{"id":341,"date":"2023-06-09T23:19:00","date_gmt":"2023-06-09T23:19:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/on.patronhunt.com\/apex-publications\/?p=341"},"modified":"2024-02-20T21:23:14","modified_gmt":"2024-02-20T21:23:14","slug":"the-authors-of-issue-138-valerie-kemp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/on.patronhunt.com\/apex-publications\/the-authors-of-issue-138-valerie-kemp\/","title":{"rendered":"The Authors of Issue 138: Valerie Kemp"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Valerie Kemp, author of “Smoke Fire Wind Sea”, joined us for an interview.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Valerie Kemp writes speculative and contemporary fiction for all ages. Her work has appeared in Apex Magazine<\/em>, Cast of Wonders<\/em>, Voyage YA<\/em> andtheir forthcoming anthology Just Above Water<\/em>. She is a 2022 graduate of Viable Paradise. Valerie is a recovering academic whose research focused on the importance of media representation, something she cares deeply about. Find Valerie @valeriekwrites on Twitter and IG and at valeriekemp.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

~~~<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apex Magazine:<\/strong> Tell us about a favorite book or short story and how it has influenced you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Valerie Kemp: <\/strong>My favorite short story of all time is one that I discovered when I was about 8–All Summer In A Day by Ray Bradbury. It was the first story I\u2019d ever read that was about kids, but was dark–it showed how cruel kids could be, and it didn\u2019t have a happy ending. It\u2019s about Earth kids growing up on a planet where it rains continuously, and the sun only comes out for one hour, once every seven years. It\u2019s bleak and emotional and fantastically sci-fi. The prose is also just really lovely. The last line is so simple and yet it carries so much weight that I\u2019m always left thinking about and feeling the aftermath even though the story ends before you see it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think I strive for many of the same things in my writing. I like to look hard, painful things in the face, and I try hard to provide insight without being overt. Especially when it comes to short stories, I want my endings to pack an emotional punch–the kind that leave you thinking about what comes next and having feelings about it. I love that Bradbury wrote a very human story set in a very alien world, and that\u2019s something I hope to do too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AM: <\/strong>What does your writing process look like? Pantser or plotter, burst of writing or routine, morning or night, tea or coffee, etc?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

VK: <\/strong>I\u2019m a mom and I work from home–stolen moment bursts of writing are my life!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m a die-hard plantser when I\u2019m writing a novel. I usually have a concrete idea with a beginning and ending, a few major plot points, and a lot of knowledge about my main character(s), but I discover the rest as I go. Discoveries make me excited to keep writing, but they\u2019re also something that happens even when I\u2019ve planned out every detail. I usually realize as I\u2019m writing that there\u2019s some part of my idea that would not actually happen the way I imagined–which can be frustrating if I\u2019ve boxed myself in by planning too much. So, for me my writing flows a lot better (and is a lot more fun) if I know that, at some point in the middle, some very specific cool thing is going to happen, but I don\u2019t know yet how my characters will get to that point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m relatively new to writing short fiction, though, and I\u2019m finding a lot of fun and freedom in pantsing in small doses. Usually I can\u2019t write something unless I know how it ends (even if that end changes in the process.) Writing for something like Apex\u2019s flash fiction contest, with its limited timeline and specific topic, has forced me to start writing with the seed of an idea before I figure out where it\u2019s going. The word count limit has forced me to think more creatively about how to get my story across, which has lead to some fun experimenting. So far, every story I\u2019ve written for the contest, I\u2019ve drafted an opening I really liked and then spent days wondering how it ends. Managing to finish the stories in a way that I don\u2019t hate has been a real confidence builder. I start writing stories now when the idea hits, rather than once I\u2019ve got it all plotted out. I don\u2019t know that I\u2019m ready to go full throttle and pants a novel, but it definitely makes me feel more comfortable with the idea that I can finish what I start even when it feels like I\u2019m stuck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

~<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thanks to the author for joining us! Stay tuned for more from the authors of Issue 138!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Valerie Kemp, author of “Smoke Fire Wind Sea”, joined us for an interview.\u00a0 Valerie Kemp writes speculative and contemporary fiction for all ages. Her work has appeared in Apex Magazine, Cast of Wonders, Voyage YA andtheir forthcoming anthology Just Above Water. She is a 2022 graduate of Viable Paradise. Valerie is a recovering academic whose […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","ph_site_tiers_settings":[[]],"_ph_post_tiers":["prod_Pb8w6aaOteiO8X","prod_Pb8xrfBc6WUlUl","prod_Pb8za4D1QaNUur","prod_Pb8zynifOgBo4H","prod_Pb90BfYjojkqc5","prod_Pb90pqVGbOflWT"],"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[115,128],"class_list":["post-341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-authors-of","tag-valerie-kemp"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/on.patronhunt.com\/apex-publications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/on.patronhunt.com\/apex-publications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/on.patronhunt.com\/apex-publications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/on.patronhunt.com\/apex-publications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/on.patronhunt.com\/apex-publications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=341"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/on.patronhunt.com\/apex-publications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":343,"href":"https:\/\/on.patronhunt.com\/apex-publications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341\/revisions\/343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/on.patronhunt.com\/apex-publications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/on.patronhunt.com\/apex-publications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/on.patronhunt.com\/apex-publications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}