Ask the Author: Kate Morton
Answered Questions (18)
Kate Morton
Thanks for your lovely note, Cheryl -- I especially love that you used the verb 'weaving', because that's just what it feels like when I'm writing. I'm deep in edit on another book at the moment (which happens to be the part of the process that most resembles weaving, as all of the threads are loosened and stitched back together in a tighter, more pleasing way) and will have news very soon. Happy reading in the meantime, Kate
Kate Morton
Hello Jackie, thanks for your message, I'm so glad to hear that you enjoyed The Forgotten Garden. It's a book that's close to my heart, in large part due to the family story that helped to inspire it. I've written about my grandmother's secret, and a number of the other ideas behind The Forgotten Garden on my website, if you'd like to know more. Happy reading, Kate
https://www.katemorton.com/books/the-...
https://www.katemorton.com/books/the-...
Kate Morton
Thank you, Katy! I love stories within stories, too, and always feel that they create texture and make the world of the novel more real. In The Forgotten Garden and The Distant Hours, Eliza's fairy tales and the Mud Man developed from the characters and themes within the larger book. Once I'd written them, though, they then fed back into the story and enabled me to develop the characters further. Great question! Kate
Kate Morton
Stay tuned, Carla - I'll have news very soon! Kate
Kate Morton
Hello Cheryl, thanks for your note. I am indeed working on another book and will have news to share very soon. Can't wait to tell you about it! Kate
Kate Morton
Thanks, L.Faure! News on the next book to come very soon... Happy reading in the meantime. Kate
Kate Morton
Thank you, Ferida, it's lovely to gr-meet you and thanks for being there from the start! Stay tuned for news on a sixth book very soon. Kate
Kate Morton
Thank you, Andy -- notes of appreciation are much appreciated ;) I'm so glad that you enjoyed Secret Keeper and hope your mother does, too. Happy reading to both of you. Kate
Kate Morton
Thank you, Carrie, for your lovely message. As you can tell from my Instagram pics, I'm much inspired by landscapes, both natural and urban. My boys are usually with me when I travel, larking about just out of frame! Kate
Kate Morton
I am, Melissa, and I can't wait to share it with you! More news to come very soon. Thanks for your lovely message, and happy reading! Kate
Kate Morton
I'll have news on that front very soon, Gacia! Thanks for asking - I can't wait to share another story with you. Kate
Kate Morton
Thank you, Hayley! I'm so glad to hear that you enjoyed The Shifting Fog (or The House at Riverton as it's known in the US, Canada and the UK). I love Tasmania and hope to get there when my next book comes out. Stay tuned for more news on that, very soon, and happy reading! Kate
Kate Morton
This answer contains spoilers…
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Kate Morton
A: Hi Laura, Eliza's garden as it's described in TFG is from my imagination, but I was inspired by a real life garden when I was coming up with the idea for the novel. I'd already decided the story was going to feature a cottage by the sea, and had started casting about for the perfect English coastal location. I'd read and loved books like Five go to Smuggler's Top when I was a child, and was hoping to find somewhere that suggested a similar history and sense of mystery.
One day, while I was surfing about on the net, typing in search terms like 'forgotten' and 'garden' and 'smuggling' and 'coastal', I came across a link to a place called 'The Lost Gardens of Heligan'. I think I probably drew breath and then followed the link as quickly as I could! It turned out that Heligan was a grand estate in Cornwall, owned for many centuries by a family called the Tremaynes. Along with the house and farms, Heligan was also home to the most glorious formal gardens. Generations of green thumbs had scoured the globe bringing back samples of the world’s varied vegetation, and a team of thirteen gardeners was in charge of maintaining the estate.
In 1914, however, when World War I broke out, the entire garden staff enlisted and none returned. The Tremayne family moved away and the garden grew over. It wasn’t until late in the twentieth century that a garden archaeologist, who had grown up nearby, returned home and rediscovered the entrance to Heligan.
I found the story incredibly poignant and loved the idea of a garden that had been locked and forgotten. Not only had my book gained a setting (Cornwall!), but I decided that my clifftop cottage simply had to connect to a walled garden!
One day, while I was surfing about on the net, typing in search terms like 'forgotten' and 'garden' and 'smuggling' and 'coastal', I came across a link to a place called 'The Lost Gardens of Heligan'. I think I probably drew breath and then followed the link as quickly as I could! It turned out that Heligan was a grand estate in Cornwall, owned for many centuries by a family called the Tremaynes. Along with the house and farms, Heligan was also home to the most glorious formal gardens. Generations of green thumbs had scoured the globe bringing back samples of the world’s varied vegetation, and a team of thirteen gardeners was in charge of maintaining the estate.
