Kathryn James

An excerpt from Mist :

Author Interview:

When and how did you start writing?

When I was very young, at Junior School, I remember writing lots of ‘books’.  They were probably a few pages long – those were the days!  Then in my twenties I wrote a novel and had a flicker of interest, but it didn’t go anywhere.  After which I started scriptwriting for a video production company.  At the same time I was plugging away writing half a book here, a few pages of another idea there, until eventually I got my act together and produced a whole novel! 

Can you remember the first book that made an impact on you? Who were your childhood storytelling heroes?

The first book I remember reading with my mum was a children’s version of HEIDI, which I loved and reread for ages.  Otherwise it was pony books from a very early age.  If it had a pony in it, I read it.  Other faves were the usual suspects: THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE, THE FAMOUS FIVE, THE FARAWAY TREE, THE JUNGLE BOOK, THE RAILWAY CHILDREN …

Can you talk us through the writing of MIST? What were the key moments?

I wanted to write a fantasy that was based in this world, but had access to other realms.  I wanted it to seem possible that there could be other dimensions so close to us that we could reach them – just by walking through a patch of mist. 

I imagined a race of elemental beings that at one time lived amongst us, but were now pushed out and considered myths.  I called them the Elven, and made them similar to us in lots of ways, but with an otherness that could be seen as dangerous – because people who have been pushed out and live on the fringes are always seen as slightly threatening.  I didn’t want them to be like Tolkien’s elves.  I wanted them to have the same sort of problems that we might have – like not fitting in, being driven out of their home, being accused of things and misunderstood. 

I quickly got my main character, Nell, and her sister Gwen.  I got the main Elven character, Evan.  I got the abduction scenario in the woods.  This came easily.  Then it took quite a while to write the rest of the story around these elements. 

Was it hard to get an agent? Can you talk us through the process?

I bought THE WRITERS’ AND ARTISTS’ YEARBOOK.  Then I got a small box of file cards and wrote the agents down who dealt with kids books, alphabetically.  Then I started working my way through them!

Describe your writing day. Where do you write? How do you organize your time? Where do you look for inspiration?

I write at my PC, in the front room of our house.  It is our study and it has two other PCs, all linked.  We are a very computerised family and spend more time in here than anywhere else. 

I write in the mornings, but sometimes spend too much time looking out of the window at what’s going on in the street.  I like to be able to see life happening around me, people talking, the TV on.  Pure silence puts me off.  I start listening for things. 

Inspiration often strikes me as I’m dropping off to sleep or just waking – it’s when your mind is floating free - so I have a notebook by the bed.  Having a shower also sets off ideas.  I think it’s the white noise of the water. 

I’m a great surfer of the net.  I find myself setting off on one topic and hours later I’m somewhere completely different.  I get ideas from these sessions. I also find inspiration from my teenage son and his friends, listening to them talking and joking around. 

Can you tell us about your next book?

It will be the second MIST book.  It’s called FROST and I can’t wait to get started on it.  I’m also working on one called FEVVER, which is about a girl of the same name who is convinced she was hatched from an egg and can fly.  She’s stalking this boy at a music festival because she thinks only he can help her find the rest of her ‘colony’.  But he’s got a secret, too.  It’s a horror romance. 

Are there any tips you could give aspiring writers who are looking to get published?

Keep writing.  Keep reading.  Keep looking at how others have made their books exciting.  And then use that knowledge to do it your own way. 

Can you describe three aspects of writing craft that have been most important as you’ve developed as an author?

1. Writing a really detailed synopsis first.  A blow by blow account of what happens all the way through.  Maybe twenty odd pages long.  I never realised how much easier that made the writing of the actual novel until I did it.  Everything is planned out.  I came to this idea quite late, as before I was rather free range.  I would get the idea and then go for it and see what happened – rather like life.  I would write a chapter then maybe change it as another idea came to me.  Now I’m hooked on the detailed plan beforehand. 

2. Exciting first lines that hook the reader. 

3. Cliffhanger ending to chapters - to keep them reading. 

Which favourite authors would you invite to a dinner party? What fictional character do you wish you’d invented?

Authors at my dinner party?  Crikey.  Erm.  None.  I just like their books.  Meeting them might be a disappointment.  THE CATCHER IN THE RYE is a great book, but Salinger sounds like he was a right nightmare of a man. 

I’m sure there are lots of great characters that I can’t remember at the moment, but Artemis Fowl springs to mind – in the first book I thought he was brilliantly odd.  I love the Adrian Mole character as well.