Featured Interview With KC Cowan
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I was born and grew up in Portland, Oregon, which, trust me, was NOT the hipster hangout back then that it is today! I still live in the City of Roses, with my husband, Glenn. However, we just purchased a winter home in Tucson. Portland is known for its heavy rain and grey skies in the winter and Glenn just couldn’t take it anymore! So, now, we’ll be splitting our time between two wonderful cities!
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
My mother taught me to read at age 4 because I was so jealous that my brother and sister could already go to school and I couldn’t. So, we played school and I learned how to read quite early. It lead to a life-long love of books. To be able to dive into a novel and be utterly transported to a new place has been a delight my entire life and I still love to hold a new book in my hands.
I began writing early, too, and my mother always encouraged me. She told me I should be a writer, but I thought in order to be a novelist, you needed a good idea for a book and I didn’t have one! So, I set my creative writing aside and became a journalist — a different kind of writing, but very satisfying. It was only in my mid 50’s, when my co-author, Sara, resurrected our joint effort at a fantasy novel we did in college, that my love for creative writing resurfaced. Now, I love building a creative world populated with wonderful characters for readers!
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I tend to love female authors who write about strong women (like Sara and I do in our books!). I love Amy Tan, Elizabeth Gilbert, Jane Austen, Nicole Mones. I recently finished two novels written in the 1940’s by Nancy Mitford that I absolutely adored.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
When we finished “Journey to Wizards’ Keep” we left the reader not knowing if Queen Irene gives birth to a baby boy, which would be a wizard, or a mortal girl. I loved the ending, but couldn’t stop thinking about Irene — what DID she have? Finally, I sat down and wrote the first chapter, in which she gives birth to twins: a boy and a girl. I sent it to my friend, Sara, and asked if she wanted to keep the story going. She responded with an enthusiastic “Yes! and I know just what this book is about!” From just the first chapter, she had an entire story arc outlined! We wrote it, alternating chapters, just as we did in college with the first book, and met regularly to work out issues. As before, I acted as the overall editor to give it a unified voice. While we were writing Book 2, I was polishing Book 1, to get it ready for publication — it gave us the chance to go back and slip little things in the first novel that we decided were important in Book 2~ which was a lot of fun!
The Hunt for Winter is a more complex plot than our first novel and we are very pleased with it and hope our readers will be, too!
Connect with the Author on their Websites and Social media profiles