Interview with Katie Taylor

Today I am featuring an interview with my critique partner, Katie Taylor, from the Weekly Chapter Challenge group on Writer's Digest. Katie has been great to work with--she catches my grammar errors, and my issues with punctuation! More importantly, she understands my characters and can tell me if I am not being true to their personalities.

While Katie has been helping me polish up Quest of the Hart, she has been sending me her work in progress (WIP) Hunted. More recently she has been sending me sections of another WIP The Vampire Slave Both stories always leave me begging her for more pages. Without further ado, I give you Katie!


Tell us about yourself. Do you play any instruments? Have any pets? Children? Boyfriend/husband? Anything else you want to share??

One boyfriend and two furry children (four if you count the bunnies). “Real” children and I don’t mix well. I’ll stick with my Pap and GS/SB mix, thanks. No instruments, either. Fifth grade band and the flute proved how disastrous trying out new talents could be—it’s definitely not one of my hidden ones, that’s for sure. =). I do have a quirky sense of humor according to the sweetie, though, and am a little too sensitive when it comes to animals. I blog, I read, I write (obviously), I like zoos and museums, and I occasionally try new feats that end up nearly scaring me to death and a blush to creep on my face from all the obscenities falling from my mouth. Call me a pansy and I’d probably agree

How did you find out about the Weekly Challenge Chapter group?

Melissa Dean.

How has your experience been so far?
It’s been great. I’m really glad I joined.

How long have you been a writer/author? Have you had anything published? What types of things do you like to write? Why do you write? How do you write?

I’d say since I could hold a pencil and attempt to spell words, but that seems to be the popular answer. Can’t be too cliché, right? (Even though it would be accurate.) I enjoyed it when I was little, had a hiatus for a while after I was pretty sure my mom lied to me how to spell the word owner (children and their conspiracy theories) when I was writing about a story centering around a collie getting lost—yes, I liked Lassie, a lot. Then, after I moved and began turning into the introverted, anti-social, nearly recluse I am today, I took up writing again and found a deep love of books. Nothing published except a poem in the sixth grade about why the sky is blue, but I haven’t really tried. I’ll write anything, but I mostly love to write about things that suspend belief. I live in a beyond ordinary life—I don’t want to write about it too. So, enter the vampires and other mythological creatures I’ve loved since childhood and blame on my mother who has a fascination for the like too.

I write because I enjoy it, and prefer to on the computer. It comes over better to me than on paper.

What are some of your favorite books? Authors? Music to write to?

The Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, Jane Austen, Edgar Allan Poe, Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling, and I enjoy the fantasy/urban fantasy/paranormal genre the most. As far as music goes, it depends on the scene I’m writing. For THE VAMPIRE’S SLAVE: EVANESCENT TWILIGHT, I listen to Breathe Me by Sia mostly, with Delain coming in a close second. For HUNTED (working title) anything and everything, a lot of rock and alternative rock.

Tell us about your WIP. Care to share some of it?

Which one?

HUNTED is the one that has more of my heart, and it’s about a girl, Amberlyn Winters, who has a strong aversion to vampires, and with good cause. When one transfers to her school in her senior year and she’s forced to partner with him for a speech project, though, everything changes when he proves stubborn to her dislike and teenagers start showing up murdered around Greystin. Fighting against the emotions swelling inside her for the vampire whose kind she’s vowed to hate, and the suspicions screaming in her head, she has to uncover the mystery that is Kaleb Dantes before more kids end up dead or she does one, but the truth may just be more than she bargained for.

Excerpt:

"Kaleb, don’t!"

As fast as I could, I hurried to my feet, stumbling to Kaleb. I grabbed his arm, the thick chords of muscles bulging and rock-hard, his hands—fingers—curved, rigid, and claw-like—slightly pointier than normal. Uh-oh, not good, not good at all. Heart pounding, but lacking any sort of the usual fear, I stood in front of him, willing him to look down at me, to come back to me.

"Kaleb, look at me. Look. At. Me!”

"He’s a killer, and he deserves—”

Kaleb snarled, going after him. I pushed back against him, digging my feet into the ground, dirt pushed back as my futile attempts did nothing to slow him. I was practically a doll in his hands. Not good, not good. If Kaleb so much as touched a hair on his head…Riggs would have him in one of the Death Chambers so quick…

"Kaleb, no! You can’t do this!” I grunted out, pushing back with all my might. He moved only a bit, but it was enough to get him to stop. He wasn’t breathing, only standing rim-rod straight, eyes pinning Riggs with a definiteness that screamed kill as I kept darting looks between the two over my shoulder. Riggs was stupid to still be here, to not be afraid.

"I think it’s best if you leave—now.”

Riggs smirked, ignoring me. “He’s a beast, Ms. Winters, and he’ll kill you. Mark my words. This isn’t the end.” Wiping his mouth where a spot of blood dotted the corner, he turned and walked away, disappearing in the trees.

Kaleb and I were left alone.

Any advice for aspiring authors? Anything else you want to share?

Write what you want and what you love no matter what anyone else says, other than that, it’s all a moot matter.


Where can we find you on the web?

http://katie-s-taylor.blogspot.com and then follow the links from there if you want to continue to stalk me.


Thank you Katie!