From Daydreamer to Author: Kat Falls Shares Her Story with Martinez Students

When she writes her books, “I’m living in that world.”

That’s what author Kat Falls told Martinez Middle School students Tuesday as she discussed Dark Life, its sequel, Rip Tide, and her newest book, Inhuman which is the first in what she says will be a young adult trilogy.

“I was a daydreamer. I started telling stories to myself at a very young age,” the Evanston resident said. “I didn’t start writing until college and it didn’t get to be a job until well after college.”

It took her two years to write Dark Life and two more years to come up with Inhuman.

“I’m a slower writer when I’m inventing a new world,” the science fiction writer said. “My scenes are pretty visual. I put pictures on poster board and I put them in front of me so that I visualize the characters at the scene as I’m writing.”

Inhuman, she said, is based on real locations such as Rock Island, Chicago, Hoover Dam and Disney World but takes place 20 years from now when a mutating virus creates all sorts of havoc.

“I try to keep the stories fast, fun, fresh and edging over-the-top,” her website says. “Actually those are my favorite types of books … adventures that pull me into new worlds, dangerous and beautiful.”

Falls told students she will soon release her second book in the trilogy.