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#198 - Elizabeth May a.k.a. Katrina Kendrick
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Historical and fantasy romance author, Elizabeth May joins us this week to talk about her latest novel under her pen name Katrina Kendrick and the benefits of publishing under multiple names.
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Transcript
Introduction and Author's Background
00:00:00
Speaker
Ooh, a spicy question. I love it. Because the writing is sort of everything. You can fix plot holes, but if the writing... So some readers love that, and some readers are like, but I wanted more of this. So it's kind of a gamble. Hello, and welcome back to the Right and Wrong podcast. Joining me today is best-selling historical fantasy sci-fi romance author Katrina Kendrick, AKA Elizabeth May. Hello. Hello. Thanks for having me.
00:00:30
Speaker
Thanks for coming on. Let's start with your newest novel, which is The Way We're Duke out now, I believe. Tell us a little bit about it.
Discussion on 'The Way We're Duke'
00:00:41
Speaker
ah The Way We're Duke is about an estranged husband and wife who are ah forced to work together to code break for the home office ah to catch a killer.
00:00:55
Speaker
Okay, a nice setup. And is this this is part of the private arrangement series? It is, yes. And this is under Katrina Kendrick, your pen name? Katrina Kendrick, yes. Okay. Is this the fifth novel in that series? Yes, it is the fifth novel. I had to take a minute. I was like, how many have I written in this series? Yes, it is the fifth.
00:01:21
Speaker
Are they, from what I could see online, they're not necessarily sequential. Are they kind of standalone novels? Yeah, they're standalone novels and they're interconnected. So um other characters from the other novels might show up in in any one of these novels, but they can be read. um
Expanding the Series and Use of Pen Names
00:01:42
Speaker
They can be read in any order.
00:01:44
Speaker
Okay, that's fun. I bet you probably have a lot of fun bringing in, like you say, the other characters to kind of pop in for a cameo or something. I do. Yeah. And there are some scenes that ah overlap as well between between books. So it's like, even though it can be read it as a standalone, a scene might happen in a previous book that also happens from a different perspective in a later book, and it just kind of fills them out.
00:02:10
Speaker
Oh, that's so cool. So that you can be reading it and think, oh, I'm getting deja vu. Oh, it's because i'm I've already seen this before, but from a different perspective. Yeah, it'll be like, well, what was happening with that character in that scene? And so then in that character's book, I, you know, I go into like what was going on with them in that specific scene, which is always, which is always so fun. Oh, that's so cool. So I'm thinking the first one of these was back in 2018.
00:02:39
Speaker
It was in 2018, yeah. Wow, it's been a long time.
00:02:44
Speaker
And are these the only novels that you've written as Katrina Kendrick? ah They are, yes, so far. So far, okay. Is this a series that you want to keep expanding and exploring?
00:02:59
Speaker
I would love to, yeah. I mean, I definitely feel like there's a lot more that could be expanded and in so many characters I would love to write from. So um yeah, it's just you know it's just a matter of balancing it with my other contracted work, but we'll see. who So you you do have like ideas for like the next novels in in this in this kind of collection?
00:03:23
Speaker
Yeah, so I'm working on one right now um of a character that shows up in the fourth book. So that's an interlap interlapping story with that book. Yeah.
00:03:34
Speaker
Oh, that's really cool. And this series, so you've prior to doing any writing as Katrina Kendrick, you did already release a number of novels as Elizabeth May. Had you already finished and released the Falconer trilogy by the time you started writing as Katrina Kendrick?
00:03:55
Speaker
Yeah, the Falconer trilogy had been done for about a year by the time I kind of went into writing Katrina's books because I had never really written like historical romance or like um like just proper non fantasy type romances before. So I figured low pressure, I would just write it under a pen name and really enjoyed it the process. So I just kept doing it.
00:04:25
Speaker
Okay. Most of the time the pen name is to separate like a writing style. So like was it so that you could write historical instead of um historical romance instead of like historical ah fantasy like the Falconer is? Yeah. So at the time um I was writing the Falconer as YA as young adults. So um at the time it was mostly just to to separate it from like teens, ah teens finding it.
00:04:55
Speaker
um But now my Elizabeth May name has kind of been brought more in line with my Katrina work. So I write adult as Elizabeth May now and kind of similar spice level as well. So um so people who like my Katrina books may end up liking my Elizabeth books and then vice versa as well. So um so things have kind of shifted in in the years that I've been writing.
