Interview with Kim Antieau

www.kimantieau.com

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?

I started writing when I was about five years old. First I told stories by drawing pictures and then binding them together into a book. When I could actually read and write, I began writing stories. "Lily Goes to Fairyland" was the first one, I believe. I still have it. I had a friend who liked to draw, so we decided we would be a team when we got older: me the writer, her the artist. That was probably 3rd grade.

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

I started selling stories many years ago. Then I sold my first novel in 1995, I think. (It came out in 1996: The Jigsaw Woman.) It was a strange publishing experience. The cover didn't fit the book at all and the publisher didn't seem to know what to do with it. (My work doesn't categorize easily.) The Jigsaw Woman is a fabulous and terrible romp through history—a kind of Frankenstein meets Jane Eyre. Anyway, the next book had an even more bizarre cover, and my editor left midway through the process. So I was orphaned! Coyote Cowgirl came several years later. But again the book got lost and no one was interested in my next book. Then I went to the coast one weekend and I started writing Mercy, Unbound. A few weeks later I had a first draft. I gave it to my agent who said, "This is a young adult novel." So he sent it out and Simon Pulse bought it. I've had three young adult novels published now.

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 young adult novel is Ruby's Imagine. Ruby has a unique way of talking and looking at the world. She's one of a kind. I'd love to spend time with her. She survives the news that her parents were killed in a car accident. She survives a grandmother who is abusive to her. She survives wondering if she's gone crazy because she remembers two sisters and her grandmother says she never had any. Then she survives Hurricane Katrina and the discovery that everything she thought was true may not be. She not only survives: She thrives. She talks to butterflies and birds and trees, and they talk back. How cool is that?

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

Just every day people inspire me, people who do the best they can even when life is really tough. Nature is an inspiration to me, too. My greatest desire is to bring beauty to this beautiful world. I think we have a responsibility to take care of this planet and everything that lives on her. My stories are often about how people do that.

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

My husband Mario Milosevic is a writer, too, and he reads everything I write. He's my first reader, actually, and he tells me what's working and what isn't, and then I rewrite. I do the same for him.

My father reads everything I write. I think his favorite book of mine is Ruby's Imagine. He really liked Church of the Old Mermaids and Broken Moon, too. I'm not sure if my mother ever read any of my novels, but she encouraged me when I was a girl. She wanted to be a writer when she was younger. I have four sisters, and I'm not sure they've read any of my books. I never ask, and they never tell me. My sister Michelle often gives me ideas for novels, and I think she's read at least some of them. She told me about children being used as camel jockeys, and that inspired by novel Broken Moon. My mom-in-law and sis-in-law read all my books, and I think they like them.

But my being a writer is ordinary to everyone I know. I've been doing it since I was a child, so it's just part of who I am.

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

Right now my favorite comfort food is Amy's gluten-free dairy-free frozen pizza. I know if doesn't sound exciting, but I like it! And I also occasionally indulge in Coconut Bliss which is coconut ice cream without the sugar or the dairy, and it is amazing. Especially the dark chocolate!

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

1. I pull the covers up over my head and try to remember my dreams. 2. I eventually get up and stick my head outdoors and say hello to the world. If it's not cold, I'll go outside and stand on the grass. 3. Then I usually meditate.

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

In the attic, you would be surprised to find that I have dozens of Trail of Painted Ponies! They're small horse figurines. A few years ago, I saw a full-sized one in a museum in Phoenix, and I loved them. I had just sold a novel and I usually buy myself a present. That year, I bought a bunch of these small painted ponies. Different artists do different things with these ponies. I got dozens of them. I don't buy things, except books and groceries—and kitchen bowls but that's another story. Anyway, I bought these ponies and just set them all out and looked at them and thought about writing a novel about a faery horse. (I have the plot but no title, so I'm stymied.) And then I put them away because I don't like knick-knacks. So they're in my attic, and I plan on selling them on ebay or craigslist one day very soon!

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?

I love blue. Especially New Mexico sky blue. That's fabulous! And red can be really wonderful. Saucy. And green is the color of the grass and the trees. But I love yellow too. Our little rented house is yellow and I love living in a yellow house. But I'd have to go with the New Mexican blue. Azure. Yes, azure.

