Katarina E. Tonks is an award-winning author who began her career on the Wattpad platform. Since then, she has amassed nearly half a million followers—or “Cupcakes and Reapers” as she calls them—who she loves to interact with in forums where “Death” will sometimes jump in and respond himself. She has over 100 million reads collectively on the early drafts of her Death Chronicles and the Vendetta series and is considered one of Wattpad’s most influential writers.
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What does your writing space look like?
My writing space is just my bedroom right now, at my desk! Or I’ll go outside and write on the patio (otherwise I am a cave-dwelling vampire writer). My room is very colorful with a giant fantasy tapestry in the background and fairy lights hanging from the ceiling. Everything about my room is colorful and bright, which is kinda funny because my stories tend to be darker thematically. My writing space almost always includes my two dogs, Penny and Petey, who like to sleep in a pack. Penny will sleep on her puppy blanket on my bed and Petey sleeps on my ottoman right beneath her. Needless to say, they’re the best part of my writing space!!
If you could spend a day with another popular author (living or dead), who would you choose and why?
I think I would want to spend the day with Jane Austen. This is definitely a cliché answer, but I just feel like so many writers and readers have been impacted by her romance stories and I feel like she would give the best writing advice. I would like to know more about how to maintain tension and conflict between your main character and the love interest. I’m always looking for new ways to do that and she was just a master at it in so many ways.
How do you celebrate when you finish your book?
I actually can’t remember what I did when I finished Death is My BFF! I want to say I ate cupcakes, but I don’t think that happened. I think my family got some special food I liked, and I just took off some time to really relax. I don’t think it hit me that the book was “done” until I actually held it in my hands. After fourteen years, I couldn’t wrap my head around being DONE-done with the book and never being able to add or subtract anything. To this day, as I am writing this, it still feels so strange! What an absolute surreal accomplishment it is for any author though, to finally get that finished copy of their book and know it will be in bookstores. It’s the best feeling ever!
Is there something you do/have while writing that helps your process? (Music, snacks, etc.)
Honestly, the only thing that seems to genuinely help my writing process is just physically sitting down and writing. Write anything I can for that day. I have tried all the tricks to get myself to write and at the end of the day, the motivation is just not always there. I think the act of sitting down and writing when you don’t want to write is just a part of being an author. Learning to be disciplined is the best tool to help get those pages down!
What book are you currently reading?
Psychology textbooks! So right now, I’m honestly not really reading anything because I just don’t have time. I’m getting my master’s (plus it’s currently midterms!) and all my free time is reading about all things psychology. Which is still an interesting read, at least to me! Lol. If I were to give a book recommendation, Ilona Andrews is great. I just love how this author is actually a husband-wife duo pen name, and how authentic the characters are because of this unique dynamic!
