Please note:
Since this interview took place, Kit's lifeflong friend and dog Tahoe passed away. If you're interested in helping abused and homeless animals, please visit the ASPCA or your local shelter to see how you can make a difference.Connie: Hello, and thank you so much for talking with me, Kit. I’m anxious to learn more about Cauley and your writing, but first, would you tell me a bit about yourself and what you’re working on now?
Kit: Thanks for having me, Connie! I’ve been writing since I was a little girl. I wrote stories and plays. I wrote and illustrated a family newsletter, and then charged fifty cents so that everyone could see what I wrote about them. Hmmm—my family is still trying to figure out if I’m writing about them…
Connie: I assume since you’re a journalist and are certified in Search & Rescue, that Cauley’s experiences are in some form drawn from your own, in addition of course, to your above entrepreneur experience. What type of balance do you maintain to keep Cauley’s life and misfortunes fact-based with a sense of realism, but strictly fictional?
Kit: I use a little of both journalism and Search & Rescue in the Cauley books. Some of the funny little things, like the time I got stuck upside down on a barbed wire fence during a search mission are true. I figure a high tolerance for humiliation is one of my most useful qualities. While some bits and pieces really happened, none of the characters are real, except the dog, who doesn’t mind being a thinly veiled character.
Connie: You weave all of that together very well, Kit.
At any point, start to finish, does the mystery or characters ever veer off track from your initial thoughts and ideas? If it does change tracks, ultimately do you feel it’s better than what was originally outlined?
Kit: Oh, all the time. The characters always surprise me, and it’s usually for the better. In the original outline of Scoop John Fiennes was a good guy, and as the story unfolded, he turned out to be a charming con man, which is going to be a lot of fun in later books.
Connie: You said Cauley revealed herself to you whole. How do you pace the reveals to the reader so we don’t know everything about her in one book? Even though you know her well, does she still do things that surprise you?
Kit: I decided I wanted to write her the way you learn about new friends. In real life, a person’s character is revealed through reaction to problems, and that’s how I decided to get to know Cauley. And yes, she does still surprise me. The scene between her and her mother in the kitchen in Dead Copy was a real revelation about her relationship with her mother.
Connie: With more revelations and surprises to come…I’m guessing. Did Scoop come to you much the same way Cauley did? Was the concept of the story and subsequently Dead Copy, and the forthcoming Morgue File, there waiting to be tapped into and fleshed out?
Kit: The first sixty pages and the last twenty pages of Scoop came to me whole. It was the writing the middle of the story that caused much gnashing of teeth and renting of fabric. The same was true for Dead Copy. I knew the beginning and the end. Incidentally, the first scene in that book is based on reality. An FBI friend asked me if I could help him fake a death, and I faked an obituary for him.
Connie: Who says life experiences don’t make good fiction? It’s probably better than fiction, hmm?
What about the POV, Kit? Was it an easy decision for this series to be in the 1st person?
Kit: It seemed natural for Cauley to tell her story in first person, but in future books, we’re going to see some of the villain’s POV. I was going to do that in Morgue File, but it didn’t work so I scrapped that part. Ah the joy of writing . . . throwing away half of what you write . . .
Connie: Cooperation between writer and characters is key, especially if you’re an author who allows the characters to come alive (so-to-speak). Of the recurring characters, who do you find has the most difficulty cooperating with you, or you with them? What helps you get back on track?
Kit: Some of the secondary characters try to run off with the story sometimes, and I have to remind myself they are there to have a little mini-story and move the plot, and most of them will have recurring roles. I’m also writing a Christmas story so that Mama and Clairee get some page time, and I’m working on a couple of shorts from Logan’s POV—that’s been fun.
Connie: Hopefully that will keep the supporting cast of characters happy. Definitely the readers!
Let’s say you absolutely do not like whipped cream, or the color red. Do you have a tendency to avoid writing about the things you personally don’t like, or do you swallow the ick factor and forge ahead with it if it’s what Cauley wants?
