Kate McIntyre's Blog, page 7

V: Venomous Opinions from Point of View Characters

One of the cornerstones of my writing style is my fanatical dedication to character voice. It’s very important to me that every single word of the narration feels as if it’s coming from my point of view character and not from me. That applies to everything. What’s observed and what’s ignored, what metaphors or similies are used, the exact words chosen to describe something… it’s just so important to me that those things always feel like they’re attached to the narrator. I want my POV characte...

U: Undressing History, or, fashion research and invention

I had to do a lot of fashion research for my debut novel. My protagonist is very concerned with appearances and is always studying people to see how they hold up against the current trends. That meant that I had to know what those trends were, in enough detail that Christopher Buckley could fixate on it.

Some authors are just immensely talented at writing descriptions of clothing. Gail Carriger is one of them. When I read her words, the gowns and coats she’s painting just come alive. I admire...

T: Technology and Fantasy, or, the story of the flashbulb camera

Today I’m just going to tell a little story about something that happened to me while I was writing my debut novel, The Deathsniffer’s Assistant, and how it relates to figuring out the level of technology your fantasy novel can have.

I was writing a scene where reporters are trying to get a statement on a major event. Newspapers have been around since long before the Edwardian era, and they’re a major background presence in my books. But I got wondering about illustrations, and decided to do...

S: Stirring up Genre Stew

My debut novel, The Deathsniffer’s Assistant, is a classic whodunnit mystery novel. There’s a brilliant detective and her erstwhile assistant. There’s a gruesome murder. There’s a suspicious grieving widow, a conniving mistress, and a slimy creditor. It has all the elements of a by the numbers detective yarn.

It also has some more elements. A lot more elements.

The Deathsniffer’s Assistant is a genre smash to say the least! I’m telling a coherant and full murder mystery at the same time as a...

COVER REVEAL for THE DEATHSNIFFER’S ASSISTANT

My mother put together a little book documenting the years of my young life. Every year, she’d give me a little interview. What is your favourite memory? What was your favourite subject? Who were your best friends?

Then the big one: what do you want to be when you grow up?

Starting right from kindergarten, my choice never wavered: I want to be an author.

Today I’m so pleased to take a huge step toward fulfilling this lifelong dream by sharing with you all the cover of my debut novel, availabl...

R: Random Facts About Me

I’ve talked a lot about my writing, a lot about my inspirations, and a lot about my interests. But what about me? It’s tough because I’m a super private person! I don’t like putting myself out there. It’s my instinct to try and conceal facts about my life. But I want my readers to feel like they know me, so in this post I’m going to share five random facts about me that are not available anywhere else in my online profile!

1. I love cold weather and hate “nice days.”
It happens at least once...

Q: Queens of Fantasy, or, random female characters in fantasy who I think are ballers.

I established earlier this month that I’m a feminist. I’m proud of that. Having been interested in SFF since I was just a little girl, I’ve always loved female characters I can identify with and admire in the genre. It’s a sad fact that a lot of books I’ve read — and even books I’ve loved — just don’t have good roles for women. But it’s also a good fact that more and more every year I find a lady who makes my toes curl with joy between the pages of a fantasy novel. I’d like to hope that, with...

P: Patterns in my Writing

Like all first-time authors, I’ve got a stack of unpublishable, half-finished, quarter-finished, and barely started novels laying around. Some were typed out when I was still just a little girl, those are in boxes somewhere. Others are stored on floppy discs that no longer have anything to load them with. Yet more are on the old harddrives to skeletal computers clustered in a closet. There are about twenty in total, ranging from “totally finished but written by an eleven year old” to “a reall...

O: Oliva Faraday, or, writing a main character who isn’t the main character.

The main character of my novel is…

Well, that’s a actually a hard statement to finish.

There are two main characters in my novel. The mild-mannered and soft-spoken proper gentleman, Christopher Buckley, and his employer, Olivia Faraday, who is mercurial, eccentric, manic, and brilliant. But there’s only one narrator, Chris, and The Deathsniffer’s Assistant spends a lot of time exploring his family life, backstory, and connections, while very little personal time is given to Olivia.

So why is...

N: No More Castles, or, why I’ll never write medieval fantasy

(Gosh, it’s amazing how quickly you can get behind on this challenge when you have a busy week, isn’t it? Here’s me rolling up my sleeves and getting back in there!)

I owe so much to medieval fantasy.

The bibliography of my teenage years reads like a who’s who of the standbys: Mercedes Lackey’s Valdemar novels, The Wheel of Time, the Belgariad and everything else David Eddings ever wrote, the Lord of the Rings. Books that I still hold as favourites to this day also are a part of that subgenre...