Summer Splash Interview: Anna Kringle

Making a splash today on my blog, it's Anna Kringle! Here's a little bit about her, but please note that she is not the same Princess Anna with an ice Queen for a sister:
​
Anna is a bubbly fairy princess from a small country town far, far away. 

Raised around rednecks and obsessively muddy trucks, She was faced with a strange need to fill empty paper with words. So she decided she might as well write stories. With the help of her friendly mice and other neighborhood animals, she has worked very hard to make this hobby a profession, and hopes to make the world a bright and colorful place through her works.

Anna is working on her next book in between slaying dragons and leading the children of her realm on a musical revolt against normality. 

Here are the questions Anna so graciously answered for me:

​D.R.- Dancing or singing?
Anna- Both, generally at the same time. I have a soft spot for Swing dancing though.

D.R.- Beach or woods?
Anna- The beach, I think. It's a bit chilly, but I love the fresh air off the water and the tumultuous openness of the ocean.

D.R.- Coffee or tea or something else?
Anna- Both again. I love coffee, but I have a low tolerance for it. And some days just call for the soothing warmth of tea.

D.R.- What book do you recommend the most?
Anna- Hands down, The Emperor's Edge by Lindsay Buroker. It's an impressive adventure, very well written. It's my favorite to get lost in, and inspired a lot of me favorite ideas.

D.R.- How do you get ideas for stories?
Anna- From little things and big things; it all goes into my brain, gets analyzed and cross-referenced until something jumps out. It's usually a small something: a character, or a situation. And then I have to figure out how the situation came to be, and who all affected it, and before I know it, I have a story!

D.R.- Which genres do you write and what's your favorite one?
Anna- My favorite is Steampunk, all of my books have that influence. I love the quirky twist it gives to the worlds, and the freedom to create a variety of new cultures and gadgets.

D.R.- What do you do if you see your idea has already been done?
Anna- I honestly don't worry about it to much. I know that no one has my brain, so even if our stories are similar, we'll still have unique journeys. A story doesn't have to be singular to be great. It just has to be real, and have the ability to connect people.
 
D.R.- What's your best writer's block buster?
Anna- I'm sneaky: I work around it. If I can't make progress on a scene, I jump ahead and work backward toward the block. Or if I'm stuck on the whole project, I'll jump to another one until I get the gears moving again.

D.R.- What's the best advice you've gotten about writing?
Anna- Probably “Leave well enough alone.” It's part of the creative life to always want to “fix” your creations; they never appear good enough to ourselves. I've had to train myself to let go and put it forward anyways, accepting that it's great as it is, and allowing myself to be proud of the accomplishment.

D.R.- Tell me about the biggest surprise your own character, story, or setting has given you.
Anna- Ooh, I can't tell you that... It hasn't been published yet! My characters surprise me regularly though. I have had great plans for them, only to have them choose a different path in the final draft. It's actually quite heartening. I like knowing I can be surprised by my own imagination.
 
For even more about Anna, you can find her just about everywhere on the internet. She's even on DeviantArt! Here's the rest: Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, Google+, Author Central, Barnes and Noble, and her website.