I suppose that my books align neatly with the fantasy genre, though I sometimes note sci-fi elements in their pages. I would say that the genre chose me, rather than I it. I’ve always had an imagination teeming with make-believe creatures, feats of human ability and magical fantasies. The real world is so boring. We’re forced to live in it every day. Why drone on about it in the pages of what could be a wondrous book? Why not escape to another world, another dimension, another form, and live a life that you could never experience in the everyday?
What do you find most challenging about the writing process, and how do you deal with it?
Much as I love to write, sitting down to do it surely the most difficult part—just that act of getting started. I tend to distract myself with mundane activities that need doing and often push my writing off into a corner. It will sit there quietly for a while, but it grows impatient over time, and begins to whine for my attention. Once I finally submit and surrender myself, I become engrossed and lose all track of time. That’s how I know I’m doing what I’m meant to do.
When and where do you do your writing?
I typically write in the afternoons, after all of my doldrum work has been done. I’m not picky so much about where I write as I am about what’s going on around me. Some authors zing out paragraph after paragraph to the beat of a frisky tune. Some write in coffee shops, surrounded by jabbering hipsters and cash register pings. Me, I need absolute quiet when I write, or I go mad.
What have you learned about promoting your books?
Sadly, I feel that I’ve learned very little about promoting my books! I consider myself a work in progress. There are always more tips, more routes, and more platforms to promote books. The more you look for them, the more flabbergasting it is just how many there are! I know that some authors swear by promoting their works in person, while others have calculated social media methods. Me, I just try to follow the advice of those who have gone before me, and pray that I’ve bet on the right horse!
What are you most proud of as a writer?
I must say, there’s just something about holding that completed, published work in your hands. Just clutching that little piece of you that’s made its way out into the world and achieved physical form is really sobering for me. And of course, I bust my buttons when I encounter someone whose read and enjoyed my books. I typically just stare at them in awe, as if they’re a figment of my own imagination.
If you could have dinner with any writer, living or dead, who would it be and what would you talk about?
Famous or common, accomplished or forgettable—to me, a person is a person. I’ve never been one to swoon over celebrities or stalk the daily happenings of well-to-do-families, so having dinner with Jane Smith who just wrote her first book wouldn’t be much different to me than sitting down beside J.K. Rowling. That said, I greatly admire Rowling’s charity work, as well as her level of involvement with the Harry Potter series and films. She’d be a dandy person to share a meal with.
Author Bio
Kristine Kibbee is a delightfully contrary Pacific Northwest writer with a fascination for all things literary. Kristine’s passion for creative writing began in her early youth and led her to the doors of Washington State University, where she earned a degree in Humanities, with a focus in Professional Writing.
Kristine has since had works published in The Vancougar, The Salal Review Literary Review, S/Tick Literary Review and is a featured columnist for the nationally syndicated magazine, Just Frenchies. Kristine’s novella, The Mischievous Misadventures of Dewey the Daring, is available on Amazon.com and her middle-grade fantasy novel, Whole in the Clouds, was released in November 2014 with Zharmae Publishing. She anticipates the publication of her comedic collectionof dog stories, Frenchie ‘Tails,’ - which are short, cheeky and ripe with mischief-- in November of 2015; also with Zharmae Publishing.
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