Author Kay Hooper

So, bios are usually filled with facts you probably already know, and can certainly find elsewhere, like date of birth and place of birth and number of siblings, stuff like that. Since we’re updating this site, and since I’ve been a writer for decades now, I figure most of those facts you can find for yourself if you’re curious.

Google is, whether you’re paranoid about it or not, all-knowing.

As far as I’m concerned, the two most important facts that belong in my bio are, one, writing is not a job to me it’s a necessity and, two, my second vocation in life is animal rescue in all its various aspects and incarnations.

The writing is, I believe, self-evident. I’ve written close to a hundred books and novellas, which is pretty good evidence that this was never just a hobby to me. I have written everything from series romance to suspense/thrillers, contemporary and historical, with a couple of first-person mysteries thrown in because I wanted to know if I could. I am proud of my romance roots; I was fortunately to be able to serve a kind of apprenticeship in romance, where the demand for books was constant, for nearly a decade, and it was there I began to learn my craft.

You’re always learning, by the way, even after nearly a hundred books.

My romances virtually always had “something more” in terms of plot elements. There was usually a mystery to be solved, or some kind of suspense or danger or, in a few cases, humor. My characters have always been real people to me, including the animal characters, and the love story – though affected by external factors as love stories usually are – was virtually always dealing with a conflict based on psychological issues. My characters are survivors, and some of them have survived horrendous attacks, abuse, or tragedies; I like survivors, people who have overcome difficulties in their lives to go on and be useful, productive, interesting people.

So it was never as simple for me as: he’s a land developer and she’s a conservationist; or he’s a rich man and she comes from poverty. (Those are issues, to be sure, but not the sort that interested me.)

My first novel featured a Regency heroine who, masked and cloaked and carrying a gun, rode a huge black stallion as she robbed coaches. In the parlance of the time, she was a highwayman(woman). That was probably as good an indication as I could offer of things to come: the setting may or may not be ordinary, but the characters are likely to be something different, and driven by strong motives.

But it is important to note, I believe, that in some fashion or another, a love story will always be at the heart of what I write, and that I will always be in search of a satisfying ending. (Though, writing a series, you don’t really “end” you just continue on to the next installment of your epic.)

It is and has been from the beginning the way I earn my living but, even more, it’s my superpower. Yes, you read that correctly. I believe everyone has a superpower, and that’s mine. I am a writer. My mind works differently, as creative minds do, and over the years I’ve learned to understand that it doesn’t make me crazy – just a writer.

For instance, for a writer, ideas come easily and often. "Where do you get your ideas?" is a question that honestly baffles most writers because, to us, ideas are everywhere. So that's why you see that funny expression on most of our faces when you ask that innocent question; to us, it's sort of amazing that other people's minds don't find story ideas everywhere.

That's my superpower: writing. What's yours?

As for the animal rescue advocacy, I've spoken about that elsewhere, including on this site. I'll only say here that I hope you're lucky enough to have close relationships with companion animals, because they have so much to teach us, and I hope if you have kids you raise them to love and respect animals for the same reason.

Finally, if you want to know me, read my books. There are bits of me in all of them, of course. In every character, every line of dialogue, every plot and every plot twist. And in every hopeful ending. I give you all of that with every book.

And, hey, I also give you my nightmares. Because life is more mysterious and more exciting when things go bump in the dark. You knew that, right?

Hope you enjoy my work. I so enjoy giving it to you.

Kay's Fun Facts
Did You Know? ... my first book was a Regency?

... Hawke's scar in On Wings of Magic wasn't a scar at all?

... If There Be Dragons, published in 1984, presented my first psychic heroine?

... the Delaney project began simply because Iris, Fayrene, and I were planning a trip to Arizona and thought we could all "get a book out of it"?

... I've written for more than half a dozen publishers. My relationship with Bantam continued for more than 26 years.

... the cliffhanger endings of the first set of Delaney historicals were due to an editorial request?

... I was 22 when I sold my first book?

... Bishop and Cassie (from Stealing Shadows) are distant cousins?