Ask the Author: Kate Morrell
Answered Questions (9)
Kate Morrell
Hi Lynn,
Thank you so much for getting in touch and for the lovely compliment about my writing. I'm so sorry that I've taken such a long break. I never intended to stop, but the madness of the covid years and some tough times for family members pushed everything else out of the nest. I'm just getting back into the saddle, and I have stories for both Cleve and Lord Hitchen (from the 3rd novel), as well as a story for Sarah Maitland (Harry's sister). Lots of stories in my head, but I need to get them down on paper. It takes me about 3-4 months to write the first draft and then 2-3 months for edits. I hope you won't mind the wait, but if you want to reach out in the meantime, my author email is kate.morrell@outlook.com. You're very welcome to become a Beta reader, if you don't mind getting slightly rougher versions for feedback?
Kindest regards,
Kate
Thank you so much for getting in touch and for the lovely compliment about my writing. I'm so sorry that I've taken such a long break. I never intended to stop, but the madness of the covid years and some tough times for family members pushed everything else out of the nest. I'm just getting back into the saddle, and I have stories for both Cleve and Lord Hitchen (from the 3rd novel), as well as a story for Sarah Maitland (Harry's sister). Lots of stories in my head, but I need to get them down on paper. It takes me about 3-4 months to write the first draft and then 2-3 months for edits. I hope you won't mind the wait, but if you want to reach out in the meantime, my author email is kate.morrell@outlook.com. You're very welcome to become a Beta reader, if you don't mind getting slightly rougher versions for feedback?
Kindest regards,
Kate
Kate Morrell
Hello reader,
Thank you so much for reaching out, and I'm sorry that I didn't see your note sooner. I'm so glad that you liked the books. That means so much to me as a writer. Please forgive my writing hiatus since 2020. Life, work and the death and illness of loved ones made writing novels feel impossible. I know the past few years have seen dark times for many, and I can truly empathise with that. But a good friend recently spurred me to take up my pen again, which is how I came to see your message!
It takes me at least 4mths non-stop to research and write a novel, and then a further 3mths to edit. So, I'm afraid it might be a while before I publish anything ... but I have at least 4 novels in mind, within the current series. I will take your lovely note as an extra spur to get cracking.
Thank you again for the inspiration!
Kate x
Thank you so much for reaching out, and I'm sorry that I didn't see your note sooner. I'm so glad that you liked the books. That means so much to me as a writer. Please forgive my writing hiatus since 2020. Life, work and the death and illness of loved ones made writing novels feel impossible. I know the past few years have seen dark times for many, and I can truly empathise with that. But a good friend recently spurred me to take up my pen again, which is how I came to see your message!
It takes me at least 4mths non-stop to research and write a novel, and then a further 3mths to edit. So, I'm afraid it might be a while before I publish anything ... but I have at least 4 novels in mind, within the current series. I will take your lovely note as an extra spur to get cracking.
Thank you again for the inspiration!
Kate x
Kate Morrell
Hello Helen,
I'm so glad that you enjoyed the books. It's hugely encouraging to hear that more would be welcome ... and I needed that impetus! I had lost heart a little, but you and Lynn (below) have reminded me that there are readers out there who want to read the next in the series.
Unfortunately, I went back to work, took up oil painting and started landscaping my garden, so writing time is thin on the ground at present ... but that's no excuse not to get started.
As soon as I have the next one drafted, I'll be back here to let you know.
Many thanks, again, for the much-needed prompt!
Kate
I'm so glad that you enjoyed the books. It's hugely encouraging to hear that more would be welcome ... and I needed that impetus! I had lost heart a little, but you and Lynn (below) have reminded me that there are readers out there who want to read the next in the series.
Unfortunately, I went back to work, took up oil painting and started landscaping my garden, so writing time is thin on the ground at present ... but that's no excuse not to get started.
As soon as I have the next one drafted, I'll be back here to let you know.
Many thanks, again, for the much-needed prompt!
Kate
Kate Morrell
Hello Lynn,
Please forgive the delayed response. I haven't been on Goodreads for quite a while.
Thank you for reading The Charity Case (TCC)! Yes, Cleve does have his own story, and I really need to get back to writing so that he can have his HEA, along with Imogen, Lord Hitchin and Sarah Maitland.
I'll confess, my confidence took a bit of a knock when TCC was not as well received as I'd hoped. I'd meant to write full-time, but went back to work and buried myself in that instead.
Writing is pretty demanding. You really need a powerful 'will' to do it, and I had rather lost mine. However, you and Helen (above) have reminded me why I started in the first place, so thank you for that!
