Debut Author Interviews

Rose Kent is the author of Kimchi and Calamari (HarperCollins, Spring 2007)

• Rose Kent on...Audience
• Rose Kent on...Dream Editors
• Rose Kent on...Influential Books
• Rose Kent on...Outlines
• Rose Kent on...Impact on Readers
• Rose Kent on...Book Memory
• Rose Kent on...Favorite Library
• Rose Kent on...First Novels
• Rose Kent on...Family Appreciation
• Rose Kent on...Completion

Who is the target audience for your book?

KIMCHI AND CALAMARI is for kids eight to fourteen who are struggling with that age-old, “Who am I?” question. Obviously kids who are adopted or mutiracial will relate to Joseph feeling like an ethnic sandwich, but bigger picture, who hasn’t struggled to fit in? I chat with kids who are into sports, animae, you name it, and they’re all trying to sort out the whos and whats of their identity. Or if they do have a solid sense of themselves (and good for them if they do) then they are wrestling with how society/parents/school/the kid next to them in Social Studies is treating them because of it.

So if you’ve got an identity — or you’re looking for one — turn the page, come on in.

How did you choose your editor and was he or she the “dream editor” you wanted?

In a sense, my editor is a “dream editor” because she’s grounded in reality. She has the ability to see not only the forest through the trees for me, but the footprints that lead me through to the other side of the woods.

I suppose we all choose our editors and they all in turn choose us, but I’m certainly grateful we have chosen each other. An award-winning author at a conference once said that a good book is due to an author, and a great book is due to an editor. Given the magnitude that falls under the term “editing,” I’d agree.

What books had an impact on you when you were growing up?

Seventy times seventy books impacted my early years, but don’t worry, I won’t list them all. I loved LITTLE WOMEN, I wanted to BE Jo, exude her passion and drama. And Nancy Drew was so cool and smart. Even ENCYLOPEDIA BROWN had his place — who didn’t want to figure out how he solved the case before reading the answer on the last page? And believe it or not, the dark nonfiction THE RISE AND FALL OF THE THIRD REICH, documenting Nazi atrocities, found its way into my hands.

Like kids who read today, I was a sponge, soaking in so much of the written word. And it wasn’t just novels. I adored ARCHIE comic books. Veronica was tres chic. I read NEWSDAY newspaper every day because my father did. Cookbooks always caught my eye. Highbrow, lowbrow, middle of the road, there’s little that didn’t somehow find its way into my life.

Full disclosure here: There was something I never read. Washing directions on my new Sears stretch pants, and technical manuals for assembling stuff like the record player. I left that heavy reading to my parents.

Do you outline before writing?

To outline or not to outline — that is the question so many people ask writers.

I’m still asking myself that. I outline a little bit. That sounds vague, but I find a thorough outline doesn’t work. How can I sketch out the story’s path if I haven’t taken a walk there yet? On the other hand, if I go without any direction I can get lost. Sometimes even with a partial outline I do get lost, but often the side road I veer onto presents me with good stuff.

So I do a little outlining and then I decide whether to use that plan — or if a more passionate muse arrives, I ditch the outline and go, go, go.

What should readers get from your book?

I hope readers get some laughs, a warm fuzzy, a smidge of understanding about adoption or being of mixed-ethnicity, and a big dose of realizing that many kids wrestle with the middle school Who-am-I question. They are not alone — and they are just fine as the person they are. What Billy Joel meant when he sang, “I love you just the way you are.”

What is your earliest book memory?

Goodnight Moon. I loved it then — and still do.

Describe your favorite library.

Tough, tough question. Libraries are a little like ice cream flavors. There really aren’t any bad ones, are there? As long as there is a chair available, a helpful librarian in sight, and plenty of books around, I feel at home. I’ve lived in many towns and communities and I’ve been fortunate to find them everyone.

Of course I love the William T. Sanfory Library in Albany. That hits all the requirements on the above checklist.

Wasn’t it Ben Franklin who created the first public library? Here’s to Ben…

Was this the first full-length novel you wrote, or rather the first that you sold?

KIMCHI & CALAMARI is the first one to fully bloom in the garden. It was ready.

The one before it is still in the germinating stage, but it still may see the light of day. You know what they say about those late bloomers!

Now that you’re under contract, does your family better appreciate your writing?

Yes, yes, yes, my family appreciates my writing. They are excited about KIMCHI & CALAMARI publishing and all that entails.

Indeed, Mom-as-author is all fine and dandy AS LONG AS we still have clean laundry, “good” snacks in the house after school, and car rides to all the baseball games/dances/clubs/sleepovers they NEED to go to.

Mess with that list and then the book is no longer news but a major life inconvenience.

Kids are amazing about having their priorities in place.

How did you know you were “done” with your book and ready to submit it?

I knew it was done when a little voice inside my head said, “Stop, Rose” ever time I fiddled with the story. So I listened to that voice.