Author interview

World Of Writing - Author Interview

We've been doing these World Of Writing posts for decades now and it remains one of my favourite posts on this blog. These posts were actually based on a talk radio show I used to host, where we had a segment for writers with the same title... so these posts developed as a continuation from there. It is a nice experience to connect with other authors in this way, supporting their work and talking about the world of writing - from their perspective. I try to space the publication of interviews at no closer than 12 days apart to avoid over-saturation.

Today we are featuring Ketki Palande who has decided to donate 100% of the profit from book sales to the UNICEF charity. She has in fact written 2 books: Big Island Middle School and The Rise of Team Scar. So let's delve right in and learn more about this young author...

Q: Ketki - why don't we start by having you tell our readers a little about yourself. 

A: OK - Hi! My name is Ketki and I’m a college student at UC Santa Cruz, a part-time Certified Nursing Assistant at a children’s hospital, aspiring nurse, and the self-published author of a children’s book, Big Island Middle School, which I am selling to raise money for UNICEF.   

Here's my info: https://linktr.ee/ketkipalande

 

Q: Did you choose writing, or did it choose you?

A: I’ve been a storyteller since I was little. I had this habit of walking around my backyard or house carrying a stick and wagging it while thinking up stories in my head (which probably looked so, so weird)! I remember I wrote a book series in my head about a rabbit - everyday I walked around thinking more about the rabbit’s personality and family and adventures. I don’t remember much about those stories because I never wrote them down, but I guess I liked storytelling from a young age, so writing really chose me!

Q: When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?

A: When I was in elementary school, my friend Angela and I started writing together. We came up with stories, then I wrote the sentences and she illustrated. Together we produced tons of little booklets or “zines” - we could probably fill a drawer with them. I remember telling my grandma that I liked writing books because I was writing books with Angela!

Q: Did you take any writing classes?

A: The first writing class I took was Creative Writing to fulfill a General Education requirement in college. I was very excited when I registered, but honestly, I didn’t think it was super helpful. We wrote a lot of short pieces that were the beginnings of stories, but I don’t think we wrote any complete pieces. I’m sure the class was well-designed, but I had gone in with the expectations of writing some longer stories, so I was a bit disappointed. I did take many literature classes in college, all of which were really fun because we got to read and discuss books that I never would have discovered otherwise.

Q: What are common mistakes new authors make?

A: I’m also a new author of course, but everyone told me that new authors don’t realize they need a good book cover. Also, every YouTube video that I watched about self-publishing reiterated the idea that you need to have a professional, attractive book cover. I was really hesitant to spend money and hire someone - I thought, since this was just a fun project, why spend unnecessary money? I tried playing around with potential designs on Canva and also pondered the possibility of drawing my own cover. But I’m not a designer and definitely not a drawer. The first book I self-published at age 12 had a random stock image for the cover which was unrelated to the story. When thinking about this new book, I decided that I wanted to do it right and actually try to have a really nice cover. This was the reason I ultimately decided to hire an artist, and I’m so glad I did! I’m in love with the cover that Arjo Santos made. It’s so colorful and crazy and awesome. I made him a list of ideas for things he could put on the cover and he was able to draw all of them. Having a great cover makes me really proud to hold the book and show it off, so I am happy I splurged and hired a professional artist. I would recommend to all new authors to invest in a good cover. So many people have complimented my cover.

Q: What is your favorite memory in your career so far as a writer?

A: I think the first critique swaps I did for Big Island Middle School are memorable because I got positive feedback and affirmation that I was really writing something that people would like to read. Not that you need anyone’s approval to write something, of course! But before I found those first two critique partners through Reddit, I had written about eight stories and had only shown them to my brother. The first critique partner who typed in an email, “Your stories are actually funny” made me really happy. In addition, from that process of reading other people’s work, I learned that I really enjoy beta-reading and critique swaps. There’s something super cool about getting to read a story in its beginning stages before others have read it.

Q: What do you think about self-publishing?

A: Self-publishing appealed to me because I created Big Island Middle School as a fun project. I didn’t want to be under a time crunch, and when you’re self-publishing, you can make your own timeline. Also, I didn’t think I wanted to look for an agent because that process seems very stressful! However, I am always open to the idea of querying a future book. Right now, I am glad I self-published Big Island Middle School and was able to make my own choices about writing, editing, marketing, and more.

Q: What are some of your favorite websites for writers?

A: Critiquematch.com has been really helpful! When writing my latest book, Big Island Middle School, I wanted to find a lot of critique partners, so I kept posting and messaging people through Reddit. This worked well and I found a lot of great writers and we had fun, successful critique swaps. But I realized that there were entire websites dedicated to helping you find people to give you feedback. It took a while to find the right partners after signing up on Critiquematch.com, and a lot of people never returned my friend requests. After maybe a few weeks, I found three really great partners that I’ve stuck with. We exchanged a chapter or story at a time. It’s been a really fun experience to read their novels and chat with them at the same time, and I’ve learned a ton about writing techniques by getting to critique so many works.

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