Hello there folkerinos.

Welcome to another installment of the Author Interview Series.

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Tonight, I have had the pleasure of speaking with author Katherine Dell, who has just launched a new debut supernatural romance series called ‘Harmless’.

Time to find out more about this thrilling new series and get to know her better too.

Thanks for reading and have fun.

 

Hi there Katherine, fantastic to have you over here to discuss the details of your exciting new supernatural series, along with your writing passions and influences.

Let’s start with your debut novel in your “Harmless” series, which is young adult fiction at its very finest that embraces supernatural themes. Please tell us more about your lead protagonist Rachel Barnes, what emotional challenges that she faces across the course of her adventures and how this collides with the paranormal elements of your series.

Rachel Barnes has big emotions and big feelings. And in trying to add more depth and realism to her character, I gave her a life altering event that shaped her core; the death of her brother. Rachel, feels in part responsible for her brother’s death, continually justifying what she could have or should have done to prevent it. Even though it has been years since his passing she still carries very fresh emotional scars of the event.

Throughout the story of Rachel moving from the city, and the unwitting release of a centuries old spirit, Rachel has to discover new ways to try and deal with the haunting loss of her sibling. I chose two potential love interest to be there for her, while she sorts out her own inner turmoil; Mason, and Nate. One, letting her struggle to gain the strength to fix her own problems, and the other taking a much more soft-hearted approach. It might take you by surprise which wins out in the end.

So how does this collide into sparks with the paranormal elements in this story? Rachel discovers the true, underlying reasons why her possessed friend wants to stay possessed by the wendigo spirit. And it hits her, right in the place where she harbours the pain of her brother’s death. She understands her friends reasoning for wanting to keep this dark spirit and maybe even agrees. It brings her to question her own morality.

Get a free preview of Harmless here by signing up to Katherine’s mailing list:- Instafreebie – Katherine Dell – Harmless Sample

You mention that you have always been fascinated by the very nature of supernatural occurrences and the stories surrounding them. Do you have any specific examples or favourite stories that you have specifically drawn upon regarding the inspiration for your “Harmless” series?

I am a firm believer that there are things in this world that aren’t yet discovered, and things that people will never fully understand. So, yes, I’m a wonderer of what cannot be explained, aka the supernatural. I myself have had a few encounters that I would consider in the ‘not possible’ range.

But when it comes to a specific example of something that may have sparked an idea for Harmless, one thing comes to mind; the book The Host by Stephenie Meyers.
The Host, is about a race of aliens (Souls) who take over human bodies. What I liked about this story was the soul’s prospective on things. How it viewed the happenings of life around it.

I moulded that idea and asked myself; how would an ancient spirit see the world? Or better yet; how would the spirit change the view of it host? Which got me day dreaming about whole other plains of existence which could be right in front of us, which we’re not capable of seeing! I may have jumped ahead there a bit. But trust me, the idea came out beautifully in the book.

If your novel was to be made into a film (or even a TV series), who would you cast in the lead roles?

Personally, I think it would make a better TV series than a movie, but I wouldn’t be one to argue if someone wanted to make it into one! The three main characters in the book are Rachel, Mason, and Nate. For Rachel, I would cast Chloe Grace Moretz. She is down-to-earth, pretty, but can portray a character with a darker side. For Mason, I would choose Alexander Nifong. Mostly on his looks alone; those eyes…whew. And Nate, I would choose twenty-one-year-old, Rick Mora. Except, you’d need a time machine, or a cloning machine for that. Rick Mora, although stunning, is too old to play the role of Nate.

What do you find the most difficult thing about writing? And what do you find the easiest?

Most difficult? Staying consistent to a writing schedule. Sometimes I write like I have a fever and need to get it out. Other times, I lose motivation and get distracted.

What is the easiest? Talking about my writing, doing interviews like this. In fact, it’s usually what gets me back on track and writing again.

