Interview with Elizabeth Cody Kimmel

Elizabeth Cody Kimmel

First off, thanks so much for joining us for an up-close and personal interview for TeensReadToo.com! My name is Jen, and I’ll be your server today…oh, wait, wrong job! Anyway, thanks so much for taking time out of your writing schedule—which I’m sure is busy!—and answering a few questions for your readers and fans.

Let’s get some of the typical interview questions out of the way first. When did you first know that you wanted to be a writer?

It wasn't too long after I learned to read, so I would have been around 4. I wrote my first "book" in the 3rd grade, about two spiders and a witch. The school typed and bound it and put it in the library for a month for kids to take out. It took me years to recover from the thrill (and I still have that book).

Can you tell us a little bit about your road to publishing?

After graduating from college, I did a brief stint as a receptionist for a lighting design company, then with my office experience firmly engraved into my resume, I went looking for a job in publishing. It took some time (and rejection) but I found a job at a literary agency that represented some of my favorite children's book authors.

Part of my job at the agency was to read manuscripts that writers submitted, and to prepare a critique of those manuscripts, evaluating whether they were publishable, or in more cases, not publishable. Many times I would be responsible for crafting the rejection letters to the authors. After many years, it occurred to me that maybe it wasn't too late to try writing professionally - after all, I was now the "expert" on what made a manuscript work, or not work. I wrote a young adult novel, and the agency agreed to represent it. I endured fourteen of the most polite rejection letters ever received from publishers, during which time I wrote a second novel, called IN THE STONE CIRCLE. That one endured a few cheerfully worded rejections too, but Scholastic bought and published it. I left my job, and I was on my way…that was 23 books ago.

Tell us a little bit about either your latest or upcoming release. If you could only tell your readers one thing about the story that had to convince us to buy the book, what would it be?

My latest release is SCHOOL SPIRIT, the first of a series called 'Suddenly Supernatural". The series follows Kat, the daughter of a successful medium who has made a career making contact with the dead. When Kat starts seeing spirits too, she's not exactly thrilled. But the dead aren't going away, so she has to figure out a way to deal. How would I tempt the reader to buy this book with one line? I guess I'd say that this book represents the full authentic nature of my own real-life brush with the supernatural - complicated, briefly very scary, and ultimately quite funny.

What, or who, has been the greatest inspiration for your stories?

Probably all writers, for starters. I love to read. The amount of time I spend reading is ridiculous. I recently picked up Stephanie (The Twilight Series) Meyer's first book for adults, called THE HOST. It is over six hundred pages long. I was so riveted by it that I refused to do anything else (except for a few bathroom trips and a meal) until I had read the entire book. I've read all the Harry Potter books that way - in one sitting - even if it takes five or six hours. All of those voices that captivate me inspire me to create my own character's voices and stories. And now that my daughter is 12, I'm always hoping to score a hit with her too. She's brutally honest. She loved the Suddenly Supernatural books (she's read them all pre-publication), but there is one book of mine, which I respectfully refuse to name, which she won't read. Something in the subject matter has eeked her out. Ah well…

Let’s hear about your family, who I’m sure are thrilled to have a published author among them!

I just mentioned my brutally honest book-loving 12 year old daughter, Emma. She's a gifted writer herself, and a fantastic cartoonist. Hopefully she's not reading this so I'll just say it - I adore the kid - she's the most fantastic human being since the Dalai Lama, and she rocks my world. Her fabulous Dad, my husband Donald is, in addition to being pretty easy on the eyes, also a great actor. Little did I know that when I went to see the movie "Taps" at age seventeen (I think I went several times) I was seeing my future husband stealing a truck with Tom Cruise and taking over a military academy. Good times.

And the picture would not be complete without mentioning Milo, the famous fainting beagle, who appeared in two of the Lily B. books. He's ridiculously cute, particularly when he makes Disney eyes. I spoil him rotten - if he spoke English and asked for a pony, I'd get him one.

Now for some fun facts. What’s your greatest comfort food?

Salty: mashed potatoes, heavy on the butter. Chocolate: Reese's peanut butter cups. Cakey: Ring Dings. I think I've included all the food groups here.

