Sunday, November 28, 2010

INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR KEENA KINCAID

I first "met" Keena Kincaid through reading her novel "Anam Cara," a haunting tale of two souls caught on the karmic wheel.  I knew at once I had found an author I wanted to follow, so you can imagine how pleased I was when Keena agreed to be interviewed for The Celtic Rose.  Especially considering that she had just made a major, cross-country move with all that entails, I'm very grateful for her interest in the blog.  So without further ado, here is her interview:


Where are you from?  Tell us a little about yourself.
I’m from a small Ohio town just to the left of nowhere. I grew up on a farm that had all the accoutrements needed for a fun childhood, dogs, ponies, brothers and a small wooded area that served as Sherwood Forest for a few years.

What inspires you to write?
I’m a natural born storyteller (although my mother called it something else for a few years).  After college, I worked as a newspaper reporter and had a gift for personality profiles and features stories. To me, noveling is a natural extension of that. I’m still telling people’s stories, just a fictional person’s. The germ of a story can come from anywhere these days. A great, a shell on the beach, sometimes even from that single shoe hanging from street wires.

Do you find that your muse takes over when you write?
My characters take over. How much I get accomplished that day is solely determined by how talkative they are and how willing they are to spill secrets. It gets really interesting when my characters start to lie to me because they don’t want to face the truth about themselves anymore than the rest of us do.

Do you have any works in progress that you want to share?
I’m working on a medieval ghost story right now. The ghost is not the hero, by the way, but the catalyst that moves my hero and heroine to act. He betrayed his friends, and now he’s trying to set things to right. Initially, his motivation is to get out of purgatory quicker, but eventually he comes to desire his friend’s safety and his sister’s happiness before his own destiny.

What would be your advice to aspiring writers out there?
Write the book you want to read. I know it’s quite the cliché and the market doesn’t always love what we do, but writing is a long and sometimes lonely process. We spent months, sometimes years with these characters and often come to know them better than we know our spouses or children. If we don’t love and enjoy our characters, who else will?

What are your favorite books at the moment?
I just found a reprinted edition of a 19th century South Carolina cookbook. I love old cookbooks because they assume you already know how to cook, so the recipes all about proportions and ideas for customizing the recipe. They turn my kitchen into a playground.

What is your favorite word?  Least favorite?
One of my favorite words is gobsmacked, as in “he fell out of the plane and lived. I was gobsmacked when I heard about it.” I write historicals, so it’s not one I can use very often. My least favorite fat-fingered, as in “the article has a lot of typos because I fat-fingered the keyboard.” The word just makes me cringe.

It's been a pleasure to get to know you a little better, Keena!   Let me just share some of your book covers here.  Both are stories of the Sidhe and sure to appeal to readers of The Celtic Rose:


 For more information and buy links for these or any of Keena's books, just go to her website:  www.keenakincaid.com.

Thanks, Keena.

P.S.--Did you find your coffee pot yet?

22 comments:

  1. Miriam,
    Thank you so much for the opportunity to visit your blog today. I really enjoyed our chat. I still haven't found the coffee pot. So this Thanksgiving, I'm thankful for my "coffee shop" app.

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  2. Hi Keena,
    Really enjoyed the interview. The medieval ghost story sounds great. I have ENTHRALLED on my Christmas wish list. Hope Santa thinks I was a good girl this year.
    Diane

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  3. KEENA--your posts are as entertaning as a short story.Your favorite word? Would you believe I only first heard that word very recently. I love it, too! It's descriptive in a way that you can't say something any other way.
    I congratulate you on your success, your WIP about the ghost who wants to atone for his sins, and your move to Florida. You've been an uplifting presence on our BS Loop--ooops! I should spell that out, I guess! Celia

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  4. Keena, I always enjoy learning a little bit more about my friends. ENTHRALLED is on my TBR list too. I hope you had a great Thanksgiving.

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  5. Love your advice - so true. Hope you find that coffee pot soon!

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  6. Hi, Diane. I hope Santa thinks you were a good girl, too. :-) I'm excited about the medieval ghost story, although it keeps throwing me curves.

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  7. Hi, Celia. Thanks for coming by and for saying I've been an uplifting presence on our BS loop (it's got a new name now LOL). I always wish I had more time to chat with y'all on the loop, so your words mean a lot.

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  8. Hi, Mona. I had a great Thanksgiving. Too much food but not enough time with the family. Isn't it always that way?

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  9. LK, I know where the coffee pot is...in a box, in a box, in storage. Sigh. Need to get it out of there and into a kitchen.

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  10. Keena, your stories sound so intriguing, and you have a great smile! I enjoyed "meeting" you. All the best with your writing.

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  11. Keena, looks like you're hanging out in a European town in your photo! Anam Cara was my first book I read by you as well. I loved Ties that Bind and I think you do an awesome job writing the books I want to read. You blend history and magic effortlessly. Enthralled has me on the edge of my seat! Wiliam just returned to court and thinks Ami is the king's mistress. Your WIP sounds really interesting. You write it, I'm there.

    Smiles
    Steph

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  12. Wow, Keena, looks like everyone else loves your writing as much as I do. Hope you get settled into your new home quickly so you can get back to the books! Best regards.

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  13. Steph,
    The photo was actually taken during Octoberfest in downtown Chicago a few years ago. I'm glad you're enjoying Enthralled, and you're at a great part (in my thoroughly unbiased opinion--LOL).

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  14. Miriam,
    I'm tiptoeing back into the WIP.

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  15. Got Ties That Bind and Enthralled safely set aside and am looking forward to reading them over the holidays! Beautiful site you have here, Celtic Rose!

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  16. Thank you, Liana. I love the Cliffs of Moher and when I saw this picture, I just knew it was right.

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  17. Hi, Liana,
    Thanks for coming by. I hope you enjoy Ties That Bind and Enthralled. Although they came out almost a year apart, they really are back-to-back books.

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  18. Nice interview! I also love ghosts and use a couple of 'ghostly voices' to move my characters along in my romantic suspense DESTINY'S MOUNTAIN. I believe, so why not? Good luck with your book.

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  19. Nice interview!
    Liz Arnold

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  20. Hi Keena,
    I am a bit late coming in,but I enjoyed your blog. You were lucky to have grown up in such an idealic sounding place.

    Regards

    Margaret

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