Writing Process and Market Influences
00:05:21
Speaker
Oh, okay. they've They've kind of, they started a bit further away, but they've actually come together much more than you expected. Yeah, definitely. Because my Elizabeth May now incorporates, you know, more adult, um adult romance and, um you know, and shares a lot in terms of like world building with my historicals too. So, um so they're quite, they're quite similar in terms of writing now.
00:05:48
Speaker
Okay that's interesting and that's also I would imagine indicative of like what's trending and like what's popular in the industry at the moment with obviously romanticy, crossover, new adult becoming very big over the last year or so.
00:06:02
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. I mean, i ah I started working on, I mean, I can't really like share much about my my current projects that I'm working on with Elizabeth because they're unannounced right now, but yeah um but one specific project that doesn't come out actually until the beginning of 2026, which is absolutely insane to think about, um was one that I actually started working on prior to, so the current projects that I have now are ones that I sold actually prior to current market, um market stuff. So current romanticy, um the current romantic popularity, these, this came after I sold ah these books. So this, so the one that comes out in 2026 was when I started in 2019. Oh,
00:06:48
Speaker
Yeah, so I've been working on it for quite some time. Yeah. And here's a ah fun question I always like to ask people who write under a pen name or pseudonym is, ah so was Katrina Kendrick, was that your first choice or were there other options that you went through?
00:07:06
Speaker
Katrina Kendrick was my first choice. I have no idea how I came up with it, though. I was just like, what sounds like something a historical romance author would be called? And it just sounded like a nice name. I think I went through like an entire list of like, you know, nice sounding surnames. And I was like, that's the one because I liked Katrina. But Hendrick took a little bit of time.
00:07:30
Speaker
Okay. Well, that's great. I think some people like really wrestle with it and they'll go back and forwards and like really struggle to make the final decision. Yeah, I could definitely see why because to be honest, I mean, if I could go back, I would actually choose a different name than like Elizabeth May because I had not realized that there were a other people also writing under that name and be, you know, the Canadian Green Leader is also named Elizabeth May. And sometimes when I back when I used to have my email up on my website, people would message me for her and I'm like, I am neither a politician, nor the person you are looking for. Please do not yell at me.
00:08:18
Speaker
Oh, that is unfortunate, yeah.
00:08:22
Speaker
um But you are still writing under both names. I am, yes. is that So is the difference now that the Elizabeth May stuff has more kind of magic and fantastical elements, and you you keep that out of the Katrina Kendrick stuff?
00:08:41
Speaker
Yes, so far um the ah my Elizabeth May books are strictly fantasy romance and Katrina is more real world historical romance. Although at some point those things might intersect just for contractual reasons.
00:08:58
Speaker
Okay, okay. Do you work on one manuscript at the time or are you the kind of writer that likes to have multiple stories on the go at once?
00:09:10
Speaker
I try to work on them ah one at a time. i I really have, I have a lot of um difficulty working on multiple projects at the same time because I don't want to mix voices. So what I do is I just get really sort of hyper focused on one manuscript. And when I hand that into like an editor or something, and then by that point, I'm ready to work on on the the next one under the the separate name. But I really do struggle to kind of sandwich them. I have a friend who is able to work on approximately three manuscripts at once. And it boggles my mind. I don't know how she manages to not at some point intersect the stories because I tend to find that if I am working on them at the same time, I start kind of they start the plots
00:10:04
Speaker
start kind of looking a bit samey. I tend to incorporate the same things just because i you know my my brain can't get out of ah one story and into another. So I do try to keep them separate and just basically try to immerse myself in that particular work for that allotted amount of time.
00:10:26
Speaker
Okay, that makes
Overcoming Creative Blocks
00:10:27
Speaker
sense. I feel like it's definitely a personal choice because I've spoken to authors who sort of thrive on having multiple manuscripts at once. I think in some of Brandon Sanderson's lectures, he talks about how he, and he's normally working on like five or six things at once, but he likes it because he he He says if you know if you get bogged down and in one thing, you just jump onto a different project and then you you kind of get excited because you're getting familiarised again with all these cool things that you had before. And then by the time that you're kind of like drained on that one, you can jump back to the one you were on before and suddenly you're coming coming at it with like fresh ideas and like a fresh brain.
