Q: How has your writing evolved over time?
A: I didn’t start out as a fiction writer; I was an academic writer first, but realized while I was writing my dissertation that I hated it. When I started writing fiction–bad fiction, like most baby writers!–it was still immensely easier and more pleasurable than writing literary criticism. Over time I’ve gained confidence, both in my ability as a fiction writer and in the process itself. When I don’t have an answer to a problem a story poses, instead of panicking, I trust that it will reveal itself … and that writing more, rather than getting stymied, will probably show me what I need to know. Drafting fast and ugly, tidying it up in round two, and then getting lots and lots of feedback has been the key (for me) to telling the story I mean to tell.
Kate Lechler’s story “The Lost Heirs of Rose McAlder” was published in Metaphorosis on Friday, 10 March 2017. Subscribe to our e-mail updates so you’ll know when new stories go live.
