Kate Brauning!
She wrote this awesome book:
Can you tell a little about yourself
and your background?
Kate
is an author of young adult fiction. She earned her B.A. in English literature,
then went on to teach high school English, and intern with a publishing house
and a literary agency. She now edits adult and YA fiction for Entangled
Publishing. She’s represented by Carlie Webber of CK Webber Associates, with
her debut YA contemporary HOW WE FALL coming November 2014 from Merit Press,
F+W Media. Kate loves high concept suspense, speculative or contemporary, and
fresh, quirky contemporary stories. Diversity, messy relationships, and clever,
voicey writing will catch her eye. Regardless of genre, she loves fast-paced
character-driven stories that make her think and carry her into the pages. She
can be found on Twitter at @KateBrauning or on her
website at www.katebrauning.com.
Did you always want to be an author?
If so, what made you want to become one? If not, what did you want to be
instead?
I’ve
wanted to be an author since I was twelve. I read a lot, mostly books I checked
out from my local library, and I had so much fun browsing through the stacks
that I decided I wanted to see one of my books there someday.
What were some of your favorite
novels when you were a teen?
I’m a diehard Harry Potter fan, and
I grew up, oddly, reading a lot of westerns and mysteries. I didn’t start
reading YA until college!
What was the last book that you
read?
Warm
Bodies by Isaac Marion. It’s brilliant and
funny and so sharply written, and who could resist a zombie falling in love?
When reading, do you prefer eBooks
or traditional paper/hard back books?
I love both—but ownership is
important to me, and I don’t feel like I own an e-book. I love e-books for
sales and trying new authors and for bringing a ton of reading on vacation, but
if I love a book or the author, I buy a physical copy. Just to make it mine.
Where is your favorite writing
spot? Your favorite reading spot?
I’ll read anywhere, but it’s hard to
beat my couch or my porch swing on a nice day. I write either in my library or
in my studio.
Describe your writing spot in
detail.
My husband and I run a studio that
shares a building with a wine bar/café, and I do a lot of writing there. It’s a
subscription-based studio where creative professionals can pay a monthly fee to
use the space whenever they need. It has big windows, a hardwood floor, and
easy access to wine and coffee. There’s also a high table I use as a standing desk, which
is really helpful for someone who tries to avoid sitting all day!
Do you ever get writer’s block?
If so, how do you deal with it?
I don’t, actually. I tend to believe
writer’s block only happens if I’m not putting enough ideas/stories into my
head, or if I push myself to exhaustion. I make a point to sleep enough, even
when I’m under tight deadlines, and I’m almost never not reading a book. The
issue for me is often sorting through all the ideas for a story that I do have,
and paring them down to the ones that are best for that particular book.
What is the hardest thing about
writing? The easiest?
Good question. The hardest thing
about writing, for me, is not doubting myself. Questioning and challenging myself,
of course, but not letting my insecurities or what-ifs limit what I’m willing
to do. The easiest thing? Enjoying it. I never thought I’d enjoy my career as
much as I do. It’s demanding and consuming, but it’s also thrilling and
rewarding and fascinating and just plain fun.
Describe your writing process.
I
spend a long time concepting the story–living in the story mentally, churning
scenes around, and figuring out the focus– before I actually start drafting it.
Once I start drafting, I try to fast-draft the first act so I can see how
things work out when I write them into the situation and the environment. Then I
go back and heavily revise that first third to get all the layers in place and
make any changes to the plot/characters that I thought of along the way. After
I have the first act solidly drafted and revised, then I finish drafting the
rest of the book.
When you write, do you have an
outline or plot or do you like to just see where an idea takes you?
I used to just go with my idea and
see where it took me, but I’ve discovered I write in problems that are tough to
revise my way out of, and I end up missing a lot of layers and events that
really should be part of the story. I’ve settled into spending more time
exploring the story first, and at least plotting the major arc, before I write
too much of it.
Any advice for those who inspire
to be an author?
To study writing fiction, and not
just keep writing draft after draft. Practice is definitely important, but
there’s so much to storytelling that I’d struggle to pick up just from
practicing. How the human attention span works, what makes people curious, what
puts them on edge, how to make concepts interesting, the difference between
theme and message, identifying and then connecting with your readers, etc.
Reading good books on craft and hearing great authors speak has been invaluable
to me, so definitely do that.
Also, read. And read more than you
think you might need to. At least a book a week, if not two. It will show you
what’s out there, help you identify voice, and help you see how others did what
you want to do.
Which authors inspire you?
So, so many. Courtney Summers,
Carrie Mesrobian, Stieg Larsson, Rick Yancy, Gillian Flynn—there are so many
genius authors out there.
Can you give a brief summary of
your book?
Sure! Here’s the blurb:
Ever
since Jackie moved to her uncle's sleepy farming town, she's been flirting way
too much--and with her own cousin, Marcus.
Her friendship with him has turned into something she can't control, and he's
the reason Jackie lost track of her best friend, Ellie, who left for...no one
knows where. Now Ellie has been missing for months, and the police, fearing the
worst, are searching for her body. Swamped with guilt and the knowledge that
acting on her love for Marcus would tear their families apart, Jackie pushes
her cousin away. The plan is to fall out of love, and, just as she hoped he
would, Marcus falls for the new girl in town. But something isn't right about
this stranger, and Jackie's suspicions about the new girl's secrets only drive
the wedge deeper between Jackie and Marcus.
Then Marcus is forced to pay the price for someone else's lies as the mystery
around Ellie's disappearance starts to become horribly clear. Jackie has to
face terrible choices. Can she leave her first love behind, and can she go on
living with the fact that she failed her best friend?
Where do your ideas for your
books come from?
Bits and pieces of things I find
interesting, I think. Sometimes several of them will connect, and I’ll think it
might make a story. Good books and good TV give me ideas, as do people and their
stories.
How did you come up with your
cover?
My publishing house designed it,
actually! The charm bracelet is something Ellie and Jackie share, and water is
important to the story, too. I think they did a great job designing it, and I
really love the colors.
Which character, if any, can you
personally relate to?
I really loved writing Jackie,
because there’s a big piece of me as a teen in her. Self-conscious, wanting to
be braver than I was, frequently filtering what I said or saying the opposite
of what I meant. Confident, but scared of rejection. Fighting with what I
wanted, and not sure which step to take next. She’s not me, of course—we’re
different in a lot of ways. But there are definitely elements of her character
that are familiar to me. J
What type of research is
involved when you are writing?
Depending on the book, I’ve
researched everything from state-by-state cousin marriage laws to making
moonshine. It’s a lot of fun and one of my favorite things about writing. It
can take you just about anywhere.
Are you currently working on
anything new?
I’m working on a NA contemporary
right now, and both the concept and the characters have just gripped me. How We Fall is single point of view, in
first person, and that’s rare for me. This next one is dual POV and third
person, which is more my natural style. I’ve got something really fun and
different waiting in the wings right now, too (not contemporary!) so we’ll see
what happens!
If you could write for any other
genre, which would you choose and why?
How We Fall is contemporary romance with a
suspense twist, but I don’t see myself writing only that. I love suspense as a
genre, and would probably write any genre I could work suspense into. If the
story grabs me, I’ll probably write it!
Places you can find out more information about Kate Brauning?
