When did you know you
wanted to me a writer?
I knew early on I wanted to be a writer. It was a dream
of mine (out of reach; it seemed) for a long time. I won a poetry contest at
fourteen and majored in editorial journalism in college with a minor in English
and took enough psychology classes to major in that too. As it turns out, I
went into high tech sales with money and stock options as a draw and did a fair
share of public relations and marketing work as well. I had a very successful
corporate career in high tech sales and public relations and then seized the
dream for writing full-time five years ago. I spent the first three years
taking classes with The Writers Studio, (those assignments all wended their way
into novels I’ve released) and wrote a few long manuscripts that will never see
the light of day. I started out querying traditional publishing for an agent
and came close with several after winning the Zola Award for the romance
category with Pacific Northwest Writers Association in July of 2010. By then, I
decided to self-publish and released my first two books, Seeing Julia
and Not To Us in May of 2011.
How long does it take
to write one book?
It takes me about a year to write a book. The only exception
to that process is Not To Us which I wrote start to finish in about six
weeks. (That book is unique for several reasons but there are fans of my work
who love that one the best. It is the outlier. The exception. From it, I take
the encouragement for myself that I can get her done when the deadline
fast approaches.) So I know I can go shorter, but the plotting and character
development is what takes the most time. There is a ton of thinking that goes
into writing a story. I don’t follow a pattern or normal trope for the
storyline. All of that takes time to put together in my head. Writing—when it
all comes together, and I finally figure out where it needs to go—comes rather
easily when the story is complete in my mind but that’s usually about ten
months into the book. For example, The Truth About Air & Water was
half done in June of this year. It came together by the first part of August. I
wrote the ending two days before it went to a few Beta readers; it was that
fresh, but I knew I’d finally nailed as I saw the characters arcs so clearly by
then. Yay for KO!
What are the pros and
cons of being a writer, a selling author?
Pros: If you’re truly a writer, you cannot not write. It’s a
calling. It’s not logical. It just is.
Cons: It’s also one of the hardest things I’ve ever done from
the standpoint that you spend a lot of time with yourself and play host to
self-doubt to say nothing of the critics of your work when you put it out into
the world. You have to overcome all of that that plagues you all of the time it
seems.
Cons: Some of the best writers of our time you will never
read because it isn’t about writing the best work; it’s about who gets the
visibility. In the traditional publishing arena, this is who curries favor and
who they believe will be a best seller—commercial grade—if you will.
In the self-publishing arena, it is still all about
visibility and who curries favor and who is commercial enough to make those top
bloggers and top online retailer sites some cash. I’ll leave it at that.
THAT has been an eye-opener for me. To the point that I do
want to give it all up some days because I can land a six-figure job tomorrow
and deal with the machinations that exist in high tech sales a whole lot
easier.
But alas, I love the writing too much and I intend to
navigate the waters of publishing even if it is rough and unsavory and
downright disappointing at times.
Still glad you asked? Hope so. I wrote a lot more on this
question but decided to just say this much.
Tell us about The Truth About Air &Water.
What inspired this story?
KO: The idea of Tally came to me about three years ago during
a writing assignment for one of The Writers Studio classes I took. In that
assignment, she was an artist—promiscuous, bent on self-destruction—when she
comes across a guy, who has everything going for him. Linc didn’t change too
much from the initial beginnings, but obviously Tally did. I wanted to write
about two characters that had been dealt their fair share of tragedy and show
how it shaped their psyches and influenced what they did and ultimately what
they wanted out of life. I don’t think of these two as being co-dependent. I
see them more as being whole and complete with the other. Enhanced. In reality,
these two would be perfectly fine conducting entirely separate lives on their
own—away from each other—because they put their all into their chosen careers
of perfection. Tally with ballet. Linc with baseball. However, I hope what
readers come away with is realizing that ballet and baseball are just a means
to an end, part of the fulfillment, but the true dream they long for is being
loved for who they are, despite being famous for ballet and baseball.
Did you plan from the
start to write a series? You state that these can be read as standalones, can
you explain?
KO: No. I never intended to write a series with This Much
Is True. I’m not a fan of series. How many series have you read where the
books get better and better? They usually don’t. I read The Bronze Horseman
and fell in love. I read The Winter Garden and stayed in love, but have
yet to finish the series with that one because I just don’t see how she can top
the first book. Series are tough, tough, tough. Readers demand more, but it is
REALLY hard to make them happy. So, ultimately, as my husband recently
counseled, you have to do it for yourself. Ask the question: what do you want
to do next, KO? That’s where I am. Guess what that means?
I wrote This Much Is True long. I knew it was long. My
one and only beta reader hated Tally. I had to pull myself out of a dark abyss
and believe in the book enough to put it out there all by myself and take the
heat for making it one long-ass book. I took inspiration from Paulina Simons
for that. F*ck it, if you can’t handle the long book. I abhor cliff hangers and
I just couldn’t figure out where to cut it that wouldn’t leave readers hanging.
I wrote it, released it, and felt like it was done. Received high marks and
lots of four and five stars and after a long-ass while, I dealt with the
one-star drive by reviews quite admirably.
A writer friend told me that everyone was doing series, and
that I should think about it. The drumbeat for more of Linc and Tally was quite
evident in many of the glowing reviews I received, so I spent some time on a
plausible storyline and began the arduous task of writing The Truth About
Air & Water and attempting to top the accolades for This Much Is
True. The pressure for doing so was intense. It never let up for me
personally until late July when I finally felt like I had nailed the second
storyline and saw the character arcs for myself in The Truth About Air &
Water. Then, my Beta readers came back after reading it with nothing but raves
for the book and I suddenly felt like I achieved the virtually impossible—I
topped the first book.
