Rachel A Hyde: Have you always wanted to be a novelist?
Catherine Karp: Yes, definitely. I started writing stories around the same time I learned how to read, and I attempted penning my first novel when I was nine or ten.
Rachel A Hyde: Which authors
have influenced you the most and why?
Catherine Karp:Nineteenth-century
authors such as the Brontës, Austen, and Dickens inspired my love of
the 1800s and influenced the types of stories I like to tell. As far
as modern-day fiction goes, the historical novels of Margaret Atwood
and T.C. Boyle deeply impacted the way I wrote GILDED, which is set
in 1897 New England. While reading Atwood's ALIAS GRACE and
Boyle's RIVEN ROCK, I was mesmerized by the authors' ability to construct
the past so vividly and thoroughly, without creating dry, textbook-style
historical fiction.
Rachel A Hyde:Why
did you select to write a romance? In the future, will you continue writing
in this genre fiction or change to another?
Catherine Karp:I
didn't think about writing for any specific genre when I started GILDED;
I simply had a tale I wanted to tell and a love story was certainly involved.
As I mentioned, I adore nineteenth-century literature, and the style of
romances involved in classics like WUTHERING HEIGHTS and GREAT
EXPECTATIONS--troubled heroes and heroines, dark pasts, uncertain fates--appealed
to me. GILDED doesn't follow many of the romance formulas in
today's publishing world, but it is precisely this departure from the norm
that seems to be engaging readers. My novel-in-progress also involves
a love story set in the past, but it is even more unconventional than GILDED.
I plan to write at least one more historical novel once I'm finished with
the current book, and, after that, who knows what my imagination will concoct.
Rachel A Hyde: Where do you
find the inspiration for your stories?
Catherine Karp:History
itself provides much of the inspiration. The original idea for GILDED
first popped into my head back in high school, around the time I was studying
America's beautiful but tainted "Gilded Age" of the latter 1800s.
Several years passed before I began the first draft, but that's how the
novel was originally conceived. My novel-in-progress, was inspired
by a SMITHSONIAN article regarding Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's obsession with
spirit mediums.
Rachel A Hyde: GILDED
is a romance but it is very different to the typical genre romance.Did
you need to do a lot of research, and what prompted you to write such a
strong and unconventional story?
Catherine Karp:Yes,
I did a great deal of research, and it took me 5 ½ years to write,
rewrite, edit, and dig up historical information. I feel a historical
fiction writer is similar to a science fiction author: both genres succeed
when the reader is completely transported to another world. The main
difference is that a historical author has to make his or hers a historically
accurate world, and that requires hours upon hours of homework (exploring
what people ate, wore, took for a stomach ache, etc.). Like I said,
I wasn't setting out to write a romance novel per se, so I didn't restrict
myself with any conventions. The struggle for female liberation in
the late 1800s was a subject that intrigued me, so I dove into Victorian
history and decided to convey the fears, obstacles, and joys of being a
woman during the time period. I wanted GILDED to primarily
be a novel that inspires people to take charge of their own lives and overcome
hurdles, no matter how daunting the hurdles may be.
Rachel A Hyde: In your experience,
how long does it take for an author, once they've finished their manuscript,
to sell it and see their work in print? What advice do you have for
would-be writers?
Catherine Karp:Well,
I ended up taking a non-traditional route for publishing GILDED,
so my timeline differed and was shorter than normal (not counting the 5
½ years of work on the book). However, I originally went the
New York agent path, and from that experience I learned that, if the agent
has a phenomenal reputation, she'll get your manuscript onto the desks of
editors in a matter of days, and within a month you could have a definite
no or a possible yes. It usually takes over a year upon contracted
acceptance before a book is officially published, and the same is true for
a reputable e-publisher. My advice: be patient. Think of your
manuscript as a beloved child. You need to nurture and groom it before
it's ready to be sent off to the world, so never feel obligated to rush
it off before it's reached its fullest potential.
Rachel A Hyde: What future
books do we have to look forward to? Can you tell us anything about your
next novel?
Catherine Karp:My
next novel is tentatively titled VOICES AIRY, and it involves a spirit
medium in WWI-era America. I'm hoping to have it released by fall
2002-maybe around Halloween. I have a preliminary site for it at http://www.geocities.com/historyandlovers/VoicesAiry.html
.
Rachel A Hyde: Do you have
any final words for your readers, and how can fans contact you?Do
you have a website?
Catherine Karp:I'd
like to stress that, although I pour a great deal of time and effort into
my books, I love every moment of what I do. If you're a writer, you
need to fall passionately in love with your work in order to persevere,
for you may have to fight with all your strength to get your book out there.
I'd also like to thank my readers for their support of GILDED.
It's a little-publicized, word-of-mouth sort of novel that will hopefully
receive more attention with time, but the encouragement from fans around
the world is helping it to go places.
Fans can contact me at ckarp@catherinekarp.com
and my home page is http://www.catherinekarp.com.