“The Kindness of Strangers” was a BookSense pick and the winner of the 2006 Great Lakes Book Award for Fiction. Early chapters from that novel earned her grants from both the Ohio Arts Council and Culture Works. “The Blessings of the Animals” was an Indie Next pick (August 2010), a Midwest Connections pick (September 2010), and chosen by the Women’s National Book Association as one of 10 Great Group Reads for National Book Group Month (October 2010). Katrina’s first tween novel, “Reasons to Be Happy” (2011), was published by Sourcebooks Jabberwocky.
A 1985 graduate of Fairborn High School, Kittle attended Ohio University and was Outstanding Graduating Senior for both the English and Education departments. After graduating from college in 1990, she taught high school English and theater at Centerville High School for five years, then middle-school English and theater at the Miami Valley School for six. She has also worked as a house cleaner, a veterinary assistant, a children’s theater director, a costumer, and as case management support for the AIDS Resource Center (formerly AIDS Foundation Miami Valley).
Kittle earned an MFA in Creative Writing from Spalding University in Louisville. In 2013, Katrina was the John E. Nance Writer-in-Residence at The Thurber House (www.thurberhouse.org) in Columbus.
She is at work on another novel and is also very excited to be a part of the Puddingstone Project (http://puddingstoneproject.com/), collaborating with other artists on a children's play. She is also an actress, and has appeared in many shows at The Dayton theater Guild, most recently Criminal Hearts in spring of 2015, for which she won a DayTony (www.daytonys.org) award for acting.
Katrina also teaches creative writing through Antioch Writers' Workshop (www.antiochwritersworkshop.com), where she'll be co-leading the fall retreat in 2015, Word's Worth Writing Center (www.wordsworthdayton.com), and other venues. She consults on fiction manuscripts through The Write Sisters (www.writesistersconsulting.com)
Learn more about Katrina at her website, www.katrinakittle.com.
Q. What inspired you to become a writer?
A. I came to the writing life a little later in the game than many writers I know. I've always been an avid reader and of course I did a lot of academic writing in college.
I started teaching English and theater at Centerville High School in 1990, which happened to be the year that Ryan White died of HIV/AIDS through a transfusion of contaminated blood, which he received as a hemophiliac. He was just 18, and became well known in part because he was expelled from school where he lived in Indiana because of his infection. I also had a dear friend who passed away because of AIDS.
As I heard students talking about Ryan White and about AIDS in general, I realized that there was so much naivete and fear about AIDS. I realized I wanted to write a specific story that put a human face on those who suffered from the disease, while dispelling myths and misinformation.
That became the impetus for “Traveling Light,” my first novel.
Q. How did you get your start as a writer, in terms of education and making connections in publishing?
A. I started out as a theater major at Ohio University, but was then invited to join the Honors Tutorial program. Theater wasn't a major included in the program, so I switch to English and English Education. I took an extra year, but graduated with two degrees, as well as a strong theater minor.
Still, I never formally studied creative writing. I just dove in, writing and studying craft on my own. Once I started my first novel, “Traveling Light,” I spent seven years working on it. I wrote when I could while teaching full time.
I first attended the Antioch Writers’ Workshop in 1995, and returned again in 1996. That second year I was finally brave enough to attend evening sessions at which I shared my work in progress. I met both my first agent and editor through the workshop.
That is also where I found my writing community.
Q. You’ve had a creative life as a ballet dancer in your coming-of-age years and in theater as well. How does writing fiction connect to these arts for you? And how does it differ?
A. I’ve always loved story, and for me, ballet and theater are all about story. The big difference is that with fiction, you don’t see your audience experiencing your story.
With dancing and acting, though, you’re bringing to life someone else’s vision. That is gratifying in its own way, but with fiction writing, I’m creating my own vision of a story.
Through the Puddingstone Project (a children’s theater show that includes dance), I’m getting to do a bit of all three —creating a story line, but also working with dancers and in theater to make sure all aspects work together for the story and audience as a whole.
Q. What is your process for creating a novel? Does is vary from book to book, or are there similarities?
A. I always start with a social issue that concerns me. But because I'm creating fiction, I obviously can't just lecture on my opinions on a social issue or on social justice. I have to create a cast that would inhabit a story around that issue. Otherwise, I should be writing nonfiction!
