An Interview With Kait Carson

by Grace Topping

Anyone who has entered the world of writing and publishing can speak of the highs and lows of living in that world. Kait Carson, a member of our Writers Who Kill group, has gained a wealth of experience writing and publishing novels, short stories, and magazine articles. It was a pleasure interviewing her about her breadth of experience both as a writer and publisher. Her Hayden Kent Mystery Series also incorporates her adventures as a certified scuba diver.

Death by Blue Water: Underwater, no one hears your screams 

Paralegal Hayden Kent knows first-hand that life in the Florida Keys can change from perfect to perilous in a heartbeat. When she discovers a man’s body tangled in an anchor line one hundred and twenty feet beneath the sea, she thinks she is witness to a tragic accident. When the victim is revealed to be the brother of the man who recently jilted her, she becomes the prime suspect, and she has no alibi. As the evidence against her mounts, she joins forces with Officer Janice Kirby. Together, they uncover long hidden secrets, a web of lies, and criminal activity at the highest levels. Trapped in a deadly chase, Hayden follows clues underwater and through gorgeous tropical settings, desperately fighting for her life and freedom.

                                                                        www.kaitcarson.com

 

Welcome, Kait. 

 

 

How long have you been writing, and have you always written mysteries?

 

This is actually a more difficult question than it should be. I have to say all my life. My earliest writing memories are in the second grade. We were assigned to write a poem to teach us rhymes. The two lines I remember foreshadowed my career as a mystery writer. They were "Pop, Pop, Pop. Here comes a cop." 

 

I somehow snagged an agent when I was thirteen and wrote teen drama stories. Back then, magazines like Ingenue and Seventeen published fiction. Life got in the way after high school, and I paused my writing career until the 1990s when I began writing novels. The earliest were romances, set in the Caribbean and Florida. I pull them out from under my bed occasionally. Since then, it’s been mysteries all the way. 

 

Your books have been published traditionally and you have also self-published. Please tell us about your experience with traditional publishing. Would you go that route again?

 

Interesting question, as I am currently querying small presses with the first book in the Maine Lodge series. 

 

I was fortunate to sign with a small press during their start-up years. It was a heady experience, and I learned a lot. Editing, cover design, proofing, printing, and production are all handled by the publisher. That’s an amazing benefit. Marketing, however, is left to the author. That surprised me. I wasn’t prepared for it. It was quite the learning curve, but paid dividends for my self-publishing journey. It was an interesting experience, and I miss the deadlines!

 

What has your experience with self-publishing been like?

 

I enjoy it. There’s a sense of satisfaction in personally handling all aspects of your publishing life. Self-publishing also gives you the freedom to pivot, which you don’t have in traditional publishing. It’s a lot more work, but I’m fortunate to have a great team to assist me. 

 

What would you recommend to a writer who is considering self-publishing?

 

Learn everything you can about the process before you attempt it. There are multiple classes available online, and some of the best are available through Sisters in Crime and Guppies. When you self-publish, writing’s the easy part. It’s more than loading an epub or print file to Amazon or Draft2Digital. 

 

The short story market seems to be growing. Have you written many? Do you find writing short easier or harder?

 

I love to see the short story market growing. It’s fun to take a break from the marathon of writing a novel with a short story sprint. It’s almost as if shorts use a different part of the creative brain. I’m always on the lookout for themed anthologies. It’s fun to experiment with different voices and subgenres and see where they take you. As for easy or hard, it depends. The long form is easier, but the short is very satisfying. 

 

You’ve written for magazines. Please tell us about that. Is there still a market for writers wanting to submit to magazines?

 

Oh, I miss the "Trues." True Confessions, True Experience, True Story. They were wonderful venues for a writer and a great way to break into the market. Alas, they have been gone for more than ten years now. Paid markets are scarce, but they do exist. Alfred Hitchcock and Ellery Queen magazines are two of the best known. There’s also Woman’s World, which buys both short mysteries and romances. Anyone who is interested in writing for magazines might consider joining the Short Mystery Fiction Society on groups.io. They sponsor the annual Derringer Awards. Guppies also has an active short mystery subgroup. 

 

In your Hayden Kent series, Hayden is a scuba diver. The diving scenes are so realistic. Are you an experienced diver yourself?

 

Thank you, Grace. I certified as a diver in 1971. Hard to believe, but true. Diving has been a major influence on the Hayden Kent books. The premise for Death by Blue Water came to me during a dive on a deep wreck near Marathon, Florida. The wreck sits upright in 130 feet of water. I was looking into the wheelhouse when I heard the bong of a goliath grouper, and a plastic bag floated in front of me. My heart stuttered. For a brief instant, the floating bag looked like a hand, and Death by Blue Water was born.

 

You’ve lived in a number of locations, including Florida and Maine. Does where you live influence what you write?

 

Great question. I thought it did, but it doesn’t. When I moved to Maine, I immediately changed writing venues to pay homage to my woodland home and wrote the first of the Maine Lodge Mysteries. Then the tropics called me home, and I’m hard at work writing the Southernmost Secrets Mysteries and continuing the Hayden Kent series.

 

Are any of your characters a bit like you?

 

Yes. Hayden Kent is clearly a case of write what you know. She’s an avid scuba diver and a paralegal. The first of the Kent books was written in 2007/2008. That was the year that my part of Maine experienced snowfall totals in excess of two hundred inches. I was definitely Florida dreaming, and I wrote parts of myself into the story.

 

What is happening to your Catherine Swope series? Anything?

 

Ah, that’s a cautionary tale. The Swope series was not quite ready for prime time, but I wasn’t a seasoned enough writer to realize that. I have removed them from sale with the intention of rewriting and releasing them in the future. There’s much to be said for experience. 

 

Do you plot or just wing it?

 

LOL. I so try to be a plotter. I even bought Plotrr software. I envy plotters. They have a roadmap. As for me, I’m a bit of both. I sketch what I consider to be the five key scenes, often write the full climax scene, and then it’s off to the races. I use a program called Scrivener for drafting. It has a sidebar for notes which I use to bullet point the key points of each chapter. It helps keep me from falling down too many rabbit holes.

 

Living in a remote section of Maine, how do you stay connected to other writers? Or is that important?

 

Oh, yes. Very important. I call it the blessing of the Internet. My key connections have come from Sisters in Crime. Especially the Guppy chapter. It’s important to find your group and to develop a trusted team. 

 

What do you wish you could tell your younger self starting out as a writer?

 

Don’t be in such a rush. Slow down, get it right. 

 

What is the most valuable thing you’ve learned since you started writing?

 

The value of a team. Without trusted feedback, it’s impossible to learn or grow. 

 

What are you working on now?

 

Death by Deception, the fourth of the Hayden Kent series. It’s a bit of a change for Hayden as it introduces her love interest. We’ll see where it goes. I’m also knee deep in querying small presses for No Return, the first of the Maine Lodge series.

 

Thanks so much for interviewing me, Grace. It’s been both fun and insightful. 

 

Thank you, Kait. 

 

 

To learn more about Kait Carson and her books, visit www.kaitcarson.com

 

Bio:

Kait Carson writes the Hayden Kent Mysteries set in the Fabulous Florida Keys and is at work on a new mystery set in her adopted state of Maine. Her short fiction has been nationally published in True Romance, True Confessions, True Story, True Experience, and Woman’s World magazines, and in the Falchion Finalist Seventh Guppy Anthology Hook, Line, and Sinker. She is a former President of the Guppy Chapter of Sisters in Crime, a member of Sisters in Crime, Guppies, and of Sisters in Crime New England. Visit her website at www.kaitcarson.com. While you’re there, sign up for her newsletter and receive a yummy, authentic, key lime pie recipe.

 

Like her protagonists, Kait is an accomplished SCUBA diver, hiker, and critter lover. She lives with her husband, four rescue cats and flock of conures in the Crown of Maine where long, dark, nights give birth to flights of fictional fantasies. Oh, yes, Kait loves the color blue!