00:11:06
Speaker
Yeah, my one of my author friends who does a lot of um IP work, so she's always working on on different manuscripts at the same time, she does something that she calls the sandwich method, which is that she kind of opens up her writing day with um what she considers to be the easy manuscript. So that might be, you know um depending on where in the process she is, the drafting phase, which she finds to be quite simple.
00:11:34
Speaker
um So it's less, it it doesn't have to be as perfect. And before moving on to something more complicated, like the editing phase where things have to be a bit cleaner, where you're trying to make sure all of the sentences sing, and then she ends the day again with something with something um also easier. So then by the time she's finished with her writing day, you know she's a bit more relaxed and not so, um you know not so like kind of involved in something that's a bit more complicated. For me, I'm just like, I need to, um I just have you know approximately eight cups of coffee and just go straight into the complex thing and work on it for the entire day.
00:12:26
Speaker
i Yeah, but I said this all the time, like a broken record on this podcast, like writing is absolutely about finding the way that works for you. Oh my gosh. Yes, absolutely. If I get stuck on anything, my um my, you know, my unstick method of choice is just simply take a nap.
00:12:46
Speaker
ah So I take a nap and usually the solution kind of comes to me like in my sleep and by the time I work up or wake up, um it's resolved itself. I just tend to to find that if my brain gets, my brain tends to get overwhelmed and that's when I get stuck. And so then if I rest, I find that I'm able to um to to kind of get back into it um with the solution kind of having presented itself, you know, in a dream or just when my my brain was was processing information in a more relaxed state. So that's how I do it. Sometimes you just need a reset. Like I've heard of authors in a similar situation, just going for a walk or having a shower or, you know, just doing something to basically disconnect your brain so that you can come back onto it and then the solution, like you say, presents itself.
00:13:41
Speaker
Yeah, I was actually watching a ah TikTok earlier about somebody talking about this, because somebody um on Twitter, I think it was, asked the question, would people take 30-minute showers? What are they doing in there? And he was like, well, some of us are thinking. And you know the shower is one of the few places left you know in our lives that is not you know plagued by technology. It is really one of the only places where you know your mind is able to basically quiet itself and you are just able to stand there without being interrupted by advertisements.
00:14:18
Speaker
by your phone going off, um you know, by by all of these other distractions and just basically kind of think through things. And so, um yeah, the the shower is also some place that helps me. And yeah, walks are are absolutely brilliant. Yeah, it's just disconnecting, right? It's literally just like freeing yourself and your mind, I think.
00:14:42
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. And, you know, just quieting, just quieting down and just kind of immersing yourself. My husband also notices that that sometimes I just, he catches me like basically kind of staring off in the distance or just like staring at a wall and he gets, he gets this worried expression each time. And I have to remind him, it's like, baby, no, I am working.
00:15:05
Speaker
Getting back onto you.
Differences in Writing Styles
00:15:09
Speaker
and ah the two pseudonyms. I'm interested, and the reason I was asking whether you work on one or two manuscripts at a time is because I'm interested in, you've said that they have sort of um moved closer to each other than they were at first, but I would imagine it's a different headspace when you're writing as Elizabeth versus Katrina. is it Do you find it easy to just sort of like take one hat off and put the other hat on?
00:15:37
Speaker
um I will say that I find it more difficult to write my Elizabeth books. um
00:15:47
Speaker
So my Katrina books are approximately half the length of an Elizabeth book. So when I'm writing my Elizabeth books, there's all of this more in-depth world building, just there is so much that goes into building each scene because I am always having to kind of keep this really complex ah world you know in my mind at the same time. And with world building comes a lot of you know complicated um issues with
00:16:19
Speaker
you know, the culture that you're building, the language that you're building, how that those things influence relationships, you know, and then you add a romance on top of that and romance and world building together kind of they both end up taking a lot of real estate up in a book so when so when you're writing and and you're trying to do a romanticy especially a romanticy well you have to be able to fulfill both of those roles like adequately to please readers so you have to do the fantasy part really well and you have to do a really fulfilling um romance really well. And so balancing those things is extremely challenging and you know it can take up a lot of time and energy. And so when I switch over to my Katrina books, by that point I'm exhausted, I'm tired, I just wanna write something that's but fun, that um is that I consider to be as far as my job to be more relaxing. so
00:17:25
Speaker
My Katrina books are basically what I call my breather books. They're my palate cleansers ah between my my Elizabeth books. They just help me. um I'm still able to work and it's still my job, but it is something that is is more relaxing for me to do between those more involved and complicated world building works.