In 1914, however, when World War I broke out, the entire garden staff enlisted and none returned. The Tremayne family moved away and the garden grew over. It wasn’t until late in the twentieth century that a garden archaeologist, who had grown up nearby, returned home and rediscovered the entrance to Heligan.
I found the story incredibly poignant and loved the idea of a garden that had been locked and forgotten. Not only had my book gained a setting (Cornwall!), but I decided that my clifftop cottage simply had to connect to a walled garden!
Kate Morton
Thanks for your lovely comment, Lizabeth! There are so many vital elements in a good story (plot... character... setting...!), but I think one of most important is sense of place. At least, it is for me. When I was a very young child and had just started reading for myself, I used to lose myself completely in the world of my book. I still chase that feeling when I'm reading and when I'm writing.
At the very beginning of a project, when I'm working with my notebooks, scribbling down ideas, researching, and letting the story come to life in my imagination, one of the aspects I'm keenest to discover is the world in which the action takes place. The setting is part of it, but it’s more than that, too: it’s a texture, a flavour, an atmosphere. I need the world to feel vivid and real and dense—the sort of place in which you and I can both become lost.
I can’t actually begin writing until I reach this point. It’s a matter of truth, I suppose. If the book feels flimsy or pretend, I lose faith in it very quickly. I have an idea, too, that unless the book feels real for me, I won’t be able to convey the sense of being transported to you, which is my greatest aim as a writer! Once I finally get there, though, the drive to start writing is so strong I can’t resist it. (This period of dreaming and imagining is one of my favourite parts of being a writer, by the way -- it's a bit like being a child. Free and unbounded play!)
At the very beginning of a project, when I'm working with my notebooks, scribbling down ideas, researching, and letting the story come to life in my imagination, one of the aspects I'm keenest to discover is the world in which the action takes place. The setting is part of it, but it’s more than that, too: it’s a texture, a flavour, an atmosphere. I need the world to feel vivid and real and dense—the sort of place in which you and I can both become lost.
I can’t actually begin writing until I reach this point. It’s a matter of truth, I suppose. If the book feels flimsy or pretend, I lose faith in it very quickly. I have an idea, too, that unless the book feels real for me, I won’t be able to convey the sense of being transported to you, which is my greatest aim as a writer! Once I finally get there, though, the drive to start writing is so strong I can’t resist it. (This period of dreaming and imagining is one of my favourite parts of being a writer, by the way -- it's a bit like being a child. Free and unbounded play!)
Kate Morton
All of the above! They come from everywhere, all of the time. A book is actually made up of thousands of tiny ideas, like threads, that are woven together to form a tapestry. I keep notebooks into which I scribble everything I see or feel or think or hear (or overhear--never sit behind me on a bus!) that gives me a spark.
When it comes time to start working on a new book I sit down with my idea fragments and begin sorting them, like pieces of a puzzle, looking for two or three that belong together. Once I have those, I get a growing sense of what the larger story is going to be.
The kernel of The Lake House was made up of three ideas: I'd long wanted to write about a missing child; I heard the intriguing tale of an abandoned house; and, I was determined to write a book that could be properly termed a 'mystery'. Once those ideas came together, the Cornish setting suggested itself, and the story really began to come to life.
When it comes time to start working on a new book I sit down with my idea fragments and begin sorting them, like pieces of a puzzle, looking for two or three that belong together. Once I have those, I get a growing sense of what the larger story is going to be.
The kernel of The Lake House was made up of three ideas: I'd long wanted to write about a missing child; I heard the intriguing tale of an abandoned house; and, I was determined to write a book that could be properly termed a 'mystery'. Once those ideas came together, the Cornish setting suggested itself, and the story really began to come to life.
Kate Morton
I love Cornwall, too, and find it very inspirational. I wrote a journal post recently about how I fell in love with Cornwall from afar: with its beauty, of course, but more than that, with its atmosphere of history, mystery, myth and magic. I believe there are some places where one feels an intrinsic sense of belonging and, for me, Cornwall is one of them.
http://katemorton.com/2015/10/why-cor...
I think creating a strong sense of place is one of the most important parts of storytelling. It's what lingers in your mind once you've finished a book, and makes you feel as if you really went somewhere else.
http://katemorton.com/2015/10/why-cor...
I think creating a strong sense of place is one of the most important parts of storytelling. It's what lingers in your mind once you've finished a book, and makes you feel as if you really went somewhere else.
Kate Morton
After living so intensely with my characters over the couple of years it takes to write a book, it's a huge thrill to know that their story is about to come to life for other people.
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