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Characters inspired Karas to become a novelist

Date: 10/13/2009

By Courtney Llewellyn

Reminder Assistant Editor



LONGMEADOW Iris Karas, a former Longmeadow resident, sometimes hears voices in her head - but don't worry, the voices don't belong to her, they belong to her characters.

A newly-minted author, Karas recently released "Organizing Elizabeth," a mystery-romance novel, and she will be traveling from her current home in Corpus Christi, Texas, to do some readings from the story at Storrs Library on Oct. 21.

"I wish I could tell you I had a formula [for how to write a book], that I had a novel deep within me or an MFA," Karas joked during an interview with Reminder Publications, "but it's not true. I was in a particular point in my life where I had a lot of time on my hands ... time for a good exhale."

Karas launched her writing career in 1998 during a leave from her studies at law school in Ohio and said she started by trying to write about her feelings concerning her ailing father. "It was too maudlin," she remembered, "so I thought, well, try writing anything at all."

She added that she never thought her ideas would turn into a novel, but one day out popped Elizabeth and the opening scene of her debut novel.

"I talked about Elizabeth with my family like she was a real person," Karas said.

Elizabeth is a professional organizer who uses color-coded "to do" lists in her daily life a real no-nonsense kind of gal. She meets Joe, her polar opposite, in an unusual way, and then suddenly, there's a murder the two of them have to deal with.

Their relationship develops as they search for clues using their strengths Elizabeth's attention to detail and Joe's street smarts and try to keep Elizabeth from becoming a victim herself.

Western Massachusetts native Anna Kirwan served as Karas' editor during the writing process and Karas credits Kirwan with helping her take her writing to the next level.

"I like to be pulled in by a book right away," Karas said, "and that's the kind of book I wanted to write. It's character driven, with quirky characters and fast-paced dialogue."

The writing of the story was a spontaneous process for the author. She talked about a scene early in the book where someone is found dead, and a member of her family, after hearing about it, asked who did it.

"At that point, I didn't know," she explained. "I didn't know if they jumped, if they were pushed, if they were poisoned... I've heard authors say you can't write if you don't know where you're going and I've heard authors say you can."

She's working on a sequel to "Organizing Elizabeth" right now, and she said it was definitely harder to write the original because she didn't have a clear sense of what she was doing she "just kept writing."

Karas decided to publish her first novel independently and founded Hold That Thought Publishing to do so, with the aid of Jan Sadler of Sadler Publications, based in Sunderland.

"It's all about tapping into what works for you," Karas stated.

Barbara Fitzgerald, Adult Services Librarian, said Karas approached the library about hosting a reading. Storrs Library normally doesn't search out authors for readings, Fitzgerald explained.

"People offer to come and share their passions with the public," she said. Those passions range from writing to knitting to cooking.

"I'm very excited for my reading [at Storrs Library]," Karas said. "It's a wonderful chance to see my friends and colleagues and give a reading in a library I was a part of."

Karas will be at Storrs Library, 693 Longmeadow St., on Oct. 21 starting at 7 p.m. The reading is free and open to the public, and copies of "Organizing Elizabeth" will be available for purchase.

For more information, visit the author's Web site at www.iriskaras.com.