The idea of writing a full-length novel can be intimidating with good reason. To take a small idea and blow it up into an entire world across hundreds of pages is a daunting task. But author Anne Marie Bennett discovered that if you take that idea and, with no expectation, slowly develop it, it can organically grow into a publishable book. Below is my interview with Bennett about her romance book, Dragonflies at Night.
About the author and book
Author Name: Anne Marie Bennett
Author Links
Book Title: Dragonflies at Night: More Than a Love Story
Genres: Contemporary Women’s Fiction/Contemporary Romance
Dragonflies at Night book Summary
Dragonflies at Night is about two thirty-somethings: Savannah plans life celebrations and has been through some hard times; Ben is a famous, but lonely, singer and songwriter. On one level, it’s a tender, bright romance; but—like the subtitle says, this is not your average love story. Woven through the story of Ben and Savannah’s relationship is the powerful message of love on many different levels, particularly the love that Savannah’s mother still holds for her even though she died when Savannah was fifteen.
Book excerpt
When they got back to the house, Ben worked out and took a shower, then spent some time in his music room, playing around with a new song. It was still in the very early stages, but he had a good beginning:
Tell me your heartaches and I’ll tell you mine
going back in time when it all came to hurt so bad
And even better than that, he had the ending:
And together now,
we’re telling all the heartaches
good-bye.
The middle stanzas were being elusive, but then again, they often were, and he was okay with that. He loved this song already and knew it was a keeper. The creative process was a slippery
thing; the best way he knew to figure out the middle was to wait and trust that it would come to him in time. He paused, thinking intently.
Maybe the songwriting was a little bit like creating a relationship. Here was a really good beginning, and he knew how he wanted it to end: Savannah and him, together, for always. He could actually see it all ending up that way. But it was the whole damned middle that was the tricky part, just like when he was writing a song. He set the guitar down and jotted a few more notes on the page. He’d have to simply trust that the middle would work itself out, with this relationship, as well as his new song.
Review excerpts
“The power of love is the theme of this well-written story about a couple who have to overcome their fears and insecurities in order to find happiness, while drawing on the support of loved ones, both present and past.” – Sublime Book Reviews“Anne Marie Bennett’s DRAGONFLIES AT NIGHT is an expansive, gorgeously designed and beautifully written book for anyone who has ever hoped that soulmates and love-at-first-sight were possible.” – C.S. Holmes for IndieReader
“The plot unfolds at a measured pace that allows the character arcs and relationships to develop genuinely. The interludes from Deirdre Rose and Savannah add a level of complexity and deeper emotion to the plot that will likely delight readers. – The BookLife Prize
“The story conveys an important message of positivity and hope.” – Sublime Book Reviews
“Dragonflies at Night is a novel about love so strong that it lasts, even after death.” – Foreword Clarion Reviews
“Dragonflies at Night is an evocative exploration of fears, futures, and connections between family and friends. It will delight readers of women’s fiction who look for stories of romantic adversity, growth, and change.” – Midwest Book Review
“. . . the author does an admirable job of engaging the reader with well-fleshed-out characters.”
– Sublime Book Reviews
Talking Shop
What do you want readers to take away from your book?
I would love for readers to feel lighter and happier for having read Ben and Savannah’s love story, and to believe that lasting love like theirs is not just possible, but happening all around us, all the time. I hope that people will hear Savannah’s mother’s thoughts about her daughter and realize that their own loved ones are also never far away.
What is a fun or strange source of inspiration that ended up in your book?
Well, it’s not strange, but I definitely think it’s fun! I have to say that I harbored a little crush on Josh Groban for many years. Yes, I know he’s old enough to be my son, but there is just something creative and authentic about him that I admire. Several years ago as I was following him on Twitter and attending some of his concerts, I found myself wondering how difficult it might be for a celebrity like him to find someone who loves them for who they are and not for their popularity or what they can get from them. Part of me wanted to find someone like that for Josh, and the more I pondered this, the more the characters of Ben and Savannah made themselves known to me.
To be honest, Dragonflies at Night began as just a simple romance. I wasn’t even intending to write “a novel.” I was simply playing around with words and characters as they came to me, just for the fun of it. I’ve always felt that my work as an author is to follow my imagination and the characters wherever they take me, so that’s what I did. The more I “followed,” the more I realized that this was about much more than a romance. Especially when the character of Deirdre Rose (Savannah’s departed mother) started clamoring to be heard!
How long did it take to write your book from the day you got the idea to write it to the day you published it?
I started Dragonflies at Night in the spring of 2014, so I’ve been living with this story for over six years! I have a fulltime business (KaleidoSoul.com) to run, so this was a part-time endeavor for me. When I began, I had no intention of creating a novel and putting it out there in the world. At the time, I was giving myself an hour, three times a week, for my writing practice. I would just sit at my desk and “make stuff up.” I had been doing that for over a year, and having a great deal of fun. Lots of characters and story-beginnings were popping out of my imagination, but none of them led anywhere… until Ben and Savannah and Deirdre Rose. They somehow kept going, and didn’t let go.
