Q & A with Cat Wynn
I’m really excited about doing my second author Q & A! Cat Wynn’s debut PARTNER TRACK will be out April 26th, and she so kindly agreed to answer a few questions!
But first, a little bit about PARTNER TRACK:
Perdie Stone needs just three things in life: Her forever best friend, Lucille. Their adorable rescue pug, Bananas. And last but not least, a coveted partnership at her Charleston law firm.
A partnership she more than deserves when she goes head-to-head with hotshot Ivy League attorney Carter Leplan on a big case and comes out on top. She didn’t think anything would feel better than beating the annoyingly gorgeous lawyer at his own game, but that’s before a freak storm leaves them both stranded.
Together.
In the last hotel room.
With only one bed.
It’s a one-night stand Perdie isn’t soon to forget…especially after Carter turns up at her firm and slides right into the job that should have been hers. And right back into her life—a life she thought she had all figured out.
1. How did you come up with the idea for Partner Track?
It actually started out as a totally different concept and then organically evolved from there. Originally, I set out to write a book about a female plaintiffs’ attorney who was always lost (Perdita means lost woman in Latin) but keeps accidentally running into a fancy defense lawyer who’s obsessed with maps. The last name Leplan is actually just le plan or the plan. Meaning, he’s a guy who always has a plan. He always follows the path. But while the names stuck around, it turned out I didn’t really need the high concept. Perdie and Carter were already so much at odds personality-wise that the conflict was baked in.
2. Tell us a little bit about Perdie and Carter.
Perdie is, well, kind of a bitch. And I love her for it. She often has walls up and fangs out, but really she’s just testing people. She naturally pushes against the status quo. Also, while she’s often selfish, she’s still a great friend and smart as a whip.
Carter is so secure in himself that he never feels like he has anything to prove which makes him easy to like. He’s lived a charmed life for lots of reasons, but he’s also kind and has a sense of humor. While Perdie’s prickliness doesn’t scare him off, he’s still not going to let her give him the runaround (and deep down, she likes that about him). He knows when to hold ’em and when to fold ’em. Plus, he’s, like, super hot. Obvs.
3. Was there a scene that was your favorite to write?
Most of the scenes that were fun to write involve the cat-and-mouse games Perdie and Carter play in the first half of the novel. One that comes to mind in particular is when Perdie believes she and Carter are going to hook up in a bathroom at the office, but instead…he surprises her with a playful game. When I first started writing that scene, I didn’t know how it was going to end. Sometimes, your own brain can surprise you!
4. What are some of your favorite tropes?
My favorite trope is forced proximity, in case you couldn’t tell from Partner Track…
5. Are you a plotter or a pantser?
Yikes. I always struggle to answer this question. I don’t create formal outlines but I do have a big-picture/general idea that I hold a lot of space for in my brain. Then I break down the steps of the story as I go, usually using the notes app in my phone. Many notes are written down and then never referred to again. Very fancy. Very academic. I know.
6. Can you tell us a little about your writing process?
I’m chaotic neutral about writing. For instance, I won NanoWrimo in 2021 and almost finished an entire novel that month just because I felt like it. But sometimes I’ll go weeks without writing anything at all. Generally speaking though, I write frequently, just not every day. While reflecting on it now, I guess I’d say my writing process is pretty close to anarchy, lol.
7. Why do you love romance?
Because I love dopamine.
8. So you manage to get only one bed impressively early. How did you go about that and was that the plan? Or did it just happen?
I always knew I was going to incorporate a sex scene early on. Partner Track was never intended to be a slow burn, and I unapologetically leaned hard into so many tropes. I had the initial out-of-town, snowed-in, one-room-one-bed scene planned out before I even knew the plot of the book. I used to travel a lot for work, and I’ve actually been snowed in at a hotel before so I knew it wasn’t so wildly implausible. Plus, it’s all a little campy, a little ridiculous, and I find a lot of joy in that. I hope others do too.
Thanks so much to Cat for answering my questions!
Make sure to pre-order PARTNER TRACK. It releases April 26th. Check out Cat’s website and follow her on twitter (@catwynnauthor) & instagram (@catwynnauthor). She also co-hosts the Dark, Tall and Fictional podcast so follow the twitter (@tdfpod) and instagram (@talldarkfictional) for that too!
