Katta Hules
Featured Author: Katta Hules is a Californian writer currently attempting to navigate the snow and lakes of Minnesota. When not squirreled away writing, she has been described as a book addict, frequent library patron, and ‘actually quite good at cooking.’ Not so long ago, Hules graduated from the University of California, Davis with a degree in Studio Art and decided to pursue a career in fiction.
Since then, she has published over a hundred articles with TUBE. Magazine, as well as dozens of articles with Arcadia Weekly. Her flash fiction has appeared in 200 CCs, the Visual Verse Anthology, and Fantasia Divinity. Additionally, she has written several Twitter serials for the app LongShorts including The Blind Leading the Blind and forthcoming series Murdare and Singing to Success. She is in the throes of finishing up her first novel.
When attempting to socialize electronically, she can be found lurking around Twitter at @KattaHules and haphazardly liking writing related posts on Facebook at www.facebook.com/Kattahules/. When attempting to interact with the real world outside of her beloved closet office, she is most often spotted in Minneapolis with her much beleaguered boy toy of ten years. For more of her work, visit www.kattahules.com.
Featured Author: Katta Hules Interview
- How long have you been writing?
- What/who inspired you to be a writer?
- What genre do you prefer to write in?
- Describe your writing process. What comes first–character or plot? Do you “pants” it or outline?
- What is your daily routine as a writer?
- Are there any software tools, resources, or websites you often use while writing?
- What are some of your biggest challenges you feel like you have to overcome in your writing career?
- Do you prefer short stories or full-length novels in your writing?
- Can you give some us some insight into your story in Realities Perceived?
- What advice can you give other writers?
LHP: How long have you been writing?
Katta Hules:I have been writing on and off since I was a kid. Some of my earliest memories are of creating stories, mostly book covers because I was just learning my letters at the time.
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LHP: What genre do you prefer to write in?
Katta Hules: I enjoy writing all kinds of genres as long as there’s a driving emotion (usually love, lust or obsession) to the plot and interesting characters.
LHP: What/who inspired you to be a writer?
Katta Hules: I’d been writing on and off throughout my life but it wasn’t until I did National Novel Writing Month for the first time as a college freshman and finished—without doing (too much) damage to my grades—that I thought I could maybe be a writer. Back to top >>>
LHP: Describe your writing process. What comes first–character or plot? Do you “pants” it or outline?
Katta Hules: For longer pieces, it’s always the characters that come first. For flash fiction, it’s usually a word or phrase that grows into a story. For flash, it’s almost always pantsing but these days I’ve grown toward more planning for my long projects. It just makes things easier, especially in rewrites.
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LHP: What is your daily/weekly routine as a writer?
Katta Hules: My routines change depending on what my day job is at the time. For the most part though, I like to write in the morning after breakfast and a cup of tea. I try to get in at least an hour for at least four days a week.
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LHP: Are there any software tools, resources, or websites you use often while writing?
Katta Hules: I’ve been jumping around on software lately, using everything from Google Docs to Storyist to Scrivener. I occasionally write in notebooks, but mostly character studies that may or may not make it into the story. As long as I’ve got some good music and a decent word processor that doesn’t make me want to throw my computer, I’m good to go.
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LHP: What are some of your biggest challenges you feel like you have to overcome in your writing career?
Katta Hules: I’m a bit of a perfectionist so actually getting a novel to a place where I feel comfortable submitting it to agents is a big one. Also, I’m not the best at social media, platform building is somewhat painful for me. I’m trying out doing a newsletter instead which feels more my speed, so we’ll see how that works out.
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LHP: Do you have a set number of words per day you target? or do you set other goals to meet?
Katta Hules:Since I’m doing a lot of revisions right now, my goals are mostly time based, so at least an hour of work for at least four days a week. Also I set weekly, monthly and yearly goals. I probably get overly excited by lists and checking things off.
How much time is spent on “the business of writing” – queries, seeking an agent or publisher, marketing/sales?
Katta Hules: Right now, I’m not in querying mode, so most of what I consider marketing is the five minutes a day I lurk around social media, the quick blog posts I put up to let people know about articles/stories I’ve written, and more recently, my newsletter The Bookworm Is In. So at this point, not a whole lot. But I’m sure that will change.
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LHP: Do you prefer short stories or full length novels in your writing?
Katta Hules: I enjoy them both, but novels call to me more than short stories. With very few exceptions (“I Carry You Everywhere” being one), most of my short stories are spur of the moment and fun but lack the insistent need to be written that I feel with novels.
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LHP: Can you give some us some insight into your story?
Katta Hules: “I Carry You Everywhere” came from my fantasy of being a hermit writer who becomes famous for refusing to join social media and being terribly mysterious. At the time, I was in college and virulently opposed to social media. I’ve since come around to it, but as an introvert, I still am a bit of a hermit at heart and have trouble understanding the why of broadband interactions like Facebook posts and tweets.
When I realized I would never be able to be an enigmatic recluse, I decided to turn it into a story. Roderick grew out of my experience as a writer for TUBE. Magazine and the plot dynamics grew out of my fascination with obsession.
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LHP: What advice can you give other writers?
Katta Hules: I’m not sure how qualified I am to be giving advice, but here’s some anyway: get the details right. Small details may not seem like much but they can make or break a story. As a reader and an editor, if I catch spelling or grammar issues or find awkward phrasing, it will take me out of the story and leave me itching for a red pen. Reading a story out loud, especially to another person really helps pick out these kinds of errors.
Also, if I’m reading a story where someone obviously hasn’t done their research about a subject I’m familiar with, it drives me nuts. This is especially true if you’re writing a character who is a different race/culture/sexuality from you or deals with a disease or disability you don’t. The bottom line is, always do your research. You and your story will be better for it.
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Realities Perceived
Katta Hules recently authored “I Carry You Everywhere” for Realities Perceived, on sale now.