One of my Instagram prompts for Camp NaNoWriMo this month is to interview a fellow author.
American writer Kastie Pavlik is an avid gamer, artist, techie, and hopeless bibliophile. Diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 2008, she has subsequently beaten breast cancer, and spends her days entertaining (annoying?) her feline overlords while adapting to her endlessly changing needs. Surrounded by the starry cornfields of Illinois, she enjoys a quiet life with her husband and their cats, and is currently working on the third book in her Children of the Morning Star series.
How did you become a writer?
The easy answer is that I’ve always been a writer. It was my childhood dream, and I’d turn in stories at school just for the teacher’s critique. Going deeper though, I didn’t write with the intent to publish until 2007, when the tale that began as a recurring nightmare I had at age 13 finally blossomed into words and formed a cohesive, interwoven novel. A series, actually. I didn’t see that coming.
Tell us a little about your books.
Paresh Hawthorne, an orphaned girl, returns home as an adult in 2006 never expecting to learn that her uncle is morally corrupt and kidnapped her, or that the man who should have been her guardian, attorney Eric Ravenscroft, is a blood-thirsty US Civil War veteran. Paresh is thrust into the background of reality where vampires, angels, God, and the Devil exist as fact, and learns that she may not be as human, or safe, as she thought. The Children of the Morning Star series explores being human and the varying sides of love, with a focus on the fragility of personal freedom, the weight of choice and free will, even in the shadow of Fate, and the way history and the past shapes the present and future.
What’s your favourite current read?
I read everything: novels, comics, manga… so this isn’t an easy pick! Two books that influenced me as a teen and have stuck with me are Black Rainbow by Barbara Michaels and The Magic Cottage by James Herbert, and my favourite series is Vampire Hunter D by Hideyuki Kikuchi. I am currently reading Blood by Ruth Miranda, a plethora of DC Comics, and Wish by CLAMP.
What’s your favourite childhood book?
Magic Elizabeth by Norma Kassirer. Strangely? I’m scared of dolls.
Do you like happy-ever-after books or prefer unexpected twists?
Both, although I must confess to delighting at the devilish twists of Gillian Flynn. I truly enjoy any author who can surprise me. Is it a storyteller curse to figure “it” out right away?
Favourite superhero: Batman. With a side obsession with Nightwing.
Favourite faerytale: Snow White or Sleeping Beauty. Both flaunt their influence in my series through the world building and in Paresh Hawthorne’s character development.
What are you working on now?
Book three for the series, and a stand-alone novelette about a suicidal woman rescued by a widower vampire. Told entirely from her POV, the MC and the reader must decide if he sees her as someone to save? Or savour? I hope to publish by the end of April – watch for How to Make Lemonade. After the Children of the Morning Star series is complete (maybe four books?), I want to write a proper novel based on the short story.
Plotter or pantser?
This story has rattled around my skull for so long, I know it intimately well. But, to help with continuity, pacing, and order, I write plot points and the characters involved onto index cards in marker, lay them all out on the floor, and then assemble or reassemble. It helps me see the overall picture so I can remove unnecessary points and redundancy, add and merge, and pull out what I’ve already done.
Early bird or night owl? Multiple health issues disrupt my life’s rhythm, but at my core: night owl.
Tea or coffee? Both! Tea: black. Coffee: cream and sugar.
Thank you so much for the fun interview and Insta Love!! <3 Kastie