Ask the Author: Cat Winters
Answered Questions (10)
Cat Winters
Thanks for the great question! I was actually nervous about working on my current project, a novel about teenage Edgar Allan Poe, because I was going farther back in time than what I usually write about and had to start from scratch with research—but I was also feeling ready for an extra challenge. The novel is set in the American South in the 1820s, and Poe's guardians owned slaves, so I needed to include the topic of slavery in the novel—a subject I was never intending to write about before this book idea came along. I was definitely leery about working with this historical period for this reason, and I've been mindful of how I'm portraying the enslaved servants who impacted young Poe's life. I don't think I would have chosen this setting if it hadn't been attached to the real-life person whom I chose for the subject of my novel.
Cat Winters
I'm such a film buff that I would love to see at least one of my books adapted for film or television in my lifetime. We had a nibble of interest for IN THE SHADOW OF BLACKBIRDS years ago, but it didn't work out. I think that particular novel would work well for an adaptation. I also feel my newest novel (which I'm formally introducing to the world Jan. 19) would have adaptation appeal. I see all my books in my head in a cinematic way. If I do ever sell film rights for any of my books, I will certainly spread the word.
Cat Winters
Ooh, good question, Bri! For a while now I've thought about setting a book in the world of my early childhood: 1970s Southern California, land of endless amusement parks and escapism. I'm still waiting for the right plot to come along, but I hope to one day use this setting.
Cat Winters
I've always been fascinated by the 1890s through the 1960s, even though all my books up to this point have taken place within a thirty-year period that falls inside that time range. From an early age I found it so interesting that each decade of the twentieth century had very distinctive looks and themes (the roaring 20s, the Depression of the 30s, WWII in the 40s, etc.), and I was intrigued by the shifts in technology and the changing social history.
I'm actually now working on a book set in a much earlier time period, which has been a journey outside my comfort zone. It's been a challenge, but one I felt I needed.
I'm actually now working on a book set in a much earlier time period, which has been a journey outside my comfort zone. It's been a challenge, but one I felt I needed.
Cat Winters
Thanks for your great questions, Lenna! I have, indeed, always wanted to write. I loved making up stories from a very young age, and my second- and third-grade teachers strongly encouraged me to become a writer. I started off writing poems and short stories, and then around the age of nine I began attempting to write novels. However, it would literally take me DECADES before I actually sold a book to a publisher.
Yes, I have felt like giving up. The first time I seriously considered doing so was the month before I received an offer from a publisher. By that point I had tried selling so many books without any luck that the rejections were getting the best of me. I've also considered giving up after experiencing a few different bouts of writer burnout during the past few years. What helps is taking a break and spending some time in the real world, with real people, not characters, instead of sitting at my laptop and worrying about what I should write next.
Yes, I have felt like giving up. The first time I seriously considered doing so was the month before I received an offer from a publisher. By that point I had tried selling so many books without any luck that the rejections were getting the best of me. I've also considered giving up after experiencing a few different bouts of writer burnout during the past few years. What helps is taking a break and spending some time in the real world, with real people, not characters, instead of sitting at my laptop and worrying about what I should write next.
Cat Winters
Ooh, that's a good one, Mary. It's also a really hard one to answer because I've come across so many strange things in my research, from the bizarre real-life stories of early-twentieth-century seance hoaxes, to a 1923 magazine article about using the shape of movie stars' noses to learn about their personalities, to the "Fittest Family" contests at county fairs during the height of the eugenics movement in the early 1900s. By far, though, I think my research into Victorian dentistry for THE CURE FOR DREAMING proved to be the strangest. My favorite dentistry tidbit was the horrific use of leeches to relieve inflamed gums, a practice used up until WWI. Most terrifying of all was the fact that the dentist couldn't just slap a leech on a patient's gums; he or she would need to tip a tube holding the leech toward the patient's mouth, and both patient and dentist would stay painfully still until the leech wiggled its way out and (hopefully) attached itself to the right place. It made me understand one of the many reasons why people feared dentists in those days.
The emotionally hardest thing I had to research is a tie between investigating gunshot wounds for IN THE SHADOW OF BLACKBIRDS and researching the Klan's takeover of Oregon in the 1920s for my upcoming YA novel, THE STEEP AND THORNY WAY.
In terms of what was the most difficult thing to find, I'd say it was the frustration I initially felt in trying to figure out how to drive a WWI ambulance. My protagonist in THE UNINVITED, Ivy Rowan, does so, and it took me a while to find out what type of vehicles were used to build the ambulances. When I learned that many U.S. ambulances were created out of Model T trucks, I then needed to figure how to drive a Model T. Thankfully, I eventually found YouTube videos in which historic car collectors gave slow, step-by-step instructions for the entire process, including naming all of the levers and other controls in the car. It was the next best thing to actually driving a WWI ambulance, and since most of those don't exist anymore, I made do with what I had.
