Meet Danielle K. Roux.
Social media links
Twitter: @DKRoux
Instagram: @DanielleKRoux
Facebook: @DanielleKRoux
Website (which I always forget about): http://www.dkroux.com
The Interview.
Hi Danielle!
Thanks for joining us today. Tell us a little about yourself.
I live in San Francisco with my wife and two orange cats. I write weird queer fantasy, drink coffee, and build houses on the Sims. I like true crime and dark fantasy, but I also like fluffy weird books that have a lot of heart. I teach and tutor kiddos with dyslexia so I can spread the joy of reading to them (we always read The Lightening Thief). I have purple hair right now, but I’m probably going to chop it all off soon.
What is your favorite part of writing? The freedom? The characters? The setting?
I like creating characters who get to experience things I’ve experienced so that I feel less alone. Usually there’s several layers of twisted nonsense between my experience and the characters – like they’re having panic attacks while solving riddles in a ruined city, not while trying to find parking at Trader Joe’s. I also enjoy populating a sort of serious fantasy world with people who just want to watch old movies and complain about the lack of eggs, the contrast is fun.
Top three favorite characteristics to give a MC; to give a secondary character.
MC – Quick wit, crippling self-doubt, cool eyes
Secondary – Sarcasm, empathy, cool eyes
Favorite genre to write for?
Fantasy! I’ve been doing sort of mash-up urban fantasy/magical realism/mystery and write now I’m working on a space fantasy. Always gay, but that’s not a genre, that’s just inherently imbued in my writing.
For 2020, do you have any trips planned for writing inspiration?
I’m going to Orlando in February, I’ve not been in like twenty-something years! I’m excited to go to Harry Potter World and pretend I’m at Hogwarts or fight dementors or whatever one does there. I’m also going to BookCon in May which is super inspiring because I’ll get to meet all the cool writers who support me!
If you could co-write with any other author, who would it be?
My BookCon 2019 roomie and author of The Halves of Us Trilogy, Sydney Page Richardson! I think we need to re-write the Babysitter’s Club books but make them spooky and gay.
Plotter? Panster? Both?
I am such a pantser, it’s not even funny. I try to plan out some things, but I ignore them, and just write what I want while drafting. It helps to have editors come back and be like “this makes literally no sense”. Sometimes it really doesn’t, and I can’t even pretend that I wanted it to make sense. I like confusing, twisty, twining things, and I like to push boundaries between realities but sometimes it’s a bit much.
What has been your greatest author experience so far?
Meeting so many amazing writers, I feel like I have a lot in common with way more people than I ever thought. Also, seeing my novel featured on Tor.com as an upcoming fantasy release was incredibly thrilling. There’s been another thing, but it’s still a secret and I’m not sure it will work because reasons but I’m hopeful.
What do you have planned for the new year?
Finishing up my gay space pirate WIP, starting the draft of book 3 of This Will Kill That, editing book 2, going to BookCon. I also have a short story in an anthology, it’s a ghost story which will be coming soon. There’s also the secret project which might not be a secret anymore by the time this interview posts, so, that.
And I plan on reading a lot of books and drinking a lot more tea.
Is there anything else you’d like to share with the readers today?
Thank you for reading! Stay tuned for more weirdness.
Thank you Danielle for stopping by.
Raven C. Eckman 