What are the first three things you do when you wake up in the morning?

First, kiss the dog (who sleeps on my bed), second - try to talk my way out of getting up (which involves convincing my husband to get Emma ready for school) and third, sorry, but… pee. (I do actually get up before doing article number three).

If I came to your house and looked in your closet/attic/basement, what’s the one thing that would surprise me the most?

The "western" story filed away in my attic in a very old box, written in my teens, called "Beans". The genre was flatulence. Sadly, it remains unpublished.

Everyone asks the question about “if you could be a tree, which tree would you be?” so I want to know: If you could be a color, which color would it be, and why?

Purple. I've always identified strongly with that color. I only recently heard it is the color that one expects crazy old ladies to wear. I guess I'm just ahead of my time.

Who is your favorite cartoon character?

I was going to get fancy and talk about "Spirited Away", but in reality it's Dory from "Finding Nemo". No contest. Love the short term memory loss, the optimism, the whale-speak, the scream… Wait, what was the question?

Which cartoon character is most like you?

Underdog.

If you could beam yourself to anywhere in the world (“Beam me up, Scotty!”), during any time in history, where and when would it be—and why?

I suspect you didn't know I am a Star Trek FANATIC. Seriously. I have my own Starfleet uniform, and a communicator, and other things that may shock and dismay you. When I was in the seventh grade I had this giant poster of Captain Kirk. Mr. Spock and Dr. McCoy in my bedroom, and because I was a faithful Narnia reader, and I sort of believed in other worlds, when I had a bad day I would try to press myself into the poster. You know, hoping to end up on the Starship Enterprise. Though all I ever got doing that was a flattened face. So I might pick the Star Trek world of the future. More likely though, I'd either beam to the 1940's, when the Dalai Lama was living in the Potala Palace in Tibet, or I'd beam back to 1282 in Wales, and hang out at Castle Dolwyddelyn waiting to meet Prince Llewelyn. But if I make the medieval choice, it is only if I can bring Tylenol, antibiotics, and toilet paper. Cause, you know how the medieval are.

So what’s your favorite type of music to listen to? Favorite musical artists? Do you listen to music while you’re writing?

I have bizarre musical tastes, because I like everything from sacred choral music to 70's hits to stadium bands like U2 and REM. My daughter Emma and I share a fondness for Linkin Park, The Black Eyed Peas, and Evanescence (though I once mistakenly called them Effervescence and she almost died of embarrassment). I love the Tibetan musican Nawang Khechog. When I write, I like listening to nature mixes (ocean and whale sounds) and Tibetan chanting. Or any of my boys, Brahms, Bach, Beethoven and Mozart.

Do you have any favorite T.V. shows? Movies you watch over and over again? What was the last movie you saw at the theater?

Other than Star Trek, which tops a great many lists for me, I love "Lost", "CSI" (but only the Las Vegas one) "Criminal Minds", and "Medium". And if you put a show on the supernatural on television, I will watch it. But I'm tough to scare. I watch the movies Sense & Sensibility, Parenthood, To Kill a Mockingbird, Fried Green Tomatoes, and Finding Nemo on an annual basis. Also the fourth Star Trek movie, (Voyage Home). Milo and Otis. Time Bandits. Last movie I saw in the theatre was Sex and the City. Way too much conspicuous consumption and designer duds there - I was disappointed. Prior to that it was "Prince Caspian" - that one I liked, but as ever, nowhere near as good as the book.

You have the chance to give one piece of advice to your teen readers. What would it be?

Read, read, read, read, read, read. Read. (read)

One last question. What stories can we look forward to from you in the future?

I'm hoping in addition the three already scheduled, there will be more Suddenly Supernatural books in my future. I'm working on a proposal for a YA about reincarnation. My biography of the Dalai Lama (my hero) will be published next year. Hopefully, my next standalone novel (THE REINVENTION OF MOXIE ROOSEVELT) about a girl who gives herself a brand new personality in boarding school, will be ready for publication next year too.

Again, thanks so much for joining us at TeensReadToo.com!

Thanks for asking!