The novel was actually completed in late autumn of 2019, but it’s taken several months to get through the editing process while working with a cover designer and interior book designer. The whole process, from first paragraphs through publication, has been immensely satisfying.
How long have you considered yourself a writer? Did you have any formal training, or is it something you learned as you went?
I have thought of myself as a writer since I was a little girl. Since the time I could hold a pencil, one of my greatest passions has been Writing (note the capital W). My childhood found me scribbling pages and pages of stories and novels on lined notebook paper that I kept piling into bulky three-ring binders.
In sixth grade, our English teacher (Mr. Ballantine) asked us to write a short story, and I produced a forty-page handwritten novel about a beautiful fantasy world where cats could talk! He was so impressed that he sent it off to a publisher, and even though we never heard any more from that publisher, I tucked that whole experience away in my heart like a tender secret- I had written a book, a whole book, and my teacher had thought it worthy of publishing! That is when I first felt a longing to be a “real” Writer, and when it first became an actual possibility.
I have taken some creative writing classes through the years, but most of my writing skills have been self-taught and intuited.
If you don’t make a living exclusively writing, what is your day job? How, in any way, does it relate to your life as a writer?
I own my own online business, KaleidoSoul.com, which focuses on the intuitive process of SoulCollage®, as created by Seena Frost. I offer online introductory classes as well as workshops, retreats and e-learning that revolves around the process. For me, it is a good counter-balance to the inner, imaginative work of writing a novel. Also, as a SoulCollage® Facilitator, I am always writing essays about personal and spiritual growth for my weekly and monthly newsletters. I find that that kind of left-brain writing is also a good balance for my fiction writing.
The process of SoulCollage® is very intuitive, and as I’ve created my own SoulCollage cards and worked with them over the years, I’ve come to trust my intuition and inner leadings much more. This was very helpful when writing Dragonflies at Night, because I had to trust my intuition about what would happen next, and which characters needed a voice…etc.
Who is on your Mt. Rushmore of all-time great writers?
When Elizabeth Berg’s books first novel, Durable Goods, came out in 1993, I was working at a local bookstore and happened to see it on the “new releases” table. I bought it with my generous employee discount and devoured it in one night. Since then I have purchased a hardback copy of every novel she has written. There is just something about the way she weaves human kindness and compassion throughout her stories. Her stories inspire me to be a better writer.
I also add Catherine Ryan Hyde to my list of great fiction writers because her books are also woven with tales about the power of community, human kindness, and people looking out for one another. Those are the kinds of stories that I am hoping to give to the world, in my own personal style.
“What If” Scenarios
If your book ever becomes a movie and you get final say over the cast, which actors would you hire to play your characters?
I really love thinking of Dragonflies at Night as a movie! I know he’s in his early 40’s, but I would love for Milo Ventimiglia to play Ben. However, I don’t know if he can actually sing, so that might be a slight problem J. For Savannah? Maybe Julia Garner. I loved her in The Americans, and Ozark. But then again, she might be too young. Such a dilemma!
I think what I’d really love is to be sitting in on open call auditions, breathlessly waiting for “him” and “her” to walk in the door, exactly as I’ve been picturing them. And then, if they could really act, and if “Ben” could really sing, that would be simply magical.
As for the character of Deirdre Rose? Or Auntie Zan? Definitely Laura Linney. I’d let her choose!
Your favorite character that you’ve written comes to life for one day. What do you do together for 24 hours?
I’ve been thinking about this for a while now, and I have to say that I would love to hang out with Deirdre Rose for a whole day. Yes, I know she died when Savannah was fifteen, but how cool would it be to either go back in time to when she was alive with her daughter and celebrating life, or to get a new perspective on life by hanging out with her on “the other side?”
You are transported into your book for one day. What role do you play? How do you alter the events of the story?
If I could magically enter the story of Dragonflies at Night, I think I would be a new staff member of Savannah’s Life Celebrations business. It would be fun to be in on the creative planning sessions for a new party, and to be part of a team endeavor that includes Savannah, Andi, Jeremy, and the two recent college graduates, twin teens named Summer and Winter. I’m not sure I would alter the events of the story, though. I would just like to be part of that creative team.
What is one thing you would give up writing to have (or to have back)?
I can honestly say that there is nothing I would give up writing for! Writing is in my blood, in my bones, in my soul. It is such an intricate part of me that if I had to give it up, it would be like giving up my very essence.
You have the means to hire a full time assistant to help you with your writing. What tasks do you give them to do?
A full-time assistant, you say? How fun would that be! Hmmm… First of all, they would clean the house and cook lovely suppers for my husband and me. Also on the list: clean the cat litter box. That would free up a little time, for sure. I would have them do any research that needs to be done on my current novel, and they would be an excellent editor so they could take over that job too. The biggest tasks I would give them relate to the whole realm of book promotion, which I find very left-brained, time-consuming, and tedious (but uber-important to the whole process).
