Interview with M. Dalto, Author of Two Thousand Years (Part 1)

I’m so excited to be sitting down today with author M. Dalto whose debut novel Two Thousand Years was just released on December 11th. It was my pleasure to be an ARC reader for this novel and it deserves five stars. You can read my review here.

What inspired you to write  Two Thousand Years ?

The inspiration for TWO THOUSAND YEARS actually came to me in 1993 when Billy Joel released his album ‘River of Dreams’.  On it was a song called Two Thousand Years. My best friend and I had very active imaginations and we often wrote our own stories, role played, and the like — there was something about Two Thousand Years that called to me, telling me there was a story there and it needed to be written. The melody was moving and the lyrics were inspiring- battles to be won and love that spanned centuries – it begged for a story to be told. But it wasn’t until years later, during NaNoWriMo in 2014 that I had the thought in my head to actually write a story inspired by that song I had heard so long ago. So I sat down, and 30 days later, I had the first draft of TWO THOUSAND YEARS written. 

Wow! That’s amazing. I’ve never written a book that fast, but I’ve never tried NaNoWriMo. When you are spending all that time in your story, do you plot out the entire book, or have the characters drive it?

I am a notorious pantser, in that I never plan out my stories. CUT TO THE BONE, the story I’m currently working on, came to light just by being inspired by a piece of cover art. And TWO THOUSAND YEARS had some of its defining moments come to life by the characters. I feel that by writing this way, even though it can get extremely frustrating, is the best way to keep from feeling restrained. It allows my creativity to flow how it wants and remains unrestrained.

I agree with that. I love to see how my characters react. Which character are you most like? Unlike?

I would love to say I’m most like Alex- independent, headstrong, not easily swayed to make a decision until she reviews all the facts. The person I am least like would be Treyan, who almost blindly follows his beliefs… I am definitely not that type of person.

How long have you been writing? Did you always know you wanted to be a writer?

I feel like I had been writing ever since I could- I remember I had a little purple diary when I was younger, so it must have been 7 or 8 years old when I began keeping a journal. Then it was in school when I realized I might have had an actual talent- I was the kid in class who would wait until the night before an essay was due, put words together to make it sound like I knew what I was talking about, and still get an A on the assignment. I can’t say, though, that I ever considered myself a writer then, or even into my adult years. I liked doing it, but it was a while into my querying TWO THOUSAND YEARS before I accepted that yes- I was a writer- and this was something I wanted to do.

A similar thing happened to me when I worked on my master’s degree. I couldn’t get less than an A. I thought I must be okay at this writing thing. So, tell us about your writing process. What is the journey from idea to a published piece?

My ideas come from all over the place. TWO THOUSAND YEARS started with a song, another project came from a short story writing prompt, and yet another sparked from a cover image alone. I don’t really do much planning when I start to write, which could also lend to why it takes me so long to get projects done when I’m not participating in NaNoWriMo. Usually the most I will do is get general notes down and make sure I know where the story is headed- I will write the ending first so I at least have an ending point. And from there I just always seem to go where the characters want to take more. More often than not a bit of dialogue will come into my head and I’ll write that down and then start to connect the dots and weave the characters and plot into something coherent. Once I have something drafted I will post it to Wattpad- a website where writers and readers come together to exchange ideas and feedback. It’s there that TWO THOUSAND YEARS truly began, and I still use the site to beta my new projects and seek out critiques and feedback before I consider the next steps in the publishing process.

You just gave me two ideas! I’ve never used Wattpad and I love the idea of writing your ending first. Where do you spend time coming up with these great ideas?

Usually it’s on my laptop at my desk in our finished basement, but during November, when NaNoWriMo is happening and/or there’s a strict deadline over my head, I try to change it up by sitting at Panera or Starbucks.

That’s it for today. Come back to read the second half of my interview with M. Dalto. If you are an author and would like to be interviewed, shoot me a message. Please subscribe to find out what’s going on in my writerly world.

M. Dalto is a fiction author of adventurous romantic fantasy and her debut novel, Two Thousand Years, won one of Wattpad’s Watty Awards in 2016. She continues to volunteer her time as an Ambassador, where she hopes to engage and inspire new writers. She spends her days as a full-time residential real estate paralegal, using her evenings to pursue her literary agenda. When she’s not writing, she enjoys reading fantasy novels, playing video games, and drinking coffee. She currently lives in Massachusetts with her husband, their daughter, and their corgi named Loki.

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