To get back in the saddle, I started NaNoWriMo - working on an entirely different project just to restart the writing habit.
There are several more stories in this series, and characters you have yet to meet, so I must get back to writing them as soon as I have my mojo back!
Thank you so much for the encouragement! It means everything.
Kate
Please forgive the delayed response. I haven't been on Goodreads for quite a while.
Thank you for reading The Charity Case (TCC)! Yes, Cleve does have his own story, and I really need to get back to writing so that he can have his HEA, along with Imogen, Lord Hitchin and Sarah Maitland.
I'll confess, my confidence took a bit of a knock when TCC was not as well received as I'd hoped. I'd meant to write full-time, but went back to work and buried myself in that instead.
Writing is pretty demanding. You really need a powerful 'will' to do it, and I had rather lost mine. However, you and Helen (above) have reminded me why I started in the first place, so thank you for that!
To get back in the saddle, I started NaNoWriMo - working on an entirely different project just to restart the writing habit.
There are several more stories in this series, and characters you have yet to meet, so I must get back to writing them as soon as I have my mojo back!
Thank you so much for the encouragement! It means everything.
Kate
Kate Morrell
There are different types of writer's block.
There's the 'staring at a blank page where your novel should be' block, where you want to write a novel but have no ideas. I've never had that, but I read a great approach by Iain McLean, where he gathers articles from newspapers and sticks them in a folder, and when he wants to create a story, he pulls them out and says 'what if this was linked to this and this?' and he evolves a plot from there.
Personally, I have some idea of the broad structure, but after the initial event, it's the characters who drive what happens in order to get there. My writer's block comes when I just can't get in the head of the character.
I had a terrible time with Deverell in MUT, as I just couldn't 'get' him. How could I rationalise his actions when I couldn't understand them myself? How could I provide 'self-talk' when I had no idea what was going on in his head. Probably sounds nutty, when he was my creation ... or conception. But to allow him to be real, he could not be constrained by my personality or understanding. Only when I really began to dig into what he had been through (a kind of PTSD) and his blind guilt, did I begin to grasp why he might act in a certain way and make his (bad) choices. That allowed me to tune into his inner voice and logic and (finally!!) move forward with the novel. Similarly with the villain, his behaviour seemed irrationally wicked, until something in the news gave me a notion why he might be quite so bent on Deverell's destruction.
There's the 'staring at a blank page where your novel should be' block, where you want to write a novel but have no ideas. I've never had that, but I read a great approach by Iain McLean, where he gathers articles from newspapers and sticks them in a folder, and when he wants to create a story, he pulls them out and says 'what if this was linked to this and this?' and he evolves a plot from there.
Personally, I have some idea of the broad structure, but after the initial event, it's the characters who drive what happens in order to get there. My writer's block comes when I just can't get in the head of the character.
I had a terrible time with Deverell in MUT, as I just couldn't 'get' him. How could I rationalise his actions when I couldn't understand them myself? How could I provide 'self-talk' when I had no idea what was going on in his head. Probably sounds nutty, when he was my creation ... or conception. But to allow him to be real, he could not be constrained by my personality or understanding. Only when I really began to dig into what he had been through (a kind of PTSD) and his blind guilt, did I begin to grasp why he might act in a certain way and make his (bad) choices. That allowed me to tune into his inner voice and logic and (finally!!) move forward with the novel. Similarly with the villain, his behaviour seemed irrationally wicked, until something in the news gave me a notion why he might be quite so bent on Deverell's destruction.
Kate Morrell
Honestly ... inspiration is not what makes me write.
Writing a novel is grindingly hard work - at least it is for me. The first 5,000-10,000 words tumble out of me - all those lovely 'movie clips' in my head. The next 15,000 are harder. This is where the structure forms - the bones I need to flesh out. Then the next 80-100,000 words are like having my entrails drawn ... ok, an exaggeration, I admit. But it means every weekend, evening and holiday spent grafting at a laptop, and when that's how you spend your working day too, it's not much fun. It's hours and hours of research and labouring over crafting pages that you later decide didn't quite work ... so into your 'spare words' doc they go ... another lost weekend with nothing to show for it. Family and friends are neglected, along with the garden, house and all the other hobbies you begin to pine for. Finally, you emerge blinking into the light and expose your labour of love to the public ... and their feedback. Believe me ... you have to have the hide of an elephant not to be hurt by the mean ones! The financial rewards equate to less than minimum wage ... so that's no incentive.
So what DOES inspire me to write despite all of this ... two things.
Firstly, the desire to get the characters in my head (and now readers' heads) down on paper.