Who is your favorite cartoon character?

I still like Felix the Cat.

Which cartoon character is most like you?

I don't know. Mighty Mouse. Can you tell I don't watch cartoons any more? There are some comic book characters I like. I thought the Dark Knight was a great character, from a writer's viewpoint. I liked Swamp Thing and She-Hulk.

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?

Probably in the future when they've figured out war doesn't do any bodies any good, and when they've figured out nature should be revered instead of reviled and exploited. Or back to a time in history where people lived in peace with nature: back to matrifocal times.

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

My tastes change. When I'm writing, I can't have anything too distracting, nothing where I want to get up and dance. When I was writing Church of the Old Mermaids, I listened to a CD called Songs of the Spirit. I often listen to Linda Rondstadt and Ann Savoy's Adieu False Heart while working. I like Boozoo Bajou, Natalie Merchant's Motherland, John Lee Hooker's Healer, Santana, Dido's Life for Rent, Nomad's Nomad, Iris Dement, most of Lorenna McKennitt's work, and any Robert Johnson. I love Zydeco, the Blues, trance dancing music, drumming, and good old rock 'n roll. I can sing at the top of my lungs to Led Zepplin, Bob Seger, or Queen any ol' day! I'm not a fan of country twang at all.

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?

I love stories so I love movies and television shows. I loved Homicide: Life in the Streets. Depressing, for sure. But they had these great characters, especially Frank Pembleton played by Andre Braugher. I think Six Feet Under was the greatest television show ever. Better than most movies I've ever seen. Amazing characters and amazing stories. I've really liked the last two seasons of Lost. I hate commercials so I try to watch TV shows streaming or on DVD. I also really liked the Gilmore Girls (except the last season), Friends, Frasier, and all the Star Treks except Enterprise. (Yuck.) I especially liked the last season or two of Deep Space Nine. They had some amazing story arcs.

I love so many movies. I love watching old Bette Davis movies. I can watch them over and over. I love Passion Fish, Grand Canyon, Pride and Prejudice (the latest one), Remains of the Day, and Shawshank Redemption, To Kill a Mockingbird, Apollo 13, Seabiscut. (One of my secret favorite movies is Crimson Tide!)

I love lots of novels, too, by the way, and lots of stories. I read myths and fairy tales all the time. I think those are the best kinds of stories for writers to read. Those tales really ground a writer in a culture and a place. And I loved David Copperfield, Jane Eyre, and parts of several Alexander Dumas books. (I don't think I ever actually finished one). I LOVED the Scarlet Pimpernel (and I have a whole teen series in my head based on a female version of the Scarlet Pimpernel only it takes place during the Civil War).

When I was a teen I loved Gothic novels and any Daphne DuMaurier novel. Later I loved Even Cowgirls Get the Blues and Catch-22, most of Ernest Hemingway's work (I liked his style more than his stories or characters), and lots of Joan Didion's work (again I liked her style). I loved Susannah Moore's My Old Sweetheart. I love poetry and nonfiction, too. The list of fabulous contemporary writers I like goes on and on: Alice Hoffman, Barbara Kingsolver, Charles de Lint, Manuel Puig, Mary Oliver, and Terry Tempest Williams. Well, that's enough; you get the idea: I love books, too.

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

Get outside. Go. Now. (Without any electronics.) Stand barefoot on the grass. Feel the sun on your face. Climb a tree. Listen to a river. Go outside. Now.

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

I'm at a crossroads right now, so it's all wide open. I'm working on two adult novels. One is The Old Mermaid, or the Fish Wife; the other is Whackadoodle Times. I finished two young adult novels not long ago. One is about a teen who is abused by her boyfriend and who may or may not be a mermaid. That's The Blue Tail. The other is a psychological horror story, My Little Angel. I'm working on a couple of young adult novels now, too. One is The Cookie Club. I've written a couple of chapters on that. The other one is called The Bluff. I see it as a cross between William Golding's Lord of the Flies and Doris Lessing's The Good Terrorist. We'll see where it goes!

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