Who are some of the authors and historical figures that inspire you?

Adam Dreece and Kelly Charron inspire me. They both have so much try, so much heart, and so much stick-to-itiveness. They’ve help me a ton over the years to figure out the intricacies of publishing and writing. They’re my good friends, and are indispensable in my writing career.

There’s also been one other person who has inspired me over the years…an old boss that I had years ago. Whether she knows it not, I credit a lot of my successful endeavours to her. She taught me how to stand my ground, fake it till I made it, and sink or swim. My brain grew many wrinkles learning that there are few problem that are not solvable. I haven’t seen her for over a decade, but often think I should look her up.

What sort of research do you do to write your books?

For Harmless, I travelled to the town of Hazelton, in northern BC. I contacted the local museum there, and they were most helpful to find me a guide to show me around to all the places I wanted to see. The story became much more realistic after that trip.

Other than that, my research comes from the internet, conversations I have with people, and a whole lot of daydreaming.

Why do you write? What inspired you to become a writer?

That’s easy. Books are a special kind of magic. I just want to be part of that. Books are other lives lived, and adventures taken when you can’t even leave home.

What inspired me to write – in general. I wanted to do something bigger than me. It takes courage to write, and even more to share it with the world. I wanted to go out of my comfort zone and achieve something great. For me, this was it.

What keeps you motivated during creative slumps? How do you deal with Writers Block?

I’m the kind of person who needs to experience life to write about it. A few days exploring the city, reading books, catching up with friends or on my favourite shows, usually sets me back to writing again. I think it’s important to find a balance that works for you.

You have access to a time machine. What advice would you give to your younger self?

To have found focus earlier, but c’est la vie! My experiences have made me who I am, which is a pretty awesome person. I wouldn’t change who I am.

How do you spend your free time when you are not writing?

I spend a lot of time working on my tan at little league games, and drinking coffee in cold hockey arenas. By that, I mean I have two little boys that keep me very busy. I also make a line a natural stone jewellery, which retail in a few local stores.

Tell us more about your upcoming projects. Are you working on anything specific or have plans in the pipeline?

I have two projects in the works right now. First is the next book in the Harmless series, which is called Mavens. Rachel, Mason, and Nate continues their story, after all of them move to Vancouver. There are new characters introduced into the story that I think the readers will really love.

The second project I have on the go is a YA dystopian novel. It’s only in the beginning stages, but we’ll see where it goes.

Finally, are there any nuggets of wisdom that you can impart to other aspiring writers?

Surround yourself with a community of supportive, genuine people who want to see you succeed. I couldn’t have gotten this far without my group of writer friends. And don’t forget to give back too! Even if you are just starting out. If you help others, it will come back around to you.

And that’s a wrap! Congratulations on the launch of your series and we look forward to enjoying the adventures as they continue to develop further 🙂

Bio:-

Katherine Dell is a young adult fiction author fascinated by the supernatural and the stories that surround them. She began her writing endeavours in 2011 when she wanted to reinvent herself from her previous career as an event planner. When she’s not writing, she can be found in cold hockey arenas sipping coffee, working on her tan at little league games, or trying to keep her dog out of her many gardens. She lives with her husband, two boys, and fur babies, in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

You can connect with her via the following Social Media channels:-

Get a free preview of Harmless here by signing up to Katherine’s mailing list:- Instafreebie – Katherine Dell – Harmless Sample

Facebook:- Katherine Dell, Author (FB)
Goodreads:- Katherine Dell (Goodreads Author)
Instagram:- Katherine Dell, Author (Instagram)
Twitter:- @katherine_dell (Twitter)
Website:- The Website of Author Katherine Dell – A WRITER, A STORYTELLER, A DREAMER OF BIG THINGS

You can buy her books here:-

Buy Katherine Dell’s books in the UK/Europe

Buy Katherine Dell’s books in the US/Rest of the World

If you too would like to be interviewed on my blog at TooFullToWrite and you have a book or a series of books that you would like us to chat about then fill out the Contact Me form here with your details and we can arrange a future interview slot.

