An interview with K.J. Dahlen, author of Bones

BonesBy K.J. DahlenInterviewWhy did you decide towrite?I love to read and one day I noticed all the books I wasreading ended the same way. I wanted something different and  I thought I could do it, so I picked up a penand began to write my own stories.
What is the bestthing (or worst) that has happened to you because of writing? I love seeing my books on a shelf. My books are in fivedifferent libraries and when I take another book in I love it when thelibrarians tell me the readers are waiting for the next book!
How much research doyou do?I really don't do a lot of research. After all, it's calledfiction for a reason. Most of my books are pure imagination. 
 What's your favoritemethod for researching? Most of the little research I do I do on theinternet. You can find anything there.
Do you have afavorite theme or message for your readers? I like to keep my readers on the edge of their seats,waiting to turn the next page. If I can do that then I feel I've done my job asa writer
When do youwrite/what is your writing day like?I turn my computer on as soon as my husband leaves for work.I have found my best writing time is early morning when my mind is fresh and Ihave nothing else to do.
What is the bestadvice someone has given you about writing? The worst advice?When I first thought about being a writer my husband told meto go for it. He encouraged me to try. That's the best thing anyone could say..At least try it
How do you approach anew book? Outlines? Just an idea?I usually outline my ideas  but the book may not stay in the outline. Mycharacters sometimes take the story off in their own direction.
How do you developyour characters?I make them as real as I can. I give them characteristicsthat everyday people would have. My characters have to be as real as I can makethem. I give them faults as well as values that we all have
Who are your favoriteauthors? Have any authors inspired you or influenced your work?I enjoy so many authors it's hard to pick just a few. Someof the authors I enjoy reading are friends of mine that are just now gettingnoticed as authors. McKensie S Hart is one, Bruce Sarte is another. Sandra K isanother.  I enjoy John Grisham, James Pattern,Janet Dailey, plus a whole lot more.
What makes a greatbook in your opinion?A book that takes me along with the story. If I can imaginemyself in the place of one of the characters in the book that's what makes agood story to me.
If a reader took awayone thing from your book(s), what would you like that to be?I want my readers to become part of my stories. I want themto feel the same tensions as my characters feel and at the end feel the samesatisfaction.
Do you have any tipsfor aspiring authors?Never give up on your dreams to become a writer. It may takea while to get to where you want to be but hang in there. I think a writer justhas to find the right place for their works.
Where do you seeyourself as an author in five years?Hopefully making money from my writing. I'd like to be thenext J.K. Rowlings JWishful thinking I know but it's a dream
Where do you see thepublishing industry going in the next few years and where do you see yourselfwithin this industry?I think everything will eventually go digital, which in myopinion will be a shame. I feel there is nothing better than holding an actualbook in your hand but now days most people want convenience.
Brief Bio Kim lives in a small town (population 495) in Wisconsin. Fromher deck she can see the Mississippi River on one side and the bluffs, whereeagles live and nest on the other side. She lives with her husband Dave and dogSammy. Her two children are grown and two grandchildren and for that fact shefeels blessed. She loves to watch people and that has helped her with herwriting. She loves to create characters and put them in a troubling situationand just sit back and let them do all the work. They surprise even her attimes. They take on a life of their own and the twists and turns become astory. She found she liked mystery/thrillers the best. She likes to keep herreaders guessing until the very end of the book.
Her next book coming out is in March 2012, titled Fall fromGrace. 
BLURB :Whena threat against America comes to the surface, retired  Homeland Securityagent Lincoln Hawks is brought back to help put down the threat. He findsthe group he's after is  the same group that murdered his wife and daughterfive  years ago. Can Lincoln stop The Ghost Crew before they destroy America?
Thisbook is being published by Bucks County Publishing. She is also published byRogue Phoeniz Press, Solstice,  andAvalon.  Email: kjdahlen1@yahoo.comWeb site: www.kjdahlen.comI am on facebook and twitter as kjdahlen
   Bones BlurbWhenhuman bones are discovered in a cave just outside of town, it's up to SheriffMax Reardon to find out who the bones belonged to. But someone in town doesn'twant the bones identified and they go to great lengths to try and stop Max'sinvestigation.
They break into Max's house and try and destroy the evidence and when thatdoesn't work they frame Max for murder. Can Max clear his name and bring themurderer or murderers to justice?
ExcerptThe boys said the opening was straight up from the dam belowand a little left of the big oak tree. What they failed to tell him was whichbig oak tree. The whole hill was littered with oak trees right up to the baseof the cliff.
It had taken him the better part of an hour to find theopening. There had been a lot of hillside to search. The boys had told him theyleft an old t-shirt to mark the opening, but Max hadn't found the t-shirt. Somesmall animal or the wind must have carried it away. He hoped he had the rightentrance this time.
He'd found a couple of other openings in the rock face thathad led him nowhere. This opening appeared to be the one the boys haddescribed. According to the boys, this small cave led to a cavern with thetreasure. Max hoped it led somewhere.
His hands and face were scratched up from pushing bramblesand brush out of his way. The thought had also occurred to him that the seldomvisited, rocky part of the side of a cliff just a little ways north of the townMax was sheriff of, might be just the spot to run into a snoozing wolf or worseyet a rattlesnake. He heard something scramble out of his way a couple oftimes, but he hadn't heard the symbolic rattle of the snake so whatever remainedhidden from his sight wasn't a snake. He'd tried to make enough noise to wardoff unexpected company and hoped he hadn't sounded like a complete idiot in theprocess. If anyone had spotted him, they would have thought he was drunk in themiddle of the morning and that would never do for a sheriff.
The flashlight he held in his hand did little to penetratethe utter darkness that surrounded him. The cave walls and floor were slimywith what Max didn't even want to hazard a guess and it smelled even worse. Itsmelled like something crawled in this narrow opening and died. The boys whofound the cave might think this little venture was "neat", but Maxdidn't. He'd lost his sense of adventure for little games like this a long timeago. He couldn't believe he was here now.
The boys had been in this cave a couple of days before andhad found what they thought was an Indian burial place. They had been reluctantat first to tell anyone of their find but eventually told their dads. As aresult, Richard Crabtree had brought his son, Timmy, to see him. Max could tellthat Timmy hadn't wanted to tell anyone about his secret place and Max hadn'tbeen all that interested in the boy's tale. Most of it was just the imaginationof a ten year old. It wasn't until Timmy mentioned the skeletons that Maxbecame interested.
Max knew enough about the local tribes in Wisconsin to knowthey didn't bury their dead above ground in forgotten caves. The boys told himthat they hadn't seen or found any other Indian artifacts and Timmy waspositive someone else had robbed the cave of all its treasure. As sheriff, Maxfelt bound to check out their story. If there were skeletons in there, he hadto find out why. * * * * *GiveawayKim will be giving away a $10 Amazon gift certificate, plus a chance to work with her on developing an idea for a new book, if you leave a comment. So be sure to follow the tour and leave comments. You can find dates for all of her tour stops at:http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2012/01/virtual-book-tour-bones-by-kj-dahlen.html.  

Enjoy!
P.S. I have to say that I really love the cover for Kim's book, Bones.
  

Fiction Writing and Other Oddities