JoeyPinkney.com Exclusive Interview
5 Minutes, 5 Questions With…
Daphine Robinson, author of Caring What People Think
(Truthful Press Publishing)
Russell Brown is the most eligible bachelor at Outreach Fellowship Church. He’s career minded, has his own money and is successful. He’s tired of dating and has vowed not to casually date. He’s on a mission to find “Mrs. Brown”. Battling depression since her father’s death, Dannica Rawlins sees nothing good in her present or future. At the end of her rope, she meets Russell in the nick of time.
After dating for only a few months, Russell is sure she is the one to take his last name. Will Dannica allow God and an upright man to love her pain away? If you liked Daphine Robinson’s first novel, Brotherly Love and Betrayal, you’re sure to love Caring What People Think.
Joey Pinkney: Where did you get the idea and inspiration to write Caring What People Think?
Daphine Robinson: I wanted to write on the topic of depression in the African American community, but didn’t want it to sound clinical. I was sitting in my driveway one afternoon waiting for my garage door to go up one day when I had a light bulb moment which ended up being the inspiration behind the suicide scene at the beginning of the book.
JP: What sets Caring What People Think apart from other novels in its genre?
DR: The characters will be identifiable as people you probably know. Readers say it is very conversational, and they swear I’m talking about someone they know. Christian-fiction authors write differently. Yes, there is redemption. Yes, there might be scripture quoted. But it is for all people.
If someone reads my work and they are not a believer, they might be inclined to check out this Jesus afterward. I don’t hit them over the head with a lot of religion. However, you know where the characters and I stand by the time you finish. I want readers to be entertained as well as changed by the time they get to the last page.
JP: As an author, what are the keys to your success that lead to Caring What People Think getting out to the public?
DR: My first book was a huge hit, especially among “church folk”. They like reading books that are edgy. I take them right to the edge. Then they realize it’s fiction and Christian at the same time!
JP: As an author, what is your writing process? How long did it take for you to start and finish Caring What People Think?
DR: I always have ideas for new stories, and I write them down. As life happens, I’m always in character mode. For instance, I could be waiting in line at the grocery store and overhear a conversation that sounds like something one of my characters might say. Or it may cause me to go in a different direction with a current story.
It took me about nine months to write Caring What People Think. I had the outline in my head about a year prior.
JP: What’s next for Daphine Glenn Robinson?
DR: I am currently working on Jailhouse Religion, a story about three friends whose lives change drastically the night of their high school graduation fifteen years prior.
http://www.daphinerobinson.com/
http://www.myspace.com/daphineglennrobinson
http://www.daphinesplace.blogspot.com/
author@daphinerobinson.com
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