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Getting to Know: Local author gets her fantasy

K.M. Evans has not always been from North Dakota, but she has always had a love for writing.

Evans is a Christian fiction author, who focuses on the genre of fantasy. She says she did not originate in Minot. Rather, she grew up in a small town in Stockton, California. Her family soon realized they couldn't afford living there and moved to Washington state. A couple years later, a good friend of hers and his wife were moving to a little town called Minot. Her friend jokingly asked if she wanted to move to North Dakota with them. Evans and her family first said “Maybe.” But then they said “Yes.” Evans' children enjoy their neighborhood and their friends. They get to play outside and they feel it’s a true blessing.

Evans shared about the turning point in her writing career. She had an opportunity to produce plays that she wrote in California. She saw in real time the audience's reactions to some of the works she produced, both when it worked out well and when it did not. She spent about 10 years writing plays and getting them produced, connecting with people. Playwriting was not something she thought she would ever do when she was growing up, but she really enjoys it along with being an author. Evans made it clear it made a very large impact on her life as a whole.

Her journey as a writer, she said, started when she read the series “The Chronicles of Narnia” by C.S. Lewis for the first time. She remembers she was unable to put down “The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe.” Once she read it, she said, she knew she wanted to be an author.

"I want to write stories, to communicate truth in interesting ways. I want to go on adventures through stories,” Evans said.

Her favorite author is C.S. Lewis. She said Lewis was instrumental in shaping her and she comes back to his writing in developing her own writing style. She loves how clear he is when he explains complicated ideas in such simple terms. Evans even feels Lewis is an inspiration to her in how she raises her children.

Ironically, Evans’ biggest inspiration to write comes from grabbing ideas from other people's perspectives. When she writes, she loves getting into a character's head from a very different angle than her own. In her recent published book, “Like Our Enemies,” she approached her characters this way.

Evans said some of the favorite things about writing revolve around exploring character creation. Instead of planning plots in advance, Evans writes as she goes along, according to the patterns that are determined by the characters in her books. The pattern flows through everything, from every plot twist to every joke; it’s just as much a surprise to her as it is to the readers.

On the opposite side, Evans is averse to describing settings. Creating a setting to indicate what a world looks like and the mechanics of it is like pulling teeth to Evans.

"One of the talents that somebody can develop is learning to be okay with being bad at something for a time,” Evans said. She wants those who are getting into writing and drama to know that they may fail at first, but you must learn to push forward. She said you can always get better.

In addition to writing full-time, Evans leads a drama ministry at First Baptist Church in Minot. She does full-length plays at either Easter or Christmas. She said the drams are integrated into the services.

"If you stop by First Baptist Church in Minot on any Christmas or Easter, you will probably see us or someone that we have cast doing a skit to uplift the service," Evans said.