Introducing: K. Kazul Wolf

Happy Monday All! I have a brand new person up for you to meet! 🙂 Sit back, relax and help me welcome K. Kazul Wolf.

Bio:
K. Kazul Wolf (most commonly referred to as Bacon) is a fantasy author who spends a lot of her time playing too many video games, reading too many books, perfecting her leegndrary typo skills, and being a dragon. However, her interests lean more toward rescuing cats and dogs in distress as opposed to princesses and hoards of gold. Her pursuits consist of attempts to conquer the world through her culinary and pastry arts, and bouts of obsessive writing.

Links:
http://kkazulwolf.com/

Tweets by KazuL9

https://www.facebook.com/kkazul.wolf.9
http://kazul9.tumblr.com/

Christina : What’s your current project? Tell us a little about it.

K : For once, I don’t dread this question! Here’s a short pitch:
Emma has amnesia, soul-zombies, and dragons to worry about. With no one to trust and a wall of monsters encroaching around her, remembering her past is the key to escape — even if the truth is more dangerous than the lies.

C. What has been your favorite scene to write so far?

K : I love, love, love writing the bits where the melodramatic oven shoots its racks at main characters when it’s irritated. Completely random and not the most important part of the plot, but I can’t help loving it.

C:  Who or what has inspired your writing?

K: This novel was heavily inspired by one of my all-time favorite authors, Diana Wynne Jones. I love her ability to transport you anywhere into worlds that almost seem more real than our own. And not to mention her ability make the magic itself feel real!

C:  What is your biggest goal with your writing?

K: To have my words impact a reader like my favorite author’s words impacted me. I mean, of course I want to get published, of course I want to find an agent. But more than any of that I want to find readers who need my book, give them an escape into a crazy, magical world that is different than their own.

C:  Do you have any pre-writing rituals?

K: I’m one of those people that HAVE to find the right music! Some days I get lucky and know exactly what I want to listen to, but other days it can take hours to find the right album to suck me in. I have to keep a crazy variety of music in my library. It always gets interesting when it’s intense dubstep for a quiet, emotional scene.

C: What is the weirdest location you’ve ever written at?

K: I… may have brought my laptop into the bathroom and on the toilet with me while in the middle of an intense scene and not wanting to stop. Maybe.

C:  How do you handle writer’s block?

K: I’m a firm believer that there are different sorts of writers block. There are the moderate cases where you’re just being really hard on yourself, or thinking to much about it, and you have to give yourself a good kick in the butt and turn off that internet and start writing. But the more severe cases, where you realy ran yourself down, or life-things keep popping up, and you’re exhausted and you can’t write — you have to learn to take a break from those.
I had a case of the latter for six months once. It killed me and I felt awful about it, but sometimes you’ve gotta accept you’re human and you can’t produce words worth reading like a machine. Take the time you need for you. Stay productive in other ways: read, listen to podcasts, work on your website/blog, study other forms of storytelling. But be kind to yourself.

C: How much research was involved in your latest piece and how did you tackle it?

K: None for this one! However, for one of my upcoming novels I’m studying different Hawaiian cultures and I fully plan on taking advantage of hashtags on Twitter and my local library!

C:  Are you a panser or a plotter?

K: Panther, hands down! Well, hands close to down. I use a very basic seven point plot structure to get vague ideas about what I sort of want to happen out, and then I’ll plot a chapter ahead of where I’ve written in a tiny notebook as I’m writing. If I can find a ridiculously complex way to do something, you bet I’ll do it.

C: What has been your biggest learning experience so far in your career?

K: Parting ways with my first agent. It wasn’t a smooth transition, but it taught me how absolutely necessary the writing community is. If I didn’t have my friends, I wouldn’t still be attempting to write.

C:  Is there anything you wish you were told prior to writing or publishing?

K: Haha, I feel like anyone warning me more in-depth about the hardships of publishing would have just made me fight harder for it. I’m a sliiiight bit competitive.
Honestly, though, I would have liked to have known more about my options and paths. I’d like to have known how much of what I went through has been normal, and what was weird and I should’ve run in the other direction.

C: What’s next for you?

K: A break! I’m in that second category of writer’s block I mentioned above at the moment, though I’m hoping it’s not a six month. After that? I’m sure my mind will surprise me.

C:  What do you like best about writing fantasy?

K: The magic! I remember when I was a kid how absorbing certain books were, how sure they made me that magic existed in this world. Now that I’m an adult, it’s hard to find that magic anywhere but in books.

C: Is there another genre you have tried writing?

K: Nearly all of them, save for literary! I’ve been most adventurous in short story format, though. My readers tell me when I write contemporary that they spend the whole story expecting faeries to pop out.

C: Is there any talent or skill you wish you were better at within the writing/publishing process?

K: Writing marketable stories. I tend to be a pro at writing crazy worlds and plots, but it seems I might be too good at it. When I was querying short stories, my most-recieved feedback was along the lines of, “Great! … But it’s too different.”

C: Have your parents read your work?

K: Yes, actually! My is a published romance author, and she always has an interesting perspective. My grandma on her side is an English professor, too, and she’s proofed my work before submission for me. My father, though, not so much.

C: What scares you the most?

K: Never getting anywhere. Writing stories that only I end up reading. Realizing I’m the world’s worst writer. So, generally, insecurity is the fuel of all my fear.

C: When did you start to feel like an author?

K: When I realized I was one. It sounds lame, but everyone who’s written a complete story is an author. It’s not some title you earn through a contract, it’s simple: you write, you are an author.

C: Which poets or authors have influenced you in your own writing?

K: I mentioned Diana Wynne Jones above, but so many authors made me who I am today. It all starting with J. K. Rowling, though. I was a video game addict as a child until I found a copy of HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER’S STONE laying around the house. From there it was all downhill into the world of reading, my two other greatest influences as a child being Patricia C. Wrede and C. S. Lewis. And as an “adult” one of my favorites is Laini Taylor. I’m just a sucker for anyone who can bring magic to life.

Thank you so much for letting me interview you!  I loved reading all of this and getting to know you writing side a bit more!  I hope you all check out her stuff at the top of the post!

R2 says thank you! 🙂