Kristin Huston works as a writer, freelance proofreader, and teacher. But it wasn't always this way. It wasn't until after law school that Huston realized there was no way she could ever practice law and went on to grad school, earning a PhD in English and History. She finally gave in to the yearning to write, and now spends her days scribbling quirky stories for adults and teens with elements of the creepy, fantastic, and unexplainable. Girls who take no prisoners, and the boys who love them, rock her world. She lives in Kansas City, although she loves to travel to warmer climates. Her superpowers include quoting Buffy the Vampire Slayer, making an amazing chocolate buttercream frosting, and wrangling a husband, two dogs, and a 3rd grader.
Kristin Huston will join Danyelle Ferguson and Nathan Jackson at our 2016 Writers Conference for a panel discussion on Writing Dialogue.
Introduce yourself. Where do you live and work?
I live and work in south Kansas City, Missouri. Although you will frequently find me working at local coffee shops as well. I especially like Coffee Girls and Black Dog Coffee.
What kind of writing do you do?
I primarily write YA fantasy novels, although the first book I ever queried was a historical romance.
How long have you been writing?
All my life! I really owe my love of writing to my elementary school librarian, who always took time to talk with me about books, and who read my first attempt at a novel when I was 8.
Did you choose your genre, or did it choose you?
It totally chose me! I started out writing romance, then I moved on to a near-future YA novel. When I queried agents with that YA novel, one loved many things about the book, but suggested a change in setting to a fantasy world. I read fantasy regularly, but for some reason, I had never considered writing it. After the first few days reworking it, I realized I absolutely loved writing fantasy! I'm so happy my now-agent suggested it when I was back in the querying trenches.
How many unpublished manuscripts are stuffed in your desk drawer (or in a folder on your computer)?
I have quite a few that I like to say are "germinating," waiting to be revisited at another time.
What do you find most challenging or surprising about the writing process? The publishing process?
In terms of writing, I think the most challenging part is keeping it as a daily habit. Once I am in the habit of writing every day, or most days in any given week, it becomes easy to sit down, re-enter the world I am writing in, and get to work. But if I'm sick or on vacation or the real world has somehow intervened and I am out of the habit, it's always a struggle to get going again. The most challenging part about publishing is definitely how slow it is. You go on submission hoping you'll hear something right away, but that's never how that works, or at least not very often. Agents and editors have a lot on their plate, so remembering that and practicing patience is very important.
On what does your writing productivity depend? Is it a routine, a place, a special pen?
I work better in the morning. Often, I'll wake up with snippets of dialog in my head, so it's always best if I can get up and get it written down as soon as possible. I'm generally pretty flexible about where I write, but one thing that helps when I'm experiencing the dreaded "writer's block" is to step away from my computer and take a notebook and pen somewhere quiet. Sometimes writing by hand gets the words flowing again.
What’s the best piece of writing advice you’ve ever gotten?
"You can fix a bad page. You can't fix a blank page." - Nora Roberts. Reminding myself of this is really helpful, especially if I've taken some time off from writing and am trying to get back in the swing of things.
To whom do you look for inspiration?
I have a wonderful critique partner, Lezlie Revelle Zucker. Her advice is almost always spot on, and I trust her implicitly with my work. I will run plot ideas by my husband as well. I find primarily that big picture inspiration - the kind that inspires characters or plot lines - is a magical confluence of things. Often I'll see or read something, then my mind will make a connection to something I read or did years before, or a conversation I overheard of snippet of, and my imagination is off to the races!
What books do you recommend to fellow readers and writers?
I recommend that you read widely because even if you want to write in a specific genre, there are engaging books in all genres that might present you with a new way of thinking or writing. That said, if you do want to write in a specific genre, make sure you are reading in that genre! In terms of YA fantasy, I'm pretty obsessed with Sarah J. Maas's Throne of Glass series, and I love books with creepy elements, like Madeleine Roux's Asylum series. From a writing craft perspective, Christopher Vogler's The Writer's Journeyis a great one, as is Michael Hauge's Writing Screenplays That Sell (it's not just for screenplays, I promise!) and Larry Brooks' Story Engineering.
You can find Kristin at kristinhuston.com or at http://www.twitter.com/wonderplanned.