But secondly, and by far most importantly, positive feedback from like-minded folks who like the stories and the characters, and who want to read more. When I want to give up, or I hit a wall, or am at a low ebb ... I read a nice review or comment on my Amazon profile page. They pick me up, dust me off and say: 'Come on, Kate. You can do it ... and by the way, we're waiting :-)'
Writing a novel is grindingly hard work - at least it is for me. The first 5,000-10,000 words tumble out of me - all those lovely 'movie clips' in my head. The next 15,000 are harder. This is where the structure forms - the bones I need to flesh out. Then the next 80-100,000 words are like having my entrails drawn ... ok, an exaggeration, I admit. But it means every weekend, evening and holiday spent grafting at a laptop, and when that's how you spend your working day too, it's not much fun. It's hours and hours of research and labouring over crafting pages that you later decide didn't quite work ... so into your 'spare words' doc they go ... another lost weekend with nothing to show for it. Family and friends are neglected, along with the garden, house and all the other hobbies you begin to pine for. Finally, you emerge blinking into the light and expose your labour of love to the public ... and their feedback. Believe me ... you have to have the hide of an elephant not to be hurt by the mean ones! The financial rewards equate to less than minimum wage ... so that's no incentive.
So what DOES inspire me to write despite all of this ... two things.
Firstly, the desire to get the characters in my head (and now readers' heads) down on paper.
But secondly, and by far most importantly, positive feedback from like-minded folks who like the stories and the characters, and who want to read more. When I want to give up, or I hit a wall, or am at a low ebb ... I read a nice review or comment on my Amazon profile page. They pick me up, dust me off and say: 'Come on, Kate. You can do it ... and by the way, we're waiting :-)'
Kate Morrell
I did a English Lit degree, but I think I've learned far more about literature through sites for authors. My primary advice is to use these sites to learn your craft.
There are some lucky/gifted people who can sit down and write a bestseller just like that - professional 'pantsters'. I am not one of these happy few. When I write by the seat of my pants, I get wallowing opening chapters, saggy middles, and sluggish or rushed endings. Advice helped me to become a plotter not a pantster, and it helped me a lot.
Having said that, my second piece of advice is to let characters do their thing. They become people, with their own logic based on past and personality. They make choices and act in ways that make sense to them, even if it doesn't fit your plot plan. See where they take you and adapt if necessary. You don't need to keep it all in your novel, but I find the most thrilling moments of writing are when you become chronicler not creator, simply documenting what they start doing in the circumstances you (or their own choices) have put them in.
Final piece of advice, find a couple of 'readers' who will give you honest (sometimes brutal) feedback. This is vital to help give you the distance to step back a little and see your baby as others will, and to make the changes that will turn your offering into a good read.
There are some lucky/gifted people who can sit down and write a bestseller just like that - professional 'pantsters'. I am not one of these happy few. When I write by the seat of my pants, I get wallowing opening chapters, saggy middles, and sluggish or rushed endings. Advice helped me to become a plotter not a pantster, and it helped me a lot.
Having said that, my second piece of advice is to let characters do their thing. They become people, with their own logic based on past and personality. They make choices and act in ways that make sense to them, even if it doesn't fit your plot plan. See where they take you and adapt if necessary. You don't need to keep it all in your novel, but I find the most thrilling moments of writing are when you become chronicler not creator, simply documenting what they start doing in the circumstances you (or their own choices) have put them in.
Final piece of advice, find a couple of 'readers' who will give you honest (sometimes brutal) feedback. This is vital to help give you the distance to step back a little and see your baby as others will, and to make the changes that will turn your offering into a good read.
Kate Morrell
So the most recent, Marriage Upon Terms, which launches this week, has been in my mind since 2003. I part-wrote it then, and put it away while I wrote The Reluctant Lady, which had to be the first in the series. The way ideas for novels happen for me is that a scene between two characters (rather like a movie clip or audio book excerpt) will float into my mind. Then I mull on what might have brought it about or what might happen after - the high-level structure. In MUT, I first saw Robert on the hillside, then the carriage drive to the proposal. From those seeds, and using the trope of two people who had fallen in love years earlier, but been separated by circumstance, the story evolved.
Kate Morrell
I've only recently finished work on Marriage Upon Terms, the sequel to The Reluctant Lady, which launches on 10 March. I can't deny, it's great to have my life back ... although the neglected chores that await me will quickly fill my time. At the same time, I know readers will soon put me on the spot asking when Harry and Charles will have their stories told, and Charles is very much in my mind echoing that question. So I have a week's holiday at the end of the month, and will pick up my quill (well ... laptop) and get started on his book. Adorable Harry will have to wait.
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