Meet a Mighty Pen: Karis Rogerson
Karis was one of the super lucky winners of our raffle! Read on to get to know her a little, and give her some congratulations. Thanks so much for being part of the Mighty Pens, team <3. Learn more about her on twitter or instagram, check out her website, or become buddies on Nano!
First, please tell us a bit about yourself!
I’m a 20-something writer and journalist focusing on mental health, books (especially young adult) and relationships. I was born in South Carolina, raised in Italy, schooled in Germany and Kentucky and have spent the last two years living in New York City, although I recently had to move away. I’m now trying to figure out where to go with my life 🙂
Three random facts: I once broke my nose on a trampoline, four days before graduating from high school; I am obsessed with nutella gelato; I once wrote an entire essay about my frustrations with not being redheaded enough.
What is the name of your NaNoWriMo17 project?
My NaNoWriMo17 project is called THE TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS OF A RELUCTANT SUPERHERO, but I had to put it on hold halfway through, so I’ll talk about the book I’m currently revising, called, SPOILER ALERT: ALLIE MAE NEVER GETS THE GUY
SPOILER ALERT is about a young girl who wants nothing more than a romantic relationship, the kind she’s read about in romance novels all her life. She is, however, quite unlucky in love, and the book follows her over the course of one summer as she loves, travels, and deals with depression, all leading up to wondering whether or not she’ll find love after all.
What do you find harder to write, the first line or the last line?
The last line! I’m sooo bad at endings! Every single book I’ve written has a three-page ending that should have spanned at least 20, and it almost always ends on some variation of “things aren’t great but they’re okay,” and I really need to get better at endings!
What is your favorite part about writing?
Oof. That feeling I get when I’m in the midst of drafting (or revising) and things are just clicking, and my heart rate speeds up and my fingers fly over the key broad and my breath catches and it’s like endorphins are flying and everything is wonderful. It’s such a rush.
What is your favorite genre to read and why?
I’m a YA contemporary reader, at heart. As much as I love fantasy, sci-fi, historical fiction…there’s something about contemporary that just clicks for me.
What’s the last book you read?
I just finished THE SIDEKICKS by Will Kostakis (amazing!) and WONDER WOMAN: WARBRINGER by Leigh Bardugo (no words!)
What inspired you to start writing, and what inspires you to keep writing?
I first started writing because I didn’t like how a book ended, and wrote out my own version of ending. Now I know that was my primitive form of fan fiction; at the time, I thought I was going to be arrested for plagiarism, so I ripped it up and burned with shame. I keep writing because there are stories in my brain that hanker to get out, and because that’s how I process the world, and because I can, and because I think it’s a beautiful art form with the potential to radically improve the world, and I want to be a part of that.
Ah, you’re making me want to go hard with writing after all that. Thank you! It was so much fun to learn more about you, and thank you for being part of the inaugural Mighty Pens team! Hope to see you next year.
