K.A. Wiggins is a BC writer who writes speculative fiction exploring society, environmental crisis, and identity through intricate, dreamlike tales of monsters and magic.
Is there a book you most clearly remember from when you were a child?
When I was 5, I spotted a copy of The Hobbit during a move and nagged to read it for two years until I was “old enough.” But I also read The Chronicles of Narnia (all 7!) 3 times a year from age 7-12, so it’s maybe a tie.
Did you ever write a fan letter to an author? If so, who to, and did they write back?
No way, too scary! I prefer watching from a distance and occasionally liking a Tweet or something.
How did you learn to write? What is one writing book or website you’d recommend to anyone else wanting to learn?
I’ve read so many books, I think all the words just kind of sunk in.
I tell the kids in my writing workshops it’s the kind of work where you mostly learn by doing. But for those who like research too, the incredible blog at https://kriswrites.com/(also adapted into several books) is my number one recommendation for both aspiring and pro writers. It has both writing and business-for-authors content.
What is your favourite hobby or activity that has nothing to do with writing or reading?
I love making music, particularly in a band. Rock star would have been my second choice of career—but thankfully writing is more quarantine friendly.
Who is your favourite author right now?
Louise Penny is utterly brilliant, but in kidlit specifically? Brenna Yovanoff is a perennial fave and I cannot wait for Christelle Dabos’s next book to be translated.
Do you have a new book coming out soon?
I do (finally!)
It’s so new the cover hasn’t even dropped yet, But Black the Tides, book 2 in a YA series set in a post-climate-crisis Vancouver with bonus monsters from folklore & legend, is set for a September release
( . . . and might be bumped up even sooner if all the behind-the-scenes pieces fall into place!)
What are you writing these days?
I’ve been doing a lot of creepy (or in one case, gross-out hilarious) short fiction for magazines and anthologies between novels, but my next release has a doozy of a cliffhanger so I’d better get on writing the sequel or my readers will be hunting me down.
Do you write regularly, or just when you feel like it?
I write when I can find the time, and when I have a project to finish, but not on a daily schedule (I believe in taking breaks, or at least weekends!)
How do you like editing and revising?
NOT a fan of editing and revising, but occasionally it’s inevitable.
Can you share one strange, weird or wonderful thing about you?
I LOVE public speaking—which is super weird to those who know me, and also to all the normal folks who have nightmares about it! The bigger the crowd the better (small groups are stressful!)
Somehow, I’m both a flaming introvert who can happily spend weeks indoors working and also a natural performer and teacher at the same time?
What’s the answer to the one question you wished I had asked?
What’s your number one tip for new and aspiring authors?
I get this all the time in live speaking situations and never manage to spit the right answer out (it’s hard to think and talk at the same time, okay?).
So here it is: Go create things, go share things, and then move on to the next thing. I 100% struggle with this too, but done is much better than perfect, you learn by trying and FINISHING things, and you build an audience and a career by getting your words OUT into the world. Good luck!
Read more about the author
- Check her website
- Track down a copy of her books via Books2Read or http://books2read.com/blindtheeyes
- On Instagram and Twitter
Next up: Lee Edward Fodi