Naomi Kinsman: Asking the Scary Questions

Naomi Kinsman, the churchgoing child of two pastors, dreamed of becoming a writer. “The opportunity to immerse myself in the words of another world was magical for me,” she says. She simply never thought she would write about faith. Her new book, Brilliant Hues, the fourth novel in the Christian middle grade series From Sadie's Sketchbook (Zonderkidz), will be published in September.

Her journey from aspiring writer to published author, like her faith, was filled with challenges and changes. Her book Spilled Ink (Chimney Sweep Farms, 2008) won the 2009 Moonbeam Gold Medal for Educational/Activity Book. When she began Shades of Truth (2011), the first novel in the Sketchbook series, faith was not the sole focus of the story. “I knew it was a coming-of-age story about a young girl trying to figure out what she believes about the world,” Kinsman says. “When a young person asks me, 'Is this right or wrong?' It’s not a big step to ask, “Is God real?”

Although she wanted her character to explore these questions, they made Kinsman, who is a Christian, uncomfortable. “It was frightening for me to write about faith,” she says. “I was taught that there is a fundamental right and wrong. Things were true or not true. It was scary to say out loud what my questions were.” She chose the scary. Twelve-year-old Sadie Douglas, the series' main character, finds her new faith tested as she copes with cross-country moves, her mother's illness and, in the new book, changing friendships and threats to her safety. “For me,” Kinsman says, “faith has become a journey rather than a set of answers.”

Kinsman grew up attending her parents' Foursquare church in Oregon. In second grade, she won a writing contest; Her prize was meeting writers who took their stories seriously. “That’s what made me who I became,” she says. Kinsman studied theater at Seattle Pacific University and has written and directed more than 50 plays for young adults. She earned an MFA in YA writing from Hamline University and self-published her first book, Luconeth, a middle grade fantasy, in 2003. This experience helped her appreciate but also inspired her to work with a traditional publisher. “Seeing my book in readers’ hands motivated me and continues to motivate me throughout the long process of learning my craft,” she says.

Kinsman, who lives in San Jose with her husband, also works as an assistant regional advisor for the San Francisco South chapter of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators.

When she's not writing, she supports aspiring young writers at her creative writing club, the Society of Young Inklings. Like her character Sadie, she also enjoys drawing. Both writing and drawing require a change in perspective, she says. “You slow down, see more nuances and see other points of view.”