Reader’s Question: What inspired The Language of Secrets?
DD: A girl I knew in college discovered she’d been adopted. The adoption had taken place just before her third birthday. She also found out that her birth parents were a married couple with two other children, and that they’d stayed married after they’d voluntarily removed her from their home. I was absolutely haunted by her story—what could lead two parents to do something as unthinkable as erasing their own child from their lives? That question became the inspiration for writing The Language of Secrets.
Reader’s Question: At times, the dilemmas faced by your main character, Justin Fisher, seem almost overwhelming. What made him a character you could relate to?
DD: I felt very comfortable writing Justin’s story because—although the events of his life were more complicated than the events most people encounter—his dilemmas were exactly the same as the ones we all struggle with. Justin was searching for family connections, for love, and for a sense of belonging. I think those needs are universal. They’re things everyone is looking for.
Reader’s Question: Justin suffers from Dissociative Identity Disorder. Was this aspect of his story based on research, or on the experiences of someone you knew or read about?
DD: I combined information that I gathered from clinical research reports with information from stories in the news—stories of people who’d found themselves in odd situations as a result of having the disorder.
Reader’s Question: What is the significance of the title, Language of Secrets? How does it tie in with the themes in the book?
DD: Every family has secrets. It’s where life intersects with those secrets that the most interesting stories can be discovered. And it’s in the secrets where we, as individuals, often get emotionally lost. There’s immense power in being able to decode our secrets and be free of them.
Reader’s Question: There are situations in The Language of Secrets that explore some very dark places in the human heart. How difficult is it to write those kinds of emotionally wrenching scenes?
DD: I was surprised by how difficult it was. There were times that, as I was putting the words on the page, I’d realize I was crying. Writing some of the parts of Justin’s story was very upsetting, but I loved the fact that he was able to emerge from the shadows of his past with his goodness and his soul intact.
Reader’s Question: Do you base your characters on people you actually know?
DD: Not consciously. The characters in Language of Secrets seemed to exist in their own world somewhere inside my head—they were like a cast of imaginary friends who were incredibly real to me. When I finished writing the book, I missed them.
Reader’s Question: Your background is as a television writer. Did your experience in scriptwriting help or hinder the process of writing the novel?
DD: It probably helped. When you’re writing a script, you have to think in terms of visuals—you need to “see” what’s happening in a scene. I hope I was able to present the story in a way that helped the reader clearly envision Justin and his mother Caroline, and the worlds they inhabited.
Reader’s Question: When you were working on the novel, how and where did you write?
DD: I knew two people who’d written novels. One of them wrote her book on her laptop in her favorite Starbucks and the other completed most of his manuscript in a secluded cabin in the Pacific Northwest. Both of those methods seemed so “writerly,” but neither one worked for me. I couldn’t concentrate in a coffee shop and I didn’t have access to a woodsy cabin, so I wrote the book at home, wearing headphones, and listening to Beethoven.
Reader’s Question: When you’re not writing, what do you like to do?
DD: There are so many things I like to do. I read…everyone from Stephen King to Alice Hoffman to Kristin Hannah to Janet Evanovich, to the poems of Billy Collins and W.S. Merwin. I cook—not always well, but always with high hopes. I’m constantly looking for new music. At the moment, my playlist runs from classical to country to jazz and R&B. There’s nothing I enjoy more than spending time with family and friends. And I love listening to people—for some reason, people have always told me their stories. I hear the most amazing things from my girlfriends, from business associates, from my family members (old and young), and from complete strangers—on airplanes, and while waiting in line at the movies or the market. I’m endlessly fascinated by those stories. It’s inspiring and comforting to listen to people talk about their lives and their dreams. It makes me understand how incredibly connected all of us are as human beings.
