Today the Storytelling Blog visits with Debbie Manber Kupfer, a writer, editor, and puzzle constructor. She lives in St. Louis with her family including two very opinionate felines. She’s the author of the YA fantasy saga P.A.W.S. and a number of children’s picture books. Her puzzles have appeared in Penny Press and Dell Magazines, on the walls of the Eltana Bagel Bakery, and on a mug produced by the Unemployed Philosophers Guild. She believes that with enough tea and dark chocolate you can solve every enigma in the world! She has just published (June 22, 2023) the latest book in her YA fantasy series, the P.A.W.S. Saga. We talked via email about her books and the writing process.

KB: Your audience spans kids to adults and covers several genres. What themes unify your body of work? What can our blog readers expect and where should they start? Is the P.A.W.S. Saga the best way in?

DMK: Well, most of my stories include at least one cat (or at least a creature that acts like a cat). And nearly all of my stories take place in the same world. It’s interesting. I’ll start something new and be sure that this was about somewhere completely different and yet later the characters will turn up in my P.A.W.S. Saga. That is true with my dragon from my children’s book, Adana the Earth Dragon, and my fairy, Esmeralda Grunch.

Also my werecat Griddlebone who first appeared in a short horror story I wrote for Sins of the Past ended up being a regular character in the P.A.W.S. Saga from book three onwards, and I absolutely never imagined that would be the case when I wrote the story.

Where to start? Well, it depends who you are. For adults and teens I recommend starting with book one of my YA fantasy saga, P.A.W.S. If you have little ones start them with one of my picture books like Adana the Earth Dragon.

KB: You’ve edited and published several anthologies. How did you get into that area? What are the challenges and rewards?

DMK: Actually, the only anthology that I’m the publisher of is Catstruck!, my most recent one. I took over as editor and publisher of this book when its original publisher, my friend Stephanie Barr, was having family issues and had to step away. I adored working on this book and loved working with the authors. All the stories are very different, and so far we have raised around $400 for Tenth Life Cat Rescue, a local St. Louis shelter.

Apart from Catstruck! I’m the editor of a series of horror anthologies, Sins of Time. This also came about because of a friend walking away from the project and another friend and I taking over. This was an interesting experience for me. I’m not normally a horror reader, and yet I discovered I enjoyed writing and editing in the genre (mostly).

Apart from those two I have stories in Fauxpocalypse, Heroes and Villains, Shades of Fear, Darkly Never After, Corvid 19, 13 Candles, Meoween, Stardust Always, and several more. I kind of fell into each project and loved the challenges they offered. I consider writing for anthologies a way to experiment in different genres.

KB: Tell us about your P.A.W.S. Saga series and the new book. A long running series is a big commitment. How do you keep up the inspiration for that?

DMK: I want to know how it ends, and the only way to find that out is to keep writing it! When I first started writing P.A.W.S. back in 2012 I had no idea that I was creating a monster! I thought it might be a standalone or maybe a trilogy, but then the story got too big to finish in so few books, so I determined it would take as long as it needed to.

So, this June I’m publishing book ten in the series and it’s still (much to the chagrin of my husband) not over. At this stage I think it might be finished at twelve – maybe.

In the new book, Madarak, which comes out on the tenth anniversary (June 22) of the original release of P.A.W.S., we are going to Bird Con. A lot of the P.A.W.S. shapeshifters and animagi take the form of birds, so it felt fitting that they would have a convention just for their kind. Two intrepid Alaskan P.A.W.S. students, Jayda, an albatross shifter, and Timothy, an avian animagus with many forms, have decided to hitchhike all the way from Alaska to Nashville where the convention is taking place, because of course that’s too far to fly on their own wings and they don’t have the money for a plane. What could possibly go wrong? Well, just about everything. You can meet Jayda and Timothy and a whole host of old and new friends in Madarak.

KB: Any words of advice for writers working on a second book in a series?

DMK: Keep a detailed timeline and character list and update it whenever you add a new character or significant event. Family trees are useful too.

KB: What are you working on next? More P.A.W.S. Saga?

DMK: Book eleven of my series! I don’t know the title yet, but I have a few chapters written and a general direction of where it’s going.

KB: What is your writing process? Does your puzzler career have an impact on your writing process?

DMK: I write in the morning before I allow myself to go online. The internet, in particular Facebook, is my biggest timesuck.

I’m a plantster. The first book of the P.A.W.S. Saga was completely spontaneous writing, but writing a series requires a little bit of planning. While I don’t start off with an outline, I usually end up creating one about halfway through each book as I start to get a little lost. And I guess yes, there is a puzzle element to this. I have a tendency to write out of order and sometimes putting it all together in the end is a little like solving a huge logic puzzle.

KB: What does storytelling mean to you?

DMK: Interesting question. I think it’s about letting the characters tell their stories. In my world there’s no such thing as an insignificant character. Every character I create is the main character in their own story just like in real life. I listen to their voices and let whoever wishes to tell their tale come forward. Together it makes the whole picture.

KB: I notice much of your proceeds benefit charities. How important is that as a motivator for your work ethic?

DMK: It’s a strong motivator in joining anthologies. I, on the whole, have had a better experience in working on anthology projects when the money is going to charity rather than being divided up between the participants. It was the only way I was willing to take over Catstruck! and I’m very proud of the money we’ve raised.

I also donate the money I raise from the sales of my short memoir, The Big C, about going through cancer treatment, to the breast cancer charity, Knitted Knockers. That book is all about giving back and helping women who are going through what I did. I’m very grateful that I’m a survivor and felt it important to share my experience with others. 

KB: Any final thoughts?

DMK: I love hearing from readers. Please keep in touch via my website – debbiemanberkupfer.wordpress.com or FB — https://www.facebook.com/DebbieManberKupferAuthor. Or join my newsletter at http://eepurl.com/cRhORP for a free copy of Tales from P.A.W.S. – a set of short stories set in the world of P.A.W.S..

If you enjoyed this author interview, you might like to hear about author Paul Jameson’s take on fairy tales, myths, and legends.

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Last year the St. Louis Writers Guild published Love Letters to St. Louis. This adorable letter-shaped volume of short stories, poems, essays, and illustrations includes my first science fiction story, “Welcome to Earthport Prime: A Self-Guided Tour.” Profits benefit the guild’s young writers’ program.