What inspires you to write?

I love words – their nuances, the way what comes before or after a phrase can change its meaning entirely, their rhythm and sound, how a sentence can get stuck in your head like a tune. And I also love stories and how they connect people, giving us insight into experiences other than our own, a chance to take part in a different life, whether that’s in a fairytale, an anecdote someone’s telling us or the fictional world of a novel.

Why did you choose to write in your particular field or genre?

As a reader, I’m very focused on not only the plot but also the language and characters, so I tend to read literary fiction, sometimes general and sometimes with a crossover to various genres, but always something where the characters feel real and alive to me, whether or not they’re likable. These preferences are reflected in what I write: It’s never just about the plot for me, but also about the language flowing and carrying the story with its own logic, and especially about the characters’ interiority. 

One subgenre I especially love reading is literary thrillers, so I decided to go that route for my novel What I Know About July, with my own twists on traditional mysteries. The focus isn’t just on whodunnit but also things like how it is for my specific anxious, self-doubting, creative protagonist Simon to be in this situation, and on whether the good guy is really even good.

Tell us more about your main character. What inspired you to develop this character?

Simon is an indie musician living in Berlin, belatedly trying to put together the adult life everyone around him already seems to have. He alternates between hopefulness and joy in his creative work, and self-doubt to the point where even his failings don’t seem good enough. He can be selfish and hurt the people around him, but there’s also this striving towards goodness in him: He wants to have a good, fulfilling life, but he also wants to be a good person and is still figuring out what that means for him. Meanwhile, he’s confronted with this very pushy fan July who acts like she has some ownership of who he is and what he and his music are about. He finds being around her, sometimes even thinking about her, overwhelming, but her sudden disappearance takes all that to a whole new level.

What are some day jobs you have held?

My current day job is German-English translator, but I’ve also taught English, worked in content and data entry, washed dishes, handed out flyers at street corners and sold Berlin souvenirs.

What advice would you give to aspiring authors?

Be in it for the long game. Do the very best you can with every piece, but also accept when something isn’t working and you have to give up on it. Before sending anything out on submission, give yourself a little time and distance, and read it over again to make sure you’ve really taken it as far as you can. Expect rejection. It’s constant in the publishing industry. Take note of what you admire and enjoy as a reader and look for it in your own work. 

What do you do to get book reviews?

Some reviewers were contacted by my publisher or found my book on their own, and I requested many of them myself from publications like For Page & Screen or from book bloggers. I find that it’s good to cast a wide net because review outlets do tend to receive so many requests and, even if the reviewer reads your genre, you never know ahead of time whether your specific book will appeal to them.

What is one thing you hate about being a writer?

How difficult the business side can be and how hard it sometimes feels to make progress when you’re faced with submissions getting either form rejections or no response at all, or you’re struggling to get interest from reviewers, bookstores, readers… I was very lucky with What I Know About July in that I’ve been able to work with three wonderful bookstores: ivallan’s Secondhand & Exceptional Books in Berlin, Munich Readery in Munich and Winchester Book Gallery in Virginia. I’m also fortunate to have found a good home for my books at Meerkat Press. But behind each of these good relationships are of course many people who didn’t respond and I didn’t end up working with, so again something where you have to cast a wide net. Marketing your books often feels like you have to keep throwing things at the wall and see what sticks: What social media posts will attract attention? What ads are worth the investment? You’re never going to succeed every time, and I think many writers, like artists in general, can be very sensitive or insecure about their careers and particularly struggle with that.

If you couldn’t be an author, what would your ideal career be?  

Something with horror movies maybe. I don’t write horror books but I love to watch horror movies and once wrote a horror screenplay just because I had the idea for a movie I’d like to watch. I also think it would be fun to play the final girl, especially in a ridiculous B-movie with bad effects. That or maybe Shakespearean acting. I like Shakespeare as much as I like horror movies.

Want to learn more about Kat Hausler?

Website | Facebook | Twitter/X | Linkedin | Goodreads | Instagram | Amazon | Bookbub