Author and M.D. Daniel Kalla
A Personal Look at the Canadian Fiction Writer, Speaker & ER Doctor
Jun 29, 2009
Born, raised, and residing in Vancouver, Daniel Kalla works as an Emergency Room Physician in an urban teaching hospital. In his free time, he writes and manages a dual career. He is the author five books, two of which are bestsellers, and his 6th book Of Flesh and Blood will be released in Spring 2010. In an exclusive interview with Suite101 Kalla shares his thoughts on balancing writing, family and practicing medicine.
From the Emergency Room to Fiction Writing
With a chuckle in his voice Kalla responds to the curious question of how an ER doctor becomes a fiction writer with: “thankfully slowly!” He elaborates that many emergency physicians have side careers as their work is more on a shift schedule. Some of his colleagues are interested in music; others sell real estate on the side.
Kalla declares “I have always had a strong interest in writing. I started taking some courses and read books about it. Once I started I got so immersed in it that it’s been almost like an addiction.” The idea for his first medical thriller, Pandemic, which became a bestseller originated from his clinical experience in dealing with the SARS outbreak in 2003. Kalla sat on the Vancouver Regional SARS taskforce. Kalla’s medical background has informed the content of his thrillers.
Kalla is a self-proclaimed free-flow writer who likes to surprise himself with his writing and character development. So he resists the urge to write a detailed outline for his novels. His first novel Pandemic is a good example of this as it started from a one and half page story and a vague idea and concept. None of the characters were defined. This seems to be the process Kalla is most comfortable with.
Growing up in a Multi-generational Medical Family
Kalla admits that he never thought much how his upbringing may have been different than other children’s until he started writing. Now, he realizes not all children hear their parents talk about medical conditions over the dinner table or the fact that family time may be interrupted by a birth of a baby or a house call. All this was part of Kalla’s daily childhood routine.
He recalls coming home with his parents from outings with many routine stops by the hospital where he would sit in the waiting room while his parents checked on a patient. Early on, Kalla was immersed in the world of medicine before he even knew anything about medicine. While his parents worked very hard to protect the children from the stressors of the medical world, there were some things that were unavoidable. For example, when Kalla’s neighbor had a cardiac arrest and his mother tried to resuscitate him while the children were watching. “Those are the kind of moments that stick in your memory,” recalls Kalla.
And in his role as a father, his children have not been immune to these stressors either. A trip to Disneyland a few years ago was interrupted by a vehicle accident where Kalla had to respond while waiting for the ambulance. Kalla remembers that day: “you forget sometimes that your job can have an affect on your family.” However, when it comes to his career as an author, he tries not to let his writing interfere with his family time. Kalla has two daughters, age 8 and 11. His shift schedule often allows him to arrange his writing time during day time hours when his children are at school.
Daniel Kalla's New Book
Kalla’s new book Of Flesh and Blood is a departure from his thrillers and mysteries. It is a multi-layered story line of a medical dynasty. According to Kalla this is a much deeper and more complex novel than he has written before. The story centers around a hospital as on of the characters with a long history of caring for the community. But its altruistic mission is threatened by the conflict of the characters within it and their own personal struggles and crisis.
In Of Flesh and Blood Kalla hopes to offer insight into the psyche of medical professionals and how doctors struggle to balance professional challenges and personal crisis at the same time. It brings his characters to life. Readers will care about the characters and be entertained by the story.
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