The emotionally hardest thing I had to research is a tie between investigating gunshot wounds for IN THE SHADOW OF BLACKBIRDS and researching the Klan's takeover of Oregon in the 1920s for my upcoming YA novel, THE STEEP AND THORNY WAY.
In terms of what was the most difficult thing to find, I'd say it was the frustration I initially felt in trying to figure out how to drive a WWI ambulance. My protagonist in THE UNINVITED, Ivy Rowan, does so, and it took me a while to find out what type of vehicles were used to build the ambulances. When I learned that many U.S. ambulances were created out of Model T trucks, I then needed to figure how to drive a Model T. Thankfully, I eventually found YouTube videos in which historic car collectors gave slow, step-by-step instructions for the entire process, including naming all of the levers and other controls in the car. It was the next best thing to actually driving a WWI ambulance, and since most of those don't exist anymore, I made do with what I had.
Cat Winters
Thanks for the question, Liselott. I have two kids and primarily write when they're in school, although I often squeeze in extra time in the evenings and at night. When I'm working to meet a deadline, I also head to my library with my laptop on the weekends. Mainly, I work in my home office, but sometimes, when I need a change of scenery, I'll write in a local coffeehouse. Once a week, I meet up with author friends and write with them, which makes for a really nice support group.
The "how" is a harder part to answer. Usually when an idea for a book hits me and begs me to write it, I jot down notes, conduct research, and confer with my agent. Then I sit down and start writing. When writer's block hits, I get up and take a walk or spend time reading. I wait until I've figured out how to approach my troublesome scene before I sit back down with it again. Sometimes my characters and I simply need a little time apart. :)
The "how" is a harder part to answer. Usually when an idea for a book hits me and begs me to write it, I jot down notes, conduct research, and confer with my agent. Then I sit down and start writing. When writer's block hits, I get up and take a walk or spend time reading. I wait until I've figured out how to approach my troublesome scene before I sit back down with it again. Sometimes my characters and I simply need a little time apart. :)
Cat Winters
Thanks for the question, Nicole! One of my all-time favorite Gothic horror novels is Daphne du Maurier's REBECCA. I read it in high school and knew immediately I wanted to write books like that. In fact, I even wrote a REBECCA-inspired novel when I was about 16 (although I don't ever plan to show it to the world). I also loved WUTHERING HEIGHTS, by Emily Brontë, and JANE EYRE, by Charlotte Brontë. In recent years, I've thoroughly enjoyed Sarah Waters's AFFINITY and THE LITTLE STRANGER. Diane Setterfeld's THE THIRTEENTH TALE is also a favorite.
Cat Winters
I love hearing from Portlanders who enjoyed seeing the city represented in the novel! I used various research methods to learn what life was like in 1900 Portland. Thankfully, organizations such as the Oregon Historical Society and the University of Oregon Libraries have preserved countless historical documents that can be easily read both online and at research archives, so I spent a great deal of time sorting through photos and papers from the past. I also read through scanned copies of The Oregonian from the specific dates used in the novel, which was EXTREMELY helpful in researching daily life in the city during that moment in time. Being a local, I traveled through the city and photographed the historical sites that still exist, as well as the tiny fragments of reminders of long-gone sites (such as the Portland Hotel, which formally stood at the site of Pioneer Square). I also read various books about the city, including Portland: People, Politics, and Power, 1851-2000, by Jewel Lansing, and Wicked Portland: The Wild and Lusty Underworld of a Frontier Seaport Town, by Finn J.D. John. To learn about the local suffrage movement in the late 1800s, I pored over Yours for Liberty: Selections from Abigail Scott Duniway's Suffrage Newspaper, edited by Jean M. Ward and Elaine A. Maveety.
You can catch a little bit more about my research on a recent episode of Oregon Art Beat that aired in October: http://www.opb.org/television/program....
Thanks for asking!
You can catch a little bit more about my research on a recent episode of Oregon Art Beat that aired in October: http://www.opb.org/television/program....
Thanks for asking!
Cat Winters
I'm currently working on a few projects. My next book will be an adult novel called THE UNINVITED (HarperCollins, August 2015), and I'm waiting for the last of the edits for that one. Also in the works are a short story for the YA horror anthology SLASHER GIRLS & MONSTER BOYS (Penguin, August 2015) and a third YA novel, THE STEEP AND THORNY WAY(Abrams, Spring 2016). Plus I've just started writing a top-secret new book.
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