Sallie
asked
Katherine Center:
I adored your book How To Walk Away. Some writers can’t capture the emotions of such a harrowing experience but I felt like I was reading a personal memoir. Did you speak with an actual person who had gone through this in addition to your research? What did your research look like? This book could of read so dry but it didn’t. It was very realistic. Kudos for that! Started reading The Lost Husband.
Katherine Center
HI Sallie! Thank you for your kind words. Yes, I did a ton of research for this book. I wanted to represent Maggie's experience in the most realistic and comprehensive way that I could, and so I interviewed several people who had faced spinal cord injuries at length. I also visited ICUs and rehab gyms, interviewed a spinal surgeon and a plastic surgeon, and read several memoirs written by people who had gone through similar experiences. I spent months reasearching everything I could find . . . and then, at a certain point, I let all that go and just wrote the story, using everything I'd learned to do my best to bring it to life. I'm so glad it was a good, immersive read for you! And thank you for reading The Lost Husband! The farm in that story is based on one run by a childhood friend of mine—and I did a fair bit of learning about goat farming for that one!! ;) Many good wishes to you, and thanks so much for this great question!
More Answered Questions
Susan's Reviews
asked
Katherine Center:
While I was reading Happiness for Beginners, I kept visualizing a young, spunky Annie Potts as Helen and a young James Franco for Jake. Do you model your characters on favourite actors or personal acquaintances? Your characters seem so real to me. By the way, I'm not a fan of sequels, but Duncan's story - or a character like Duncan - would be hilarious.
Michelle
asked
Katherine Center:
I have recently discovered your books and just love them! They are such fun stories and full of lovable, quirky characters. I just started on my 4th one last night. I was wondering 1) Did you know at a young age that you wanted to be a writer? When did you know? and 2) what was the very first work you had published? (I am not looking to read it. I am just curious if it was some sort of short story or something else.)
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