An Interview with Author Kate Ramsey

No two paths to publication are exactly alike. Over the next few months, I’ll be listening to middle grade authors’ and sharing with you what I learn from their experiences.

This month I visited with author Kate Ramsey about her publishing journey for her debut middle grade fantasy, Finding Fairy Tales.

KM: Can you talk a little about how and why you came to write for middle grade?

KR: Honestly when I started writing, I hadn’t considered what audience I was writing for. I didn’t have a target demographic in mind, and was not remotely marketing-minded. I would echo Maurice Sendak’s sentiments, when he said, “I don’t write for children. I write and somebody says ‘That’s for children!'”

C.S. Lewis’ said, “The third way (of writing for children), which is the only one I could ever use myself, consists in writing a children’s story because a children’s story is the best art-form for something you have to say.” This is the most accurate representation of how Finding Fairy Tales became a middle grade story.

I started writing the story I was interested in telling, and it just naturally declared itself a middle grade novel. I don’t think that I will always restrict myself to middle grade or children’s work, as there are several stories I do want to tell that wouldn’t fit that audience at all, but I think it’s where I will continue to primarily find myself because it’s just what feels natural to me.

The children’s/middle grade stories I read growing up are still the ones I treasure and enjoy reading over and over again, and I do want to give something like that to the world. I love middle grade literature because it’s something that you may grow out of for a season, as a reader, but then a lot of times you grow back into it as you get older. 

KM:  Your book debuts this month. How do you plan to market it?

KR: Unless an opportunity I just couldn’t refuse presented itself, I plan on focusing exclusively on digital marketing. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with going the bookstore visit route, but it’s just not realistic for me, as I’m working full time and also running a photography business at the same time as marketing the book.

KM: What advice do you have for new writers?

KR: This might seem strange, but I’ve heard a lot of inspirational quotes that all basically amount to “if you eat, sleep, and breathe writing, then you’re meant to be a writer.” I know these are meant to help people learn to pursue their passions, but for a long time it deterred me from pursuing mine. I think people are different, and some of them feel that visionary, focused intensity about what they’re doing, and for others it’s a less emotional process. I love writing and always have, but because I cared about other things as well, I felt like I couldn’t really be any good at it.

I would say by way of advice, to press on, even when inspiration is lacking, even when it doesn’t feel like an adventure, and do the work. If you find that you don’t believe in the story you’re telling anymore, change directions or do something else, but don’t give up just because it doesn’t feel fun or exciting anymore.

The other thing that’s been most important for me is discipline. I found that if I committed to writing each day, even if I wasn’t “in the zone,” or couldn’t figure out how to tell the story, sitting down to write something would give me the push I needed. Even if I wrote 1,000 words and hated every one of them, I came away with a clearer understanding of what I should have written instead, and new ideas would present themselves, so it was never a waste. Don’t be afraid to kill your darlings and don’t be afraid to fight for them. 

In hindsight, I probably would have read more books and tried to educate myself better on story structure and best practices. John Truby’s Anatomy of a Story and other tools have been incredibly enlightening, but I read them after I finished writing Finding Fairy Tales. Even though I think my book is a fantastic story, I have many more ideas now for how to build more complexity and depth into my future characters and plots.

Author Kate Ramsey started writing poetry at age 7. Her debut middle grade novel, Finding Fairy Tales, is available this month.

Kell McKinney earned a B.A. in journalism from the University of Oklahoma and an M.S. in documentary studies from the University of North Texas. She’s a part-time copywriter, double-time mom and wife, and spends every free minute writing and/or hunting for her car keys. Connect with her on Twitter @Kell_McK or kellmckinney.com.