Lotta Patterson on Writing, Healing, and Reader Connections
Lotta Patterson discusses her writing journey, blending personal experiences with fiction, and the impact of reader feedback on her work, highlighting themes of growth, faith, and strong female characters.
Lotto Patterson is a 3rd generation Native Floridian who resides in the vibrant city of Tallahassee with her husband and their cherished fur baby, Zoe. Family is at the core of Lotto’s life, and she delights in spending quality time with her children and grandchildren.
From a young age, Lotto has been an avid reader, often found exploring the shelves of her local library. Her passion for storytelling began in middle school, where she started writing short stories. This lifelong love for literature eventually inspired her to create her own narratives.
Her debut novel, “Rejected Protector,” was initially written for an online platform, where she gained valuable insights from her readers’ comments. Lotto is eager to engage with more readers as she continues to develop her craft and share her stories with the world.
Your journey into writing seems deeply personal. How did your upbringing in Florida and your early experiences with reading influence your decision to become a writer?
My family has a deep tradition in storytelling. My grandparents were born in the late 1800s and early 1900s, where oral traditions were rich in our community. I just decided to take it a step further and write down the stories I used to tell my friends. Later my cousin encouraged me to start publishing my stories.
Rejected Protector explores themes of rejection and personal growth within a supernatural context. What inspired you to blend romance with elements of the supernatural, and how did you approach creating the characters of Seleste and Trevor?
Rejected Protector evolved over time. It began as my frustration with the standard supernatural books where the female is weak and run right back to the alpha mate once he apologizes no matter what he did to her. I wanted to show a strong female lead not baking down. I also wanted to show the growth of an immature alpha male who becomes a better person, but still does not get the girl back.
Your novel Gracefully Broken and its companion journal tackle overcoming inner brokenness and healing from trauma. Can you share some of the personal experiences or insights that motivated you to write this book?
Gracefully Broken is my personal journey to inner healing. I covered experiences from childhood to adulthood.
My Heart in Words is a collection of your poetry spanning over a decade. How does your poetry reflect your journey through relationships and faith? Are there specific poems that hold significant personal meaning to you?
My Heart in Words are a tribute to the greatest love affair I’ve ever had and that is my love of God. Although the poems have a romantic theme, the poems are an abstract reflection of God’s relationship with His church.
As a writer, how do you balance the creative process of crafting fictional narratives with the introspective and often therapeutic process of writing about personal healing and faith?
When I write fiction, I immerse myself into my characters and their world. I let me imagination take over, then streamline everything. During my writing process, my stories are living documents. While writing Rejected Protector, the characters took over and I completely changed the ending from my original outline and intent based on they way the characters developed and interacted. There were some characters who were originally only going to be mentioned that played a larger role in the story.
My faith and inner healing writing is just as it sounds, faith filled and spirit lead. There is a lot of prayer and meditation.
What has been the most rewarding aspect of sharing your writing with readers, particularly in the context of your online platform experience with Rejected Protector? How have reader comments and feedback influenced your writing journey moving forward?
Rejected Protector was my first fiction book. It was a learning experience. The feedback influenced me to keep going. I had no idea that anyone would like what I had written. All of the feedback has pushed me to keep writing. I enjoy the praise and use the constructive feedback to improve. I learned early on not to take the negative, for the sake of being negative comments to heart and use all of the energy to push me on to the next chapter.
