Indie Author Week - Kat Micari - Interview & Gvieaway

Penumbra – a novella by Kat Micari

A NA Urban Fantasy

Published April 10, 2013 

Fed up with the dirty city and a disenchanting life as a fashion model, Beauty's world is at least safe. But the illusion of safety shatters the night that she frees herself from her self-imposed fears only to be thrust into the magical underbelly of the city, where forces that want to save humanity and evil beings that want to feed off humanity’s despair fight for balance and power. 

Driven from both the comforts and the trappings of her old life, now hunted by a cadre of sinister, rat-faced business men, Beauty's only hope is to join with a strange magical ally. Together, with the help of fae creatures in unlikely guises, they must seek out an enchanted, improbable artifact that can heal the city before evil tips the balance, once and for all. 

This powerful coming-of-age fairy tale follows the path of a young heroine who chooses to take fate into her own hands for the first time in her life, and of the consequences that her choice has on the magical beings of the city.

Penumbra is available for $1.99 at:

SMASHWORDS / AMAZON

Kat Micari is an author and artist living in the northeast of the United States with her husband, son, and two cats. She enjoys reading a clever turn of phrase, walking in nature, and dancing to the music of the universe. Above all, she loves creating and encouraging others to create.

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Welcome to the Spootlight, Kat! Can you tell us your main inspiration behind this novel?

The main inspiration for Penumbra is a short story I wrote over a decade ago.  Heavily reworked, this short story is now a large chunk of the first chapter that deals with Beauty's frustration with the modelling world and her emotional breakthrough.  I first wrote the short story during a period when someone had gifted me a subscription to Vogue Magazine (US), and I was both attracted and repelled by the models and the fashions and dealing with body issues.  This was the period in the late 90s when "heroin chic" was in style.  Unfortunately, not a whole lot has changed since then.  But once I wrote the short story and shelved it, I kept getting pulled back by the main character, and eventually this improbable fantastical story of magic and power and finding oneself grew.

Was self-publishing your first choice? What was the most nerve wracking part of the process?

Self-publishing was my first choice.  I want to see what I can do on my own.  I'm kind of a control freak.  I also love collaboration though, so I'm not saying "never" to any type of project or any kind of deal, as long as it's one where all parties are treated as professionals and with respect.  As far as the self-publishing process goes, the most nerve wracking part was making sure everything formatted the way it was supposed to.  Thankfully, I had help, but I was still cursing out my computer and had to re-upload to Smashwords three or four times until I was satisfied.

As a self-published author, did you choose to edit your novel yourself? What was the biggest change you made to the story and/or characters?

I do edit my own work, but I also have a writer as a husband, and we edit each other's work.  I have a close circle of writer friends that I can (and have) called on, but really, my husband and I are so anal that we tend to catch almost everything between the two of us.  We also occasionally rely on my mother for an extra set of eyes as she worked as a legal secretary for years and years and is used to making lawyers sound smarter than they really are!  The editing process is long and involves several go-arounds, including a thorough line-by-line edit, where I try to take each sentence individually and then see how it fits in each paragraph.  

In Penumbra, the biggest character change was to the Controller.  He was an info dump with not much personality in the first couple of edits.  He perhaps is a bit too much of an info dump still, but at least he does it in his own voice now.  The biggest story change was to punch up the last seven chapters to the level of chapter one.  Since chapter one was based so much on the short story, it was thoroughly polished, and it took a lot of work to get the subsequent chapters up to snuff.

Do you have any unusual writing habits that aide your process and/or character development?

No.  Oh, I used to, but since I carve out my writing time while working (from home now, which gives a little more flexibility!) and taking care of a toddler, I can't afford the luxury.  I do like writing with a coffee or tea available, and I do like listening to music without lyrics.  But I've learned to snatch the 15-30 minutes to write whenever and wherever I can.

Is there one passage or scene from your novel that you are most fond of? If so, include the excerpt below!

Yes!  For some reason, I amuse myself greatly with the following scene.  Beauty has been given a drug to forget the previous night and her quest, but the pigeons (who are fae in disguise) are trying to get her to remember.

Heading back home, she keeps her head down on the subway, avoiding eye contact.  No one tries to approach her, but she feels tense all the same.  She elbows her way up the subway steps and walks towards her apartment.  She sees a pigeon doing loops around her head and walks a little faster to avoid any possible droppings.  Another pigeon joins the first and they both make a dive towards Beauty.

“Hey!” Beauty yells, throwing her arms up over her head.  The birds rise again without making contact but swoop for another dive at her.  A third and fourth pigeon join the fray, and Beauty runs for her apartment building as the pigeons follow close behind.  A fifth and sixth pigeon run in Beauty’s wake, heads bobbing, wings spread, which causes several passersby to turn and laugh.  Beauty makes it to her front door.  The doorman closes it before the pigeons get inside.

The doorman snickers.  “Friends of yours?”

“Nice,” Beauty replies.  She shudders involuntarily and heads for the elevators.  

In her apartment, Beauty curls into her armchair and tries again to remember the previous night.  Nothing comes.  The details of the party seem sharp, but everything after the moment she walked out seems erased.  She balls up her fists in frustration and punches a pillow.  Her phone rings.  It’s her mother.  

“Hi mom... yes, I got your message... no, I was busy, I just got back in... a shoot... yes, that photographer you love... sure, maybe I can introduce you to him the next time you come to town... yes, I’ll try to come home for the holidays if I’m not working... no, I’m not being short with you.  Mom... mom... look, mom...” Suddenly, she hears a light tap.  Tap, tap.  Tap.  Persistent tapping at her window.  She looks up and sees a pigeon working at the glass with its beak.  Then another.  Then another.  They begin to come by the dozen, and soon the space outside her windows is filled with pigeons, climbing the screens, tapping at the glass, flying to hover right in front of her.  Their eyes seem intelligent, and they cock their heads this way and that in an attempt to get Beauty’s attention.

“Mom, I’ve got to go.”  Beauty hangs up her phone and runs from window to window.  “Go away!  What are you doing?  Just leave me alone!”  The birds continue to flock to her apartment.  Their bodies block the sunlight, creating shifting patterns with their shadows.  “What do you want from me?” Beauty cries.  The birds begin to coo and trill in response.  Beauty backs away and runs to the bathroom.  Locking herself in, she fights to keep herself from crying.  This is ridiculous.  I can’t believe this is happening.  It can’t be happening.

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