Strand's Simply Tips: WHAT THE EXPERTS SAY: Kate Wrath, Author

Kate Wrath, Author
FAIRYTALE EVOLUTION #1: FLIPPED
THE E SERIES: 6 books

Kate Wrath brings us her newest novel, a present-day fantasy evolved from a fairytale world she created. FLIPPED is the first in her new series FAIRYTALE EVOLUTION, and she describes it as “a bit out there.” Her reviewers tell us that it is “an ultimate joy ride” in a “fantastical world.”

Wrath’s second book in the FAIRYTALE EVOLUTION series, The Dark Road, is with her editor, and she has already started to write the third one in that series along with a spinoff to THE E SERIES. When she’s not writing she enjoys spending time with her family and paying attention to her art work.

Wrath, who is an artist as well as an author, is offering a very special giveaway—a one-of-a-kind sculptural dragon cover of a special edition of FLIPPED. She is also offering 25 e-book versions of FLIPPED. So don’t miss the opportunity to enter her giveaway at http://www.katewrath.com . And check out the excerpt from FLIPPED following the interview.

Q: Your newest book, FLIPPED, has been described by reviewers as “an ultimate joy ride” in a “fantastical world.” In what genre would you place it? Science fiction or fantasy? Who will most enjoy reading it?

Kate Wrath: FAIRYTALE EVOLUTION #1: FLIPPED is a contemporary fantasy set in a modern world that could have evolved from a typical fairytale setting. It's whimsical, humorous, and a bit out there, but it's grounded by a solid storyline and characters that are believable despite the crazy situations they encounter. I think anyone who enjoys quirky sci-fi or fantasy would probably enjoy this book. Be warned, though, FLIPPED has a dark undercurrent.

Q: Reviewers also say that FLIPPED has a “good blend of sweet, mischievous, and dangerous creatures” that are “unique and interesting.” What makes your characters engaging? Why will readers embrace them?

Kate Wrath: Character is my number one thing when it comes to telling stories and I get a ton of comments about my characters. I think the main thing is that these characters are so real to me, and as such they change and grow and react. They're out there dealing with whatever my wacky universe throws at them in the best way they know how, which isn't always perfect. Is hardly ever perfect. They're full of mistakes, past traumas, little quirks they don't even realize, desires and motivations that are at odds with their goals. So you never know what's going to happen.

Q: How did you create the world for your setting, which is described by a reviewer as “interesting, exciting, and has limitless possibilities?” Do you have rules that you follow in your fantasy world to enhance credibility? Is credibility important to readers of fantasy?

Kate Wrath: Any story needs to have credibility. You can't just have your character wave a magic wand and fix everything. That's not a satisfying solution. So, yeah, there are rules in my world regarding the use of magic and an underlying system of how it all works. Even though I don't write all that into the story, I understand it as the author, so everything flows in a logical way. But just like in real life, there are mysteries that no one really understands, and I think that element is important, too.

As far as creating the world itself, when I first conceptualized the story, I spent a lot of time writing about the infrastructure of the world. Everything from transportation to sewage. Because the world combines modern-day technology with evolved, commonplace magic, it took a lot of consideration to understand how it all fit together. I didn't feel like I could write this world without knowing exactly how it worked.

Q: You have a special giveaway to promote FLIPPED. Tell us about it. Are you an artist as well as an author?

Kate Wrath: Yes! I love art and I love to experiment with new kinds of art. For a past book release,

Enter to win this extraordinary special edition of FLIPPED.
Go to: http://www.Katewrath.com

I gave away a hand bound edition of one of my books—something that fans of the series really loved.

I wanted to do something similar for this release, and I happened across these beautiful journals that artist Aniko Kolesnikova was making by attaching polymer clay panels to the covers of blank journals. I wondered if I could make the book cover itself out of polymer clay and use it with the same kind of Coptic binding I had sewn for the previous book. A little research later, the answer was… yeah! So I jumped headlong into the project making a sculptural dragon cover for a one-of-a-kind edition of FLIPPED.

Luckily, I have a lot of experience working with ceramics, and those skills were nicely transferable. I've done some videos of the process. The book is printed on archival quality, acid-free parchment paper, with a hand sewn Coptic binding, which leaves the spine bare so you can see all the decorative stitches; I think it's really beautiful. Making the dragon cover itself took me more than a week of doing pretty much nothing else. Just attaching the scales, one at a time, took hours to accomplish.

But it's all worth it to have this amazing one-of-a-kind treasure to give to a reader. I love that the giveaway is tied intrinsically to the story. It's not something that you can get anywhere else. I love this book so much, and since I can't keep it myself, I only hope that fate sends it to someone who will love it and connect with the story. I feel really fortunate that the last book giveaway went to an awesome fan, Ashlee, who still keeps in touch and lets me know she's taking good care of it!

You can watch the Kate producing this cover at: Video1 and Video2 .

Enter to win this unique artwork/book at http://www.katewrath.com .

Q: You have also written a series of books: the E series. Are these similar to FLIPPED? How are they different?

Kate Wrath: In many ways, the two series are the complete opposite end of the sci-fi/fantasy universe. THE E SERIES is a sci-fi dystopian series that's dark, violent, and pensive. It's Fairytale Evolution's goth sister. On the surface, FLIPPED is light and flouncy. Honaia, the main character in FLIPPED, is quite the girly girl. She's all curls and lip gloss at first glance. But as the story progresses and she grows, she finds out what she's made of. So really, both series have strong female leads who do what they need to do. Also, both series are dystopian, and I might even say that FLIPPED is unexpectedly more dystopian than THE E SERIES. Another thing is that they're both character-driven stories. Everything I write is character-driven.

