Meet Katie Grant: Writer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Katie Grant and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Katie, what habits do you feel play an important role in your life?
Writing every day. Even if it’s just for an hour or two at midnight after a long day – just showing up for the writing process on a daily basis is essential for me.

Another habit is grasping light bulb ideas the second they come, leaning into the thrill of that idea, and running with it. I’ve found that with creativity, seeds of golden ideas often pop up unexpectedly and can either be lost in dehydrated soil or watered and grown. Strengthening the muscle/habit of pausing to write down and foster these otherwise fleeting ideas has allowed me to maximize those moments because when I let my excitement be the leading hands, slivers of ideas quickly become fully fledged scenes, stories, characters.

Working out/running and doing math, strangely. In some backwards way it stimulates me creatively and preps my headspace to look at my work from a neutrally critical perspective. On the flip side, training myself to have the discipline to sit down in the midst of real-time emotions and pour them into a scene is a habit that’s also certainly helped me, as the writing often ends up being quite usable with an organic rhythm/pacing because it’s so raw. So I guess I’d say that these two very different discipline-related habits have helped me succeed because they have developed an ability to write/edit from both a clear-headed, neutrally critical perspective as well as an emotional place.

There’s also a few habits during the rewrite process that are vital for me – 1. Giving the work distance so I can look at it from an unclouded vantage point. 2. Letting go. In actuality, this ends up helping me hone in on and hold onto the soul of the story (one of my favorite quotes is “the trick to holding on was all that letting go”). 3. Leaning into breakthroughs during the rewriting process.

And lastly, another habit I have, which is quite a conscious one, is to make sure I’m taking the time to appreciate the art of storytelling on a daily basis. I believe that storytelling is what has the power to connect and thread humankind into one heartbeat – authentic storytelling to be specific. Authentic stories create such a visceral experience, express that we’re not alone, validate isolating feelings while at the same time give opportunity for individuals to vicariously feel someone else’s lived-in experiences, and that’s an incredibly powerful combination – making sure that I’m regularly appreciating this fills me with tremendous gratitude that I have the opportunity to continue to unpack the power of authentic storytelling.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
As an artist, I am drawn to creating work that comes from a deep place of exploration of human truth. For me, the story lives in unpacking the endless essence of emotion that lies within small moments. I gravitate towards female-driven pieces, particularly those centering on female-specific struggles and inequities that lead to overbearing feelings of isolation as well as stories surrounding physical and emotional barriers that stem from a lack of inclusivity. I tend to create dramas with moments of humor threaded in – i.e. moments that marry a fragile, yet quiet intersection between humor and emotion as, for me, the blending of the two in a single moment shifts the audience from feeling sympathy for a character to empathy, and captures the heart of what it feels like to be human.

I write in all different mediums – I think every artist, you know, has something that makes them unique—they have a spark or a trademark and I think my “spark” might be versatility. I find such joy in writing in different mediums (novels, stage plays, screenplays, lyrics/poetry). What I love most about novel writing is how it allows for endless metaphorical language/imagery to be embedded within the prose – I definitely utilize how emotion can be conveyed simply through word choice and the rhythm in which certain words are sewn together. For playwriting – my plays tend to be fueled by dialogue and the way in which the heartbeat of a play can live within what is unsaid, what is said at a specific time, which specific words are interrupted, which topics a certain character tries to avoid or shift the conversation out of, etc. For screenwriting – I tend to lean on visual motifs and images, letting the story unfold through what is visually shown to the audience and when. One of my signature tendencies when writing a screenplay is utilizing the ability to tell an audience so much about a character through following them in a very human, private moment and just letting their actions and vulnerability in solitude play out on camera. And lastly, poetry and lyrics – that form allows for painting emotions through the most complex metaphorical ideas while saying so much in just a few words, and I find that really fascinating to toy around with.

The biggest lesson I’ve learned is to know and recognize your worth as an artist because you owe it to yourself to. In terms of challenges – this industry is definitely not easy and the biggest challenge lives within being able to garner the emotional intelligence to focus on the art and trust that the rest will fall into place because great art is naturally attractive in its rawest, most authentic form.

I’m most proud of and excited about my work/writing. There truly isn’t a feeling greater than looking at a completed manuscript, screenplay, stage play script, or poem bursting with excitement to share it because I believe in the purpose of its existence. That’s certainly one of the greatest thrills of being an artist. It’s the magical part of it.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Great question! I would definitely recommend every venue (big or small) in LA for live theatre or music. There’s so much incredible artwork out there and there’s venues in almost every sector of LA, depending on where you’re staying. Another huge hidden gem of LA are the gardens! There’s a handful of stunning gardens, particularly a gorgeous botanical garden near UCLA.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My family! My grandparents, my brothers, but most importantly my mom and dad. My mom has this way about her where she’s certainly a visionary leader and I’ve been so fortunate that this is a trait of hers she’s passed down, simply by painting the layers of my goals with much more detail and longevity than I ever could have imagined for myself.
My dad has this unparalleled work ethic that is contagious to everyone around him. He’s definitely a natural-born leader through how he so deeply values treating people well and having a positive impact. He just cares so much about people and family and I’m so lucky to have been raised in that environment.

Both my parents have a radiating kindness and deep awareness. The end goal of anything my brothers and I have ever done has always been impact and genuine care, and that has definitely come from my parents. It’s just their way of life. It’s not even something that they need to talk about – it’s just so deeply nested in every single action they do that it’s been permanently instilled in me by way of observation. I’ve always been taught that, if something is broken (both on a small and large scale) find the root of the problem and fix it. Even if it’s a problem where brokenness bleeds layers deep from the insurmountable amount of time that this problem has gotten to live – it’s still always been, go find the root of that problem and fix it. Especially my mom, she’s very tough love – her attitude has always been: no excuses, if a door isn’t open, go open it and leave it open for more people to walk through. And I’m really thankful for that because it has instilled a sense of authenticity, purpose, and drive in me.

Website: katiesgrant.com

Image Credits
Nicholas Grant