Kimberly Pauley is the author of Sucks to Be Me : The All-True Confessions of Mina Hamilton, Teen Vampire (maybe), the sequel Still Sucks to Be Me will be coming out next year.
Kimberly, thank you for taking the time to answer some of our questions.
KK: Could you tell us a little about yourself? What are some things your readers might not know about you?
KP: Hehe, perhaps not much, since I tend to “over share” on the Internet. But here are a few things…
I’m half Chinese and the shortest person in my family, including all of my full Chinese relatives (is that fair? Eh, not so much). I always wanted to be a writer or at least something equally creative (other than that brief Black Beauty-inspired stint where I just wanted to do anything involving horses). I met my husband on my very first day of college. He’s a math guy, so we’re pretty much exact opposites. Oh, and we had a baby in 2008 who is just the cutest, sweetest little guy ever.
KK: What’s your work environment like?
KP: I generally write at home, though I’ve written in coffee shops and the like before. But with little Max now, I pretty much write whenever and wherever I can. Yesterday, in fact, I worked on outlining a new book while waiting on our car to get serviced. So basically, anywhere. Though I do have an office (think lots of bookshelves and wood and too much mess).
KK: You’ve said you specialized in young adult literature and took
science fiction classes in college. Just curious, what was your major? Did it have any relationship to your work life after you graduated?
KP: English major, which had absolutely no bearing on my work life after graduation pretty much up until I started writing. I’ve worked as a graphic designer, a legal transfers consultant, a web designer, and an IT manager. In other words, yuck! (though the last one did pay well…sigh.)
KK: What have been the major influences on your writing? Books, music, movies?
KP: Definitely books. I’ve always loved reading. I used to read between 30 and 45 books a month. I don’t have the opportunity to do that anymore, but I would if I could.
KK: You run the website YA Books Central. What gave you the idea to
start the site? Can you tell us a little about it, and what your plans for the site are?
KP: I’ve been running it for over ten years now, which is just about forever in Internet time. I was a “guide” for The Mining Company (now About.com) when they decided to drop most of their teen-related sites. I had all these reviews and interviews and didn’t want to just toss them out, so I started up a site myself. It’s grown a lot over the years and features book reviews by both YABC staff and readers, as well as interviews, monthly giveaways, and more. Honestly, I don’t know what my plans are now. Before I quit my corporate job to write full time, I kept it pretty small. Then I left to write and had more time to devote to it and grew it up…but now that I need to work on my own writing more and have a son, I’m not sure where things will go from here.
KK: What was your path to publication? Why did you choose to write for teens?
KP: As I mentioned above, I left my corporate job to write full time. That was back at the end of 2004/beginning of 2005. We also moved out of state from Florida to Kentucky (we now live in Illinois). I finished the novel in 2005 (before Twilight even came out, which will tie into the next question…) and then started shopping it around. All the agents pretty much said the same thing, that they liked the writing, but didn’t think vampires were a good bet. It wasn’t until an online friend of mine mentioned her editor was looking for new paranormal books that a door opened. They debated it for a year, but ultimately decided to publish Sucks to Be Me. Yay!
As for why I decided to write for teens…um, you know, I don’t know that it was really a conscious decision. That’s most of what I read so it was natural to go that way, I suppose.
KK: Why did you choose to write a vampire book? Had you read many before writing Sucks to be Me?
KP: Thank you for not asking me if Twilight inspired me. LOL (It didn’t; it wasn’t even out yet!) I honestly have never been a huge vampire fan. I studied Dracula a great deal in college (I imagine just about every English major has) and I had a professor (Dr. Twitchell) who literally wrote the book on vampires. But I haven’t read a great deal of contemporary vampire literature. I did have one book come across my reviewer’s desk (which shall remain nameless) and it tied into the Dracula book but got a lot of details wrong. That annoyed me and got me started thinking.
Of course, now I’ve seen reviews where people argue over my take on Dracula in Sucks to Be Me (which, for the record, is based on my studies of the book in college).
KK: In many teen vampire books, the main character is set apart because she’s “chosen”, but that’s not the case in Sucks to be Me. Mina has a loving family, friends, and does well in school. Was it intentional to turn the typical story upside down?
KP: Absolutely. I wanted to turn the whole vampire thing on it’s head and do it in a very funny, but kind of realistic way. I’ve had people tell me my book is the anti-Twilight because of that. Though I will say that some of the vampire “myths” that Mina confirms in the book are based on traditional vampire folklore (like the eye color thing).
KK: Mina’s character tells her story in a journal format, with lists at the end of each chapter. This setup seems more similar to The Princess Diaries and other teen chick lit books than to a vampire tale. Do you see influences on your own writing from other YA books and trends?
KP: Oh, sure. I think any author would say yes to that. And I did want this book to have a totally different “feel” from a “normal” vampire book – light and sarcastic and contemporary.
KK: What other projects do you have cooking? What else can we expect to see from you in the near future?
KP: Well, the sequel, Still Sucks to Be Me is coming out next year. And I’m working on an entirely different book right now (also fantasy-ish, also YA, and also comedic…but no vampires!). I’m not sure yet what plans the publisher has for Mina, but if I can, I have another book or two to write about her adventures as well.
KK: Is there anything else you’d like to share with readers and librarians? Thanks so much for your time!
KP: Just that readers and librarians both rock! Seriously. I’m totally not sucking up. Fan letters from readers absolutely make my day and is one of the reasons I write. And librarians are the funniest, funnest, and most genuine group of people I know. I have a blast at the ALA convention every year. Hope to see some of you there next year!