- ANN KELLY REVEALS INSIGHTS INTO DEAD ON
Where did you get the idea for your book?
Dead On started out as a paranormal romance and became something completely different. I don't
want to give too much away, but when I started Dead On, a little way into it, a character came out of
nowhere and took over the book. I didn't know it at the time, but I was finding my voice. Two major
themes in my book are, 1) do any of us really know who we are? and 2) do we have past lives or
can we inherit memories from ancestors like we inherit curly hair or blue eyes? Would that explain
sudden, irrational fears or memories of long-ago lives? I found out that whether or not a person
believes in past lives, past-life regression therapy can help a person deal with issues that haven't
been resolved through other traditional therapies. In many cases, you don't have to believe in it for it
to work. I was also fascinated by the idea of a group of souls being reborn throughout time and
their histories repeating themselves.
Who is your favorite character in the book? Tell us why.
All I can say is my favorite character in this book is the character who writes the journal in the early
1900s. I don’t want to give too much away!
I know you sold the movie rights to your book. Who would you like to see fill the various roles?
I could see Lucy Liu playing Ann Yang, the smart, unconventional medical examiner and Mark
Ruffalo playing Mark, Ann’s romantic interest and the carpenter restoring her Victorian home.
Johnny Depp would be excellent as Farrell, a character in the 1900s. Loved him in Pirates of the
Caribbean, and everything else he’s been in! Morgan Freedman would make a great Tony Cole, the
retired FBI profiler who is helping Ann solve the crimes, and Sean Penn would make a great
hypnotherapist. To play Nell, one of the main characters in the 1900s, I see Nicole Kidman or
Naomi Watts. I can’t tell you who I see playing the character who writes the diary, because that
would give too much away!
Did you know how your book was going to end before you started writing the book?
No. Not right away. But about two thirds of the way into writing it, an ending came to me and I just let
go and wrote it out and liked it. In fact, many of my readers tell me that’s one of the book’s main
strengths—the ending. It’s a seat-of-your-pants kind of thing with a big surprise. Even the most
seasoned of mystery readers told me I managed to fake them out with the ending!
When talking to people who read your book, what are the one or two reader comments that
stick out most in your mind? Discuss why the comments you identified resonate with you.
The things that mean the most to me are when readers personally take the time to tell me what
they experienced reading Dead On. The comments that keep me going are things like “Dead On is
pure poetry”, “I stayed up until 2 am to finish it!” and “I couldn’t put it down--I read it in two days!”
Also, a reader contacted me and pretty much summed everything up with the following quote:
- “I've finished reading [Kelly's] book. Loved it. She absolutely stunned me with the ending. I
like her style. She uses very few words and incomplete sentences and yet the meaning is
enhanced rather than diminished. Her command of knowledge and understanding from
history to forensics to emotions...is amazing."
--Pamela Clifford, reader from PA
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