We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Kim Berkley. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Kim below.
Kim, so great to be with you and I think a lot of folks are going to benefit from hearing your story and lessons and wisdom. Imposter Syndrome is something that we know how words to describe, but it’s something that has held people back forever and so we’re really interested to hear about your story and how you overcame imposter syndrome.
I’m not sure I ever “overcame” imposter syndrome so much as learned to live with it and create despite it. Years of positive feedback and encouragement from loved ones, readers, and fellow writers have helped me to some degree, but I think what helped even more were all the stories I’ve read about other creators who have also struggled with feeling like fakes.
It was really eye-opening to see just how many of the best storytellers and artists have always sort of felt like they were just making things up as they went along and “getting away with it” for as long as they could. I realized that I had a choice: I could let my doubts drag me down, or I could see the creative process for what it really is: playing pretend.
So every day I sit down at my desk to write, I pretend that the stories I’m telling are true stories about real, living, breathing people—no matter how fantastic or horrifying they turn out to be. And I pretend the person telling those stories (me) is someone who knows what they’re doing.
Sometimes, I even believe it.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
The short answer is, I’m a writer. I spend my days exploring magical (and sometimes spooky) realms in my mind and then trying to commit them to paper and screen.
I write traditional fiction (short stories, poetry here and there, and—eventually—novels) as well as interactive fiction (IF) novels, which allow the reader to roleplay and make choices that influence the direction of the narrative. I’m also currently working with the English localization team for the Korean MMORPG, ‘Lost Ark.’
So far, I’ve published a couple of IF novels and some poetry, and I’ve got two more projects currently in the works—’The Dragon’s Last Flight,’ a visual novel, and another fantasy IF novel (title TBD).
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Skills like reading and writing would be the obvious choices here. So I’m going to go with three less obvious ones.
Curiosity, I think, has played a vital role in my development as both a storyteller and human being. The rabbit holes down which I have chased my curiosity have, more often than not, led to inspiration—sparks that eventually became stories. It’s also a great asset for when you’re digging through lots and lots (and lots) of research during the planning phase of a project. Some folks would be surprised at how much research can and does go into writing fantasy fiction.
Patience is another big one. It takes time to come up with ideas, and even more to develop them into fully fledged narratives. Writing those stories down—and then rewriting them, sometimes more than once—is an exercise in patience unlike any other.
And finally, I’d point to empathy. I put a lot of work into my characters in particular, and it takes empathy to not only understand but effectively convey beliefs and viewpoints different from your own. I also think audiences can pick up on whether creators care about their characters or not. When I’m in the reader’s chair, it’s a huge turn-off when I feel like the writer has no feelings whatsoever about their own creations. It makes the story feel flat and empty.
Empathy has also inspired many of my stories. For example, ‘chiaroscuro’ was born in part from a sense of solidarity with other creatives who have struggled with issues of identity and imposter syndrome (and maybe still do), and the player’s compassion (or lack thereof) plays a major role in determining the direction the story takes in ‘The Dragon’s Last Flight.’
To foster curiosity, ask questions and be willing to track down the answers yourself. To foster patience, practice mindfulness techniques like meditation and acceptance. To foster empathy, start by reminding yourself—as often as you can—that pain is a universal experience, though the specific ways in which we experience it are unique. Everyone is going through something. And pay attention. The more you strive to know and understand your fellow human beings, the harder it will be NOT to feel something for them. (Usually.)
To close, maybe we can chat about your parents and what they did that was particularly impactful for you?
My parents read with my brother and me when we were younger. This opened so many doors for us.
Obviously, it taught us vital literacy skills. It brought us closer together as a family. It led to a lifelong obsession with collecting books (and somehow never quite having enough bookshelves for them all, no matter how many we buy).
But most importantly, we inherited our parents’ love of stories, especially the fantastical kind. Reading together eventually became reading on my own, which became the rich soil in which the seed of an idea would one day be planted: “I want to inspire other people the way these authors have inspired me.”
That seed became a tree. A story. My story—the first of a forest now full of them.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://storytellerkim.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/storyteller.kim/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/storytellerkim
Image Credits
Kim Berkley
