Interviews with Writers Big and Small on Wattpad

Kimberley S B Lieb - interviewed by Dawn Starling

WATTPAD INTERIVEW VIEW BETWEEN DAWNSTARLING AND KIMBERLEY S B LIEB (WRIGHTSTORY)

Kimberley,

It's such an honour to interview you. Let's get ourselves comfortable as we settle down in our virtual café. What would you like to drink? This place is renowned for its delicious cakes and deserts. What would you like?

Answer: Oh, may I have a Green Tea and a slice of Dutch Apple Cake please. Failing that, Bread Pudding.

Bread pudding sounds so good, although I have to say, I've never had any myself. I think I'll take some of that as well! Excellent choices.


Answer: My Aunt makes fantastic Bread Pudding, basically it is stale bread, dried mixed fruit, some people add apple, eggs and sugar, and you usually soak the bread in either tea or milk overnight, it is very moist. My aunt adds lots of spices, mixed spice, ginger etc. It's incredibly filling so you only need a small bit.

That just sounds amazingly delicious. So it appears that you've finished your first draft of "Someone Hiding in the Shadows" Congratulations on achieving this feat!

Answer: Yes I am now working on the second edit after one of our talented NBR colleagues and a featured writer Heather Coyle has kindly Beta read my book. The book is the first in a series of stories. I have already written an outline storyline and odd chapters for the other books.

It seemed so daunting to write a whole book initially. I have to thank all the wonderful people on Wattpad who supported me and encouraged me to keep writing. Those comments really inspired me to keep on creating the following chapters. Without those words of support and interest in my story, I am not sure I would have had the impetus to carry on. This is one of the things that make Wattpad so very special. Of course I am still learning, I have only been writing seriously for around a year but then you never stop learning that is what makes life so interesting.

Indeed. Wattpad is a great platform to not only promote your work but also receive some great feedback too. Now what originally inspired you to write this story?

Answer: The start of the story came to me initially around 14 years ago, when my daughter was a baby. I was going through a sudden acrimonious divorce and all these crazy ideas came into my head. I started writing the story several times then stopped again. This was due to family trauma with my father's long term illness with Alzheimers and the need to look after him as well as my grandmother long term, so writing went on the back burner. [I have also written some poetry regarding this which can be found on my profile].

I also want to point out that the story is not about me. Of course there are some parts that are very much me but what I have done is taken some elements of my life and completely exaggerated them to make it more dramatic.

For example, when I worked in London when I was younger, some friends and I experienced some bitchiness in the office. I utilised and completely exaggerated those memories for the purpose of my story.

I left home dramatically aged 17 but I lived with my ex-husband; so I was never alone as Athina is in the book. Due to my mother's mental illness when I was a child I spent a lot of my childhood alone lost in books and so I drew on all of these experiences.

A story is a mixture of many things that we draw from different sources to make something new.

So, in a way, writing a form of escape for you?

Answer: To me writing stories is about getting an idea and running with it. I don't see it as an escape as I love life and the people who surround me -in fact I have a real zest for life. I also have a partner who is incredibly supportive of my writing.