“People always ask me where I get my ideas. I think of inspiration as dominoes. You just need that one idea to knock over that first domino and then it all spirals into a novel,” says Wilkes-Barre native and sophomore at Elizabethtown College, Kat Momenzadeh. She published Desert Rose, her first novel, with Edwardsville Indie Press, McCarren Publishing just before her senior year of high school. Now, just after turning 19, Momenzadeh has published the second novel in her Desert Rose trilogy, Midnight Rose.
In Midnight Rose, the main character, Princess Neterra, leaves her home, and must masquerade as a servant to protect the heir to her kingdom. As a deadly plot is uncovered and old enemies are revealed, Neterra’s journey becomes more than just an effort to protect the heir, she must also protect herself. In the first book of her trilogy, Desert Rose, the feisty Princess Neterra finds herself sold into slavery, where she discovers a world of vampires and other beings, and how they play a part in her own bloodline.
While the overall setting in her trilogy is based on Medieval times, what makes Momenzadeh’s trilogy special is how her own life experience has inspired her novels.
The summer before her senior year of high school, Momenzadeh got involved in a program called People to People, a student ambassador group. The group invited Momenzadeh to tour England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales for three weeks. She discusses how the trip created a more realistic and personal approach to her second book.
“Neterra goes from being the princess of her own land to pretending to be a servant in a new kingdom that she’s never been to before. So when I first wrote Midnight Rose, I kind of took for granted that Neterra would be able to adapt easily to the whole change of setting and social class. After I went to England, I realized that it was difficult for me to adjust, and it would also be hard for Neterra—who’s completely changing where and how she’s been raised and growing up.”
Another element to Momenzadeh’s writing involves one of her hobbies, dancing. She began dancing as a child and continues in Elizabethtown’s dance company, called Emotions. “I like to create the mannerisms of a dancer in my characters—very strong and confident in themselves, and in what they’re doing. The characters don’t stay as dancers once I rewrite, but I keep those dancer-like characteristics and qualities. In fact, the setting for Desert Rose,” Momenzadeh explains, “was inspired after watching a middle eastern infused modern dance to Sting’s song, ‘Desert Rose.’ ”
Aside from dancing, Momenzadeh’s age has also been a major factor in her writing. Being a teenager when she published her first book, and tailoring her books to a teenage audience has changed her life. While most teens were riding bikes, playing video games, or practicing musical instruments or sports, Momenzadeh was home studiously scribbling notes for her books. She says, “I’m not crazy, I swear. I just love writing.”
Luckily, for Momenzadeh and her readers she kept working hard. She was very modest when reflecting on the difficulty involved in being a young and published author entering a university setting. “I tried to keep my publishing experience a secret because I wasn’t sure how people would react. I didn’t want my professors or peers to treat me differently because I was published. But my attempts at hiding it didn’t stay a secret for long. I was relieved when the teachers still graded me fairly and the school ended up writing a few articles on me for the paper. All of the sudden, I heard comments like: Kat, you’re that girl whose book is in the campus bookstore. It was all very flattering.”
Now Momenzadeh’s books are for sale nationwide and can be found on MySpace and Internet bookstores as well. Desert Rose and her new book, Midnight Rose, are also available direct from the publisher at http://www.mccarrenpublishing.com/. For those of you who are interested in meeting an up and coming, well-spoken local author, Momenzadeh will be reading and signing copies of her work at Barnes & Nobles on South Main Street in Wilkes-Barre at 1:00 pm—Saturday September, 15th.
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