Ask the Author: Kathryn Knowles
Answered Questions (6)
Kathryn Knowles
Hmm... This is a challenging question. I'd love to say I have a list of titles and clear reasons why they impacted me, but I don't. Instead, I have a memory of the library at my elementary school. On a shelf at the back, they kept the books that didn't have "reading ages" assigned to them anymore. In my mind, these were the real books. The thicker the spine, the more impressive, and I was all about flaunting my awesome reading skills at that age.
I remember reading a book that I adored. I have no idea what the title was or what the plot was about. All I remember is that it featured a princess, a talking dragon or two, and an enchanted forest. I have a feeling the dragon may have been a villain but then the princess got to know him and they became friends. I believe it was a series of books... But I could be making this up entirely.
I went back to borrow the book a second time and couldn't find it. It was devastating.
All my life, I've harboured this book in my soul as the greatest book of all time. With no proof whatsoever.
Regardless of the imaginary book's quality, spine width, or plot, I believe it sparked a love of fantasy for me. A love which has never died.
I remember reading a book that I adored. I have no idea what the title was or what the plot was about. All I remember is that it featured a princess, a talking dragon or two, and an enchanted forest. I have a feeling the dragon may have been a villain but then the princess got to know him and they became friends. I believe it was a series of books... But I could be making this up entirely.
I went back to borrow the book a second time and couldn't find it. It was devastating.
All my life, I've harboured this book in my soul as the greatest book of all time. With no proof whatsoever.
Regardless of the imaginary book's quality, spine width, or plot, I believe it sparked a love of fantasy for me. A love which has never died.
Kathryn Knowles
Honestly, I don't like to use the term writer's block. I think people use that term too loosely, and, to me, it always meant "trying to force something". That's not to say that I don't still experience a "block" of some kind. But it usually feels more like creative fatigue, or just fatigue in general. When that happens, I try to work on restoring myself. I work on something else creative for a bit (in a completely different medium). I try new recipes, I practice music, I draw, I rearrange the house. Or I "clear out the junk in my head". This junk accumulates when I don't have the calm and control I need. Maybe my space is a mess and I need to tidy it, maybe I haven't had a good routine lately. I am definitely someone who needs routine, organization, and efficiency in my life and when I don't have those things, it's harder to give my creativity the space it needs.
One final strategy I use, is to binge other stories. I disappear into someone else's imagination for a bit and remind myself that the reason I want to write is because I love good stories.
One final strategy I use, is to binge other stories. I disappear into someone else's imagination for a bit and remind myself that the reason I want to write is because I love good stories.
Kathryn Knowles
Right now I desperately want to go to the world inside House in the Cerulean Sea. Mainly because I want to hang with those awesome kids. I really want to give Chauncey a hug.
But, I mean, who doesn't want to visit middle earth and hang with some elves... or some hobbits...
But, I mean, who doesn't want to visit middle earth and hang with some elves... or some hobbits...
Kathryn Knowles
I don't know about summer, but some of the books on my list for the coming months are: Rosewater by Tade Thompson, Obsidian Tower by Melissa Caruso, Mythos by Stephen Fry, Book Two and Three of the Broken Earth Trilogy, Book Three and Four of The Stormlight Archive, The Runaway Species: How Human Creativity Remakes the World by David Eagleman, and The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. And oh...so many more... I shall become a vampire who doesn't need sleep. That way I can read as much as I want.
I also want to finish listening to all the German audiobooks of Harry Potter haha (Currently on book 3).
I also want to finish listening to all the German audiobooks of Harry Potter haha (Currently on book 3).
Kathryn Knowles
The best thing about being a writer is getting to know my characters. Sometimes I create them, sometimes they create themselves. They always seem so real to me. I've always been someone who misses the characters in a novel once I'm done reading it. I'm a re-reader. I love to revisit old friends. So there is nothing more fun than creating my own characters, and then hanging out with them for months as I write.
Kathryn Knowles
I am currently editing and proofing book 2 of the Quiescence Trilogy. The plan is to launch it in early 2022.
I am almost done the planning phase for a surrealist fantasy book. It'll be a standalone novel with a quirky vibe that explores concepts of life and death and reincarnation. Plan for a very tongue-in-cheek narrator :)
I am also working on the plot for a musical I'm writing with a collaborator. More details coming soon.
I am almost done the planning phase for a surrealist fantasy book. It'll be a standalone novel with a quirky vibe that explores concepts of life and death and reincarnation. Plan for a very tongue-in-cheek narrator :)
I am also working on the plot for a musical I'm writing with a collaborator. More details coming soon.
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