Jacob Interviews…I Am Ocilla Author Diane M. Graham

By: Jacob Elyachar

One author that avid readers will be hearing more of in the upcoming months is Diane M. Graham.     The eastern Oklahoma author recently just released her first full-length fantasy novel: I Am Ocilla.   This book focuses on the journey of Ocilla and her journey to stop an evil stranger from taking over five fictional kingdoms.      I recently had a chance to correspond with her and we talked about her debut novel and her previous work with Digital Dragon Magazine.

Jacob Elyachar: When did you decide that you wanted to become an author?

Diane M. Graham: I do not follow the ways of convention, Jacob. Most of the writers I know have always wanted to be a writer or at least read a whole lot. I didn’t start reading for my own pleasure until I was 30-years-old. Honestly, I didn’t have time with five small children. But children grow up and you should grow with them. They are responsible for insisting I read more books so we could share that small thrill of life together.

Shortly before I turned 33, I sat down and began writing a book. Don’t ask me what got me going. I really don’t know the exact trigger. I do know that I pounded out 95,000 words in three months and finished a novel. I will not say it was worth money…it wasn’t. But the value of that accomplishment was immeasurable because it set me on a path I never would have taken.

That crappy book proved I could write a book…something most only dream about. No boundaries the world tried to place could change that. This in turn pushed me to learn. It pushed me to try harder and never give up.

I began writing my debut novel I Am Ocilla within six months of finishing the first. This book was different. This book was worth money. This book was worth my time and my loving care. This book held my heart.

JE: If readers had a chance to visit your Website, you state that you “love all art forms that encapsulate imagination and goodness.”   Could you tell readers what it means?

DMG: I am a believer of one true God.  He encapsulates imagination and goodness.  Any art that tries to do the same makes me think of God, and that gives me joy.

JE: You have published two short stories for Digital Dragon Magazine. What attracted you to write for them?

DMG: I write speculative fiction.  That is a very niche audience.  (Digital Dragon Magazine’s Senior Editor and Managing Editor) Randy Streu and Tim Ambrose gather in many of the same groups I do.   I love and respect them both and count it an honor to have my work in their magazine.

JE: Let’s talk about your first full-length novel: I Am Ocilla. What inspired you to write this book?

DMG: That’s easy.  My children are a continued force of inspiration in my life. The protagonist of I Am Ocilla was inspired by my daughter, Priscilla.  Actually, people I love inspire most of the characters in my book. They say write what you know. I took that literally.

I read a lot of books now especially a lot of Young Adults books due to my children. I found I did not like some of the stuff they were passing off as for teens.  I am not for censorship; it is a fruitless effort to impose one person’s ideas on another.  But I am for flooding the Young Adult market with books that will entertain, engage and just be fun without girls at a private school giving a blowjob in a hallway.  I know that sounds brash of me, but there are a whole lot of Young Adult books that are more like smut than literature.  I Am Ocilla is not smut and hopefully those that read her will respect that part about her.

JE: Could you tell readers what I Am Ocilla is about?

DMG: Ocilla is in her darkest hour and ready to give up the life she knows nothing about. She believes dying is so much easier than the fight to live. Her name and the knowledge that she is in grave danger are the only snippets revealed in her shadowed mind. Destiny will have its way with you and there is no escaping it.

500 years ago, a dark stranger cursed five kingdoms when he failed in his plot to overtake the world. He vanished from the face of the world, slipping through a rip in time but left behind devastation and separated the five kingdoms. There is now rumor of his return and a plot to once again takeover the world. Only the Chosen One can break the curses and free the world from the evil stranger’s grasp.

Travel with Ocilla on a fantastical journey to find herself and her value in the greater scheme of things. Ocilla will travel through the lands of fairies; trolls, witches, ogres and we must not forget krakens. Murder, betrayal and love vie for center attention in this battle to save all. In the process of finding herself, Ocilla may find a love so pure and good, she can’t believe she is deserving of such a gift.

To learn more about Diane M. Graham and I Am Ocilla, visit her Website: http://dianemgraham.com/