Delilah S. Dawson

What’s your advice to new writers?

To embrace imperfection and playfulness and write what makes you feel passionate without worrying about genre, qualifications, or talent. Writing, to me, is not this stiff and stilted exercise in constant one-upmanship. It's telling your story as only you can, providing entertainment and escape and connection. And finish your book-- one crappy first draft is worth more than a thousand perfect first pages.

Delilah S. Dawson is the author of HIT, Servants of the Storm, the Blud series, and short stories in the Carniepunk, Violent Ends, and Three Slices anthologies. Her next book is Wake of Vultures, written as Lila Bowen and out this October. She lives in Georgia with her husband and children and can be found online at www.whimsydark.com.