Is The Truth About Air & Water
the last time we will see Linc and Tally? It seems like there is room for more
story, is there?
KO: The book just came out in late August but there has
already been a new drumbeat from readers for more of these two. So. I recently
announced to my readers that I've done some thinking around this and have come
up with a workable storyline. Yes, there will be a third book for Linc and
Tally some time in 2015. I don’t write fluff, and I've put these two through their
paces quite enough already but there are some secondary characters around who
can make life difficult for these two, and I've come up with a plausible
storyline and have an idea where I want
to take it. But alas, I don’t talk about my work-in-progress much more
than that.
What are your future
book plans? What's in the works?
KO: There is going to be more of Linc and Tally in a third
book. Yes, I have committed to fans for a third book (yet to be named) in the Truth
In Lies Series. Caution: I’m not a fast writer (or, is that fast thinker?)
so it will be a little while. Look for the third book some time in 2015.
I don’t do novellas. I don’t do serials. I have a WIP called Saving
Valentines that I really need to get back to and two unnamed WIPs from my
writing classes with The Writers Studios that both hold exciting promise.
Writing. I am always writing or thinking about writing.
What’s the best thing about being an author?
For me, the best thing about being
an author is that I’m doing something I love and am passionate about. I
actually believe—as cliché and simple as that sounds—it’s the secret sauce to a
happier life. It’s not easy, don’t misunderstand. Being a writer at eight is a
lot easier than being a writer as an adult. As soon as you let the doubts and
the naysayers past the front gate of your mind, they all take turns, and it
gets complex and incredibly hard most of the time to write. You are your own
worst critic, but those one-star reviews stay right there with you. It doesn’t
matter how many five stars you get, if you let comparison have its way with
you, there is always somebody who writes better, sells better, and reaps more
rewards than you do. Still? Writing is truly living to me. And I feel lucky every
day that I can do it.
What’s the best advice you would give to young, inexperienced authors?
If you truly love writing, in other
words, you have the need to write,
read a lot and write even more. Study books you love. Study books you didn’t.
Embrace what works for your own style. I write in a first-person, present tense
not as a gimmick, but because I am actually good at it. I find the
third-person, past tense a lot harder to write. Study all of those. Master
them. Go with what works for you and listen to your inner critic about what is
working and what is not and just keep writing and reading.
Do you have more fun writing villains or more “morally acceptable”
characters?
I have way too much fun writing
villains. I wish I had more of a villain in The
Truth About Air & Water but bringing back Nika Vostrikova for round two
seemed too easy, so I went in a different direction. By far, my most memorable
and fun-to-write villain was Savannah Bennett in Seeing Julia. Boom. SHE was fun to write. My sister read a draft
and said she was too mean even for fiction, but I held to the notion that any
woman can get like that when threatened so I kept her as mean as originally
written. Another great choice for fun
was writing Carrie in Not To Us. The taker best friend. Carrie impossible
to love but man she ran a good game on our heroine, Ellie.
The Truth About Air & Water by Katherine
Owen
(Truth in Lies #2)
Publication date: August 25th 2014
Genres: Contemporary, New Adult, Romance
(Truth in Lies #2)
Publication date: August 25th 2014
Genres: Contemporary, New Adult, Romance
Synopsis:
The Truth In Lies Series. READ This Much Is True,
book 1 first, although it’s been written as a standalone. Readers
say, don’t do that.
“The world breaks everyone, and
afterward, some are strong at the broken places.” -Ernest Hemingway ~ A Farewell
To Arms
They share an epic love but one
moment changes everything. A life together that seemed certain is shattered.
One learns you never love the same way twice; the other learns what it means to
come home. You only think you know how this love story goes, but do you really
know how an epic love can end?
“There are all kinds of love in this
world but never the same love twice.”
-F. Scott Fitzgerald
-F. Scott Fitzgerald
She is living color, and I’ve been
in a black-and-white world for far too long without her.
Powerful stuff. It surrounds me. I’ve felt it since I first arrived. The forcefield of her. The magnetism of her. The power she wields over me. I’m alive again because of her, like a dying plant that finally gets some water. I’ve got it bad for this girl.
Reality dawns.
The light comes through the darkness and shines on me.
She’s my water.
-Lincoln Presley
Powerful stuff. It surrounds me. I’ve felt it since I first arrived. The forcefield of her. The magnetism of her. The power she wields over me. I’m alive again because of her, like a dying plant that finally gets some water. I’ve got it bad for this girl.
Reality dawns.
The light comes through the darkness and shines on me.
She’s my water.
-Lincoln Presley
The truth is I breathe with him. He
is my air. Raison d’etre.
-Tally Landon
-Tally Landon
Author’s note: This novel is part of
the Truth In Lies series. It can be read as standalone, however,
fans of my fiction already are highly recommending that those new to my
work, READ This Much Is True book 1 FIRST.
As Lincoln Presley would say, “do
as you must, Princess.”
Purchase:
AUTHOR
BIO
A penchant for angst, serious drama, and the unintentional
complications of love began early on when she won a poetry contest at
the age of fourteen and appears to be without end. Owen has an avid love
of coffee, books, and writing, but not necessarily in that order. She
lives in an old house near Seattle with her family where she is
working on her next book.
Author
Links:
Goodreads http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/998458.Katherine_Owen
Twitter https://twitter.com/KatherineOwen01
Facebook http://www.facebook.com/KatherineOwenAuthor
Website: http://www.katherineowen.net
Goodreads http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/998458.Katherine_Owen
Twitter https://twitter.com/KatherineOwen01
Facebook http://www.facebook.com/KatherineOwenAuthor
Website: http://www.katherineowen.net
Blitz-wide giveaway (INTL)
· Paperback
copy of The Truth About Air & Water AND This Much Is True (book 1)
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