A Roundtable Interview with
Katie McAlister
Interviewed by Jennifer Hill-Russell
JR: Hi Katie! You've written several different genres, from the Young Adult to
the historical. What made you decide to write in the Young Adult genre as well
as the adult?
KM - My Dorchester editor, Kate Seaver, called my agent up one day and asked her
out of the blue if I’d consider writing a YA series for them. I had never even
thought of writing YA, but the minute my agent told me about the idea, the four
book series burst almost fully formed from my brain. I was absolutely thrilled
when I found out that my YA book—The Year My Life Went Down The Loo—was to
launch Smooch, Dorchester’s new YA line. Then I was terrified, sure that no one
would like the book and I would single-handedly kill the line. Luckily the book
is being very well received, so I can breathe a little easier. Once I wrote the
first YA book, I knew I was hooked. I had way too much fun writing it to stop at
four books, so I wrote the first book in a new paranormal YA series, which
hopefully will go on for a while.
JR: You've written several historicals, NOBLE DESTINY and NOBLE INTENTIONS. Do
you plan to keep writing historicals as well as contemporaries? Which genre,
out of all that you write in, do you like best?
KM: Well, you have to understand that I’m writing historical, contemporary, YA,
and paranormal romances, and now paranormal thrillers as well, so it’s very hard
for me to say that I like one genre over the others. The third historical, Noble
Pursuits, will be out July 2004, and will pick up fifteen years after Noble
Intentions. I have a fourth book planned for the Noble series, but I’m not sure
when I’ll get around to writing it. Right now I’m having a blast writing
paranormals in three flavors: adult romances, teen romances, and thrillers. At
the same time, I also like writing the contemps. Having written five historicals
all together, I’m shying away from them for a little bit, but I do love writing
them, so I have no doubt I’ll come back to them after I get a few more stories
off my chest.
JR: Where did you get your inspiration for writing IMPROPER ENGLISH? Have you
been to England?
KM - I lived in England for a year when I was younger, working at Harrods and
living in a student house very much like the one described in IE. I fell madly
in love with both the people and the country, which is why you’ll find the bulk
of my books set there. There’s just something about English (and Scottish) guys
that has me drooling. Talk about your sexy accents! The inspiration for writing
IE was my desire to try my hand at a first person contemporary book. I figured
where better to set it than London, a city I know pretty well, and who better to
write it about than a struggling romance writer. The rest of it just kind of
fell in place after that.
JR: Were there any certain things you experienced there that made it into your
book?
KM - Unfortunately, there are. The mascara blob, the werewolves in the tube
station, the student house and its denizens…yup, they all happened. I even set
my hair on fire on a date, although it was at a restaurant, not a private
dinner. Yes, it’s true, my life is that of a klutzy romantic comedy heroine’s.
Sigh.
JR: You have a lot of humor in your books, which I adore. I like a book to be
entertaining as well as captivating. How do you decide what might be funny and
what might not?
KM - Humor is such a tough call—what some people think is hysterically
pee-your-pants funny others find just downright stupid. Rather than try to write
to everyone’s taste, I just go with my own decidedly warped sense of humor, and
write what amuses me. There’s no way you can please everyone, so I just do the
best I can with the skills I have, and hope the audience will be there for me.
As for deciding what’s funny and what’s not—if it makes me snicker when I’m
writing, it stays in.
JR: When I finished with MEN IN KILTS, I was fairly having to wipe up the drool
off the book. There aren't enough modern-day Highlander heroes in today's
romance world as far as I'm concerned. What was the appeal of setting your
story there, or need I ask?
KM - Kilts, kilts, and more kilts. And the men in ‘em. Oh, man, what is it about
Scots that sends us? I can’t decide if it’s the accent (which makes me slobber),
or the manly sort of manliness they all seem to have (which melts my knees), or
if it’s the fact that they might, at any given moment, don a wool skirt and look
even manlier, if possible. Swoonsville! True story—MIK actually had its basis
in a dream I had about a droolworthy Scot. When I woke up and got over the
tragic fact that it was all a dream, I knew I had to write a story based on the
guy I was dreaming about. I decided that since my brain went to all the work of
dreaming him up, I deserved to be the heroine of the story…or rather an ideal
version of me, one who wasn’t already married, and who was also much more
successful than me (and also wittier, and smarter, and a whole lot prettier, but
we won’t go into that). A few pages into it, Kathie stopped being Katie and came
into her own, never looking back. I had to give up Iain being my dream Scot, but
it was worth it. Now everyone can have him!
JR: Everyone loves the thought of a man in a kilt. I think MEN IN KILTS hits
every girl's fantasy about a Scottish hunk falling for them at first sight, then
whisking them away to the Highlands. Do you plan to write more in this setting?
KM - That’s a hard question to answer—I have a YA set on a slightly different
version of Iain and Kathie’s sheep farm (They Wear What Under Their Kilts?), but
I haven’t thought of setting another story there. Yet. I love the Scots and
Scotland so much, I can’t imagine abandoning it, but at least for the moment, my
head is full of stories set in other countries. I do have a sequel to MIK
written, but it’s much more women’s fiction than a romance, so I doubt if it
will be in print any time soon.
JR: I can imagine just how busy you are, writing all those books. What's up
next for you?
KM - Oh, sheesh. I have a gazillion books coming out, and even more I’m working
on. This year has one more book for me in November, my first paranormal, A
Girl’s Guide to Vampires. In 2004, I have three more YAs scheduled (They Wear
What Under Their Kilts? [Jan 04], What’s French For “Ew”? [May 04], and The
Taming of the Dru [Sept 04]), another paranormal romance, Sex and the Single
Vampire [March 04], another contemporary romance, The Corset Diaries [May 04],
another historical, Noble Pursuits [July 04], and my first sexy paranormal
thriller, Here Be Dragons, in September 04. Yeah, I know. I’m insane, right? But
it’s a good kind of insane!
JR - It is good! It give me something to look forward to! Thanks a lot Katie
for chatting with us and keep those MEN IN KILTS coming my way!
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