Kit: Yes, Cauley has her own likes and dislikes, and she does a few things that I would never do—i.e. eat raw ramen noodles, break a window to get into an abandoned pet shop, that sort of thing. I have to really put myself in her head to get familiar doing something I wouldn’t do.
Connie: I’m guessing you take Cauley’s word for it that raw ramen noodles are, um, good? : - )
Kit, your experience with the William Morris agent could have taken a different turn had Cauley not been ready to tell you her story. Do you have any words of wisdom for those who have won writing contests, but haven’t been able to get any further than that?
Kit: Absolutely. Keep writing. Keep entering contests. Keep sending queries. The story I won that contest with was a decent story, and it won a lot of contests, but it wasn’t THE story. Now, happily, there are OTHER stories, but I would have never known that if I’d heard "No thanks" and given up.
Connie: What is one piece of writing advice, if any, through the years you were happy to have listened to and put into action?
Kit: Write. Write every day. Writing is hard. If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it. Be the one who didn’t quit.
Connie: Thank you for sharing your wisdom with me, with the aspiring authors.
Switching gears now, I’d like to know more about the non-writer side of you…What were some of your favorite books or authors as a pre-teen/teen?
Kit: Oh that brings back great memories of summer and the cool, cavernous library full of adventures just waiting to happen. I loved Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett and Daphne Du Mauier. I read TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD until the pages fell out. One of my early passions was poetry, and I still sleep with Mary Oliver collections beside my bed.
Connie: All timeless works, that’s for sure. Pretend you’re living in a fictional world, Kit (aside from Cauley’s world). Which fictional world from what story, movie, and/or TV show would you live in and why?
Kit: Wow, I’ve never been asked that before. Let’s see. I think it would be in Harper Lee’s vision of TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, although I know it was idealized, and not especially good for everyone there, particularly for Tom Robinson. I would also like to live in the world of WEST WING. All that idealism, and I’d love to be a character that Aaron Sorkin created.
Connie: I think my son would agree with you on being a part of WEST WING.
You have a family ranch, and also go to the lake with Tahoe (your dog). What about "you" time? How do you like to (or would like to) pamper yourself?
Kit: I love playing with the dog and the cattle. Of course, I’ve made pets of all the farm animals, which is not always good. Other than that, I love reading in a hot bath.
Connie: Giving it some thought, whose biography would you have liked to or would like to write and why?
Kit: My dad, definitely. He was a full bird Colonel in the Air Force, and an amazing stepfather. At his wake, his buddies told me stories that I never knew, and I’d love to get those down on paper.
Connie: Do it while you can, if only for yourself.
We recently adopted a dog (big adjustment on my part) and are enjoying her immensely. How did Tahoe come to own you?
Kit: Good for you and congratulations on your new family member! Tahoe chose me when I was investigating a puppy mill for an article I was writing. I was taking pictures of these poor, flea and coccidia-ridden, near-feral creatures when he fell on the electric fence and started screaming bloody murder. I had no intention of adopting a dog, but there he was, looking up at me with those beautiful almond eyes, whimpering. And a lifelong friendship was born.
Connie: Our new family member has sure worked her way into our hearts with her sad eyes and comic ways.
Thank you so much for your time, Kit. I really enjoyed the opportunity to learn more about you. Before I let you go, is there anything I forgot to ask that you want the readers to know?
Kit: Thank you so much for having me—it’s been fun! As for any other questions . . . I could tell you the worst advice a fellow writer friend gave me. When I got a lovely rejection letter from a prominent VP at a major publishing house, instead of saying, "Hey, that’s a really positive rejection—you’re on the right track," she said, "Cauley is too ‘niche’ and you should just chuck the books and start something else."
Glad I didn’t take that advice …
Thanks again for chatting with me, and happy reading!
Connie: Thank you.
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