Ask the Author: Kim Zupan
Answered Questions (9)
Kim Zupan
Sara--
Please forgive me for being so long to respond to your kind note. (I'm terrible about the whole Goodreads thing.) I'm in what I hope is the final revision stage on the new book and would have an answer for you by spring. The movie, as is so often the case, is again up in the air, but I remain guardedly hopeful. Thanks for being in touch. I'll try to be a better correspondent in the future.
Please forgive me for being so long to respond to your kind note. (I'm terrible about the whole Goodreads thing.) I'm in what I hope is the final revision stage on the new book and would have an answer for you by spring. The movie, as is so often the case, is again up in the air, but I remain guardedly hopeful. Thanks for being in touch. I'll try to be a better correspondent in the future.
Kim Zupan
June-- Please forgive me for being so slow to respond to your kind note. No, I'm afraid Val's time is up and I'm on to seeing other people. I'm just now trying to wrap up another book so with luck, should you get a chance to read it, another character will take his place. Thanks for writing. I appreciate it.
Kim Zupan
Hi, Lana-- Thanks for your question and sorry for the slow response. No, he didn't kill Glenda, though he may have had he found her at home. (Bad luck for him; pretty good luck for Glenda.) I've always liked 'Valentine', too. Waited a long time for a character to fit the name.
Kim Zupan
I had an aunt who lived on a small ranch in central Montana and when she died, around 1980 as I recall, my mother and another aunt, while clearing out her house, found a Nazi armband hidden among the clothes in her dresser drawer. The real thing, made in Germany. In a somewhat different form, that mystery has indeed found its way into the book I'm now working on. I mean, how could it not?
Kim Zupan
Doug-- I've "gone to the mattresses", hard at work on the new book and closing in on a draft. I promised it to my agent by Jan. 1 but, as my pace is glacial, I may be late in getting it to him. (That's our secret, of course, right?) It's a much longer book than THE PLOUGHMEN the way it now stands.
Thanks for your interest. I do appreciate it. KZ
Thanks for your interest. I do appreciate it. KZ
Kim Zupan
Please accept my apology for being so slow to answer-- flu season is here with a vengeance.
Since I was a kid, I've been drawn to the outdoors and read about it voraciously, especially books about Montana. Ivan Doig's memoir THIS HOUSE OF SKY was an influence, as was the wonderful A.B. Guthrie novel THE BIG SKY, perhaps the best mountain man book ever written. If you haven't read these, you're in for a treat. I'd guess no one much considers him a nature writer, but few writers on the planet capture the beauty and viciousness of nature better than Cormac McCarthy. Beyond these influences, more than anything, being out in it is an inspiration and I keep my eyes and ears open-- a practice essential for both interpreting the natural world and staying alive in it.
Thanks for writing, Mike.
Since I was a kid, I've been drawn to the outdoors and read about it voraciously, especially books about Montana. Ivan Doig's memoir THIS HOUSE OF SKY was an influence, as was the wonderful A.B. Guthrie novel THE BIG SKY, perhaps the best mountain man book ever written. If you haven't read these, you're in for a treat. I'd guess no one much considers him a nature writer, but few writers on the planet capture the beauty and viciousness of nature better than Cormac McCarthy. Beyond these influences, more than anything, being out in it is an inspiration and I keep my eyes and ears open-- a practice essential for both interpreting the natural world and staying alive in it.
Thanks for writing, Mike.
Kim Zupan
Working on a new book. My superstitious nature prevents me from saying any more about it.
Kim Zupan
If you know anything about my career you might guess that I would admonish an aspiring writer to never give up or give in. If you have that fire in the belly you'll soldier on regardless. Foster the lunacy that tells you you're a writer despite ostensible evidence to the contrary. Rejection letters, for example, should be read, gleaned of any sound advice, and thrown out.
Kim Zupan
One might call it self-deception, but I deal with it by not acknowledging it, or at worst, thinking of it as an annoying but soon-departed guest. I may move to another scene or fiddle with dialogue or simply read for a while. The key is to be defiant-- and be patient.
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