Q&A With Kim Bock Author of the Fantasy Series - The Chronicles of Erenor

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Kim Bock is a highly accomplished bi-lingual Indie author and co-owner of a successful website design business in South Africa, where she collaborates with her husband, Eitel. Merging her digital creativity expertise with a deep passion for storytelling, Kim has already made a mark in the literary world with a published historical romance novel. Well-traveled and multilingual, her global experiences have intricately woven into her narrative style, providing depth to her writing. Now venturing into the fantasy genre, Kim draws inspiration from her love for fairy tales, magic, and mystical beings. Balancing her commitments to website design with her writing pursuits, Kim delves into new realms of fiction, aiming to captivate and inspire her readers with each imaginative creation.

Author Q&A

What inspired you to write your first book?

I wish I could say, like so many other authors, that they have had the desire to write since they were barely able to read. I didn’t have the desire to write, I had the desire to read! The biggest gift I could ever receive was when I learned to read. I was an only child of middle-aged parents (which I learned later adopted me), and I didn’t crave friends, I craved books. My parents bought me stacks and stacks of picture books and yes comics like Little Lotta, Richie Rich, Wendy, The Good Little Witch, Spooky and more. I’m actually Afrikaans Speaking, but all these books and comics were in English, so I grew up to be bi-lingual. When I could read and no longer just had pictures to look at, nothing could stop me. I read on my way to school, lunch breaks, after homework and until I couldn’t stay awake any longer. I never stopped. I’m 58 and I’m still a voracious reader.

At some point in my life, I thought, well maybe I could write something as well as read. My job was to negotiate in Bargaining Chambers for the second largest trade union in South Africa. I had to negotiate and therefor communicate well and afterward communicate with members of the union through Newsletters, Magazines and Press Releases. I did that so well, according to my managers, that I became the Union’s Chief Negotiator and also the primary media person.

I realized I could write and decided to write my first book in my own language (Afrikaans) and though a Romance, still on a subject I loved, namely history. I wrote the book in a couple of months, sent it off to one of the best known traditional Publishers of Afrikaans Novels and my Manuscript was accepted the first time that I submitted it. No rejections.

After that life happened and I continued working and in 2015 resigned to start a Website Design Company with my husband. I also did some freelance writing on the side, had a Bog (freelancewritingblog.com), grew my media presence to over 70 000 followers on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and then decided to sell the Blog together with the Social Media Pages on Flippa for a substantial amount.

At this stage I decided to write my second book but try to do it in my second language (English – I can understand Dutch and Flemish, some Russian and some other South African Languages. I can however also speak, understand, read and write in German, but not as a German native speaker). I always had a love for languages). I loved Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, so I wrote a Fantasy novel. The process was so enjoyable, and I loved the story so much, that I decided to break the story up in 3 parts, the first being The Last Mage, Book 1 of the Chronicles of Erenor.

My wish is that other people who also love to read, will love to follow the journey of Lysandra as much as I loved to write it. Please let me know if you do. If you didn’t love it as much, I would also like to know so that I can make the escape into another world as wonderful as it can be.

Do you have a specific writing style?

I do plan my novels. The first one (the Afrikaans Historical Romance) was my first experience as a writer and I did it by the seat of my pants as they say, but it made the process more difficult for me. I like to make lists, so I make lists and along the way I try to follow advice from people like Christopher Vogler with his Writer’s Journey, Campbell’s The Hero’s Journey, Blake Snyder’s Save the Cat and Syd Field’s Three Act Story line. I also listen to Podcasts by Joanna Penn whom I respect a lot and with all this information at hand I plot my book, write a first draft in Scrivener and use tools like Microsoft Windows, ProWritingAid and Sudowrite. And I still read a lot, mainly Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Darcy Coats and Jo Nesbo. I think my “writer’s voice” is a combination of all these other writers’ voices and a consistent voice in my head telling me more stories and more adventures. I hope this answers the question to a certain extent.

How did you come up with the title?

Everybody is writing about witches and wizards. I wanted Lysandra to be (no she insisted she wanted to be) a witch, but I didn’t want her to be just another witch from mythology, I wanted her to be her own person, so I did some research on the Great Google and looked for similes for witch, wizard or even warlock and found mage. Voila!

Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?

Although Lysandra always acts like a (excuse my language) hard ass, deep down she’s very unsure of herself. Like me, she found out she’s adopted, but she finds out that she’s descended from a long, but glorious line of Mages. She’s actually the last mage in a World where magic is dying. She decides (with some convincing from companions and an old wizard) to undertake a journey, not only to find herself and her inner strength, but also to save the world of Erenor which was becoming dark and dangerous with the dying magic and a mad King afraid of the power that Magic could bring to people who may topple him from his thrown.

Along the way, she manages to save a Dragon, make friends with all kinds of magical races, strengthen her inner being as well as her magic, and bring some inner peace to a very handsome hunter of King Draven (the mad King) who was after her to kill her and her magic. This is the “B” story of the Book.

My message is, you can find strength and belief in yourself and in others even in the moments when you least expect or want it. Of course, one of the other themes is that good always triumphs over evil and light over darkness. I sincerely hope that Lysandra’s fellow travelers (Readers of the Book) see, understand and feel these messages.

How much of the book is realistic?

As realistic as it is to save people who are lost and could be called evil and make them the champions of all that is good in the world.

Are experiences based on someone you know, or events in your own life?

In every book I write, I take myself with me and on the same adventures as all the characters. I can’t write about people I don’t know, and I know myself (good, bad and vulnerable) the best. I wouldn’t say the experiences are based on someone or something I know as I don’t really know anyone (apart from Harry Potter and the Hobbit) who really lived in a fantasy world. I would however definitely say that a piece of my mind and heart is in Lysandra, Feyla and even in Shadow, the Wolf.

What books have most influenced your life most?

The Bible, and each and every other book I have ever read.

If you had to choose, which writer would you consider a mentor?

JK Rowling and Stephen King.

What book are you reading now?

I love Biographies, particularly historical and Royal Biographies. I also love any of the advice given by Joanna Penn, so I’m reading four books at the Moment. It depends on my mood which book I actually pick up on any specific moment:

· Successful Self-Publishing by Joanna Penn

· Charles III by Robert Hardman

· Fairy Tale by Stephen King

· Cozy Witch Mysteries by Angela Pepper

Are there any new authors that have grasped your interest?

Cassandra Clare

What are your current projects?

Erenor’s Dawn, Book 2 of The Chronicles of Erenor.

Name one entity that you feel supported you outside of family members.

You have, Kindlepreneur and my circle of High School Friends. We found each other (we’re a group of four) in the middle of last year. Imagine that…we were 18 when we last saw each other and now we’re 58!

Connect with Kim online on her website at https://kimbockbooks.com

The Last Mage (The Chronicles of Erenor, Book One) is available for purchase in print and ebook formats on Amazon.

Erenor's Dawn (The Chronicles of Erenor, Book Two) is available for pre-order on Amazon with a release date of March 31, 2024.

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