Frequently Asked Questions
Why do you use a pen name?
Easier to plan and carry out that rob-the-cheese-museum caper this way.
More seriously, it's because mid-career pivots include momentum, and I'm carrying the momentum of the cosmos with my academic career. Add to that I have a unique name, and you should see why I'm not enthused about crossing the streams. If you're searching for academic articles about black holes and land on dragons and demons, that's not the best, and if you're searching for dragons and demons and land on academic journals about black holes, that's not the best.
Will you ever move to paid memberships?
I created this website to exhibit my writing journey, and ultimately to showcase my writing projects and books. I have absolutely no plans to create paid memberships, because I like the freedom of writing whatever I want, whenever I want, which sometimes means taking a 'buckle down and finish editing your book so no blogging for you' self-imposed internet jail term. Signing up to receive my newsletter is just getting a little sprinkle of The Thornwood into your inbox for your reading enjoyment, and it's going to stay that way.
If you do like what I do and would like to support me, I do have a tip jar and a ko-fi. While always appreciated, it is never expected.
I signed up for your newsletter and haven't received anything, what could be going wrong?
Is "noreply@kathrynthornwood.com" on your whitelist? If that doesn't fix the issue, then please send an email to hello@kathrynthornwood.com and we'll get you sorted.
Who are the random characters in your socials?
I actually have 2 that I commonly use! The first is a piece I commissioned from my wonderful friend, artist Sayuri Liu that is a very nice embellishment of what I look like in real life. Unfortunately, I'm not a Valkyrie, but we can all have dreams, yes? I much more commonly use a public domain image of Urania, the Muse of Astronomy, in part because of my background, and in part because I love bringing awareness to the fact that there are so many amazing pieces of art and literature in the public domain for us to peruse, appreciate, and use!
Do you use AI in your writing?
No. Not even the grammar-checking ones. My stance on GenAI and their ilk is best summed up in this blog post.
How do you feel about fan works of your projects?
I got back into my love for writing by cutting my teeth on fan fiction, so to say I am a big fan (pun intended) is an understatement. If you are inspired enough to write something about these worlds, that's wonderful! I have no objection to fan fiction created solely for non-commercial personal use. I do prohibit the use of my intellectual property in fan fictions that monetize.
Additionally, I will not even open any fan fictions that you send me. Not to look, not to admire, not to critique. I have a very strict "I do not engage with fan fiction of my own work" rule. It's nothing personal, it's to ensure that the ideas I weave into my worlds are mine and mine alone.
As for fan art, you are welcome to sell physical prints, stickers, pins, trinkets, as well as digital creations and images of my world, as long as you are not reproducing already copyrighted works of art, and one-off commissions for a private client are allowed.
Of note, this also only applies to human-created endeavors. I am not okay with you feeding any of my works into AI to "create something", either in the art or in the fan fiction realm. Just don't do it.