As I want to know more about the issue, I immerse myself in research. The cast of the story emerges in my imagination. For me, characters and their motivations are everything. I don’t outline, but I do figure out the point-of-view character or characters, and brainstorm what the characters want, and what three major obstacles might get in the way of them achieving that. My first draft is about finding those characters and the goals and obstacles. The shape of the plot emerges from that.
So, my first drafts are rough and messy. But I love that joy of discovery, even as I chafe at not knowing exactly how a story is going to go. It’s a bit like catching a wild animal, during that first draft, and then socializing it bit by bit in subsequent drafts.
Q. Dance and theater are collaborative arts. Do you miss working with other artists as a writer, or have you found a way to draw on collaborative techniques as a writer?
A. I am grateful to have several trusted readers who are also writers with whom I swap manuscripts. This works better for me and my schedule than a traditional writers' group, which usually meet at regular times. This way, we read one another's work when we're ready to get that feedback and aren't writing to a meeting schedule. Likewise, we know and respect that sometimes schedules mean we can't always say 'yes' to giving feedback.
But I love to help when I can, to give and get feedback. Having objective eyes for a manuscript is so helpful.
I also turn to several avid readers who are not writers. They don’t comment on writing technique, as my writer friends do, but they responsibly report back to me on their experience as readers with my manuscript.
Q. What is your writing schedule?
A. I get up at 6 a.m., and after my morning routine I'm ready to get to work at 7 a.m. I spend three or four hours writing or revising new material, which is really a big chunk of time for creative work. After lunch, I prepare for classes I'm teaching, work on manuscript consultations, or attend to business aspects of the writing life such as website updates or corresponding with book groups, or research. Some evenings are spent on teaching as well.
Q. You’ve also developed a career as a beloved teacher of creative writing craft at Word’s Worth and AWW, as well as through other venues. Do you find that teaching your craft inspires you, distracts you, or both?
A. Teaching mostly feeds my writing life, and I love that. I love to revisit craft whenever I can. My experience in both ballet and theater was always a focus on craft. To teach, you have to know a subject well.
On the other hand, the biggest challenge for me is about time, keeping writing time sacred and defending it. It’s fine to give time away from writing for important reasons. Recently, for example, my sister and I have been helping our parents move to a new residence.
No one takes us seriously as writers unless we do. Another big struggle is not letting doubt erode one’s commitment to the work of writing. Publishing is definitely set up to keep writers humble! But the joy of writing has to remain a part of the process, the love of story, the love of words.
I try to get all of that across whenever I teach, and doing so reminds me of these important principles.
Q. What are you working on now? Your last novel, “Reasons to be Happy,” was a middle-grade novel. Are you working on another middle-grade or young-adult novel?
A. Two interesting things happened that led to my writing "Reasons to be Happy." One was that after reading an early draft of "The Blessings of the Animals," my agent pointed out that I had too much material about a teen female character in the novel. She also said that the character deserved her own book someday. Additionally, Sharon November, a well-known editor of books for children and young adults currently at Viking, reached out on her own to me to tell me that I do a good job with young voices, so why not try writing a Young Adult novel?
I took the material about the teen female character that I’d cut from “Blessings” and completely reshaped both the character and the story scenes to create “Reasons.” This was the first time I’ve reused something I’ve cut!
I’m glad I wrote “Reasons to be Happy,” of course, and found it fun to write a young-adult voice, so when I started my next project, I thought why not try Young Adult again? But for the project I’m working on, I’ve discovered that Young Adult isn’t the right fit.
Every story has a way it wants to be told! This story also began with a social issue, about animal rights with sub-themes of cruelty to animals and violence among humans. It’s also about secrets, and how the truth — much like stories — wants to be told.
Q. Do you have any favorite tips for writers?
A. My first tip for writers is to simply write the book! Or story, poem, essay, play … whatever you're working on. I always tell writing students that you can make your writing better later; first you have to make it exist. Secondly, care about craft. Truly study creative writing craft through classes, books, workshops.
Study! Just because something is creative doesn’t mean anything goes! The caveat to that advice is that reading about writing isn’t the same as writing. Still, study the craft! And third, cultivate a writing community for yourself. You can accomplish some of that at the same time that you’re studying your craft, at classes and conferences. Writing is such a solitary endeavor that writers really need those connections, not only for getting practical feedback, but also for creative fellowship.
About the Author