Q&A with YA author, DJ Taylor!

ANNA'S WAR by DJ Taylor
Published by Riveted Press

Thank you so much to DJ Taylor for stopping by to tell us all about how her debut historical novel for young adults, ANNA'S WAR (published by Riveted Press), came to be!

1. Congratulations, DJ, on your debut novel Anna's War which is published July 2nd 2025! What prompted you to write this book? 

My elderly parents-in-law were the inspiration for Anna’s War. They spent their formative childhood years living under Nazi occupation in southern Netherlands. They lived in different villages and had different experiences and would often talk about them. One day about six years ago my mother-in-law, Catherina, mentioned that her father hid in a secret cellar under their house to avoid deportation to Germany. She had never mentioned this before. When I did some initial research I found it compelling and knew it was a story that had to be told.

2. What key takeaways did you uncover during your research for Anna's War? 

I did very little research before writing except reading about the forced deportation of Dutch men to work as slaves in German factories. I initially concentrated on telling a story. My parents-in-law who migrated to Australia in the late fifties have never read any books on the war so the first draft was based on their memories. However, I was conscious that memories can be a tricky thing but found that when I researched the war’s events there was a high correlation between their oral history and formal documents and other people’s accounts. Anna’s War is historical fiction and as I devised scenarios I would often question my parents-in-law as to whether something could or would happen and they guided me.

3. How did it find a home with Riveted Press? What was the publication experience like?
 
I submitted the first 5000 words of an early draft of the manuscript into the Young Adult section of the competition at an annual CYA conference. To my utter surprise it was short-listed and then came third. However, I felt it needed more work and spent another couple of years refining the manuscript.

When I felt it was ready I re-submitted the first 2500 words for assessment with four publishers at CYA. Rowena Beresford, the publishing editor of Riveted Press requested the full manuscript and within three days I had an email saying what a wonderful, wonderful story it was. I was over the moon and that was the start of the journey. Rowena made the publication experience an enjoyable one as she likes working with debut authors and nurturing them. I have learned so much.

4. Why did you choose to write under the pen name of DJ Taylor? 

It was a pragmatic choice. I have a common name - Di Taylor (There are three at my doctor’s surgery!). Initially I did a Google search and found there are many Di Taylors who are writers, artists, musicians etc. There’s also a lot DJ Taylors but not as many as Di Taylor. I also found that DJTaylorauthor hadn’t been used for Instagram or a web name so that sealed my decision.

5. Do you have a typical writing process? What is your writing space like? 

I wrote the first draft of Anna’s War (36,000 words) in seven weeks by writing a chapter a day. I flipped the day and stuck to a strict morning routine of going for an early morning walk, having breakfast and sitting at my desk at 8.00am to write another chapter. I wouldn’t leave my desk until the chapter was completed (Except for getting cups of tea!). It could take an hour to three hours. I would then walk away from my desk and do all the other things I would normally do in the morning and think about the storyline until the next morning.

Each day I made writing my priority. I would start the day reading the last chapter I wrote, not correcting anything (as tempting as it was!). It was to remind myself of what I had written the previous day.

I’m a pantser writer so I used to look forward to writing the next chapter to see what would happen. The story had a life of its own. The first draft storyline never changed but I kept adding to it as I did more research. When Anna’s War was completed it ended up being 62,000 words. The subsequent research added depth and breadth to the storyline.

The first draft was written on my iPad at my messy desk facing a wall. I wrote many subsequent drafts with my iPad on my lap in many different settings. I never returned to my desk after the completion of the first draft. During the writing of the first draft I didn’t tell anyone outside the family that I was writing Anna’s War. I didn’t keep it a secret but kept it private. I didn’t want people asking me how the book was progressing as I had no idea if I could write a book or not!

6. What is in the pipeline? Can you share anything you are working on next?

I’ve started writing a sequel to Anna’s War and I’ve called it Josephine’s Journey. Josephine is Anna’s best friend and they are separated after being evacuated from their town. Many readers have asked me what happened to Josephine. She’s a likeable, optimistic character despite the hardships of war.

7. Anything else you would like to add? 

My secret weapon is my iPad with an attached keyboard. I can type very fast as I learned typing at school. It’s proven to be useful to keep up with the flow of my ideas.

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Thanks to DJ TAYLOR for stopping by. Congratulations on your fantastic new novel ANNA'S WAR, now available in all good bookstores.

Visit DJ Taylor online at djtaylorauthor.com or on Instagram @djtaylor_author

and visit publisher Riveted Press at rivetedpress.au or on Facebook & Instagram