Q: Do you write to entertain only? Or do you embed a few messages along the way?

Kate Wrath: At the risk of sounding like a nerd, I'm a nerd. A total lit nerd. I get off on Hemingway 'n' stuff. So underneath everything, there's always a theme. There's always meaning, layer upon layer. It's not like soap box preaching or anything. It's about the human condition, the deep questions of the universe… stuff like that. But y'know, I like to be entertained. So I hope that my writing achieves both.

Q: How important or helpful is humor to tell your stories?

Kate Wrath: Humor is incredibly important, but not just as a device. The thing is, even my darker series has quite a lot of humor. Humor is life, and I write life, whether it be life in an apocalyptic society ruled by killer robots, or life in a big city where magic and faeries exist. But the key—to me—is that it's not just humor. Not just darkness. These things fluctuate. They come in and out of our lives in different proportions. I always strive for a world that feels real on an emotional level. And that includes humor.

Q: Do you use the concept of hero versus villain to tell your stories? What are the characteristics of a compelling villain?

Kate Wrath: There are a lot of people who would tell you that my villain from THE E SERIES, Matt, is their favorite character. Seriously, there's a whole pro-Matt cult out there. Aside from the fact that he's sexy as hell, the main thing I did with him was to keep it real. I don't believe in the whole good vs. evil thing on a pure level. There are a thousand tints and shades. Villains, just like heroes, are a product of their experiences. I love that a villain can sometimes be a villain and sometimes be a hero… and vice versa.

Q: What’s next?

Kate Wrath: Next is book two, Fairytale Evolution: The Dark Road. My editor currently has it, so it shouldn't be too long. I'm working on writing book three, Bootcamp, and also a spinoff to THE E SERIES that takes place a few years after the ending of the series. I guess I wasn't quite ready to say goodbye to that world.

Q: Tell us about Kate Wrath. What do you like to do when you’re not writing?

A: Sleep. Haha. For reals. I spend so much time on writing and marketing. Any free time goes to my awesome, amazing family. Occasionally I get a chance to do some art or read, and that's about it. I wish I could say I was a ninja or a human rights activist, but really, writing (+day job) takes up most of my life.

About Kate Wrath

Kate Wrath lives in the Southwestern US. Much like other authors, she has both a [family] and a [pet]. [family] = three crazy-but-lovable, exceedingly adorable people with longer eyelashes and better sense of humor than Kate [pet] =lovable-but-crazy giant German Shepherd who seems to be able to read, but pretends not to understand when something is required of him

Kate is the author of two sci-fi /fantasy series. THE E SERIES: E (Book #1), EVOLUTION (Book #2), EDEN (Book #3), ELEGY (Book #4), ENDGAME (Book#5), and JASON AND LILY. FAIRYTALE EVOLUTION: FLIPPED Fairytale (Book #1) The second book, The Dark Road, is currently being edited.

Kate believes in literature as an art form, world peace, and animal rights, but aspires to write total trash that is full of senseless violence, with characters who eat house pets.

About FLIPPED

The big city is no match for a blue-eyed farm girl with impressive Zung Pow skills and a flair for unconventional magic. At least, that's what Honaia tells herself when she's unexpectedly assigned to a handsome city mage for apprenticeship. The problem is, she never really expected double agents to be involved. Or dragons. Or crazy rips in the Space-Time continuum, for that matter. But when it comes down to it, none of those things expected her either.

FLIPPED is the first book in the FAIRYTALE EVOLUTION series.

Contains: Language, violence, faeries.

Excerpt

Somewhere in the drunken ramblings of the night, Deez had promised to teach Honaia about guns. So bright and early the next morning they headed to the shooting range. The big troll actually seemed quite excited about the prospect.

He gave her a basic rundown of gun safety, which pretty much amounted to don't aim it at him, then handed her the pistol. They made their way into an enormous room full of mostly gnomes whose job it was to run about wildly and be shot at. They paid gnomes more, Deez explained, because they were harder to hit.

"What about faeries?" Honaia asked. "Aren't they even better for the job?"

"Faeries are too f'kin hard to hit," Deez explained. "Most people would need a special weapon to do it. Besides, faeries have too much dignity."

"Don't you run out of gnomes?" Honaia asked as Deez shot the first one. But the ammunition they were using didn't leave the gnomes unconscious for long, so they would spring back up and continue their running after a few seconds.

To her surprise, Honaia found that shooting gnomes was a great stress relief. She quite enjoyed the little squeal they made when they went down.

"Great, isn't it?" Deez agreed, chuckling, but after a few thousand rounds he thought it best to take the gun away from her.

"I was just getting the hang of it," Honaia protested.

"We'll come back later," he promised.

On their way out they bumped into the woman with black hair. Honaia managed to quickly squash the tinge of fear and the automatic desire to clobber her. They had not crossed paths on this side of the portal. Still, she bristled.

A slow smile crawled across the woman's face, sultry and stunning, as she faced off with Deez.

"Nexa," Deez said tightly, scowling down at her in a battle of wills over who would give way first. "This is Honaia," he said in mock friendliness. "Onus' new girl."

The choice of words was not wasted on Honaia. She flipped her hair and drew herself up to look as impressive as possible on short notice.

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