D.K. Dunn on Writing and Hockey

Today my guest is my friend D.K. Dunn, whose first novel, Linemates, was released on Monday from Dreamspinner Press. She brought some pretties, too! 🙂

Thanks for having me on your blog, Shae!

I’m thrilled about the release of “Linemates,” which is my first novel. “Linemates” is an angsty contemporary romance with a dash of humor about two hockey players with a past who are forced to play together after a trade lands them on the same team.

Having a novel published is a dream come true for me. I’ve enjoyed writing since I was in elementary school and have been writing on and off ever since. The first story I can remember writing was a “Star Wars”/Snoopy mashup for the Young Author’s competition in school. I guess you can say that was my first foray into fan fiction. I wouldn’t write my next fan fic until 1998. I stuck with the “Star Wars” theme writing a Han/Leia tag to “Return of the Jedi.” I remember being nervous before I clicked on the post button. Then the wait for feedback began. Thankfully, the response was positive.

I didn’t start writing or reading m/m fiction until several years later. I accidentally stumbled across some NHL RPS fan fiction when I did a Google search on my favorite NHL player. I was quite surprised to see a story with him paired up with the team’s goaltender. I read it and was hooked. So much so that I end up writing my own series with a different pairing which had a good following in the fandom at the time.

After four years, I moved on to writing “As the World Turns” fanfic. It was in the “As the World Turns” fandom where I met some fellow fans who had original work published. They encouraged me to write an original piece. It took a few years to get my butt in gear, but I did and “Linemates” was the result.

I feel comfortable writing in the world of hockey, being a longtime Red Wings fan, and wanted to set the story in my home state of Michigan. My goal was to bring the exciting world of the NHL to life. One of the challenges I had writing the book was dealing with the hockey terminology. I’m so used to all of the jargon associated with the game, but a reader who isn’t a hockey fan might not be. I had to find a way to describe some of the terms while trying to keep it in the voice of a player.

My two main characters—Derek and Trevor—are far from perfect. They have their flaws and make mistakes, but they try to do the best they can while playing for one of the top teams in the NHL. The story is told in the first person from Derek’s point of view. I tried to get into the mindset of a twenty-three year old man. His thoughts might not always be PC, but I wanted to try to keep it real because nobody is perfect.

I have a few questions for the readers. Do you prefer first person or third? Can you forgive one of the MCs for making a mistake or doing something stupid? What turns you off when reading a story?

I’ll leave you with some hockey hotties!

Kirk Maltby and Kris Draper (retired from the Detroit Red Wings)

Ryan Kessler is a Center for the Anaheim Ducks. He’s a Michigan native.

Tyler Seguin is a Canadian born Center for the Dallas Stars.

“Linemates” is on sale at the following places:
Dreamspinner
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
All Romance
Google Play
Beamebooks.de

About the Author

D K Dunn has enjoyed writing since childhood. She penned her first story, which was a Snoopy/”Star Wars” mash up at the tender age of 8. Several years later her imagination is still running wild. Her best ideas come to her while she’s either stuck in traffic or in the shower.

She’s a proud fangirl, who loves “Supernatural,” “Star Wars,” and the Detroit Red Wings. Reality TV is one of her guilty pleasures. A day can easily be wasted falling under its siren-like spell. When she’s not writing or watching too much TV, she enjoys traveling, reading, vidding, cheese and ice cream. She’s a firm believer that you can’t go a day without cheese or a good laugh.

You can follow me on Twitter @dk_dunn
My Facebook page is http://www.facebook.com/dkdunnwriter
My blog is at dkdunnwriter.wordpress.com