Ask the Author: Kate Lattey
Answered Questions (6)
Kate Lattey
Hi Georgia, I also coach at my local Pony Club branch and I have two part-time jobs, one in Editorial & Desktop Publishing for a company producing educational resources, the other as sub-editor for a national equestrian magazine! I have one horse at the moment, he is a Welsh Cob x Thoroughbred and he's pretty cool :) Thanks for your question!
Kate Lattey
It's not my latest but it has the most backstory. "Dare to Dream" comes from two separate places - a friend and her pony's incredible journey from zero to hero; and a friend tragically lost whose spirit has been able to live on through these books.
http://nzponywriter.com/dare-to-dream/
http://nzponywriter.com/dare-to-dream/
Kate Lattey
Right now I'm working on the sequel to my first novel, "Flying Changes". Book #2 will be called "Against the Clock" and it is about 3/4 of the way through the first draft. It's been in progress for a few years now, and still has a way to go, but it's slowly taking shape. After this book I am planning to write two more in the series, but there are another 4 or 5 books I have planned out that I could as easily get started on...
Kate Lattey
Everyone answers this question the same way, generally.
WRITE.
And it's true. If you want to be a writer, you have to write. There's no way around that. But let's assume that you're already doing that, and give you a few other ideas:
Read. A lot.
Read books in the genre you want to write.
Critique what you read. What do you love about this genre? What do you dislike? What are the tropes and stereotypes? How can you avoid or subvert them?
Watch TV.
We are living in a golden age of television drama, and some of the best storytelling of the modern age is being done onscreen. Movies are short stories; TV dramas are novels. The way that characters evolve, the way storylines ebb and flow, pacing and dialogue and character interaction are all crucially important.
Watch good TV, and recognise why it is good.
Watch (limited amounts of) bad TV, and recognise why it is bad.
Rewrite episodes or scenes from shows. Write fanfiction. Make up your own TV show. I have two potential TV pilots scratching around on my laptop and in my brain - one is a sweeping epic that would cost millions of dollars to make. The other is a small family drama that could quite conceivably be made, and I am planning to actually write that one and see if I can't get TVNZ interested. I did, after all, already pitch them an idea for an episode of a local TV series that was the highest ranking show in the country that month and has led to an 8-part spinoff... Not that I can take much credit as all I did was point them towards fascinating subject material. For my part, I wrote a book about it (see: "Dare to Dream").
Be unafraid of criticism. Learn to give it out and learn to take it on board. Be your own worst critic. Find someone who will be brutally honest with you about your stories and listen to their suggestions. You don't have to make all the changes they suggest, but you should take them on board.
But mostly, just write. Write things that inspire you. Write a short poem, write song lyrics, write a journal, write a screenplay, write anything and everything. Learn to use language to shape your ideas.
WRITE.
And it's true. If you want to be a writer, you have to write. There's no way around that. But let's assume that you're already doing that, and give you a few other ideas:
Read. A lot.
Read books in the genre you want to write.
Critique what you read. What do you love about this genre? What do you dislike? What are the tropes and stereotypes? How can you avoid or subvert them?
Watch TV.
We are living in a golden age of television drama, and some of the best storytelling of the modern age is being done onscreen. Movies are short stories; TV dramas are novels. The way that characters evolve, the way storylines ebb and flow, pacing and dialogue and character interaction are all crucially important.
Watch good TV, and recognise why it is good.
Watch (limited amounts of) bad TV, and recognise why it is bad.
Rewrite episodes or scenes from shows. Write fanfiction. Make up your own TV show. I have two potential TV pilots scratching around on my laptop and in my brain - one is a sweeping epic that would cost millions of dollars to make. The other is a small family drama that could quite conceivably be made, and I am planning to actually write that one and see if I can't get TVNZ interested. I did, after all, already pitch them an idea for an episode of a local TV series that was the highest ranking show in the country that month and has led to an 8-part spinoff... Not that I can take much credit as all I did was point them towards fascinating subject material. For my part, I wrote a book about it (see: "Dare to Dream").
Be unafraid of criticism. Learn to give it out and learn to take it on board. Be your own worst critic. Find someone who will be brutally honest with you about your stories and listen to their suggestions. You don't have to make all the changes they suggest, but you should take them on board.
But mostly, just write. Write things that inspire you. Write a short poem, write song lyrics, write a journal, write a screenplay, write anything and everything. Learn to use language to shape your ideas.
Kate Lattey
There are so many great things about being a writer, including having your characters come to life, when they have only previously existed in your head; and reading positive reviews, especially from other authors and reviewers whose work I respect.
But if I had to pick one BEST thing, it would be the opportunity and ability to convey emotions through stories by drawing readers into a world of your own imagining. Making people cry with one simple sentence - so many people have said that the final line of "Dare to Dream" still brings a lump to their throat whenever they think of it, and that makes me so proud.
But if I had to pick one BEST thing, it would be the opportunity and ability to convey emotions through stories by drawing readers into a world of your own imagining. Making people cry with one simple sentence - so many people have said that the final line of "Dare to Dream" still brings a lump to their throat whenever they think of it, and that makes me so proud.
Kate Lattey
My go-to response to writer's block seems contradictory to getting things done, but I tend to go and do something. Gardening seems to work best, because I daydream about the book I'm writing while I work, but going for a walk or riding my horse works as well. Other times it helps to go for a drive, especially to a couple of specific places where the scenery reminds me of locations in the books. I had a bit of writer's block last weekend, so I drove out to a rural valley road and went for an hour and a half hike up a logging road. It was beautiful and inspiring, and worked like a charm.
Music also helps me get into the zone - I have playlists on Spotify for each book/series that help me get into the 'zone' for writing about those characters.
Music also helps me get into the zone - I have playlists on Spotify for each book/series that help me get into the 'zone' for writing about those characters.
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