Interview with Kait Nolan

 

Hey all you readers and writers! Emma Michaels here to introduce our guest author of the day:

Kait Nolan

Hello Kait and welcome to The Writers Voice!

What part of your first novel did you find hardest to write?

Finishing! And ultimately declaring it actually finished instead of polishing and changing forever trying to make it perfect.

What scares you most?

We’re planning on starting a family in the next couple of years, and I’m terrified that either I will resent my kid because they aren’t dogs that can be tossed in the back yard when I need to work, or that I’ll lose the momentum I’ve been building in my writing career until they’re old enough to go to school.

Do you start writing when you have a plot mapped out or start plotting when you have started writing based off a spark of inspiration?

Sometimes I’ll start with a spark of an idea, and I might go ahead and jot out that scene while it’s fresh, but for the most part I’m a plotter. I prefer to have the major plot points sorted out, kind of like planning a road trip and knowing what places I want to stop. I might take a few detours in between, but I need those major stops.

Was there ever a moment when you wouldn’t trade what you do as an author for the world? What was that moment for you?

Um, pretty much any moment. I’m not happy doing anything else. I write paranormal romance and urban fantasy—what does real, normal life, full of staff meetings and boredom, have to compare to new worlds and adventures and butt-kicking?

Aspiring writers often hear, "Read what you want to write," "Hone your writing craft." and, above all else, "Be patient." What other advice would you give them?

Never stop working to improve. Never think you’ve learned everything there is to learn. Whatever you read, whatever you watch, there’s something you can learn to better your own work.

Is there rhyme and reason to how you choose character traits?

It’s a combination, really. Some characters just show up, and I’ll know that they’re outgoing or shy, diplomatic or honest to a fault. But those are just broad strokes. There are a lot of other things, the things that really make them real that pop up as I’m writing. Sometimes I don’t know what will come out until I put them in a particular situation. And it’s that combination of planned and organic that makes new characters so much fun.

To all our readers out there, thank you for following The Writers Voice and happy reading!