Author Interviews - Miranda Dickinson

I am a huge Miranda Dickinson fan. I loved both of her previous novels Fairytale of New York and Welcome to my World. Miranda now has a new novel which is due out 10th November and we have now got the official cover to gaze at until it is released!

I love the new cover for It Started With A Kiss it has got a bright and fresh feel to it but yet it still manages to keep the Miranda Dickinson signature look. I for one am very excited and cannot wait for this novel to be released just in time for Christmas!

We have got a special treat today. Miranda has agreed to come over and chat to us about her new novel. So let’s all give a warm welcome to Miranda Dickinson......



It Started with a Kiss is your 3rd novel can you tell us a little bit about it?

It Started With a Kiss is a story about following your heart. Shortly after disastrously declaring her love for her best friend Charlie, Romily Parker has a brief encounter with a handsome stranger when he comes to her aid. He kisses her and then has to leave - before Romily can ask for his name or number. But their meeting was so amazing that Romily decides to spend the next year (until Christmas Eve) searching for him again. Romily is a wedding singer in The Pinstripes wedding band with her friends, so the search goes through a year of them playing at other people's weddings - good and bad!

Your heroine in It Started with a Kiss is Romily, can you describe her to us in 6 words?

Positive,
Creative,
Fun,
Heart-chaser,
Brave,
Loyal.

What inspired you to write It Started With a Kiss?

Like Romily, I sing with a wedding band and I love the unique view of weddings that it gives us. When you work at a wedding you get to be a real 'fly-on-the-wall' - you can see family feuds, rivalries, desperate pulling attempts and embarrassing relatives, but also are privileged to see really touching, beautiful moments in other people's special days. I wanted to write about this and thought it would give an excellent backdrop for Romily's search to find the stranger who kissed her.

The idea of the quest came about when I was talking with my friend Kim about 'what-if' moments - where you wonder what would have happened if you had pursued them. When I spoke to more of my friends it turned out that almost everyone had a 'what-if' story - like my friend who saw a girl he really liked on the tube in London and posted a message on twitter in the hope that she might see it. It's all about believing that anything is possible and having the guts to go for it!

The location for Romily's chance meeting with her handsome stranger is Birmingham's famous German Christmas Market, which takes over the centre of the city shopping area every year. It's really magical with coloured lights, music and sweet little wooden stalls selling everything from hand-carved wooden toys and beautiful jewellery to gingerbread and German Berliner doughnuts. I love it there and it's the most romantic setting - so the perfect choice for Romily to meet the handsome stranger!

You have been keeping a video diary whilst writing It Started With A Kiss which is available for readers to follow on your blog, what made you decide to do this and do you plan on carrying on with the diary for book 4?

My video diary - or 'vlog' - started out as a daft New Year's resolution to myself to chronicle a year writing, editing and eventually publishing my novel. The main reason for this was that I wanted to remember the various stages of the book, and I thought that maybe one or two people might be interested to see it. I've been blown away by the response - over seven thousand people a month have been watching my vlogs!

The loveliest thing about it is that people have really got involved - asking me fantastic questions so I can give everyone the information they really want to see. It's meant that I haven't felt alone in the process (an occupational hazard for most writers) and that I've been inspired to write the story for the lovely people who have been watching my vlog. It feels like It Started With a Kiss is something that we all can share in - and that's the best feeling!

I think I'll definitely carry it on for next year - I'm addicted to making the videos now and as long as people want to watch them, I'll continue making them!

You have already started writing book number 4 ( Rea does a little happy dance!) what can you tell us about your plans for this book?

It's all at the very early stages of writing (just two chapters so far) but already the characters are appearing and I think you'll love them! I can't say too much at the moment, but the book will be a bit of an ensemble piece - I wanted to write something where you get an insight into several characters' feelings and views of a situation. The main character, Elsie Maynard, is someone I know you're going to love, and there's a brilliant character called Woody Jensen, former front man of 80s one-hit-wonder rock band Hellfinger, who now sees himself as a bit of a guru - I'm loving writing him at the moment! There will be music, rivalry, comedy, love... and maybe even the odd jazz-hand!

How will you be celebrating It Started with a Kiss being published?

I'm hoping to organise a book launch that's also a gig, with my friends in the wedding band playing. I've written some songs specifically for the wedding band in the book - there's one song called 'Last First Kiss' that Romily and her friend Jack write in Chapter 8 - so we'll perform those at the gig (and will video it, of course!)

What was the last book you finished reading?

To My Best Friends by Sam Baker. It's an absolutely beautiful portrayal of a group of friends trying to honour the last wishes of a woman who didn't know them as well as she thought. I loved every minute!

If you were stranded on a desert Island what would be your 3 items you would want to have with you.

That's a tough one! Erm... a guitar to entertain myself (and annoy the local wildlife), a humungous notebook and a pen (preferably with everlasting ink!)


Thankyou very much to Miranda and we wish you every success in the launch of It Started with a Kiss. If you are interested in the vlog we mentioned in the interview please head over and check it out on the following link.
http://www.coffeeandroses.blogspot.com/
It Started with a Kiss is available for pre-order so head over and get your copy follow the amazon link below