Wattpad Success Stories

Katie Baker

For this interview, I had the honor of interviewing Katie Baker, author of The Runner, Star Hunter, and more. I personally loved her books and she is an amazing person.  I am so grateful for her kindness in answering the questions I sent her. If you haven't already check out her stories!

The inspiration for the Runner:

I had a kind of loose idea about a girl who runs across rooftops and a great love for dystopian books and movies, but the overall plot of the Runner came about somewhat organically. I started with Kay escaping the guards via rooftop and just kind of made the rest of it up, chapter by chapter.I definitely took a lot of inspiration from my favourite literary characters, current and historical events. Readers have noticed parallels with Robin Hood and other folk heroes, as well as an imagined repercussion of global warming.

What character was the most fun:

Definitely Harmen. I wish I hadn't killed him off so early, he's so twisted and fun, I could have written an entire book about him!I'm also really enjoying writing about the Madame, particularly her POV chapters in "The Burn". I can't wait to get more into her character with book 3!

Differences between Star Hunter and The Runner: 

The Runner is a sort of spin on historical fiction, whereas Star Hunter is pure sci-fi. When I'm writing Star Hunter I feel totally unlimited and unencumbered because in space, ANYTHING is possible!

Favourite book:

Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton

Something I wish I knew when I started writing:

Nothing is permanent. Don't be afraid to take a character in an unexpected direction or veer from your original plot, it's guaranteed that there will be parts you want to change later so you may as well go crazy in the meantime!

Winning the Wattys:

Totally unexpected- it's been over a couple of years and I'm still not quite over it. I never thought that I'd get one person to read my story, let alone enough to put me up for an award! It's ridiculous.

Did I originally plan on writing a series:

No. I planned on writing a chapter, then two chapters, then three. When I finished writing book 1 (did not expect that, either) I knew that there were more adventures that I wanted to take Kay on, so I just kept going. Now I'm DYING to write book 3 and take her character full circle, I have some ideas that I can't WAIT to explore!

What made me come to Wattpad:

I found "After" on some other site and it led me to Wattpad. I never tried writing anything before, but the Wattpad community was so interesting I thought I would give it a try :)

Advice for new Wattpad authors:

Don't be afraid. Write like crazy, put it all down, even if it isn't perfect. Spew out that ridiculous idea, let your characters lead you in unexpected directions, don't be restricted by your first idea!