Author Interview: Katie Grace

Today, I’m interviewing Katie Grace.

Tell us a little about yourself.

I’m a…

// Christian
// writer
// blogger
// obsessive reader
// pizza lover
// professional procrastinator
// extreme fangirl
// night owl
// ENFP (for you myers brigg people 🙂

 

What are you currently geeking about? (A new book, a movie, a TV show, something else?)
SO MANY THINGS. I read a lot, so you can always expect me to geek out over something bookish. 😛 Some of my favorite books that I’m always geeking out over are… Tales of Goldstone Woods, The Lunar Chronicles, Reckoners Trilogy, anything by Nadine Brandes, and I’ve recently been loving a lot of Neal Shusterman’s books.

What are you working on now?
Right now? These questions. Ha.

(You wanted a better answer? Alright, alright. 😉

Currently my fantasy novel, Song of the Desert, is in the hands of beta readers. *screams* I’m taking a short break from writing (having just finished another novel) until I have critiques back. But I’ll start working on it again in May, so I don’t have much of a break. Oh well.

It’s basically about a vision-impaired girl in the desert. She hears a mysterious song in a sandstorm. Things happen—bad things—as she tries to figure out what it is. There’s my short and un-eloquent blurb. 😛

 

Now, tell us about your favorite project or close second, if you already told us about your favorite.
Above is probably my favorite project right now. I’m starting to hate it less now that it’s looking all pretty with editing.

Second favorite? Hmm, I guess it would have to be the novel I just wrote since I don’t have much of a choice. It’s called A Twisted Star. I don’t have an official blurb yet—or even a plot, really—but it’s about stars. Golden blood and silver tears. Light-sucking prisons. I’m taking advantage of the irony of making stars a darker race instead of the shining, beautiful, “perfect” images you see in the sky.

I’m excited to work on this project more. 😀

How did you get into writing?
Believe it or not, I used to hate writing. Absolutely HATE IT. It was mostly forced upon me with school projects, and being an independent person, that automatically made writing seem “boring.” It was hard for me to push myself to write words onto the paper.

A little more than two years ago I was frustrated with not having enough books to read. (this was before having bookish internet friends and Goodreads.) So, logically, late at night, I started to plan my own story. A book that I would like to read. I never thought it would turn into anything big, but I kept writing and never stopped.

Two years later and I just finished my fourth novel and people are reading my book, now. Crazy to think about it.

What advice would you give to beginning writers?
Advice questions are hard. There’s so much advice out there – good and bad. Editing tips. How to craft your characters. “Secrets” to making your book a bestseller.

Sure, they are all good, but you can’t apply any of those tips if you don’t write. Finish that first draft no matter how horrible it is. Just keep writing and don’t worry about editing right now. And have fun with it. Find writer friends to keep you interested and encouraged. Writing can be more of a social activity than you think.

What about experienced writers?
Probably seek advice. Advice from published authors. From other writers. From articles online.

And most importantly, get your work critiqued. Get advice on your work. It’s scary to think of handing your work to other people, but having other writers look over pieces of flash fiction have been so crazy helpful for me. And critiquing their work in return can also be helpful. It forces you to look at writing with a critical eye so you can in turn transfer that to your own writing.

What are some of your favorite books, authors, movies, and/or TV shows?
Ooooh. So many!

I’ve already mentioned some of my favorite books and authors above, but as for movies and TV shows…

Movies: Interstellar. ❤ Big Hero 6. The Martian. The Winter Soldier. The Hunger Games. And also basically any animated movie.

TV shows: I don’t actually watch a lot of TV shows. I’ve watched all of Lost and loved it. I hope to watch Merlin and Agent Carter this summer. 😀

Any closing words?
Thank you for interviewing me, Jessi! And now I’m curious to know of other TV shows I should watch since I’m obviously uneducated in that area. 😛

Where can we find you?
Crouched over my computer on my couch, probably.
As for online?

My blog, A Writer’s Faith, where I ramble and talk about writing/books most often.

Twitter, where I tweet random quotes and writing happenings.

Instagram, where I sometimes post pictures of books and/or pretty things.

Goodreads, where I flail massively over books.

Pinterest, where I either pin all the time or not at all.