nouveauwriter, +Laura Fabiani iRead Book Tours, +Laura Fabiani
Diane Daniels Manning is the co-founder and director of The New School in the Heights, a therapeutic school in Houston, Texas which helps children dealing with social-emotional challenges find success in school and life. She has a Ph.D. in Education and a post-doctoral M.P.H from Harvard and is a practicing child psychoanalyst certified by the American Psychoanalytic Association. Formerly, she was the Director of the Reading and Learning Disabilities Clinic at Tufts University, Lecturer and Research Associate in the Department of Behavioral Sciences at Harvard, and Chair of the Department of Education at Tulane University. She learned the inner workings of dog show kennels by writing an authorized oral history of a lifetime President of the Poodle of Club of America. Her writing awards include the Faulkner-Wisdom Novella Prize and the Women in Film and Television Short Script Competition.
When not at The New School, Diane and her writing partners, a Standard Poodle named Misty and a rescue cat named Elvira, convene at the keyboard to share great thoughts and plan the dinner menu.
Connect with her: Website ~ Twitter ~ Facebook
Describe your *Latest/Recent* book in 20 Words or Less?
An old woman and a teenage boy connect over love of a dog and heal their broken families. It's ALMOST PERFECT!
Where or how did you come up with the idea for your story (in this book)?
The book started as an oral history of a famous breeder of standard poodles and evolved into a novel after I started a special school in Houston, CT.
How important are names to you in your book(s)? Do you choose the names based on liking the way it sounds or the meaning? Do you have any name choosing resources you that you?
I love choosing names for my characters. Some characters are "born" with a name that just seems right, like Benny. Other minor characters I use names of friends that I hope will tell them I am thinking of them and grateful for their friendship. All of the characters are fictitious.
Which of your characters (in this book) is your favorite and Why?
I don't have one favorite character. ALMOST PERFECT has two "main characters:" Benny.the boy and Bess, the old woman. Like them, my favorite characters all come in pairs. Bess and Mona are two sides of the same woman, as sometimes happens with twins. I also love the duo of Benny and Steffie. She is the "head" and he is the "heart."
Was there a certain scene *in this book* that was harder for you to write than others?
I can't think of a scene that was harder to write than the others, but there is definitely one that was easiest. This book has been in the work for decades (really!), going back to the original oral history, but the final scene at Westminster Dog Show was written from the beginning and has never changed. Many readers have told me it is worth the read!
If you could cast your characters in the Hollywood adaptation of your book, who would play your characters?
The children would all be "discovered," I imagine.
I would be thrilled for any working actress over 50 to play Bess/Mona. There are too few featured roles for older women in movies or literature.
What was your favorite part to write and why? (Alternate Q: What is your least favorite part of the publishing / writing process?)
I liked writing the scenes between the older twins, Mona and Bess, and also the scenes between Benny and Steffie. I find them to be bitter sweet and often funny, and characterize the humanity of people at the different ages. Probably my favorite is when the seventy year-old twins squeeze their faces into a small, round mirror, trying to decide if they look alike, the way others say they do. The dog walks by, gives them a look, and wonders when someone is going to remember to feed him.
Just as your books inspire authors, what authors have inspired you to write? (Alternate Q: If you didn't like writing books, what would you do for a living?, What writing advice do you have for other aspiring authors?
Mark Twain obviously influenced me. I spend my childhood reading books on the bottom shelf of the Mark Twain Library in Redding, Connecticut (the setting for ALMOST PERFECT). It was founded by Samuel Clemens in the town where he died.
Do you read your reviews? Do you respond to them, good or bad? Do you have any advice on how to deal with the bad?
I read my reviews and always respond to them when contact information is provided. I am very grateful to anyone who takes the time to read my book and then spends even more time reviewing it.
What are you working on now? What is your next project?
I am currently completing GOOD ENOUGH, a version of the same basic story for middle grade and young adult readers.
Thank you for stopping by Diane Daniels Manning. I happy for you have stop by Nighttime Reading Center. Your book a great read. I loved it. I hope you come back again and enjoy working with me and other events coming this way.
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