Twitter A-Thon!

Good morning and welcome to Thursday Thoughts. Today, we’re going in a different direction. A good friend of mine, another author, is working with someone she met on Twitter. They have this fabulous idea on how to present their books in a Twitter-A-Thon similar to a television series.
She and a fellow author, Sean R. Frazier, are going to be taking over Twitter on Thursday nights around 6:30 Pacific time, making it 9:30 Eastern time, and the middle of the night over in Europe and the next morning for those on the other side of the international date line. You can join in on the fun by following these great authors @DaughterHauk for Kate and @TheCleftonTwain for Sean, or by looking for the hashtags #finsmagic and #amari for their current episodic developing story. Comment, share, and have tons of fun.


Welcome aboard, Kate. Tell us a little about yourself:
How did you decide to become an author?
I’m an avid gamer, and we’d played in a D&D group for over 2 years. Without warning, our DM (person who runs the game) killed or imprisoned everyone. It didn’t sit well with me, so I wrote a short story to change things. It woke my muse up! I didn’t set out to become an author. Rather, I didn’t want my kids growing up thinking it wasn’t worth taking risks if you find something you love to do. The best way for me to teach them that lesson was for them to see me go through the submission process and deal with rejections.
Do you plot your stories or are you a panster?
Definitely a pantser! LOL. I know where it’s starting, a good idea of the end, and I let the characters and story tell me what comes in between. The road can be straightforward or have twists I didn’t expect.
How do you balance writing and real life?
Very carefully! I tend to push writing to the bottom of my to do list, which means I’ll go weeks without writing. There’s also been times where I’ve gotten into the zone for a good 3 hours and my family’s ordered pizza for dinner. LOL
Tell us about Guarding Charon…
I was working on another story when I woke up and had the entire first chapter of ‘Guarding Charon’ in my head, including dialogue! When the muse talks THAT loud, I listen. LOL. For me, the story was a way to explore a part of mythology that doesn’t get much thought. It was also my first urban fantasy story. Working in a modern-day setting is a lot different than high fantasy. I spent more time doing research to make sure details were right. If I said it took 10 hours to fly from Texas to Maine, for example, readers would know I was wrong and roast me in reviews.
Why did you decide on this type of book?
I didn’t plan to write it. It came to me differently than most of my plots do. I do like the genre, though, and think there’s a number of other stories I could add to the world I created in this one.
How much research do you do before and while you’re writing?
For high fantasy, not much. This one, being urban, required some. Mainly making sure that towns didn’t actually exist in the states I was using, how long it took to fly between locations, travel from a major city to where the town would be, stuff like that. The second book required a little bit more delving into Greek mythology. Oh, and learning how to swear in Latin. LOL. I’m working on the 3rd book, and there’s one chapter I just finished writing that takes place in a specific location. That place took a good month or more to research (and I had 5 tabs open to various websites while I typed).
All authors have a connection to their characters. How do you connect with Grace and Charon?
Grace, at the start, is me trapped in a small town where she really doesn’t fit. Her parents have certain expectations of her, some of which are counter to her own ambitions. As she changes and grows, becoming Amber, it really reflects my own journey to finding out who I was. Not just finding out who I was, but getting the inner confidence to let myself be that person. Charon’s my religious/spiritual self in a lot of ways. There’s a part in all of us that wants to be devoid of emotion and be able to look at things in terms of right or wrong, I think.

What more can we expect from this group of characters? Are there more stories available/coming soon?
The sequel, ‘Guarding Amber’, released back in January. I’m working on the 3rdbook, ‘Guarding William’, now. I know it’ll be done in 2018! But not exactly when. LOL


About KateMarie Collins
Born in the late 60's, KateMarie has lived most of her life in the Pacific NW. While she's always been creative, she didn't turn towards writing until 2008. She found a love for the craft. With the encouragement of her husband and two children, she started submitting her work to publishers. When she's not taking care of her family, KateMarie enjoys attending events for the Society for Creative Anachronism. The SCA has allowed her to combine both a creative nature and love of history. She currently resides with her family and three cats in what she likes to refer to as "Seattle Suburbia".You can find KateMarie at the following sites:
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