Kat Clay

Author

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Weird sister: Interview with J.S. Breukelaar

Author photo of J.S. Breukelaar

I met J.S. Breukelaar at a World Fantasy Convention a couple of years ago, and when we were introduced, I realised someone whose work I had been following for a while just happened to live in Australia, and just happened to be a woman. I had committed the cardinal sin of assuming anyone whose pen name included initials was a man. Since then, we’ve had a few more adventures together, and I’m very pleased to refer to Breukelaar as my ‘weird sister’. She’s the kind of person who gets an affectionate Macbeth reference.

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Want to make your book better? Get beta readers

I’m almost finished my new novel and it’s the time when I approach my network of beta readers to read my book. What’s a beta reader you ask? Exactly that – someone who reads your work before publication to provide feedback, flag anything that’s not working and encourage you in your writing.  

Monk chronicler writes an ancient manuscript
Clearly this is the type of beta reader every fantasy author needs. Also my manuscript is a giant scroll.
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Turn towards discomfort. It might make you a better writer.

Vintage typewriter on wooden background

There’s a little voice in every writer’s head that pops up like a proverbial gopher, saying, ‘this is terrible, no one will want to read this.’ He usually appears when you’re mid-way through writing a huge novel, when the sentences are all starting to sound the same, when there are too many adjectives and adverbs, not enough descriptions and everything is just so… generic.  

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