00:17:50
Speaker
Yeah, because the Katrina books are historical fiction so obviously that kind of world has already been built for you and there are multiple reference books that you can defer to if you wondered about something.
00:18:05
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. So they are set in the Victorian era, which I'm really familiar with. um you know and And I don't have to do as much describing of the the you know the cultural aspects of um of that world. And you know that's really relaxing. So I can just basically focus more sort of on the central relationship, which is my favorite part to write. Anyway, and um and you know I don't have to do so so much.
00:18:34
Speaker
of that kind of um external knowledge base for readers because they're usually coming into it with some kind of knowledge yeah of that era already. so They tend to fill in the blinks for me. yeah did you You mentioned that you're very familiar with the
Research and Historical Fiction
00:18:51
Speaker
Victorian era. Is that from like prior research or just like prior study that you've done?
00:18:56
Speaker
yeah Yeah, so you know when I started writing um as Katrina, I had done a lot of of previous research in the Victorian era. And um you know and so that that kind of came naturally to me. The the the parts that I had to to do more research on were basically you know the different parts of London. I'm American. And even though I've lived here for 15 years, it is still there are still certain aspects of it,
00:19:22
Speaker
of of you know of England or Britain culturally that that i so still I still grapple with. I'm sure that there are some some things in my books that so that you know are the the American does tend to see fit. And i think i've gotten I think I've improved over the years, but I did have to do a lot of of ground research in order to to reach that point, basically.
00:19:48
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I understand. I lived in London for five years and I could really only describe maybe like a third of it. you know It's just such like an intricate massive web of things that are going on at any one time.
00:20:05
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. You know, in my books also incorporate elements of espionage and sort of like criminal underworld as well. So there is that aspect of world building. ah bit That is a bit more of the fantasy aspect that I'm incorporating in the historical aspect because, you know, I i had to to do some research on um espionage in the year and it's not quite as exciting as what I present in the books.
00:20:35
Speaker
No, I can imagine it's not. no i That makes me think of, did you watch the adaptation of you, Carolyn Katniss' you? They did the television adaptation season three or something, season four. Is that the um is that on Netflix? Yes, with Penn Badgley. I have seen half the first season and I quite enjoyed it, but I haven't been able i haven't had time to to catch up.
00:21:02
Speaker
He just reminded me in one of the seasons, he's in London and he's living in London. And this is more a sign of how panickety English people are. But like he talks about how there's it's a lovely commute to work. It's so beautiful. So he just walks it. And obviously people on the internet found the exact place that he is walking to and from. And they were pointing out that he had he's giving himself a six and a half hour commute or something by walking this.
00:21:31
Speaker
and
00:21:34
Speaker
Yep, you're ah you're not alone in not fully understanding distances and places in London. I will say that since moving here, it's um it's really interesting to me because you know like long commutes, distances are more relative here. When I lived in St. Andrews, it astonished me that like after some months living there, um I began to see like three streets over as like so far. Oh, that's so far. It's like on the other end of town and the other end of town is like three streets.
00:22:07
Speaker
yeah But when I lived, I grew up in California and, you know, it's bigger and you just tend to spend most of your time in a car. And so, you know, if you went through a four hour commute every day, that was just normal. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I know exactly what you mean. It's amazing how quickly we adjust to our own like conveniences. Definitely.
00:22:34
Speaker
Um, getting back onto you, I wanted to dial it back a bit.
Publishing Challenges and Trends
00:22:37
Speaker
Uh, I'm curious as to, so was the Falconer, which came out in 2013, was that your debut novel? That was my debut novel. Yeah. Okay. And back then, did you always want to write across multiple genres?
00:22:55
Speaker
Yes, definitely. I have a bit of a difficult situation happening with the falconer because um is well and and you know it might be it might be interesting for people to hear because it came out in 2013 and at the time, I had intended for it to be adult.
00:23:18
Speaker
um But the market for paranormal romance had basically collapsed in the United States. um So all I had, if I wanted to publish it basically, was um was too to soub submit it to editors as YA. Which, you know, ended up with me having to kind of adjust the content accordingly.
00:23:43
Speaker
And so recently I got the rights back and so now I'm actually re-releasing it um as you know as the more mature book that I originally wanted it to be.
