Day 7: Worlds of Wonder

Welcome to Day 7 of Worlds of Wonder Author Hop, where anything is possible . . . on Earth and across the galaxy. Imagination is the only limitation on adventure, so prepare to escape the known world and immerse in realms where rumors, myths and legends abound.

Moons’ Kiss

They found him in the South Ofrann Desert, where everything evil lived. Most called him a demon. One leader thought this man-without-a-past held the key to tribal peace and prosperity. That leader's enemies saw an opportunity to gain control of the nation.

AUTHOR INTERVIEW WITH KIMBERLY K. COMEAU

Kimberly, would you please tell us a little bit about yourself?

I majored in art in college, and presently I’m a business owner and craft designer. And I find it hard to separate my passions and experiences from my writing. I love camping—I grew up doing it—and some of the locations in Moons’ Kiss are descriptions of places I’ve been. I’ve had a lifelong interest in geology. I grow and preserve a lot of the food we eat. That’s why so much of my writing is nature-centered. I’m also married to a musician, which explains the musical influence. I had a great time inventing the drum language introduced in Moons’ Kiss, which is used and described more fully in the sequel.

So there’s a sequel to Moons’ Kiss in the works?

Yes. The Children’s War picks up several years later. As the title indicates, the political situation among the Yatren tribes has deteriorated significantly. I can’t say more without giving spoilers.

Then tell us why you write science fiction.

I’ve loved science all my life, and science fiction since the day I read Andre Norton’s Time Traders as a child. Her book lit a fire in my imagination. I love the “what if” aspect of science fiction . . . and of any genre, really. But SF allows me to take known facts and theorize what they could become with this tweek or that twist. Or take a current problem and look at ways it could go drastically awry or could drastically improve depending upon the choices made. It also allows me to contrast technology with nature and humans with nonhumans in ways that other genres don’t.

You mentioned Andre Norton influencing your choice of genre. Who else are your biggest literary influences, and why?

Norton not only influenced my choice of genre, she provided my earliest lessons in writing. I studied how she constructed sentences and paragraphs and how she built story based upon information revealed in earlier scenes. I read everything she wrote, I began corresponding with her, and the year I graduated from high school, I met her in person. While awaiting each new release, I discovered Asimov, Heinlein, many other greats, and finally C. J. Cherryh. Cherryh refanned the fires of my imagination and taught me how to write description. They all taught me how to extrapolate the known into the possible, while Charles Dickens and other classic writers taught me to look critically at the society and people around me and not be afraid to tell the truth in fiction.

Do you think you may ever go into another genre?

*Laughing* I already do. I’m published in nonfiction and poetry, and I’m working on a mainstream story entitled Equal Time, based upon my experiences with the Virginia prison system—as chairman of a community organization that worked with prisoners and their spouses, not as an inmate. The question I get asked the most is, why do women marry prison inmates? Equal Time attempts to answer that question in an entertaining and thought-provoking way. And no, I’m not ready to discuss the answer to that question yet.

Geez, you’re no fun! Well, will you at least give us some advice for aspiring authors?

Read nonfiction—on a plethora of subjects. Learning new things is the surest cure I know for overcoming writer’s block. Also, learn what point-of-view (POV) is and how to control it. In the hands of a master storyteller, POV is invisible; it’s the one thing you don’t consciously learn simply by reading fiction. Finally, “Know thyself.” It’s been the best advice I’ve ever received. Knowing why you react to certain situations the way you do, why you fear the things you do, why you are attracted to certain people or situations and repelled by others, and what your understanding of life, love and death is gives you the bedrock needed to create realistic characters with real motivations. It doesn’t mean that you create protagonists that are copies of yourself, but instead, the information you learn provides the building blocks necessary to create whole individuals capable of handling the story challenges you give them, in the same way that learning grammar provides the building blocks for clarity and thus frees you to focus upon story.

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