Basic Writing Me (as told to Brian)

Plays were my first writing venture, which I started as a kid. As the oldest of seven, and the oldest of grandkids on both sides, and the neighborhood babysitter of choice, I found it was a good way to keep a bunch of kids busy. Did a lot of fractured fairy tales, which the kids didn't always get, but the adults who had to watch the show liked it better than talking tomatoes, I guess. Lampooned adults in the neighborhood and at church, etc., for further amusement.

Later on, I was snagged for writing plays for teens, usually church projects. Did a little directing, too. Did a lot of speaking between age 16 and 40, which means writing the thing first, and I taught adult church classes. All playing with language, right? Also learned that doggerel was easier for kids to memorize and somehow more impressive when they spout it, so started getting into rhyme early on (not that I consider myself a poet by any means).

My own kids were the ones who challenged me to get published. After a little research, I discovered the SF/Fantasy genre was the easiest foot in the door, so sat down to write my first short story. From what I'd read, I was supposed to give it two years minimum before expecting a story to get accepted, but it only took a year. I sort of had a game going with a friend about this time, where we were playing a couple of medieval women writing back and forth (started with a dream of hers that I responded to literally for a laugh), and I began to realize that I wanted to build a universe where it all took place, so I started on that, doing a long history, creating religions, sets of laws, etc.

After getting half a dozen stories published (as Carrie Martin--if you're interested, they're on my website: http://members.cox.net/ckilgore33/) I found myself thinking more and more about the stories that built my universe, and when I married Dennis Kilgore in 2000, he told me to quit my day job and start the novels.

The first two took me three years each, which I hope is just part of the learning process and that I'll get quicker as I go along. I suppose they might get classified as sociological or soft sci fi. Scientific explanations for everything in the universe, so no true magic, but it reads more like fantasy because the tech stays pretty much in the background.

First novel, "Thurit Turning," concerns the rise of the seer who first discovers the terrible danger their world is in. It's being considered for publication... A bit medieval in setting.

Second novel, "Borrowing Trouble," reads something like a police procedural. Set maybe 800 years after Thurit, so maybe 50's tech in general, although with a different planet history (which includes terraforming, so no oil deposits) things aren't quite the same as our 50's. More humans discovering they're not the only intelligent lifeform on the planet.

Third novel, in progress, "Demon King of Pelhmu," begins 1500 years before Thurit, among cattle people. I signed up for NaNoWriMo in November to do my first draft. Despite flu, I made the 50K minimum and I'm continuing work on it now. BTW, if you haven't checked out www.nanowrimo.org (National Novel Writing Month), do so. They do lots of good things in the world. Plan on signing up next year--it's a grand experience.