If you’re well-traveled, you know that different landscapes absolutely impact your perspective as a writer. And I don’t even mean international travel… in a place like the United States, many vast differences exist between regions, and a unique culture comes with it. K.A. Claytor can attest to that, as she’s lived near both coasts, the mid-Atlantic, and the mountains, though she now calls the Midwest home.
We recently sat down to talk about her publishing journey.
Nikki: Thank you so much for chatting with me today! So, I know you’re a well-seasoned nomad. What area do you actually call home?
K.A.: I’ve long said I’m from nowhere in particular, but I suppose now I’ve lived in the Chicago area long enough to say it’s where I’m from. I’ve always been a wanderer. We moved a lot when I was a kid and it was a trait I maintained well into adulthood, living up and down the east coast, the pacific northwest, the mid-Atlantic, and near the mountains before eventually landing in the mid-west. All of the places I’ve lived and traveled are source material for writing, but I’ve also taken a “generalist” approach by not offering place names in my stories.
That’s a really brilliant way to help your readers focus on the vibes and feel of each area in your stories. When did you start publishing?
In early December 2023, I made the decision to self-publish my novel, All the Men Are Gone. It’s only the second book I’ve queried, and while it had what I’d consider a “respectable” number of full requests, it didn’t make it out of the query trenches. Although there were still a few agents on my list (they’d been closed for more than a year with no signs of re-opening), the publishing industry seemed to be getting more chaotic by the minute. When I considered how long it would take to complete my next book in hopes it would get eyes on the prior one, I decided it was time to publish on my own. Between making the decision in December 2023 and publishing in April 2024, I in effect have become an author, publisher, formatter, content creator, and marketer.
We really do wear many hats as self-published authors. I’d love to hear more about your debut novel! What’s it about?
It’s speculative fiction, based on a near future/alternate history, dystopian-ish (is it though?) matriarchy. It’s a bit of a genre mash-up, and so far seems to appeal to a much broader audience than I would have anticipated.
The first thing I’d say I “officially” wrote (and illustrated) was a children’s book. It was a birthday gift for a favorite kid when I didn’t have the means to buy anything. A writer friend later asked me to sell it at an author’s booth for a children’s fair, not knowing it wasn’t a “real” book. I scraped together enough money to have 100 copies printed and was lucky enough to sell all of them. My first attempt at a full-length novel was historical fiction. It’s currently sitting quiet and cozy and neatly tucked in a drawer, though I do still have rather a soft spot for it. Maybe one day I’ll tidy it up and put it out there. I have a short story, In Between, published in the December 24, 2021, issue of THE METAWORKER literary magazine and also now available on Amazon.
I totally get the struggle with historical fiction. I have one on the backburner that I’ve been poking for years… it just takes so much research to make those interesting and realistic. Have you thought about dabbling in the genre again?
Yes! I’m currently working on my next novel, another blender book combining elements of historical fiction, magical realism, a smattering of fantasy, and women’s contemporary fiction. It’s been a beast to research, but the bulk of that is done (I say this in complete denial of reality – research is rarely “done” when we say it is). The story idea began with the question: who am I and why am I this way? Then combines the experience of women over the course of history and paralleling with a modern-day woman trying to sort out who they are and how they fit in. I admit this is a profoundly bland description. I’ve yet to figure out a concise way to describe this book and am dreading having to write the back cover blurb (we shall not speak of a synopsis).
Bland?! That sounds so interesting! Did you always know you’d be a writer? If I had asked you as a kid what you wanted to be when you grew up, what would you have said?
There was a “career day” in kindergarten where I dressed up as a horse. The costume was made from brown paper grocery bags and yarn for the mane. I wanted to be an equestrian (not a horse) and spent over two decades in the industry (rider/trainer/groom/judge) as a ‘side gig’ to my regular job.
Oh my gosh, that’s precious, and what a cool story. At what point did “writer” first pop in your head?
Well, I started as a reader. Growing up, I was the kid with a flashlight reading under the covers past my bedtime, raised on used copies of Nancy Drew and Billy & Blaze, and later, my father’s old dog-ear copies of Larry Niven and James Michener (back when starting a space novel with the Big Bang, or historical fiction with plate tectonics was not — inexplicably — even considered an issue). My first job was as a Page at the local library. They sent me to the basement stacks one day to sort old magazine issues, but instead I ended up reading them. I completely lost track of time and when I eventually wandered upstairs, the entire library was dark and empty. Everyone had gone home. And I was locked in.
