Anne Kane

I don’t remember a time when I didn’t make up stories. I used to tell stories to my little sister when I was a child, and I even attempted to write a book when I was ten. Then of course, life intervened and it was decades before I gave writing another try.

The imagery and the ability to make things up really drew me to the science fiction and fantasy genres. I love to make things up. I have a very active imagination, and those categories allow me to use it. I’ve always been a fan of Star Trek, The Hobbit, Serenity, Lord of the Rings, Anne McCaffrey’s Pern, Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica so it wasn’t a tremendous leap to write science fiction and fantasy.

Over the years, I’ve developed routines that help me stay focused on my writing. I have a dedicated writing computer that does not have all the social media connections on it (they are such time syncs!) In the summer I like to go out to the backyard and sit in the gazebo with my feet up to write. I’m less likely to be distracted out there. In the winter, I’m usually on the sofa in the living room. I’ve also found I write better in the early morning. I’m not much of a night owl.

The Okanagan Valley is a place I know well, so I can write about it without doing a lot of research. If I set a story in the Maritimes, I’d have to make sure it was realistic and that pulls me out of the creative mindset.

Hiking and kayaking are relaxing and solitary hobbies which give me some quiet time to think about plots, characters and storylines. I’m not sure if they influence it, but I can incorporate elements of them into my stories when I need to.

Sometimes they do, but more often they inspire me to make up a unique type of animal in the story. I’ve found I like to give my characters a pet. In fantasy or sci-fi the pet is often something other than a cat or dog. It’s fun to make up furry characters with quirky personalities!

Character development is challenging when the character is not human. I have to consider how a being from another planet would react as opposed to how a human would, but at the same time their reactions have to make sense to a human reader. I make up character bios for each before I begin writing the story.

In my stories, love still conquers all, and romance is more important than anything else to my characters. I always make sure there is a happy ending, even if it’s on Mars or some other undiscovered part of the galaxy. In that aspect, it’s not very different from writing contemporary romance.

Not really. I was just in the mood to write something humorous, and Kitty Kat was the result.

I think everyone who writes has experienced writers' block at some point. Usually, I pivot and write a short story that differs totally from the one I’m stuck on. Sometimes it helps, and sometimes it gives me the space to see what the problem is with the story I’m stuck on

My family members don’t directly influence my writing, but I hope they will all get their own happily ever after.

I think hiking is the most rejuvenating of my hobbies. I joke I don’t jog, or power walk. My hiking is more of a casual meandering around fields and forests where I don’t run into anyone else. I always have the dogs with me, and they snuffle around and warn me if there’s wildlife to watch out for. I just wander behind them with no real destination. I call it hiking but true hikers would dispute that description!

I read such a wide variety of authors and genres that I don’t think any one or two of them have a real impact on my storytelling approach. I do sometimes note things such as how an author tends to end chapters on cliffhangers, or how another might avoid gritty details in a murder mystery. I find it fascinating how Kelley Armstrong can write in first person with more than one point of view, but I’ve never actually tried that myself. I have a feeling I’d just confuse the heck out of the reader.

I joined AllAuthor in the summer of 2023 so it’s been less than a year but I it has been a pleasant experience. I featured one of my books, and I love the weekly graphics and tweets that are done for it. Holding down a full time job, writing and having other hobbies and family obligations leaves me with limited time to promote my work and I appreciate anything that makes that part of the author's life easier for me.