We recently had the chance to connect with Kate Korsak and have shared our conversation below.
Kate, it’s always a pleasure to learn from you and your journey. Let’s start with a bit of a warmup: What makes you lose track of time—and find yourself again?
Lately, I’ve been searching for small, creative activities that I can allow myself to be terrible at. So far, I have found sketching, playing with clay, and poetry to be perfect activities to lose track of time and find myself again! I’m terrible at every one of these things, but they allow me to create something without the pressure of needing to be good. There’s no watching eyes—no one critiquing or even looking at what I create. I get to make something terrible just for the sake of creating, and I love it!
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Hello! My name is Kate, and I write books! Specifically, I write classic fantasy—stories like the ones found in The Legend of Zelda and The Lord of the Rings. I adore whimsical worlds, and grand adventures. I especially love characters that grow and learn as the story progresses.
At the moment, I am working on the second and final book in my series, The Vellichor Epic! This book, Son of Saints, has already been through developmental edits, in which an editor evaluates the characters, subplots, and overarching plot in search of areas where the story can be strengthened. After receiving that insight, I’ve spent the last few months rewriting and adjusting the weak areas of the story, and I am due for my next round of edits in December!
And, of course, I can’t forget to mention my amazing side-job of creating maps for other people’s worlds! I love world building, and I have the privilege of making other people’s worlds come to life for their books or Dungeons and Dragons campaigns! It’s honestly so much fun, and I love every chance I get to work on fantasy maps!
Great, so let’s dive into your journey a bit more. What relationship most shaped how you see yourself?
At the risk of sounding cliché, I must give credit where it is due and say: my husband. He truly makes a habit of calling out the best in me. In the five years I have known him, he has been the one person to encourage my passions and believe in me even when I don’t. Where I saw weakness, discouragement, and overwhelming failure, he saw strength, inspiration, and an ability to keep going. I no longer see myself as inadequate or my dreams as unrealistic because of his encouragement.
If you could say one kind thing to your younger self, what would it be?
As a kid, I had a wild imagination, an overwhelmingly positive outlook on life, and a determination to make my dreams a reality. I was the kid who honestly believed I could fly if I tried hard enough!
Now, I can confidently say I have become that person again. Through years of being hit with reality and the negative aspects of life, I think that girl who believed she could fly is still in there, and is getting louder by the day.
I would love to say a million kind things to her, but mostly, I want to tell her that her imagination is valuable. That her dreams are not a waste of time, and her joy is contagious. I would tell her not to be embarrassed by those things as she gets older, but to embrace them.
Alright, so if you are open to it, let’s explore some philosophical questions that touch on your values and worldview. What are the biggest lies your industry tells itself?
The publishing industry has a fast-growing narrative that claims value is equivalent to success. Independent authors in particular are told that, in order to succeed, we must write faster, publish more, and go viral as quickly as possible. I disagree with these things.
Rapid publishing is a very new concept. Up until now, writers only job was to work on their story. Writers spent years immersed in their worlds without the pressure to share or publish anything until a publisher decided to pick them up. And even then, their job was not to be the publisher but just to keep being the writer.
I think time and passion make a successful author, not sales or numbers.
Before we go, we’d love to hear your thoughts on some longer-run, legacy type questions. Are you doing what you were born to do—or what you were told to do?
For a long time, I did what I was told to do. When people asked what I wanted to do for work, I would tell them I wanted to be a lawyer or a technician. I enjoyed these things, sure, but my passion has always been in storytelling.
Eventually, I grew tired of telling people what they wanted to hear. After years of saying “I write on the side”, I started calling myself an writer first.
“I’m a writer, and I’m also a student.”
“I’m a writer, and I’m also a barista.”
“I’m a writer, and I’m also an audio engineer.”
I went from hoping to be an author, to prioritizing it. Before long, there were no backup plans and nothing to fall back on if this didn’t work out. I went all-in on what I was born to be instead of what I was told to be, and I don’t regret a second of it!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.katekorsak.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authorkatekorsak/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@katekorsak
- Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@writerkatek_?lang=en