Still want more? Well, in Katherine’s novel, her protagonist Rachel Barnes immediately invokes our sympathy with the loss of her brother at the start of her adventures. For more articles on the theme of ‘Sympathy’ then check out the links below:-

1. Sympathy (Keep it!) – A little stronger, a little longer…
2. Drops of Ink – Crisis of Choice
3. Sympathy? No…Mother-figure. Counsellor. Listener. Self-healing required. – Chronicles of an Orange-Haired Woman!
4. Overcoming shortcomings – awesomeloopy
5. Samantha Linda – Sympathy
6. Sympathy: Daily Prompt – Smudges on my Mirror
7. Nan’s Farm-Inside Out – Our first line of defense: caring people
8. Confess Your Faults – Pineapples
9. Exploring the World around us – Sympathy
10. Theories on 911, 16 Years Later – A lot from Lydia
11. A parting gift – The Chaos Within
12. Samaritan or sucker? – Mum’s the Word Blog
13. my lemon – my sweetpainteddreams
14. The Incident – wordsonwings
15. window + heart + sympathy – tuckedintoacorner
16. Sympathy – whitericegirl
17. locoindi – Something’s broken
18. Giggles & Tales – The Daily Prompt – Sympathy!
19. Another Planet – By Sarah
20. Pandora – Write Away
21. How are you? – purplepumpernickel
22. Sympathy, The Forty Tread-lightly. – Honing skills and loving the ride
23. Cloud 9 – Bleak Sky
24. For Saundra – Leigha Robbins
25. The boy on the bench – My Life Is My Making
26. Poor Me! – Pristine Path
27. Momentum of Jo – I Remember When
28. charcoal and chagrin – vertical combustion
29. juantetcts – Daily Post
30. An Unforgotten Heartbreak – How I Learned to Dance in The Rain
31. Poetry Out West – Persephone
32. Coffee, Community and Catastrophes – Heart and Mind
33. Ode To The Fake Friend – The Tango of Pen and Paper
34. Ways to promote your blog on social media
35. September 11 – On a mission
36. Visit Mount Yangbew Benguet
37. “Sympathetic Peculiarities.” – Expedition Overlanding Nomadic Adventures
38. bethlovesblue.com – What I Have Learned. What I Have Yet to Learn.
39. Weary Eyes – andsoitisborn
40. The Hockey Mom Fit Life – Finding the Rainbow In the Storm
41. Walk with God – Will It Be There When I Need It?
42. The [Password] is: “Password” – Sympathy for 9/11
43. Keeping Friendships: Where do you draw the line? – Stay Strong, Daily Warrior!
44. Delays…(microfiction) – stephentotheplate
45. “I’m So Sorry For Your Loss” – Bre-nana
46. Mad Man Sympathy – Writer’s block
47. Slender man Stabbing – Crash nebula
48. NIGHT UNLATCHED – Sympathetic Keystrokes
49. ~253 Of 365~ – ……….365 Days………..
50. Mirth and Motivation – Motivation Mondays: Patriot Day – Remembering 9/11
51. Sympathy – The Bag Lady
52. Let the celery rot – Community of Feeling
53. Sympathy As I Watch – THE SKY’S THE LIMIT
54. A Diary of A Single Man: Peach Bunny Mama – Harlem Cafe
55. Flowers and Breezes – Sympathy
56. A Diary of A Single Man: Do You Know Me? – Harlem Cafe
57. A Diary of A Single Man: A Father’s Day After Thought – Harlem Cafe
58. theempathyqueen – The Heart Remembers When
59. Twisting Suburbia – The S-Word
60. B*_ live – I doubt
61. The Coffee Owl – Sympathy and the hollow feeling
62. A Special Sympathy – Tachispeaks
63. A word we all dread to utter – you’re here
64. Charmed Chaos – The Reaper
65. How Slowly We Heal – Kim K. McCrea
