MD – Nick is the quintessential gentleman. He's almost too nice. And Kristina is pretty, alluring, and sometimes naïve, which adds to her charm. In some ways, the characters remind me of the actors on Lifetime or the Hallmark Channel, not to criticize either show.
RC – Do you ever watch them?
MD – All the time. There's something relaxing about them. You know going into the story, that nothing is going to be too graphic, like Breaking Bad, which I also love by the way.
RC – That's quite a diverse range in taste. What other shows do you like to watch?
MD – To be honest, most of the stuff on TV is garbage. So, I usually find myself watching old reruns of Seinfeld, King of Queens, and Law and Order.
RC – Does anything you watch, TV or movies, influence your writing, not that I'm accusing you of plagiarism.
MD – Not that I'm aware of. I'm mostly inspired by people and things in daily life. I'll often build on them to create a character or a story.
RC – We started discussing Kristina. Was there anything else you wanted to say about it?
MD – Only that the concept for the story was based on, what I like to call, reverse illustration.
RC – What do you mean? It sounds like you're referring to images again.
MD – Let me explain. One day I saw a provocative painting in an antique shop. It was apparently done by an amateur artist, but a fairly good one. It was different and had a unique, mysterious atmosphere. I covertly snapped a photo of it with my phone. Later, I decided to write a story using the scene of the painting as the setting. The painting was, in effect, the illustration of the story. The entire story takes place within the stage of the painting.
RC – Did you have any idea what the story was going to be before you decided to write it?
MD – Not at all. I started by writing what I thought could be happening in the painting. The scene was of buildings at night, and the sky looked stormy.
RC – I'm glad you didn't start writing, "It was a dark and stormy night!" Or did you? (laughs)
MD – (laughing) Not in those exact words!