00:23:55
Speaker
and yeah and so when i was When I was rewriting it, it was like I have all of this other this out other practice that i I've had for over a decade of writing historical, um writing historical romance and in all of these um these other books. And so when I went back and like basically did this incredibly major rewrite, um I ended up incorporating more elements um from my historical romances into the book.
00:24:27
Speaker
um But yeah, I, you know, from the beginning have always been a big reader of historical romance, um and and other kinds of of romance as well. Basically, the inside the romance genre, I just tend to read romance.
00:24:44
Speaker
um whatever different genres in romance, but but that is my main genre. um by ah But I could definitely see you know that that as time has progressed, um you know and and growing more confident in my writing, I have been able to switch genres more easily, but I have always wanted to write in multiple genres, yeah.
00:25:08
Speaker
Ah, okay. That's really interesting. So do you, I know you're currently writing under both names and just based off what you're saying there and that we've talked about, they are kind of converging. Do you think at some point you are just going to start writing under one name? Uh, I don't.
00:25:29
Speaker
It's hard to say um because you know things things can things can change, but I have definitely seen situations where an author will write under two names and then just eventually the publisher just starts putting out their backlist under under that name. That happened with Victoria Schwab.
00:25:47
Speaker
Yeah, where she's just now, I think, exclusively publishing under VE. And so I wouldn't say it won't happen, because it might. But at the moment, I'm pretty content with two, just because it's less confusing for readers at the moment. But yeah, if the two names end up, you know, really sharing more similarities than they are separate. It might end up happening that I, that I just released or have my publishers, uh, re-release the backlist under, under one of the names, but we will see. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, yeah, you never know with these sort of things. You don't know what it might turn out to actually be very useful to have two different lines, two different kinds of brands with your writing. So who knows?
00:26:35
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, in, um in publishing terms, it makes things easier contractually, because, ah you know, we, you know, we have a clause, sometimes we have a specific clause in our contract where we're only allowed to publish under one name for a specific amount of time. And so publishing under are two names is just more ideal, so then you're able to put out more works, essentially.
00:27:00
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, no, and I understand. um Awesome.
Desert Island Book Choice and Conclusion
00:27:05
Speaker
We are at the point of the episode when we head over to the desert island. um So I will ask you, Elizabeth, if you were stranded on a desert island with a single book, which book do you hope that it would be?
00:27:17
Speaker
Oh my gosh, I was trying to think so hard about this question. I have really struggled with it because um because I don't know if I have like a favorite book, but I have favorite authors and like my comfort blanket authors. And I definitely think that if I had to choose one,
00:27:39
Speaker
It would probably be a Lisa Clapis book. And Lisa Clapis is just this, you know, this amazing historical romance author. I have read her probably since I was like 12 years old, but when I was way too young to be reading Lisa Clapis novel. um And she is absolutely brilliant and I i tend to do rereads of her books. And she wrote this book called seduce me at sunrise that I just absolutely loved. um it's a It's like a, you know, a friendship to lovers book. It is
00:28:17
Speaker
um You know, it's just absolutely just like so romantic, just this longing, this yearning between the two characters and everything about it just hits um all of the things that I love about romance and specifically historical romance. So I think I could read that one probably over and over again for the rest of my life.
00:28:37
Speaker
Wow, that is a sterling endorsement yeah and and a great choice. That's exactly what you want if you are stranded on a desert island with one book. yep um Awesome. Next up, I wanted to chat about world building, go a bit more in depth than that, ah creating characters and advice for new writers, but that will all be in the extended episode available on Patreon.
00:29:01
Speaker
What's unique is always it's always you, it's always your voice, it's always the way that you build characters in the world and um and those are the things that are going to bring readers back.
00:29:16
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. Great. I think that's so some great advice there. um Thank you so much, Elizabeth, for coming on the podcast and chatting with me and telling me all about your your latest your latest novel and your writing and publishing experiences. It's been really cool chatting with you. Thank you so much for having me. It's been wonderful chatting with you too.
00:29:35
Speaker
The Wayward Duke is out right now. You can get it in all the usual places. And if you want to keep up with what Elizabeth is doing, you can follow her on Instagram at underscore Elizabeth May, or on her website, ElizabethMayRights.com. To support this podcast, like, follow, and subscribe when your podcast platform will choice. Follow along on socials and join the Patreon for extended episodes, ad free and extra bonus content, fun stuff. Thanks again, Elizabeth. And thanks to everyone listening. We will catch you on the next episode.