66. (No) Symphony of Sympathy? – The AAAmazing Phoenix by Alan Grace
67. A Woman in India – Tangled Webs
68. Notes to Women – Sympathy
69. A Poem: The Darkest Night – The Tattooed Book Geek
70. Grammy Writes – The Thrill is Gone
71. Not Today – Debbie Gravett
72. Sympathy – wordsareallihavesite
73. One September Morning – E. Denise Billups, Writer
74. The House at the End of Butcher Street Part 6
75. Life through a few Loaves of Bread – OneAndNone
76. How to show you care – CD-W, Author Flawed to Perfection
77. The World Need Not Robots – Dream Desire Achieve
78. thelonerose – I feel your pain
79. It starts with me – My Mother’s Favourite Word
80. Humanity rises above all – Life happens,when fear ends.
81. Deficit of self – Zachary W Gilbert, Author
82. The Power Within – Just Listen to Ezimen
83. Flowing Like Milk and Honey – Hold tight
84. Nan’s Farm-Inside Out – No Sympathy Here
85. Sympathy – Gabrielle’s Life
86. How by looking after others, we become more ourselves – Travelling Psychologist
87. Pieces of past… – Luminous Feathers
88. What the Dormouse Said (pt 3) – Writing in Any Genre
89. Daily Post Sep 11, 2017 DAILY PROMPT Sympathy – Mick E Talbot Poems
90. I Do Not Want Your Sympathy – Come As You Are…
91. A Mixed Multitude – Sympathy
92. Letter To Naughty Nita — Daily Post Prompt: Sympathy – SANDRA PAVLOFF CONNER
93. Sympathy for the Devil – The Introspection Connection
94. Sympathy belongs to those who deserve it – In my world
95. Remember in September – Daily Post #11 for National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month – My Loud Bipolar Whispers
96. I’m not sorry… – Charlene Speaks
97. Kindness – A Ray of Sunshine
98. Sympathy – A Sawyer’s Daughter
99. Sympathy – Covert Novelist
100. Muse of the Day – Everyday Strange
101. I don’t… – Love it Now
102. How A Vaping Tattoo Artist Felt Insulted When He Was Insulting – Mahesh Nair
103. The Wandering Poet – Still learning
104. burglars, breakfast and house pets, oh my! ⋆ Obsolete Childhood
105. A Writer’s Voice – Monday’s Loaf of Bread: Assisi
106. There is No Crying in… – AJ Hunter
107. The Consulting Writer – Sucks To Be You
108. Sympathy – Ralli’s Musings
109. There is No Crying in… – The Mind of Nox
110. Na’ama Yehuda – Sorrow and Hope
111. Backyard sympathizers – BONSALLES ART
112. Crossing Colorado – How a Pity Party Can Be Disruptive for Personal Improvement
113. Propolis and Paint – Sympathy for the Devil
114. People of Amarapura – Don’t hold your breath
115. The Fine Art of Letting Go – Sketches By Nitesh
116. Making it write – The Terror of Endings
117. lifelessons – a blog by Judy Dykstra-Brown – Donald, Donald
118. Sympathy – delphic2infinity
119. Pittsburgh Lesbian Correspondents – Scrap the Trap Rescued an Orphaned Racoon in Our Pgh Neighborhood
120. Is it flirt? – Open Mind
121. The Junk In My Drawers… – sudden thoughts & second thoughts
122. Overcoming Regret pt. 2: Celebrate What “Is” Instead of “What’s Not” – Stew Rd.
123. SHINE Magazine – Leave Your Pain Behind and Forgive
124. Our first line of defense: caring people – Your Nibbled News – 2017 YNN
125. Musings of a Random Mind – Heads Up
126. Sympathy – My expressions
127. Piper’s Adventures – Sympathy: Rebirth Following Disaster