Oh my gosh, how funny! I can see how that inspired a desire to write.
It did. Long before blogs and Tumblr and all that personal media now entails, I wrote humor columns about the absurdity of life in my mishaps and misadventures, sending them to friends. In college, I began writing stories when a group of us — lamenting at the lack of mail — decided to send each other letters and, instead, I offered an illustrated serial about a sheep who wanted to fly. But despite all the reading, despite working in a library, despite writing bits and bobs, I’d never really thought about where books came from or what sort of person could be called an author.
So after coercing my family into writing short stories with me in the summertime — and realizing I was the only one who actually enjoyed that — I set out to write a book, just to see if I could.
That is such an incredible story, and one I imagine many writers will resonate with. Was there ever an author that inspired you as you were embarking on your own author journey?
Diana Gabaldon. Back in 2012, I sent a note to Diana to say thank you for her books (books one to seven were out by then), because I’d never been so entirely consumed by a story before to essentially read 7,000 pages straight through over the course of three months. To my disbelief, she replied. Which of course, prompted me to read more, including The Outlandish Companion. Somewhere in there, she said something to the effect of, “I wrote a book to see if I could.” I thought, “Hold on now… is that it? Just sit down… and write?” Writing had always been a thing I did tangentially – but I thought other people were authors — not me. Diana’s statement was a revelation: there was nothing keeping me from writing. And, as it turns out, I could, in fact, start a story and keep going until I got to “The End.” Diana continued to encourage and support me over the years via an online literary site (TheLitForum) and is the person who encouraged me to “level up” and try to publish.
That is so beautiful, and it’s such a great reminder that being an author is all about building a community. In the spirit of passing on knowledge, do you have any advice for aspiring authors?
It’s the sort of advice that’s impossible to take, and I think many only learn it after they’ve been in it for a while: to not worry, just write. Don’t worry about what you’re writing, or if it’s good enough, or if anyone will read it. Write for yourself. Give yourself some grace. Let yourself learn. Absorb information of all the “how to this, how to that” with a considerate but critical filter and pay attention to who the messenger is. Find a writer’s group and be supportive of each other. And be patient – with yourself and the process.
Patience is so important. Bringing a book to life takes time (in addition to blood, sweat, and tears, sometimes). How many manuscripts do you have in progress right now?
I’m going to go with… let’s just say three. Never mind the other 35 or so “book ideas” I have in Notes on my phone.
I also have a “story ideas” document that’s full of scribbles, that is too funny. Where do you find inspiration?
Everywhere. It can be a book, movie, or show, and I want to “flip” the story over and see it from a different perspective. I often have very vivid dreams, which have generated more than a few story ideas. But more often than not, ideas come flying out of nowhere, typically right before I fall asleep, and I scramble to write down whatever it is that flitted into my brain — because I have long since learned that I never remember, despite swearing to myself I will. I’ll find the note sometime later. It surprises me every time.
Amazing. Is there anything else you’d like to add?
I first started writing All the Men Are Gone in 2019 after reading a New York Times article about a village in Poland with no male births for nine years (NYT: 8/6/2019) and began speculating what would cause nature to behave this way. I’d also been revisiting The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood and pondered what kind of story would it be if the premise was “flipped” to a matriarchy instead. Little did any of us know at the time, the world was on the brink of a pandemic, an addition to new and ongoing wars and political upheaval, significant climate events, deterioration of women’s rights, and a host of change that continues to up-end all manner of things in so many ways for so many. I began wondering what would have to happen in order for things to be different than they are, and so began writing what would become my debut novel.
What a great reminder of the power of storytelling. Thank you for sharing your story with us, K.A. We can’t wait to see what’s next!
K.A. Claytor is one author to keep on your radar! She may have just published her first novel this year, but it’s only the beginning of an incredible journey. Follow her on Goodreads to keep upcoming releases on your radar.
Want to learn more about other indie authors you need to know? Keep an eye on my Indie Author Spotlight Series for spotlights that span various different genres.