K.E. Lane lives along Colorado's Front Range with her partner of ten years and several pets. She’s been a life guard and swim instructor, a copy queen, a hot-stamper, a type-setter, cashier, riding instructor, stall mucker and a bus person, and is currently employed as a software developer. When she’s not writing or working, she likes getting out into the Colorado sunshine for a variety of outdoor activities, and also enjoys reading, music, and time with friends and family. And Playing the Role of Herself is her first published novel.

Where did the inspiration for your first novel, And Playing The Role of Herself develop?

That inspiration came from watching an inexhaustible, inescapable parade of Law & Order and CSI reruns, reading a bit of fan fiction, and thinking that somehow combining the two might be fun. And, um… it’s possible there was some tequila involved. Maybe.

I was working on a different piece at the time and was really stuck, and an author friend of mine suggested changing gears and trying to write a quick short story, just to get my brain going again (thanks, Meghan!). I bounced a few ideas off of her, one of them being about two women on a TV show, and how their relationship could parallel stories being written about the characters they played – sort of a life imitating fiction inside a fiction thing. She agreed it sounded fun, and that night I started writing. And writing. And writing. Ideas just started coming, quickly taking me in a different direction than I’d originally planned, and I knew almost immediately that I wanted to do much more than a short story with the characters. A year or so later, I finished my first full-length piece.

Did you have to do a lot of research into the workings of the television industry?

Oh, yes, a ton. I knew basically nothing about the industry when I started. I scoured the internet for every Behind the scenes at XXX, The making of YYY, and A day on the set of ZZZ article I could find, lurked on forums, read up on terminology and industry-speak, researched soundstages and sets, shooting schedules for different shows, makeup, casting, paparazzi, fashion (this makes anyone who knows me laugh, I’m sure), gossip columns and e-zines, actor salaries and where they lived, where they partied, and where they ate, and all sorts of other little things. Sometimes I’d spend hours searching for information that never made it into text at all, but every bit of information knocking around in my brain helped to put me in the right space for writing the story.

Which authors did you enjoy reading as a child?

I was a horse-crazy little girl, and the first stories I remember enjoying as a kid usually involved horses, or some other animal. Walter Farley, Anna Sewell, Mary O’Hara, and Jack London are some I can remember. Horses lead to westerns, and I devoured everything Louis L’amour published in one summer in my pre-teens, and horses also lead me to Dick Francis, who opened my eyes up to the draw of a well-written mystery. Somewhere in the midst of all that, I picked up C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, and Ursula Le Guin’s Wizard of the Earthsea, and was immediately hooked on reading books that could transport me to other worlds, civilizations, planets and galaxies… Fantasy and Science Fiction are still my favorites.

Who are some of your current inspirations?

Authors whose works consistently entertain and inspire would be Melissa Scott, Nicola Griffith, Laurel Hamilton, Jane Fletcher, Jacqueline Carey, Laurie Marks, Tanya Huff, Connie Willis, and C.J. Cherryh. A couple of authors who don’t do it for me all the time, but who penned stories that stuck with me enough that I consider them inspirations: Catherine Asaro (Soz, from her book Primary Inversion, is still one of my favorite female lead characters of all time), and Katherine Neville (her book The Eight is such a great adventure, I’d love to be able to weave a story like that).

What are you currently working on?

The thing I’m working on most consistently at the moment is a mystery that I’m hoping will be the first in a series of three or four featuring a law enforcement officer in a small, mountain town in the western US. I’ve also got a science fiction piece that I’m patiently waiting for inspiration on, and a few other ideas for future projects that are just at the ‘thinking about’ stage.

Do you draw much from personal experience when it comes to characterization?

Definitely. I’ve never written a character solely based on a particular person, but certain traits like speech patterns, vocabulary, hand gestures, facial expressions, body language, posture, physical appearance, or basic personality usually come from people I’ve seen or come into contact with. People I’ve worked with, lived with, drank too much beer with, driven in five-o’clock traffic with, stood in line at the grocery store with… how people act and react to other people and situations often gets tucked away in my head for later use, especially if it’s unique or unexpected behavior. And I try to avoid it, but I know that a lot of me, and all the experiences that come with being me, gets written into my characters.

