In the past I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing several authors (Michael Nye, Brad R. Cook, Paul Jameson) for the blog. Since I have a new book, I thought, “Why not interview myself?” People interested in the nuts-and-bolts of the writing process might find my meandering journey to Wolfhearted a cautionary tale. Learn from my mistakes.

Wolfhearted Composition Timeline

Kathy: How long did it take to write the novella, Wolfhearted?

Kathy: I’ve worked with this material, on and off, for nine or ten years.  But before the story kernel formed, a series of loses, culminating with my father’s death in January of 2013, piled up. The story idea came to me on a snowy Valentine’s Day during a morning meditation. I think the Valentine’s Day in question was 2012, but it could have been 2011. 

I don’t think I worked on the idea immediately, but I shared a draft with my writing group on our yearly retreat in May of 2012. They had a lot of issues with that draft. 

The story pretty much fell into a black hole of self-doubt, although I tried to revise it later that summer and poked at it occasionally in intervening years. In September 2019 I put “Paolo?” back on my main goal list, and it soon became my primary project. So, ten years from start to finish but really just over two years in earnest.

Keep your first drafts to yourself.

Kathy L. Brown

Is Wolfhearted a Fairy Tale?

Kathy: How did your love of fairy tales play out in Wolfhearted?

Kathy: One of the themes plucked from my compost heap of ideas was to create a story using fairy tale tropes. I’ve always loved fairy stories, myths, and legends. I wanted to build a dark, magic-rich secondary world and have the hero face a series of challenges in a wizard’s tower—very Dungeons & Dragons, actually. A Tarot card spread inspired various magical obstacles. Early versions explored a sort of reverse fairy tale “rescuer-rescuee” scenario, although I quickly realized the good guys needed to team up for a more interesting story. 

Kathy: Tell us more about the “idea compost heap.”

Kathy: “Compost heap” is Neil Gaiman’s term for the random idea/image/theme repository. I think all writers have one, whether they kept it in writing, photos, internet links, sketches, or just as memories. We are magpies that way. Another bit of flotsam snagged from the heap was powerful wolf-shifter characters. 

Wolfhearted Setting

Kathy: How important is the setting for Wolfhearted?

Kathy: When Wolfhearted came to me on that snowy Valentine’s Day, it was as a setting detail. I sat in my “invisible chair” (as my family used to call my meditation place) and saw a heart in my mind’s eye. A bloody, dripping anatomically correct heart, hanging from a tree in a dark winter wood. I reasoned out from there. Why is the heart in the tree? What sort of place is this? Who would be in this place? 

That horror element remained through all the versions of this story, of which there were many, from fairy tale to romance to steampunk fantasy.

Kathy: Let’s talk about the steampunk aspect, or “steampunk-ish love story,” as you sometimes say. How is this book different from classic steampunk set in Victorian times? 

Kathy: I hesitated to use “steampunk” to describe this book’s genre because many readers have a very specific idea of what steampunk refers to—fantasy-steam technology, sure, but also all the Victoriana trappings. Wolfhearted is set among clashes in the technological development of different cultures. The antagonist has access to steam and electrical energy, which he melds with his magical higher-mathematical workings. The serial numbers are filed off, of course, but it is as if Edwardian Britain were attacking Napoleonic-era Italy and Viking-age Norway. 

Magic is science we don’t understand.

Prince Paolo, Wolfhearted

Writing Process

Kathy: What was your writing process for Wolfhearted? 

Kathy: I learn so much about the “macro-process” of writing, I guess we can call it. That is, not actual composition mechanics or time management, but rather the deep-background emotional and creative steps that lead to story.

Early Drafts

In retrospect, I see this work came from a pretty depressing place, a time in my life littered with traumatic death, my elders’ cognitive decline, and career upheaval. I was hanging on by my spiritual practice and fingernails. That flawed first draft was the story I needed to tell myself at that time.

But a funny thing about first drafts: They most likely consist of ingrained patterns and tropes from every narrative we’ve taken in throughout our lives. The familiar feels right. Thus, my fairy tale started with a male prince questing for adventure. His opposite number was an ogre, evil incarnate with no particular goal beyond havoc. Their motivations? Conflict over a woman, of course. 

Even with such clichés, I had enough insight to write the prince as young, inexperienced, and awkward and the woman-with-a-problem as older, wiser, and maybe maneuvering him for her own agenda. Still, the early versions just didn’t work: With even only small, surface changes to the fairy tale standards, motivations fell apart: Why is the prince so trusting? Why does the woman need the prince’s help at all? What’s up with this ogre kidnapping wolf-folk? 

This is the point where I, like many writers, abandoned the story. We can’t make it work, and we don’t know why. Our friends and family may have quick fixes, but those opinions are most likely wrong. 

Revision Key

Kathy: How did you get this compelling mess back on track? 

Kathy: My breakthrough was finally asking myself, “Whose story is it?” I’m fairly sure this question stemmed from activities in the Neil Gaiman Masterclass to identify the story problem and the protagonist’s problem (which generally need to be the same thing). In every version of my story, Runa (as I eventually named the woman-with-a-problem) has a beef with Andries (as I eventually names the bad guy, morphed from ogre to urbane sorcerer). Yet early on, she wasn’t the agent of change. Writing Runa as the protagonist and the prince as her co-adventurer got my story on the road to completion.

Publishing Process

Kathy: Has working as an editor had an impact on your process?

Kathy: I’m a perfectionist, and my past experience as an editor makes me even harder on myself. I really want the book to look good, in addition to telling a fun, immersive story. I’ve included art and maps and created a rune poem as embellishments. That has all made the book production more complex! 

And Now a Word From Our Sponsor

Like the blog? Subscribe (form at the bottom of my website) to never miss an issue. Want more? Subscribe to the random, infrequent newsletter for exclusive content. And, of course, I’m selling books. St. Louis Writers Guild recently published Love Letters to St. Louis. This adorable letter-shaped volume of short stories, poems, essays, and illustrations included my first science fiction story, “Welcome to Earthport Prime: A Self-Guided Tour.” A perfect gift, profits benefit the guild’s young writers’ program. 

Check out all my stories at Amazon.com. Order my new novella, Wolfhearted, here. If you’ve enjoyed one of my books, tell the world! Consider leaving a short review at Amazon or Goodreads. The direct link to review Wolfhearted on Amazon is here, The Resurrectionist, here and Water of Life, here. Thanks in advance. Even five reviews will put the book in a more prominent position on Amazon.