Author Profile – Katie Hines: Guardian
Q: Why did you decide to write this book?
A: I had written a truly horrid memoir that made me realize I didn’t know how to write creatively. I embarked on a learning spree that resulted in me coming to the point where I wanted to write fiction–and that I could. I searched for an idea, and when I finally settled on it–writing about a real-to-life treasure story–it was natural that elements of my favorite kind of reading–fantasy–be an integral part of my book.
Q: Do you have any secret writing tips you’d like to share?
A: They’re not so secret! Write, write and write again. Then comes the hard part: editing. For all the writing you do, your work simply won’t be ready for publication until you’ve edited it out the wazoo, and had others critique it.
Q: Tell us a quirky or funny story about you!
A: I have written articles for newspapers, and don’t consider myself a “funny” person. But, I ended up writing humor for newspapers–how I came up with those ideas, I’ll never know. But one article was called, “Consider Hiring a Couch Potato,” where I listed all of the couch potato’s numerous executive abilities. It was silly, and fun, and was one of the last humor articles I wrote. Apparently, I had a limited reserve of silly stories, and I haven’t written any sense. However, I do try to incorporate humor into my children’s works.
Q: Have you ever battled writer’s block? How do you deal with it?
A: Yes. While writing “Guardian,” I knew the ending, but in the middle of the book, I wasn’t sure where I wanted to go with it. It could have gone a lot of different directions. What I did was sit down with my husband, and we brainstormed about the different things that could happen in the story, and came up with a direction that I was missing until then.
Q: What’s your favorite quote?
A: When speaking of writing fantasy: “I have decided, on reflection, it is best just to remember that sometimes the magic really works.” –Terry Brooks
Q: Who inspires you the most?
A: Jesus, my husband, and a friend who is a writer but battling Parkinson’s disease.
