CathrynV

@gracie-j I’ll have to keep a look out for reviews. ;D (I’m one of those authors who does the thing you’re not supposed to do and reads their own reviews, lol.) (I just realized this could be taken as incentive to write a positive review… I’m also an author who appreciates honest reviews even when they’re not favorable, so please don’t feel bad…[Read more]

My Goodreads page (where you can also find all of my books, but for adding to bookshelves and/or reviewing)

My Amazon page (where you can find all of my books for purchase)

@gracie-j I am in awe of your short-term planning skills. XD

An interview sounds like a lot of fun! ^-^

I currently have three published works: Lost Girl (short story/novella), The Mirror-Hunter Chronicles (short story series or novella, depending on how you want to look at it), and Short Story Collection vol. 1 (self-explanatory XD).

Lost Girl…[Read more]

@gracie-j Yeahhh, that would get loud. My brother is consistently loud, and my youngest sister is often loud in response, so they make up the most consistent noise. And then there’s the younger sister who occasionally screams/screeches at the top of her lungs when she’s upset… But yeah, several toddlers all at once would be the more consistent…[Read more]

@gracie-j I have four younger siblings, and they’re definitely noisy, so it’s honestly kind of weird that washing dishes is as quiet as it is. XD I guess the kitchen just isn’t as high-traffic and the running water helps muffle the “distant” sibling racket, lol.

Washing dishes has a tendency to give me time and quiet to think. I actually came up with an entire letter from one of my characters to his politician protege that was directly inspired by washcloths. XD

But in more general terms, theological and philosophical discussions (like @gracie-j mentioned) are a big one. Also just…[Read more]

@gracie-j I disagree that historical fiction has significantly more strengths than contemporary. I think they simply have different strengths. Contemporary is the genre with the most potential to directly relate to a reader’s own experiences. It can also help make sense of current events and current social/political/theological issues in a…[Read more]

@gracie-j Yep. Being homeschooled is definitely worth the lack of drama… but that lack of drama sure makes contemporary tricky. XD

@godlyfantasy12 Agreed! Fantasy is my favorite. Building worlds is absolutely fascinating in so many different ways, lol.

@gracie-j I think a lot of my problem is that I don’t have much of a life. XD So I don’t really have experience to draw from that would make for a compelling story. But I’m aiming to have this book center around mental health and theological disagreements, the former of which I have some experience with and the latter of which I have a lot of…[Read more]

@warrioroftherealm That’s pretty similar to my method! My cultures tend to be mashups of different real-world cultures and other unique details I want to include. Often I’ll center them around one or two core values, too, either from the get-go or as I develop them further.

My earlier worlds were heavily based on Medieval European tropes, since…[Read more]

Sooooo many. I have no fewer than 80 story ideas on my list. BUT, since I have to pick one… I read Love and the Sea and Everything in Between by Brian McBride a few months ago and loved the overall tone/feel of it. Between that and other aesthetic things I accumulated around the same time, I decided I really want to write a contemporary novel…[Read more]

@seekjustice Thank you! ^-^

@lewilliams Oof. I kind of feel like that with the first MC of my other WIP. This is a rewrite of a story I started in… 2009? (Granted, it’s gone through a lot of changes and I maybe haven’t developed the characters quite as well as I should…) But the first MC’s voice is just awful. >.< It’s soooo flat. POVs two and three are fine. But #1……[Read more]

@e-k-seaver Cool. ;D (I do the same thing, lol.) I appreciate you sharing the article’s conclusion! It allowed me to work out my thoughts on it more concretely, and it’s definitely a valid observation to be considered with everything else. 🙂

Also, if you’re interested: I posted this on the Story Embers forums, too, and Daeus Lamb recommended the…[Read more]

@e-k-seaver That’s true… I personally think it’s unlikely, though. He created humans specifically, giving them alone the breath of life and dominion over the rest of creation. Plus, I feel like creating life-like AI could have an underlying current of trying to be like God, which would be a no-go. And even if not, I don’t think humans have the…[Read more]

@le-williams I know. This is just one of the WIPs where I’d prefer to have more description and to go more in-depth with character voice. There are other stories where it doesn’t bother me as much. 🙂

It’s in 3rd person limited, with several different POVs. A couple of them are easier to get into than others. (Unfortunately, those are the two…[Read more]

@leon-fleming Thank you! 🙂

What was your starting point for the mythology in your main fantasy project? Was there something specific that sparked it?

Ah, yes, Into the Deep was the one I heard about. Was there anything in particular about Greek mythology that caught your attention?

Lost Girl is more of a short story or a novella, actually. I…[Read more]

I’m not much of a linguist (or a cartographer, for that matter… While I used to love fictional cartography, now I tend to make maps only out of necessity since I’m not very good at it. XD), but I definitely love the worldbuilding aspect of fantasy. I find cultures and mythologies especially fun to develop, and I love using them to explore…[Read more]