Author Interview: Dienece Darling

Dienece Darling is a 'former Georgia Belle' who now lives (and writes) in Australia. She's an historical fiction author who loves learning about regency England and incoporating what she learns about life, faith and history into the stories she write. She's also part of Australia's Christian Writing Network, Omega Writers, which is how I heard about her. I enjoyed interviewing Dienece for my monthly author interview series to hearing more about her work and that fascinating way the very act of writing can help us grow.

​Penny: How would you sum up your author brand?
Dienece:  I'm all about history, romance, and faith whether you're reading one of my books set in Georgian or Broader Regency England, my personal blog with devotionals, historical tidbits, and reviews of my recent reads, my newsletters, and even my social media.

Penny: Does your Christian faith impact how you write, and if so, in what ways?
Dienece: Yes! I love to give my romance characters spiritual journeys that I've personally struggled with, and this becomes a big part of their story.
I sometimes challenge myself with a concept I still don't understand and spend the first draft working out my own beliefs. After this, I need to figure out how my characters would have come to those conclusions because my characters are not me. They've got their own journeys to tread. So, by the end of the writing, I've worked out what I believe twice! 
This process can be really hard to write, but it's brought me closer to God. I hope that my readers will not only enjoy the romance and the history, but that my writing will also bring them closer to God.

Penny: Tell us about your most recent book and what you love most about it?
Dienece: A Heart to Treasure is about a vicar's son who first fell in love with a draper's daughter when they were in their late teens. Now, in their mid twenties, they have fought hard to be together, but it's not all smooth sailing even though the wedding is soon. They've got some hurdles to overcome if they are going to find a bridge between his life as a gentleman and hers as a shopkeeper's daughter.
As to my favourite parts of the story, I enjoyed incorporating some Pride and Prejudice elements in this book. He is a proud, but poor, gentleman, and she's a wealthy commoner who is prejudiced against the gentry.
Plus, I decided to set this series in Broader Regency times, when Jane Austen would have been making her own debut into society. Austen is not in the story, but I thoroughly enjoyed researching the beginnings of the Regency fashions and what England was like when Austen was a teen.

Penny: Were there any lessons you personally learned during the writing of this particular book?
Dienece: Yes, there were. In this story, both of my main characters end up hurting each other and need to work through giving and accepting forgiveness. To write these scenes, I leaned heavily on one of my own regrets: the time I snapped at my husband the day we buried his dad. 
Those thoughtless words of mine bothered me for ages. I kept apologizing, and thought he wouldn't forgive me. Then, when I was writing this book about a couple who did forgive and move on, I felt like a fraud. So, I kept pestering my husband, hoping he'd finally forgive me. I forget how many times I brought it up, hoping for the exact words, 'I forgive you' until the day when he got a bit annoyed at me, as if he'd really, really like me to stop bringing it up all the time. So, I pulled back, re-evaluated our conversations, and realized that while my husband hadn't been using the exact words I wanted to hear, he had been trying to tell me I was forgiven. I just couldn't hear what he was saying because I hadn't forgiven myself. It was my own guilt holding me back. Writing this book opened my eyes, helped me accept my husband's forgiveness, and start the process of forgiving myself and moving on.

"Writing this book opened my eyes, helped me accept my husband's forgiveness, and start the process of forgiving myself and moving on."
- Dienece Darling

Penny: What's an author you love to read, and why?
Dienece: I've long been a fan of Erica Vetsch even back when she wrote Westerns. I love her characters and her stories. They are so easy to read, and I devour them quickly. I especially like her mystery/romance series, Thorndike and Swann and Of Cloaks and Daggers, they are so rich and enjoyable.
Someone else I love to read is Toni Shiloh. I love how she writes matters of faith into her stories, things I might actually need to know or be encouraged with. She's nailed first person POV, and her characters come across as so real and relatable.

For more information about Dienece and her books, visit her website.
 To purchase a copy of ​A Heart to Treasure click here.