What do feel are your weakest and strongest points as a writer?

I’d say my biggest weaknesses are lack of organization while I’m writing, and trouble motivating myself through blocks. My strengths, I suppose, are a sense of humor, both in writing and while writing, and a good imagination. Sometimes my lack of organization is also a strength, as it allows me to be very, very flexible as to where the story is going. 

Is writing always an enjoyable experience?

Not always, no. There’s a lot of frustration, indecision, and rework involved that isn’t what I’d classify as enjoyable, but the exhilaration I feel when things are clicking is truly amazing, and makes all the not-so-enjoyable parts seem inconsequential, in the grand scheme of things.

How long has the process been from writing your first book to getting it to a publisher you were satisfied would do right by the book?

When I completed the first draft of the novel in July of 2005, I had only a vague - what I considered far-fetched - notion about getting the work published. But after receiving a slew of positive feedback, along with several comments about how I should try submitting to a publisher, I decided to look into it. I talked with friends, authors, and readers, and researched several possible publishers before submitting a reworked version of the novel to Regal Crest in mid December. I had geared myself up for a three or four week wait before I heard back from RCE, but they responded within a week, and by mid January of 2006, I had a contract to get the novel published, with a tentative publication date of February 2007.

If you were a book, what would it be?

I think I’d like to be Where the Wild Things Are, but in reality, I’m probably more of a The Little Engine that Could.

Are you seeing any specific trends in lesbian orientated fiction at the moment?

Romance is still the big seller, but I think we’re seeing a broader range of stories getting published, particularly more Speculative Fiction. Or maybe that’s just wishful thinking on my part. <grin>

Do you write much short fiction?

While I haven’t written any short fiction lately, I do enjoy it, because it’s, well…short, meaning the interval before I get to happy, finishing-a-story gratification is equally short, and also because it forces me to write carefully and pay more attention to each piece of the story. Most of my ideas lately seem to be for full, novel-length pieces, but it’s my goal to squeeze in a few shorter pieces this year, too.

Any other branches of writing you'd like to try your hand at?

As I mentioned, I love Science Fiction and Fantasy, and the urge to create a Science Fiction story with a strong, lesbian main character was what prompted me to start writing in the first place. I have a couple partially finished Science Fiction stories laying around that I want to complete, a short story I’m thinking of expanding into a full-length piece, and an idea for a Fantasy trilogy that I’ve begun sketching out on paper and am looking forward to working on.

Tell us something about K.E. Lane no one else knows.

I can quote just about the entire movie My Chauffer – “All I got to do now is find a one-legged nun walking a goat and I win!” Something to be proud of, certainly.

Since having your first manuscript accepted, what have you found most surprising about the publishing industry? Any smashed preconceived notions?

I think what surprised me the most was the editing process. I was expecting it to be awful - at best a constant defense of my work and my choice of words, phrasing, and plotting, and at worse, a relentless, adversarial slashing and picking apart of my story until I wouldn’t be able to recognize it. What it turned out to be was incredibly interesting and educational, with no wholesale slashing and changing at all, but rather friendly, knowledgeable encouragement and smart suggestions for possible additions and changes that definitely improved the book, and improved my writing in general. It was a very pleasant surprise.

What's the best advice you can give to aspiring writers?

Books on writing habits and methods can be helpful, but don’t feel as though you’re not doing it right if your method is different. There are as many methods for writing as there are writers – remember that the main goal is to get something *written*. If you find outlining works for you, fantastic. If you’re more of a write-on-the-fly person, that’s great too. Whatever gets the idea out of your head and into written form. I’d say that’s a successful method.

A happy writer is…

Writing, with ideas flowing easily from their mind into words.