Hello everyone! Welcome to another author spotlight! These will be posts where I discuss and showcase, predominantly women and people of color, their writing talents and published works. So without further ado let’s get on with the Author Spotlight!
Meet the Author!
Katrina Lewis is an indie author who enjoys writing all things fiction – fantasy, romance, sci-fi, drama you name it! Katrina loves a good story. Her most recent work includes A Crimson City, a fantasy, romantic drama about a newly crowned king, a kick ass female protagonist and a whole of action, magic and romance that takes place in the fictional kingdom of Dragoon. If you haven’t checked it out, please be sure to do so today. It’s available to read for FREE in PDF/Amazon Kindle format on mobile devices HERE and/or on Wattpad HERE. Please be sure to leave a review! If you’re interested in connecting with Katrina or learning more, you can sign up for her newsletter HERE.
What and when started your love for writing?
My mother always says my love for writing started ever since I could put words together. I definitely agree with her! Ever since I was a young girl I have always loved stories. Entranced by the stories told by Walt Disney, I was often glued to the television watching fairytales unfold over and over again.
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When I could finally read and write, I deeply enjoyed creating my own fairytales with characters going on grand adventures, using magic and slaying dragons! As a child and into my teenage years, I would fill notebooks (too many to count!) of stories based on the fantasy world I created that day. Writing has always been my way of expressing myself and bringing what I want to see to life.
Of all of the book genres, what drew you to write about yours?
Of all the book genres, what drew me to fantasy is that I have a fascination for history, culture and tales that feature far away lands with dragons, mermaids, elemental benders, and magic. Also, I’m such a hopeless romantic! Fantasy and romance, I believe, are a great way to escape from the mundane activities of everyday life. Both genres are exciting! And I love an exciting and fast paced story full of magic, culture and romance. Not only do I love to write them, but they are my favorite genres to read and watch as well. My absolute favorites to watch are Roger and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, Howl’s Moving Castle, A Game of Thrones, Avatar the Last Airbender and Black Panther! My favorite reads are Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi and A Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas. (I still haven’t read A Game of Thrones yet but can’t wait to!)
Who is your favorite book character in your stories to write about?
My favorite character to write about to date is General Sacha Emerylis. Sacha is a complete badass woman, leader of a mixed-gendered army and so in love with the ruler of her kingdom. She is every bit hard and dangerous as she is soft and feminine. When creating her, I thought it was extremely important for me to show both aspects of her personality. People are complex and I am not fond of one or two dimensional leads who don’t have agency or depth. I really enjoyed creating her character! I hope when readers check out A Crimson City, they will love her too!
How does being Black impact how and what you write?
Being Black definitely impacts how and what I write. Growing up, I didn’t always enjoy reading. I could never really relate to any of the characters of the books I read. That’s not to say that they were not great stories! But, none of the characters ever looked like me. When I was old enough to really think about what was going on and articulate how I was feeling about the lack of representation in the books I was given at school or the tales of great romances that took over my teenage years, I asked my father, why is it so hard to find books with people who look like me? Or at least when they did, the book was about gang violence, drugs or the hardships of living in low income areas. I was so confused then! Where was the vampire-werewolf love story featuring a Black woman lead? Where was the tale about a Black girl being the key to saving the world? Where was the diversity in stories featuring Black people? My father told me that if I wanted to do something about it, I must be the change I wanted to see.
It was then when I became an adult and was introduced to Toni Morrison who once said,
“If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it”.
My stories are centered on the lives of Black people, particularly Black women, who go on extraordinary adventures and have extraordinary loves. I want to make sure that another Black girl doesn’t grow up not enjoying reading because she doesn’t see herself in any of the characters. I want to make sure another Black woman doesn’t pick up a book and doesn’t see herself as the beautiful lead who must ride in on her dragon to save her kingdom. I want to make sure that Black people have representation in all tales, as they rightfully should.
What makes your book(s) special?
I think what makes my story special is that anything can happen! I enjoy keeping readers on their toes, taking them on adventures and exposing them to relationships that are worthy of fangirling and even debating over. I really believe that readers will enjoy my characters and the ride that I take them on throughout the story. If readers are looking for an exciting story filled with romance, culture and magic, then I think they will really enjoy my stories and should check them out!
So…what are you working on now?
Right now, I’m working on the full length sequel to A Crimson City. It’s set about 75 years in the future and takes place in the same fictional kingdom, Dragoon. I don’t want to give too much away because the story is still in its development phase but I hope readers follow me on my writing journey! It’s all very exciting and I’m really looking forward to sharing it with everyone. Please check out my linktr.ee HERE and subscribe to my newsletter to stay up to date about the sequel as well as other cool things like surprise giveaways, book features, exclusive first looks and more.
I really enjoyed connecting with Katrina! She shows to be should a hard working person, that I know it shows through in her written work as well. If you want to get in contact or connect with Katrina you can through her:
Thank you all for reading and remember:
