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 In fact, I often write a short, not
for publication, but for an outline of sorts, to see if the story has legs.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.
