Interviews

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June 19, 2008 A Pen and Fire (apenand fire.com)

Today’s guest is Kate Dolan, author of such fantastic titles as Avery’s Treasure.

I see that you write books under two names…Kate Dolan and K.D. Hays. Why did you choose to go this route?

I started writing historical fiction under my name, Kate Dolan. (Okay, it’s technically Kathleen, but telemarketers are about the only people who call me “Kathleen.”) After I’d been writing for about five years or so, I heard about a new line of contemporary cozy mysteries that was looking for submissions. I had a contemporary story that I had tried to write but given up on because it wasn’t working. I decided it was too dark, and I just don’t write “serious” very well. So I changed the mystery, but kept the characters and setting the same and that just seemed to take off. That proposal was accepted as part of a three book series. Those books are so different than the historical novels — the voice, the tone, the style is really different. A reader who likes one type of book might be completely put off by my other “style.” So I decided I needed a separate name to differentiate the two.

What can readers expect from you under these names?

I anticipate that “Kate Dolan” will continue to write stories in historical settings, because exploring the past is my favorite hobby. Reading and attempting to write material from a different time is like taking a vacation from the everyday world. I love it! Other settings I intend to explore are the western plains during the fur trade era (1820s-30s), the mining settlements in the smoky mountains during the 1920s, Baltimore and New Orleans during the War of 1812, the pale of Ireland during a time of waning British control, probably in the 1400s, and Irish immigration to the US in the first half of the nineteenth century — okay, I could spent a LONG time answering this question!

Or rather that half of a question. The other half is about K.D. Hays. In addition to the cozy mysteries, I’m working on some books for the children/Y.A. market and those will be released under the K.D. Hays name. I guess books where I use my modern, casual “newspaper column” style will be K.D. Hays books.

Will you ever combine the two genres you write in?

I think that would give me a tremendous headache. Actually, though, the first book I wrote as K.D. Hays was George Washington Stepped Here, which is about a theft at a historic site. All the suspects are reenactors, and sometimes they speak in character. So I guess that combines the two genres a bit!

What was your inspiration for Avery’s Treasure?

Quite simply, I wanted to write a book about pirates. My first book was going to be about pirates, but after I did some research, I decided that the character in that book (Langley’s Choice) should not be a pirate after all. Years later, I still wanted to write a pirate story. And while I was visiting my parents (in the low country of South Carolina, where I had the inspiration for the first pirate-story-that-turned-out-not-to-be-a-pirate story) I had an idea for a sequel to that first book. In the intervening years, I realized my non-pirate had turned pirate (reluctantly - it’s a long story)…

Just because we stop writing about our characters doesn’t mean they stop living, does it?

What attracts you to history? What are your favorite periods? I see you write a lot of very interesting living history articles, have you ever worked at a museum or park?

I think I am probably most interested in English culture and areas the English colonized or attempted to colonize. Trying to say “why” is kind of like trying to figure out why I like chocolate.

I have never been paid to work at a museum or park, but most of them can’t be too picky when it comes to volunteers! I have volunteered at my local historical society for years and also volunteer as a living history interpreter (or reenactor, depending on your jargon) at Jerusalem Mill Village, an 18th Century site. It’s great fun and even though I’m usually working at something I hate to do at home (cooking, cleaning, etc.) it’s actually very relaxing! I wish I had the time to do more.

I see that a sequel to your book, A Certain Want of Reason has just come out. Would you like to tell us a bit about it?

The Appearance of Impropriety is the story about what happens to the girls left behind in the first book. Helen, a young lady who is more interested in conducting experiments on moldy toast rinds than changing gowns for dinner, is left in London with Sophie, the sister of her own sister’s best friend. When our Bold and Brave Hero arrives at Sophie’s house for a job interview, he interferes with one of Helen’s experiments, upsets Helen, and gets yelled at by Sophie. He, of course, does not get the job. When Sophie finds out the whole story, she feels incredibly guilty and decides it is her duty to find him a new job.

And she fails spectacularly.

Who are some of your favorite characters that you’ve written? Do you plan on expanding some more of the minor ones into books of their own?

Favorite as in “most fun to write” or favorite as in “would actually consider spending time with”? Helen was a lot of fun to write, but I think Sophie has been much more patient with her than I would have been. I like writing sarcastic characters, so Edward Talbot (Langley’s Choice and Avery’s Treasure) and my private investigator, Karen Maxwell (George Washington Stepped Here and Worth Its Weight in Old)

If you had a monster living under your bed, what would you name it?

Shannon.

(That’s my son’s dog, and she’s likely to be found under the bed, chewing up something valuable and/or messy.)

What is the thing about being a writer that keeps you going, that you enjoy the most?

Yeah, this has become a cliche now, but I have to say it’s the voices in my head. Once I create characters, they want their stories written. And maybe it’s settings, too. I’ll read something interesting about a particular place and time and think “well, what if such and such happened…”

Most of the time, real life is not this much fun, unfortunately.

Who are some of your inspirations?

I think this is impossible to answer. Inspiration is everywhere, in everyone. Characters and stories are made up of bits and pieces of lots of people and lots of anecdotes I hear as I go along.

If you could visit any time period, which would you choose?

I don’t think I could pick just one! Maybe…no, can’t do it. I’d want to visit just about any time and place you can name IF I could get back. We live a in a pretty excellent time right now. The fact that I have the leisure to learn about (and even cook as if I’m in) another time period tells me that life is pretty good. I don’t have marauding bands burning my crops and home, my children haven’t all been wiped out by smallpox, and when we have a drought, we lose only grass and ornamental plants. Even the bugs still have enough to eat. My parents live 600 miles away and I still get to see them at least 2-3 times a year. My biggest problem is whether I can get from my daughter’s jump rope practice to my son’s baseball game without missing his best plays.

Life is good.

What is your one vice, food wise?

I have a hard time limiting myself to single digits, here. Um, in no particular order: Cheetos, movie popcorn, chocolate candy of ALL kinds, ice cream, cookies, nachos, hotdogs, pizza, potato skins, candy with artificial cherry flavor, any kind of pie…excuse me, I think it’s time for a snack…

What are you working on now?

A little of everything. I’m trying to finish up my two children’s projects (which I won’t describe in case people think(A) they’re the worst, most ridiculous ideas ever or (B) they’re brilliant ideas and they can do it better and faster and sell it before I do.

Writers are nothing if not insecure.

I’m also pulling together ideas for my third mystery and trying to see if I can salvage anything of two stories I’ve started - a western about a group of fur trappers who get lost, and a Regency based loosely on Oliver Goldsmith’s She Stoops to Conquer.

What is the one word you would like someone to use to describe your work?

Good

(Not very original, huh?)