128. A Night in the Prophet’s Life – Islamic Methodologies Made Easy
129. La Tierra – Love Alchemy
130. MC’s Whispers – When things go wrong
131. Sympathy and Empathy in Musicals – Meg’s Magical Musings
132. Sympathy?? No Thank You!
133. Daily Haiku / Senryu : Sympathy – Restructuring Life
134. Condolence Won’t Let Me Live – Akanksha
135. Kind Compassion and Commiserations – As I was saying…
136. The Cat Chronicles – Daily Feline Prompt: Feline Sympathy for Humans
137. The Grass Is Always Greener On The Other Side – Zeckrombryan
138. MY OWN PRIVATE IDAHO – Sympathy
139. A word I am very familiar with, sympathy. – A Life Retired Blog
140. Am I Sick? – Today Or Never
141. Curious Hart – Sympathy ~ Empathy ~ Apathy
142. Forgotten – memoriter
143. Just a Little Exaggeration – This, That, and The Other
144. sonja benskin mesher – .stop sign.
145. Sympathy – Daily Word – tistedtales
146. ROYAL BLOOD – Rainbow
147. Innocent eyes – The scarred one
148. Getting Aurochs Off with Lamont and Dude – I’m a Writer, Yes, I Am!
149. How to Start a Fire – December Rose
150. Chronicles of an Anglo Swiss – How to be a golden oldie
151. Sympathy – Poems From Oostburg, Wisconsin
152. Thoughts on Life – Sympathy
153. Sympathy For The Devil – A Unique Title For Me
154. Authentically 50 ~ Embracing Life’s Changes – Life Can Change In A Moment
155. Woes of Sympathy – Speaking Up for Myself
156. SERENDIPITY – REMEMBERING THE DAY
157. Autovrije zondag op 17/09 – Stad Tienen – Groeten uit #Tienen
158. Success Inspirers World – Nasty people
159. Narutomath96 – Obfuscated truth
160. The Hockey Mom Fit Life – Irma’s Aftermath
161. Hot Dogs and Marmalade – For Ken
162. 50 By 60 – A somber Weigh-In Day
163. Don’t confuse social media with your diary – Wells Baum
164. The Holly Tree Tales – My Journey Into The University of Life
165. Changes Through Lenses – Blissfully Bianca
166. Lazy Dinner Tonite #8 – Vivi Foodie Diva
167. Finding Strength…Still – Wind Kisses
168. { Sympathy & Comfort } – My Word Soup
169. My Blogging Addiction – Sympathy and when would you want some
170. Feigning wellness – Bird Flight
171. Success Inspirers World – Who cares shares
172. The World Outside the Window – A Difficult Decision
173. Misifusa’s Blog – Never Forget 9/11/01
174. Common Pursuit – A Sympathetic Hand
175. Dronstad – Never Forget
176. September Blues – Fox Fresh
177. The smile that you used to hide behind is fast becoming the smile that you try to hide. – Individual expressions of a naive mind.
178. Live life; make meaning. – her unspooling
179. A Vignette – Just Writing!
180. ….on pets and prisoners….. – daily prompt: sympathy
181. Hot White Snow – Reliving 9/11
182. Sympathy For Another – emotionsoflife2016
183. Helicopters Came and Broke the World – Melinda J. Irvine
184. Enticement – Redux Of Rex
185. Designer Sophisticate – Don’t feel it if you don’t mean it.
186. Sympathy – This Girl’s Got Curves
187. DCMontreal: Blowing the Whistle on Society – No Need To Stand In a Hurricane
188. Cimmerian Sentiment – Naming Temptation – (Part- 19) Climbing Ivy
189. Frank Prem – mourning oma
190. Overcoming Regret pt. 1: Good Grief – Stew Rd.
191. Frank Prem – The hat that won the cup
192. Sympathy – All About Writing and more
193. Frank Prem – can’t trust the rice