I am thrilled to have interviewed author K.C. Brote, who shared with us details of her writing life, her book ‘Love Lost on Cloud 9‘, which was released on 23rd May 2023, and answered a few fun questions. This post contains affiliate links.

K.C. Brote is an author based in Las Vegas, Nevada. Born and raised in New Hampshire, K.C. brings a unique perspective to the thriller genre that reflects her love of pop culture, music, and nostalgia for the late 1900s.

In her free time, K.C. loves spending time with her chihuahua and German Shepherd, her husband and kids, and exploring the food and fun Las Vegas has to offer. With a passion for story-telling and love for the written word, K.C. Brote is a writer who hopes to entertain and inspire.

I spent my teenage years working at a small, family-owned amusement park in New Hampshire, handing out change and running the whac-a-mole games. I had to walk around that park when it wasn’t open, and believe me, it was creepy! I always knew it would make a perfect setting for a story. I also wanted to write something set in a time before smartphones, and the 70s just spoke to me.

I’m a plantser: I plan my stories until I get antsy and then just start writing. I try to keep major story beats in my head and then let my characters decide how we get there. I’m a big post-it notes user. I love them because they are so temporary. It makes it easier to kill those darlings when it’s on a post-it rather than written in a document. I also love them for leaving myself a note for the next writing session, so I know exactly where I need to pick up the story.

I tried a few different titles, such as Rose of Sharon and Thrill Ride, but I just couldn’t fall in love with any of them, so I decided to keep Love Lost on Cloud 9, which was the title of the original version of the story I wrote many, many years ago. In the original story, my characters are college students who live on a street named Cloud Court, which is where the original title came from. I made that the name of the amusement park, and voila, it worked!

Kip and Sharon are inspired by my parents, so Sharon’s name came from the street where I grew up. Kip just popped into my head, so I figure he named himself. For Rex, my parents actually had a German shepherd before they had me, and he was named Admiral. I chose Rex because it means “king,” and it was easy to give him a sweet nick-name (Rexy-love) for Sharon to call him. I had a huge back story for Astrid and Agnes, and I knew they were of Swedish descent, so I looked up names on a baby names website for them!

Oh my! I have oodles and oodles of cuts! I keep cut folders for all of my work, because I like to recycle good ideas, or great phrases. There was one scene in the beginning – when Sharon meets her neighbor, Dolores, for the first time – that originally had Rex chasing and catching one of Dolores’s chickens, but I wanted to keep Rex’s paws clean, so I cut it and re-wrote the scene to put the focus on Dolores’s introduction.

I love a good suspense story! I love those books that have me saying, “One more chapter…” when I’m struggling to keep my eyes open, I knew I wanted to try my hand at suspense. I challenged myself to avoid the bad marriage trajectory of a lot of domestic suspense – at least for my main characters – which is why the story is filtered through Sharon and Kip’s experience as newlyweds, instead of telling Astrid and Hank’s story directly.

I started writing the story in January of 2021. I’d been noodling around with writing again when the pandemic hit, writing some poetry and short stories. The best thing I did was hire a developmental editor to help me put it all together in a way that I think turned out really fun.

Nostalgic, funny, suspenseful.

Finding the time. I often say it takes 5-6 hours alone to get 2-3 solid hours of writing in. I have 3 kids who are mostly grown now, so it’s a bit easier. When I was trying to carve out a writing career when they were little, I’d leave my laptop open and punch out one sentence at a time in between snacks and breastfeeding and laundry. I ended up putting the dream on hold for a more practical career as a fitness trainer until 2019. I’m finally at a time in my life where being alone to write doesn’t feel selfish.

My characters. Sharon and Kip are a fun couple, their dog Rex is a character in himself, and Agnes is a trip. The residents of
Nettlestone are wacky enough to make the small-town seem like a universe in itself. It’s a period piece, set in the summer of 1978, and sprinkled with pop culture references and nostalgia that’s fun whether you remember the time, or just love the vibes of Daisy Jones & the Six and want to keep it going. I’ve also had a number of early readers say they did not see the ending coming, so that’s all I’ll say about that…

Yes! My sweet black labrador, Fenway, was my writing buddy through writing Love Lost, but he passed away in October. I dedicated the book to him. I also have a chihuahua named Coco who puts in a lot of time next to me while I write, and a new addition to our family: a rescue German Shepherd named Remy. My own real-life Rex!

I’m a strange creature: a writer who doesn’t like coffee. As a Diet Coke addict, that’s what gets me through my writing sessions, along with a little desk candy (Swedish fish and gummi bears are my favorites). I need music while I write, and listened to a lot of 70s music, which I fell in love with. I also have a Gilmore Girls-themed “writing sweatshirt” that I like to wear when I’m struggling with writer’s block.

Even though I write a lot about New Hampshire and New England, I am lucky enough to live in Las Vegas now, so I like to move around when I write. Sometimes I write outside by the pool, sometimes outside on the balcony, but mostly I write at my desk with a view overlooking the Las Vegas Strip and wide open sky. I see bunnies hopping around, lots of quail, and even coyotes. It’s very inspiring.

I’m drinking a nice cold beer at Charlotte’s Copper Kettle (& Bowling) when Sharon first encounters Vic Dolan.

First, I imagine he’d look at me and say, “You didn’t have ‘talking owl’ on your 2023 bingo card?” because I’d be freaking out. But then he’d probably say, “Seriously, though, your book was a real hoot.”

A big thank you to K.C. Brote for sharing her writing life with us and for a wonderful interview.