An Interview with Author Kimberly Baer
This month I'm featuring Kimberly Baer to talk about her paranormal/sci-fi young adult novel, Out of Body (The Wild Rose Press, February 19, 2024).
Kimberly Baer wrote her first story at age six. It was about a baby chick that hatched out of a little girl's Easter egg after somehow surviving the hard-boiling process. Nowadays she writes in a variety of genres, including young adult, middle grade, and adult romantic suspense. She lives in Virginia, where she likes to go powerwalking on days when it's not too hot, too cold, too rainy, too snowy, or too windy. On indoor days, you’re likely to find her hard at work on her next novel or binge-watching old episodes of Survivor, her favorite guilty pleasure.
Welcome to the blog, Kimberly! We're glad you've come to visit with us. So, let's get started.
Your bio on your website mentions that in addition to writing, you are also a professional editor. Does your work as an editor influence your writing? Do you feel you have an easy or difficult time turning off your “editor” when writing?
It’s definitely hard for me to turn off my inner editor when I’m writing. Anytime I see words strung together on a page, my first instinct is to edit, edit, edit—even if I wrote those words myself mere seconds earlier. Moreover, my first drafts tend to be so bad that reading back over them demoralizes me, so I feel compelled to polish as I go. I compromise by writing one scene at a time, editing it just to the point where it doesn’t make me want to throw up, and then moving on to the next scene. I try (!) to hold off on the heavy-duty editing until I have a complete draft.
Please tell us a little about your novel Out of Body.
Abby Kendrick is a contemporary teen whose life takes an unexpected turn when she discovers she has the ability to astral project. At first, she goes a little crazy with her new superpower, and she doesn’t always use it in the nicest ways. But when a life-or-death situation arises on the astral plane, Abby abandons her adolescent shenanigans and seeks help from a fellow traveler—a boy she detests. Her journey throughout the story is one of growth as she deals with social isolation, unrequited love, mean girls, troubling family dynamics, and most notably, the perils of astral projection.
Can you tell us more about how you came up with this idea and what readers can expect?
Sometimes I dream that I’m flying, and at one point I wondered, “What if these aren’t dreams? What if my spirit actually leaves my body when I’m sleeping and goes flitting around town?” My next thought was, “What a great premise for a novel!” Readers can expect a wild ride as they zip around the world (and beyond!) with Abby.
What kind of research did you do for Out of Body? How much research did you do before starting the writing process?
Before I started writing Out of Body, I’d never read a book about astral projection, either fiction or nonfiction. I did a bit of internet research as I was writing, and that was where I learned about the sutratma (the silvery cord that connects astral travelers to their bodies). But the logistics of Abby’s out-of-body experiences come largely from my imagination. Assuming astral projection is a real thing, I probably stretched the limits of possibility. But, hey, that’s what fiction is all about, right?
Inspire us: Do you have any “writing rituals” or habits you practice before you sit down to write? If so, what are they?
When I'm starting a new story, I place a series of writing tips and motivational reminders in the header and footer of the MS Word document. For example, “Know each scene’s purpose. It must advance the plot, add necessary context, or support character development.” “Don’t despair over writer’s block. As you write, you’ll get ideas you never thought of before.” Et cetera. Each time I open the document to work on the story, I read over those reminders to keep myself on track and spur a can-do mindset.
What theme or message do you hope readers will take away from your work?
Most of my stories are aimed at a young adult audience, and my intent is not just to entertain but also to uplift and inspire. Life can be tough, and my stories reflect that. My characters endure all sorts of hardships, but in the end they prevail. They come through their struggles stronger and wiser. I hope my readers—regardless of their age—can draw strength from that message, to internalize it. I want them to know that no matter what life throws at them, they can get through it.
What are some of your biggest writing influences and what have you learned from them?
Janet Fitch and Tana French are two authors I admire because of their brilliant characterizations. Fitch’s White Oleander and French’s The Secret Place both feature teenage characters so real that you can almost smell their shampoo. These novels and others like them remind me that although all story elements are important—plot, theme, setting, etc.—characters are the most critical. It’s the characters that draw us into a story, whether we love them, hate them, identify with them, or recognize them as people we know in real life. Characters form the heart of every story.
About Out of Body
Those weird dreams Abby Kendrick has been having? Turns out they aren’t dreams after all. They’re out-of-body experiences, like the ones her cousin Logan is having. At first Abby has fun with her new ability, using it to spy on her neighborhood crush and spook a mean girl. But when Logan gets in trouble on the astral plane, the game changes, and Abby must bend the rules of out-of-body travel as she journeys to a distant realm. Her mission is a perilous one, and success is not guaranteed. Can she save Logan and find her way home again? Or will the cousins be lost forever on the astral plane?
Excerpt
It had been a tiny, meaningless dream. Not much to offer plot-wise. Why was it thumping so insistently inside me?
You know why, said a firm, quiet voice in my mind.
But I don’t.
You do. It’s because—
I walked faster, trying to outrace the voice. Knowing I couldn’t.
—because there was something different about that dream.
No, there wasn’t!
Something strange.
“No,” I said, as if uttering the word aloud would give it more weight. “It was just a dream. A normal, stupid dream that didn’t mean a thing.”
Except it didn’t feel like a dream.
Yes, it did.
It felt like real life.
That’s crazy! That’s impossible! That’s—
Like. Real. Life.
The words slammed into me like three bullets. I stopped walking.
Like real life. That was how Logan had described his dreams before he’d realized they were out-of-body experiences.
Had the Roscoe dream been an OBE?
“No,” I moaned, sagging against a hefty oak tree in the Hoffmans’ front yard.
It wasn’t true. It couldn’t be. Out-of-body travel was Logan’s thing, not mine. I was letting my imagination run wild. My mother always said I was impressionable.
Then again, was it so crazy to think I might have the same weird ability Logan had? After all, we were cousins. Maybe it was a trait we shared, like our thin brown hair and knobby knees.
A violent shiver rippled through me, even though the sun was once more warming the air. The notion that I might have left my body like a dead person and flown off into the night was terrifying.
And also exhilarating.
To find out more about Kimberly and her books, please visit her website at www.kimberlybaer.com.
Thank you for joining us, Kimberly, and for sharing both your writing insights and the story of how Out of Body came to be!
Until next time,
P.S. — Be the first to know. Follow this link to subscribe to my newsletter.
About the Author
Minnesota-based author, Joie Lesin is a life-long fiction writer and the author of The Passenger. She has long been fascinated by anything otherworldly including ghosts. She loves to write a good ghost story—especially when it includes a touch of romance.