Ask the Author: Katy Barnett
Answered Questions (6)
Katy Barnett
I try to give myself a break and work on something else. I usually have multiple projects on the go at once, so there's always something else quite different I can tinker on.
Katy Barnett
Hearing from readers who have found what you write useful or entertaining or both.
Katy Barnett
(1) Read a lot and work out what you like in the books you read.
(2) Revise, revise, revise.
(3) Run your work past a diverse range of people.
(4) Persevere.
(2) Revise, revise, revise.
(3) Run your work past a diverse range of people.
(4) Persevere.
Katy Barnett
I have several projects: academic, popular academic and literary. I am writing a sequel to The Earth Below, as well as co-authoring a popular book on quirky facts about animals and the law, and writing other academic works.
Katy Barnett
I listen to music to put me in the mood.
Katy Barnett
I have always wanted to write a dystopia, and I’ve attempted to do so before, first when I was seventeen. However, I had given up on writing fiction, and concentrated on my academic career.
A strange series of events led me to write this book. First, a friend decided to become a polyamorist, and outlined his reasons for this choice. It struck me during our conversation that, while I thought he should be free live his life in that way if he chose, I would not be well-suited to such a choice. I began to think about different ways in which people arranged their relationships. Shortly afterwards, I had abdominal surgery, and was on a cocktail of painkillers, as well as other drugs to treat my severe asthma. I had a very strange dream about two people escaping from an underground post-apocalyptic society which had strict rules requiring consecutive relationships with different partners. The four people in the dream – Marri, Macon, Felix and Vin – all became characters in the book. I dreamt the first three names.
When I woke up, I wrote the dream down. After three chapters, I realized I couldn’t stop. It was as if the story possessed me. I’d never shown my fiction writing to anyone other than my sister before, but after I sent my story to some friends and family, they told me to keep writing.
A strange series of events led me to write this book. First, a friend decided to become a polyamorist, and outlined his reasons for this choice. It struck me during our conversation that, while I thought he should be free live his life in that way if he chose, I would not be well-suited to such a choice. I began to think about different ways in which people arranged their relationships. Shortly afterwards, I had abdominal surgery, and was on a cocktail of painkillers, as well as other drugs to treat my severe asthma. I had a very strange dream about two people escaping from an underground post-apocalyptic society which had strict rules requiring consecutive relationships with different partners. The four people in the dream – Marri, Macon, Felix and Vin – all became characters in the book. I dreamt the first three names.
When I woke up, I wrote the dream down. After three chapters, I realized I couldn’t stop. It was as if the story possessed me. I’d never shown my fiction writing to anyone other than my sister before, but after I sent my story to some friends and family, they told me to keep writing.
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