Q&A with Kat Korpi, author, also my bestie

I am so tired of pain 🥲

As I write this, it’s Saturday. Outside, rain is falling steadily. Inside, I’ve got my daylist playing (tender concept album saturday morning, if you were curious), a candle lit, and I’ve already read 70 pages of a brilliant book, Nina LaCour’s adult debut Yerba Buena1, and revised two chapters of my own novel. It’s a good day, all things considered.

The only downside to all of this is that I am in pain. My leg has been cramping all day, as though I ran a marathon but all I did was walk a couple city blocks. My back is tight and crackly because there’s no way or where to sit that doesn’t exacerbate it. And of course, there’s the headache.

I am tired of living in pain. I am tired of underestimating how much pain a given activity will produce, and flaking on plans I’d love to keep. I would like a new body, one that functions and doesn’t seem intent on destroying me.

But alas. I have the body that I have. I will work to better understand my limits, and I will take steps (weekly walks, physical therapy) to heal. Things will get better. I choose to believe this. And in the service of getting better and enjoying what I can while I can, I present to you the subject of today’s Q&A: Kat Korpi.

Kat is an author of sapphic books for teens and adults. Her words leap off the page with vibrant color, and the way her mind composes story ideas is utterly fascinating to me. She’s also one of my best friends, a coworker, a confidant, and someone I send all my books to. I’m delighted to share our phone conversation with you today! Read on!

Welcome to the interview 🗣️

Karis Rogerson: Tell me about your journey into writing — how did you get here?

Kat Korpi: Ooh, that’s a long answer. In my childhood, I was a horse girl, and I wrote the most unhinged [story] in a spiral-bound notebook. Every sentence ended in an exclamation, I was living for the horse girl rep in this — there was no conflict, it was about a girl and her horse. I did do a reading for my family. That’s where it began.

[Here is where Kat and I talked about her horse girl phase for many moments. It was glorious. She was one with her horse. I cried laughing.]

I used to read all the time. I lost that for a long time because I was doing TV, etc…very unhappy at work and was…nothing was how I thought it was supposed to be and what I dreamed it would be. I got back into reading heavily, and I remembered…how much I loved to read and loved written novel stories versus TV…I woke up and was like, oh my god, I used to love to write and I wanna do that again!

I was listening to a lot of 88 Cups of Tea2 and those two things went hand in hand with “maybe I could try writing something.” My first novel that I finished was truly no one should ever think about it, read it, etc…it was me taking everything that I loved and copying that…I was not saying anything fresh. From there, I started and kept writing. Every book I finished, I would start a new one — I would write a book a year for the Pitch Wars deadline.

KR: Why do you write — what drives you?

KK: That’s something that I’m trying to answer for myself right now and have been trying to answer. The Capricorn in me is strong, and the need to achieve something is so strong. The external validation and being able to say I did it. Or even like, “I hit my word count goal.” It’s great in some ways, but it’s not the reason I want to be writing.

I have questions that I want to answer for myself that are best answered in me doing it in fiction. Not that everything is a self-insert, but things I want to explore through other people’s…lives, if you will 😏3.

KR: Can you give a 1-2 sentence pitch of your current project, and touch on why it excites you?

KK: When her whole life implodes, a heartbroken artist leaves it all behind and becomes a nomadic pet sitter. In each sit, she cosplays the owner's life, sleeping in their bed, drinking their coffee, feeding their pets, but it all changes when she gets to a sit where the house seems void of any life at all. As she becomes obsessed with finding out about the people who live there, the threads she pulls begin to reveal life-shattering secrets.

Other People’s Lives is basically the fictionalized version of my own experience as a nomadic pet sitter and it’s all of my…loneliness and the curiosity about other people, and the judgment of other people’s lives as well, with more dead bodies.

This is my first venture into adult and I’m really enjoying that — I think in my experience…this is the most deeply romantic book Ive ever written, even though there’s so many dead bodies. The chemistry and writing for an adult audience has let me dive into that romance of it.

KR: If you had to describe your style of books, how would you do so?

KK: My go-to of describing my writing is “girls who don’t need to be saved but do need to go to therapy,” and I think adding some adventure of some sort on top of that is my style of writing.

KR: What has been the hardest thing about your journey to publication so far?

KK: The hardest thing for me has been the realization that my hard work and my persistence isn’t actually a guarantee of anything. While I definitely do believe still that if I don’t give up and keep learning and growing something will happen eventually, it has been really difficult to rectify in my mind that…x does not equal y in a direct line in this situation. I so wish that it did! The talent and the persistence, I wish it was a formula that at the end you get what you want, when you want it.

KR: What has brought you the most joy on your publishing journey?

KK: Without a doubt, the people. I have so many amazing friends and things in my life that would not have happened if I were not on this writing and publication journey. I’m really grateful for the people

KR: Is there something you’re celebrating lately, and how are you celebrating it?

KK: I’m celebrating finishing the first draft of Other People’s Lives, and I’m celebrating taking a break from that book instead of diving directly into draft two. Overall, I’m celebrating the process. I’m taking steps to keep going. That looks like watching Love is Blind, taking breaks, I do love a little prosecco, you know?

KR: Do you have any advice to offer to other aspiring authors?

KK: No matter where along the journey you are, you probably know more than you give yourself credit for and you’re doing better than you give yourself credit for…we so easily wish that we were at a different step or beat ourselves up for not being further along…having grace for where you’re at and celebrating where you’re at. The willingness to be okay with where I’m at has brought me more joy in this process than anything else.

KR: Can you recommend 1-3 books you’ve read and loved?

KK: I love A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers. I did not expect to be wrecked by a cute little sci-fi book about a monk and a robot, but truly was. I also read Bianca Torre is Afraid of Everything by Justine Pucella Winans. I wanna say like 20 of them…How to Find a Missing Girl by Victoria Wlosok, too!

KR: Is there anything else you wish I’d asked?

KK: The love of my life and I have a small business together where we make witchy home decor and jewelry. It’s called Ravens & Rose Apothecary, we’re on Etsy & Instagram. We post about astrology things sometimes but I’m just a baby. I just post little snippets. It’s mostly just fun little things.

Alla prossima 👋

Thanks for checking out this Q&A with Kat! I hope you enjoyed, maybe learned something or find a new author to follow (agents, maybe someone you hope will query you ;), and that this brought you some joy!

There is so much darkness in the world. This past week I watched a video of a man making a fool of himself humping a railing to avoid stepping on rainbow stairs. That level of hate, the kind that circles back to clown behavior, breaks my heart. Because it’s so senseless, pointless, devastating, dangerous.

Last Sunday, Aaron Bushnell self-immolated, sacrificing his life to bring attention to the genocide being carried out by Israel. My heart breaks, because I feel his despair and helplessness, I feel the pain that led him to act like that.

Because this past week, at least 112 Palestinians were massacred by Israel as they waited in line for food. The depths of depravity you have to reach to kill innocent people, people you are also starving to death, while they wait for food. I cannot fucking imagine the fear and horror and despair. I am enraged always, heartbroken always, about the genocide in Gaza. Palestine deserves to be free4.

Call your reps. Email them. Call the president. Email him. Somehow, those in power who are greenlighting, facilitating this genocide will pay. And Palestine will be free.

Take care of yourselves. Love others well.

— Karis xoxo