Interview Series: Author, Killian McRae

My Morning with Killian McRae

by Charmaine, Fictionista Workshop Volunteer

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When I met with Killian McRae to talk about her debut novel, 12.21.12, we sipped on delicious coffee and munched on warm lemon-poppyseed muffins while in the background Edith Piaf sang about love  and the rain fell steadily outside. We weren’t in a little coffee shop near the University where she works, but rather in her charming home. This isn’t the first time I have met with Killian. We have been in each other’s company on two previous occasions, one of them at Comic Con 2010 in San Diego. She is one the most fascinating, interesting and intelligent people I know, and she has a fantastic sense of humor. Once again I find myself falling into conversation with my interviewee, neglecting to take notes, officially making me the worst interviewer. I’ll need to invest in a recording device with such bad habits.

Killian writes in several genres and in this instance has written a paranormal romance. I asked her if there were some erotic scenes in the book, to which she replied “yes.” This always leads me to ask the author how they feel about their family reading their novel. Her mother and grandmother want to read it and she is okay with that, adding, “I’m an adult, I’m allowed to write this.”

Luckily, for me, Killian typed out her answers to my questions on her laptop as I asked them. While I waited for her to finish, I ate more muffins than I should have, but they were just so delicious I couldn’t resist. Thankfully, she types very fast; or as she says, “Typing fast is like having a bigger pipe to move water with.” She’s able to get her ideas out as quickly as she thinks them, which prevents me from eating my weight in muffins.

FW: What is a genre you would like to write?
Killian: The only thing I don’t like to write is contemporary romance. My work always involves history in some way, either set in the past, or in the present in which the past plays a big role. I also love writing fantasy fiction and paranormal romance.

FW: When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?
Killian: When I was six, I wrote “textbooks” for my stuffed animals.  At eight, I tried to write a memoir. I’ve always written, but I didn’t consider trying to be a writer until I was out of college.

FW: When did you write your first book?
Killian: I wrote my first complete book in high school when I was 15.

FW: What are three interesting facts about you?
Killian: 1. I have a relationship with coffee and tea that others have with wine.
2. I started out wanting to be an opera singer.
3. My iPod serves as a substitute for a degree in musicology: it can go from  Metallica to Mozart to Middle Eastern Pop in the span of ten minutes.

FW: What’s the most important decision you ever made?
Killian: The most important decision I make everyday is whether or not to get out of bed. Everything else is filler.

FW: As the name suggests, Fictionista Workshop runs a writing workshop. Have you written in a workshop? If yes, did you grow as a writer because of that experience?
Killian: I took several courses in college on creative writing that involved peer review and analysis. Even though I had written three books by that time (none of which I attempted to publish), in these classes was the first time I felt I had a realistic chance of being a professional writer. On my first sheet of peer reviews I received, the class had come to a consensus that my story sounded like something they would hear on NPR or read in a magazine. The teacher recommended me for a departmental  award, which I did not win, but served as great encouragement.

FW: What inspired you to write 12.21.12?
Killian: I visited Ephesus in Western Turkey in 1998. As I saw the ruins of the city, I began to imagine what someone who had been able to see this venue through history would have experienced. On the same trip, I passed by the area known as Cleopatra’s Beach, which is said to be the location of Cleopatra and Marc Antony’s “honeymoon.” And as I became interested in Mesoamerican legends, I saw how many similarities existed between the “new” world and old world cultures. All three of these experiences began to morph into the plot of what eventually became 12.21.12.

FW: Which part of researching the novel was the most interesting for you? Does having a degree in history influence what you write about and help you write?
Killian: My love of history influences all my writing, but I go far outside of my periphery of my sub-area of history when I write. I’m a firm believer that we carry the past with us. I already had a firm background in Egyptian history, but had to learn more about Olmec history, which was really intriguing.

FW: How do you balance being a parent, working full time and writing? Do you keep a schedule?
Killian: I tend to write at night after my kids go to bed. I don’t have an exact schedule, but I tend to get two-three hours a day on a good day.

FW: What are you reading right now? Are there any authors (dead or alive) that you would name that have influenced you?
Killian: I’m just finishing up with the The Hunger Games series, and I’m reading several other things on a less consistent basis: Plutarch (the original, not from The Hunger Games), Covet by JR Ward, and few books on writing pedagogy.

FW: What are your five favorite books? Why?
Killian: 1. Pedagogy of the Oppressed, which taught me a lot about my own tendencies and the patterns of societies in revolutionary societies.
2. Les Miserables- because it was told in the backdrop of a period of history I love, and has everything: romance, suspense, moral debate, political theory. It’s just all in there.
3. Shadow Divers- real life is always the most intriguing subject, and this combined history, human tragedy and joy, and the reminder that we can bury our past, but we cannot destroy it.
4. A Tale of Two Cities- Taught me the meaning of sacrifice.
5. The Earthsea Series- The book(s) that showed me what constructing your world involved.

FW: Which books do you consider to be future classics?
Killian: The Hunger Games, The Da Vinci Code.

FW: Truman Capote says “I believe more in the scissors than I do in the pencil.” What is your  response to his quote about editing?
Killian: The best fitting suit is a tailored one.

FW: What advice would you give to aspiring writers?
Killian: Read often, and write everyday.

FW: What is coming up next for you?
Killian: I’m working on several manuscripts, including two historical fictions and one paranormal romance.

To learn more about Killian, please visit her homepage at www.killianmcrae.com.

http://www.killianmcrae.com/ – homepage
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUNwhue-X9w – book trailer
http://omnificpublishing.com/ – publisher

The book will be released on 12.21.10. Summary of 12.21.12 on the Omnific Publishing website:

Archaeologist Sheppard Smyth has staked his career as well as the memory of his deceased wife and partner on proving his widely-panned theory: Cleopatra VII, the last ruler of Ancient Egypt, was murdered.  When a statue of the doomed Queen is discovered in an Olmec excavation site, Smyth is drawn to Mexico to investigate and, hopefully, find the proof that has evaded him for so long.  Soon, he finds himself in the middle of the rivalry between the sexy, bewitching international thief, Victoria Kent, and commanding, ruthless Russian mobster, Dmitri Kronastia.

Both Dmitri and Victoria hold pieces to the puzzle that will finally shed light on Cleopatra’s death.  As Shep is drawn further into their world of ancient gods, supernatural powers, and alternative history, little does he know that the fate of all—even humanity itself—may hinge on his ability to discover the truth among their fragmented claims. Working to decode the true past while attempting to save the future, Shep becomes a pawn in the hands of forces working out a quest older than the pyramids—a quest that may lead to the end of everything when it all comes together on 12.21.12.