Publishers Weekly calls it “insightful” and “pitch perfect.” And the brilliant Sarah Addison Allen says:
‘THE FABLED EARTH is lush and vivid, with passages so beautiful they will break your heart and then turn around and mend it. The lines blur between magic and mystery, pulling you into a dreamy, immersive experience. It’s a tour de force of a novel. You can always tell a born storyteller when you read one. And Kimberly Brock is the real deal.”
And Kimberly Brock is indeed the real deal–not only a truly skilled and talented author, but incredibly generous, a marvelous teacher, and a genuinely wonderful person.
How does she do it? Let’s go Behind The Pages of Kimberly Brock’s brand new novel. We predict some of this will change the way you write.
1. What’s the title of your book—and was that always the title?
The book was actually untitled up until the first round of edits. My publishing team was brainstorming ideas and after a round or two of ideas that just didn’t seem right, I woke up with this title in mind –THE FABLED EARTH-and it was so obvious to me. It was never anything else after I suggested it.
2. Who’s the main character of your book—and was that always their name?
The main character of The Fabled Earth is a woman named Cleo Woodbine, a watercolor artist living on a small island in a river that runs between Cumberland Island and the coast of Georgia. Cleo was always her name. Woodbine came along when I created her grandfather, a man named Dooley Woodbine whose family comes from Kentucky after immigrating from Scotland. There is a magical, folksy element to her name that I love and I think it reflects the connection to a folk magic from a vine that grows on the island that plays a role in her family story. Woodbine is also the name of a real town in South Georgia that’s located not too far from the coast.
3. At the start of the book, what’s the character’s goal?
When the book opens, Cleo Woodbine is a reclusive artist whose youthful regrets seem insurmountable when she learns of the death of the woman she wronged when they were girls. She has given up when she discovers that the boy who saved her life all those years ago has returned to the area, followed by the arrival of the woman’s daughter, who comes asking her own questions about the past, and finally an encounter with a widowed innkeeper who reminds Cleo a bit of herself at that age. At the beginning of the book, Cleo is one foot in and one foot out of this world and ready to take her leave, but by the end of the first three chapters, she’s realizing she’s not done with this world or with life and she wants to know what might be next for her after almost three decades alone.
4. What was the core idea for this novel—a plot point? a theme?—and where did it come from?
I realized while I was teaching a writing workshop years ago that I believe all stories are ghost stories. I wanted to explore that idea and each of the women in this novel grapple with what they think of that, what it means in their own lives and in the lives around them.
5. At what point did you come up with the final version of the first line? What is it?
“The East River, sometimes shining, a mirror to the lucent blue firmament above, was laid out for Cleo Woodbine’s sharp green eyes, with nothing moving over its calm surface on this morning but her, a reeling seabird, a passing fishing boat.”
I believe I wrote this line very early in my drafting process, how I saw Cleo moving through her days, how she related to the island, but it came into focus with some of the word choice as I was doing research for the traditional Irish fairytales that feature in the novel, in particular, “The Story of Tuan mac Cairill.”
6. Did you know the ending of the book when you started?
Part of my process is to start writing my way into the story, usually with a place and the character that appears there, and when that character’s voice first comes clear it almost always present with the scenes at the conclusion of the story. In that way, I begin with the ending, and then circle back to draft from the start.
(ed. note: whoa.)
7. What’s something in this book that you’ve never done before?
When I write, some part of me is always waiting to see how my characters will react to the mysteries in life. In this story, one of the mysteries is whether all stories are ghost stories. For Cleo Woodbine, she experiences this in a very literal way. The stories of her childhood not only haunt her mind, they literally walk alongside her. I enjoyed writing these gentle ghosts as companions for my main character.
8. What part of your tour (or launch week) are you most excited about?
The very best part about book tour is getting to meet book friends! I can’t wait to see so many of them as I travel from state to state. It’s wonderful to finally meet some of them in real life after knowing them through virtual means, sometimes for years. And I’ll also get to see author friends who will attend events or who are gracious enough to be in conversation with me. And finally, I get to see some of my favorite people in the world—book sellers and librarians! While I’m writing, I tend to isolate and since I’m a slow writer, that can mean long periods of time go by when I am alone. I’m always grateful and surprised that when I come out of my creative hibernation, these people are still happy to see me!
9. Who in your #writingcommunity deserves a special shout-out for supporting you in writing this story? Why?
The Fabled Earth is dedicated to one special person, a friend, a writer, a force in my life that I miss every day: Amy Sue Nathan. I have no doubt that there are countless people who could describe her influence in their own lives with these same, grateful words. And like the gentle ghosts in my story, she keeps me company on this journey. She is never far.
10.How do you want readers to feel when they close the book?
This book was inspired by a love of stories and gatherings, where sharing our love of history and place brings us together in community. The characters in my books experience stories as a kind of magic that reminds us we are all connected and never alone, even through the storms of life, and I hope that’s what readers experience while reading The Fabled Earth. I hope it inspires them to take care of one another.
11.What did you learn from this book? About writing, or life, or the writing life?
I think what I learned most from writing this book is that while an author does the work of scratching the idea out into words, those words are drawn from life. Some of the life is my own but a lot of it is from the live that I had witnessed around me. And in the end, every life is a collection of stories, they are memories as well as dreams. We need both to live. Humanity is a river that runs both ways and we are at our strongest and our best when we embrace that truth with grace and courage.
(Were we right? Did you learn something from this? Let’s talk about it on the Career Authors Facebook Page.)
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