Hattie King - The Journey So Far...
Our resident poet, Hattie King has opened up her heart to ‘The Hat Channel’, sharing parts of her creative journey.
A reflective pose, Hattie realised that she has always lived with rhyming couples. Even at the delicate age of five, her Spence of rhyme would promote certain words. She recalls a TV Programme that used rhymes in their presentation. Hattie would question their choices of words that lacked the discipline of the pattern she expected!
Although she was interested in poetry and writing she moved on to a career in retail. At one point, she was creating jingles for a work related project. Her colleague exclaimed, ‘You should be writing Children’s Books’. It was a wakeup call, as she had always planned to write stories linking back to the exploits of her mum’s pets. A cat and a dog were always getting up to some mischief. This gave her the nudge she needed to further explore her dormant ideas.
Using her spare time, she began to cultivate her thoughts. She experimented with the written word. Her plots and work remained, ‘under wraps’. It was difficult to share her work. This would open her up to criticism. As with lots of writer it is a difficult step.
...she began to cultivate her thoughts.
She decided to create some journals and publish on social media a daily rhyming couplet. The journals were all different. One was an emotional journal that she wanted to offer an outlet for all emotions. Her rule was never to look back and the burn it when it was full up. The next was a muse for ideas that she would move forward in her writing. A further journal consisted of rhyming couplets on anything and everything she thought about. Random ideas, exploration and experimental work all found their way in.
To her amazement, her couplets accumulated to 365 making a whole year of entries. Encouraged by her now growing ‘fan club’, she decided to self-publish. A book called ‘Gravel’ marked the start of her adventure.
A book called ‘Gravel’ marked the start of her adventure.
We asked what advice she would give new ‘wannabe writers’ or her younger self and this offered Hattie a reflective moment, as she explained, "I think you have to find your own voice." Her advice was to surround yourself with everything you love. She went to say that you never know what you may love but there are little clues in your life leading towards this goal.
This was certainly the case for Hattie, her love of rhymes. Her favourite stories as a child and her sense of beat and harmony all led her to this point in her creative journey. She has practiced her couplets, taken her thoughts into verse and planned her first children’s story.
...and her sense of beat and harmony all led her to this point...
Her ideas are taken from a child’s perspective. She turns expectations over with way-out rule, breaking with conventions. Flowers growing down from the clouds. Her fantasies are very individual. She has explored unlocking the images in her had to paper with her own illustrations. It is a new skill interface for her to master. Taking the pictures in her head out to become a reality. Painting, sketching and drawing are all working in harmony to reach this goal.
Hattie uses imagery, words and colours to share her thoughts in her work. Hats have a role to play too. From a silhouette to an image, a hat can have a purpose or just be a decoration and fashion piece. Every idea is wrapped into pages as her stories become a reality.