Hanging out with Kimber An

 What motivates Kimber An the author? Why do you write?

  Gosh, I don’t know.  It just comes automatic, like breathing.  Writing for publication, on the other hand, I do deliberately, because it requires an extraordinary amount of work.  I do it out of a desire to share my stories with the world.  Why that desire is there, I have no idea.

When did you know you were a writer? Was it always your destiny or did you stumble upon your craft by accident?

   I knew when I was four years old and drew pictures of an outing with my second brother to his school.  It was so exciting, I just had to write about it.  But, no one had bothered to teach me to write, so I drew pictures.  Nowadays, I teach my own children to read and write whenever they heck they want.  None of them have waited to the standard age of five or six so far.

What is your favorite genre  to write and why?

   Young Adult.  When I first started out, my critique partners urged me that way because I had the ‘voice’ for it.  Looking back, I think I have a young writer’s voice, because I have always worked with children and young people.  I’m a retired Certified Professional Nanny.

Tell us about the most intriguing character you've created.

     I think probably ‘Junior,’ from my Star Captains’ Daughter stories.  I may rename her if I reimagine a new story for her and pursue serious publication.  I think it’s because she’s a very unlikely hero.  She’s so high-strung (she has ADHD) some people think she’s stupid.  (Actually, she has a much higher than average IQ.)  She drives people nuts with her non-stop antics.  And, yet, there’s this profound sense of love of family and friends which compels her to overcome her personal challenges to save the ones she loves.  In doing so, she discovers her ‘weaknesses’ transformed into strengths.  I have several characters with a similar dynamic, like Bianca, the twin sister in the Ophelia Dawson stories.  But, Junior was the first.

Who is your favorite author? And, if given the opportunity to meet them, what would you ask them?

     Patricia Pollaco, followed closely by Jane Yolen.  They’re both children’s authors, although Jane Yolen writes for Young Adult and Adults too.  I think I love them because they span so many different kinds of stories for so many different kinds of people.  I don’t know if I would ask them anything.  I think I’d just follow them around and listen and watch.  Patricia Pollaco paints beautiful eggs and tells wonderful stories her grandparents told her.

Tell us about your current release.

Blurb:

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Ophelia’s escape from Martin, an Addicted Newblood, came at a terrible sacrifice.  Adrian, the boy she loves, is now infected and hunted like vermin.

As her new Protector, Tristan Li represents the Oldblood determination to destroy Adrian, along with all the Newbloods, addicted or not.

In her grief, Ophelia hates everything about Tristan, until his subtle strength empowers her to resist being turned into a vampire by the High Prefect. 

As Tristan helps Ophelia harness her empathic ability, his need for redemption rings in her heart.  Her own strength grows, along with her passion for freedom.

The veil of mourning lifts.

The evil of Martin returns.

Ophelia seizes ownership of her destiny.

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Buy Link:

 https://www.nobleyoungadult.com/Books/342/Sweet-Bytes

Do you have any upcoming projects in the works?

  There are two more books in the Ophelia Dawson series, Blood, Dark and Sweet, and Sugar Crash.  Providing all goes well, I’ll kick those out the door in 2012.  Also, I’m working with a couple other writers at Noble YA to create a vampire series using common characters and settings.  After that, I might reimagine Junior’s stories, but I have a Time Travel Romance I could revise in short order if Noble YA wants it first.  My imagination is a very full, very cluttered storehouse!

Where can readers connect with you?

     I have several sites and I’m on Facebook.  www.kimberan.com is the best place to start! 

Thank you, Ella, for inviting me here today!  It was fun!

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Thanks for joining us. Good luck with all of your upcoming projects.