You have final say over who reads the audio book version of your story. Who do you choose?
Ooohhh… I love this question! I would say absolutely Helen Hunt. Or maybe Renee Zellweger! But if they’re not available (LOL) I also wouldn’t mind Dianna Agron (Quinn from Glee), or Rachel McAdams.
Just For Fun
Your trademark feature.
Currently, my trademark accessory is. . . dragonflies! Are you surprised? I have always loved dragonflies and they have special meaning for me, as they do for Savannah in Dragonflies at Night. I have several dragonfly necklaces (and once this pandemic is over, I’m going to be wearing them more often), a beautiful hand-painted dragonfly purse, and my favorite pillowcase has soft green dragonflies on it.
Since I’ve launched the novel, several people have given me some lovely dragonfly gifts as well: earrings, cups and plates, pins, and a reversible lavender jacket with colorful dragonflies embroidered all over it.
Favorite place you’ve visited/place you want to visit.
I have traveled a lot, both in the U.S. and abroad, but the one place that I find myself continually drawn back to is Ogunquit, Maine. It’s a small town in southern Maine about an hour from where I live in eastern Massachusetts. My parents and I would visit for a week every year when I was in high school and college, and it has always felt like a magical place. In the indigenous Abenaki language, “Ogunquit” means “beautiful place by the sea,” it certainly lives up to its name, and then some.
During the writing of Dragonflies at Night, I carved out some personal retreat time a few times each year and went up to my favorite little hotel on the water, Sea Chambers. The rooms and decks all look out on the water and it’s a perfect place to watch the sunrise. I create and write so much better in complete solitude, and to have a desk that looks out on the ocean is hugely inspiring for me.
Food you’d like to win a lifetime supply of.
Speaking of Ogunquit (!), there’s a little candy shop there called Perkins Cove Candies, and they make the best, quarter-sized, thick, dark chocolate nonpareils that I have ever tasted (and I’ve tasted more than a few varieties in my day). I always keep a box of them in my freezer because I buy a few pounds at a time and (usually) only eat two a day because they’re so rich and satisfying that (most days) I don’t need more than that. They are delectable, and as perfect a chocolate as chocolate can be.
Your favorite podcast.
I am really enjoying Conversations Live with Cyrus Webb on Blog Talk Radio. He interviews many different kinds of creative people including authors, actors, and musicians. He is genuinely passionate about the people he talks with and has a gift for getting people to open up. The interviews are 20-30 minutes which makes them powerful but not too time-consuming. And yes, okay, I am a bit biased because he interviewed me about Dragonflies at Night, but I truly enjoy tuning in to whoever he chooses to interact with on his podcast.
Celebrity you’d want to be friends with.
Since he was a major inspiration for this book, and since he appears to be as creative, authentic, and funny in real life as he does on social media, I will say Josh Groban. He also has a passion for animals, good wine (I could learn a thing or two), writing, and promoting arts in education, so I know we’d have a lot to talk about.
Your most unrealistic dream job.
I would love to be a props person on one of my favorite television shows like Mom, or This is Us, or Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist. It also would be fun to be the props person on a new Broadway production of Into the Woods. I have loved live theatre since I was fourteen when my sister-in-law took me to a production of Man of La Mancha at our local university.
Favorite Halloween costume ever.
When my husband and I were first dating, we went to his office Halloween party together. He’s an accountant, so we thought it would be fun to switch up our roles a bit. He went as Dracula in full costume, bloody teeth and all. I went as Dracula’s accountant. I still have the photo; we looked hilarious!
A talent you have and a talent you wish you had.
I hope by now it’s obvious that I have a talent for writing, but another talent I have is for creating inspiring and relaxing workshops and retreats for women. I love putting together a theme, and finding music, poems, and creative activities around that theme that encourage women to be their truest selves, to practice radical acceptance, and to discover safe connections to others and to Spirit.
And I really, really wish that I had a real talent for dancing.
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This was such a fun interview to read. I’ve not read Anne Marie Bennett (I’m more of a mystery/crime genre gal), but she sounds so fun and inspiring that I might need to switch things up! I wish I had a talent for dancing, too.
Thanks for reading! I hope you check out her book.
I love romance that is more than romance and the title of this book is beautiful! I also love that Anne has been a writer since she was a little girl and getting a look at how Anne would cast the book. 🙂
It really is an eye catching title and cover. It’s also interesting to see who authors come up with when casting their book. It helps you to picture the characters the way they intended.
This was such an interesting interview, I wish I had more time to read but homeschooling two kids is keeping me rather busy at the mo.
Stephen King says if you can find just 10 minutes a day to read, that’s enough. But I know how some days are just so crammed that you run out of steam before you can open a book.