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Sara at the Fishwheel, Yentna River, Alaska, Summer 2006 Sara King was born in Fairbanks, Alaska, in 1982, at 40 degrees below zero. Since then, living with the snow, hail, freezing rain, fog, floods, black ice, and Chinooks of her home state hasn't seemed too bad. Sara was four when she discovered writing for the first time. Since then, her world's never been the same. Sara dabbled with short stories and simple scenes in elementary school, but then went on to complete her first full-length manuscript when she was twelve. In High School, she missed a full third of her senior year because she stayed home to write. Sara lives in Chugiak, Alaska, with her husband, Alaskan Democratic State Senate candidate Steven Amundson, her high-school sweetheart, who has loved and supported her through five years of following her dream. Sara is an active, down-to-earth gal who doesn't mind getting a little dirty to have fun. When she's not hacking away at the keyboard, Sara likes to fish, canoe, climb mountains, work the fishwheel, take pictures, garden, study languages, and sleep. 
Sara and Steven picking blueberries in Hatchers Pass, Alaska, Fall 2005 Sara's first three full-length manuscripts were epic fantasy. Her tastes in writing began to change while writing Lord of the Hunt, which ate up two and a half years of writing time without producing a coherent result. Putting Lord of the Hunt aside was one of the best decisions she's ever made. Though the final result was not salable, the two and a half years were a tremendous learning experience on what NOT to do while editing a manuscript. Once she finally decided to put it down and try something else, Sara wrote a science fiction short story called TimeSavr that she liked, so she decided to try a little sci-fi. After hashing out a tentative plot with her brain trust in Alaska (Chancey, Logan, and Kyle), she began work on Gamers. Two months later, she wrote the rough draft of The Millennium Potion. From there, her writing has naturally veered into Sci-Fi. After Earth, the Congie, Forgotten, and The Team are all science fiction manuscripts produced after that tentative jump from her childhood passion of fantasy. Aside from Science Fiction and Fantasy, Sara has dabbled in horror--and discovered she's pretty good. After finishing the After Earth science fiction series, Sara plans on writing a couple horror manuscripts set in rural Alaska. 
Sara hiking Bear Mountain, Alaska, Fall 2006 Sara could have been anything out of High School. She had been awarded two hefty scholarships, both of which she turned down in order to pursue a career in writing. If writing hadn't been an option, she probably would have become a lawyer. Though she wasn't born with the gift of gab, she learned it at breakneck speed in her senior year of high school, when her history teacher led his Mock Trial team to win the state championship. Languages have also been an interest to her, and to date, she's studied Chinese, Japanese, Russian, Italian, Spanish, and German. 
Sara and Steven at the 2003 Marine Corps Ball Every year since infancy, Sara has visited her grandparents at their lodge on the Yentna River. There are no roads to the lodge, the only means of getting there by either boat or bush plane. Electricity is provided by a generator, and telephone is by satelite. The seclusion is perfect for writing...and fishing. Sara grew up catching salmon and pike every summer, and can filet either one with the ease of a professional. Click here for a tutorial on fileting salmon or click here for a description of how to take the Y-bone out of a pike. 
Sara with a tub of Alaskan Red Salmon from the fishwheel, July 2003 Sara writes fast, and the faster she writes, the better her work. Sara's best day of writing was one 24-hour stretch that ended with a 14,483 keepable word-count. Her worst day put her back 20k. She usually finishes a 120k rough draft within two months, though The Team is looking like it will take much longer. Her fastest completed manuscript was Forgotten, the 133k rough draft of which she wrote in less than a month. Her longest was the ill-fated Lord of the Hunt, which underwent countless revisions and was finally shoved into the closet like a bad secret after two and a half years. 
Sara and Steven on a Midnight Hike on Mt. Baldie, Alaska, Summer 2004 Writing has been a passion since Sara was little. She was writing stories about Sammy the Snake and Bob the Brontosaurus when she was four years old, complete with crayon illustrations and crude attempts at binding via stapler. She likes to think she's gotten better in the following years, but she still has the same drive to write. Sara is truly grateful for Steven and her family putting up with her untold hours of ignoring them for the sickly glow of the computer screen. She knows that when she finally gets published, she couldn't have done it without the following people: Steven--for supporting her while she worked toward her dreams Chancey--for being her greatest fan Ruth--for telling her she could do it Grandpa--for cherishing eyes of jet Grandma--for teaching her to read Patti--for staying up late and hating her afterwards Logan--for awesome ideas and fannage Kyle--because After Earth wouldn't have been born without him Luisa--for naming a stuffed lizard Rhonda Gardner--for giving her what she deserved Terry Jorgensen--for showing her why people hate lawyers Kelly Kirk--for breathing fire on those deserving 
Sara on mountaintop overlooking Cook Inlet, Alaska, Fall 2006 Sara's current writing goals are 1) to get The Congie (a.k.a. Killing Zero) published, 2) to finish These Damn Books (a.k.a. the Fantasy Series Without a Name), and 3) to go to Clarion or Odyssey in the summer of 2008. Thanks for looking! Contact Me |