Writer of the Week #14: Alma Katsu

Check out Alma Katsu's latest novel, The Taker

• Name: Alma Katsu

• Age: older but wiser

• Website: http://www.almakatsu.com

• Location: Washington DC suburbs

• When did you realize you wanted to be a published author?
I started writing very young, when I was about 10. I’d been a big reader and
wanted to try to write my own stories. I always thought I’d be a novelist, until I
went to college and realized what a crazy dream it was. I wrote for newspapers as
a freelancer for a while—including as a music critic—but eventually went to work
in the intelligence field (yup, CIA among other places) and came back to writing
fiction later in life. It took 10 years to write The Taker. It really was a labor of
love.

• Name 5 authors and 5 books (do not necessarily have to be your favorites).
Little, Big by John Crowley – fabulous literary fantasy novel
Casanova in Bolzano by Sandor Marai – amazing discourse on the many aspects
of love
The Magicians by Lev Grossman – Harry Potter for adults
My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me, edited by Kate Bernheimer –
anthology of modern fairy tales with all the dark beauty and mystery of the old
tales
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell – wonderful novel of linked stories

• Where do you get your inspiration from?
One trait you pick up as a analyst is to put disparate pieces together, to see the
connection quickly. Because of this, it seems I will never lack for ideas for
stories. Right now I have about four or five ideas for novels stacked up that I can’t
wait to get to. All have blends of history and the unknown or the mystical if you
will.

• What do you think is the best quality a writer can have?
Focus. It is long hours dwelling in your story when a thousand other things are
trying to tempt you out of the chair. And willingness to never stop trying to write a

better story.

• Any last words?
I was a Goth girl back in the 1980s! Huge fan of Sisters of Mercy, Bauhaus,
Ministry, the Cure, the Cult, Siousee and the Banshees.

Challenge: Write a one-sentence story!
Too late he realized the error of his ways as his life slipped away from him, one
drop of blood at a time.



Thank you Alma, for your insightful answers! If anyone else would like to be a Writer of the Week, please follow the instructions here.