Short Stuff by Kait Carson

When I first started writing, the concept of Kait Carson writer meant one thing. Kait Carson, novelist. Somehow, in my fevered writer’s brain, I expected to have a novel spring full blown from my typewriter (yes, that long ago) like Athena from Zeus’s skull. Join me in raucous laughter.

Instead, it took closer to ten years to write the first book that was publishable, and we’d moved from typewriters (my trusty Selectric II sits beside me on the floor, I still use it) to a Compaq computer with the very modern five-and-a-half-inch floppy disk and ultimately my HP laptop. So, what was I doing in the meantime? Writing short.

No that wasn’t selling either, but I was learning my craft, polishing my skill, hooking up with editors, discovering all about head hopping (and why it’s a major no no) and generally, how to write a story someone would want to read. In those ten years, I outlined and wrote Zoned for Murder, only back then, it was a romance with a mystery twist. Not quite ready for prime time. That’s when I discovered Sisters in Crime and Guppies. It’s also when I discovered the Trues and short story writing for profit.

While Zoned for Murder was being cut from five hundred pages to three hundred and decisions were being made, I was learning to write short. And selling. To the True Confessions, True Story, and True Romance Magazines. Confidence builders. Yes, definitely. Craft builders, most definitely. If you can tell a story in five thousand words you can tell a story in ninety thousand words. In fact, I often write a short, not for publication, but for an outline of sorts, to see if the story has legs. If it holds my interest through the five to seven thousand words it takes to tell the short, it’s a go. If I finish it and say, “Meh,” well, I either put it aside and see if I can salvage it for an anthology (a story without novel legs need not be a bad short—it may just be complete in short form) or it goes into the dreaded File 13.

What’s the point of all of this? This is the first time in the past four years that I am not contracted for a new novel. I’m not looking at it as being at loose ends. Instead, I’m looking at it as an opportunity to get back in touch with my short story roots. Writing shorts is fun. They begin and end in the same day, writing wise. The polishing can take longer than a day, but the writing can happen in one sitting. That makes them enormously fun to write. Their shorter arc brings quicker resolution and their shorter length often brings quicker responses from editors and publishers. On a good day, I can write three or four shorts, often with the same characters, polish and submit them, and feel as if I have accomplished quite a lot. It’s a good day’s work, and the variety holds my interest too.

On the novel front, I’m working on the next Catherine Swope novel, and I’m loving where the outline is taking me. I’m getting excited to start writing later next month when I have a good grasp of the story. In the meantime, I’m working on a couple of Woman’s World mysteries (I’m proud to announce I’ve just sold one) and I’m working on two or three True Story shorts that yes, are based on true stories.

Writers, what do you do between novels? Readers, are you surprised that novelists often moonlight?

Kait will be at Booth 34 the Venice Book Fair today. If you are in the Venice, Florida area, please stop by. She will be there between 11:00 AM and 1:00 PM. Members of the Gulf Coast Sisters in Crime will be manning (or sistering) the tent during the event from 9 to 3. We hope to see you there.