True crime and thriller author Kathryn Caraway is tired of writing stories that no one will ever read.

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As a crime victim who has been forced into anonymity for her safety, she admits she is concerned the perpetrator may find her as she emerges into the public eye. But the risk she is willing to take to get her books into the hands of those who enjoy the thriller genre far outpaces the fear she has in hiding.

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Why? Because she isn’t another victim just telling her story. Her purpose is far more meaningful as a master storyteller. She has found that as her plots thickened, she could offer something other authors in the genre could not – fictional prose crafted from firsthand truth. 

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“I feel like everybody has victim narrative fatigue, and the common thread that gets pulled among the reading public is that they are tired of it,” she said. “Because I have experienced crime and lived it from a victim’s perspective, I can tell a story in a way that, even though it is fiction, it is rooted in reality.”

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Numbers to Novels

 

Caraway didn’t start out as an aspiring novelist. Although she earned a degree in the English Arts, she quickly found while working as a small-town reporter the industry wasn’t for her. She earned an MBA and pivoted into a corporate career, where numbers came to the forefront and writing faded to the background. 

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It was the documentation she was required to keep as a crime victim that led Caraway back into writing. She admits she found no enjoyment in keeping detailed notes during the years it took her cases to get through the criminal justice system while living under a constant threat. 

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“After the perpetrator’s last conviction in 2022, I changed my identity. I am sitting there with no job, nothing but time on my hands, slipping into depression,” she said. “When your whole world is pulled out from underneath you, it is devastating. I decided before time had a chance to erode my memory, I would write everything. I wanted to get it out of my system, not to be shared with the masses but just to capture it in that moment.”

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Caraway said as she stared at the 162,000-word document recounting her harrowing experience, she began to think of the possibilities of taking a different route with it. For someone trying to find a sense of belonging and normalcy, channeling her energy into the thriller category gave her a chance to put truth behind a genre that seems to have been missing in so many of the fictional prose on the shelves. It allowed her to translate her experience into imagined storylines. She could write an alternate ending to her own experience. And most of all, she could regain control of her life. Readers read to escape life. Caraway began to write to confront hers, head-on. ​

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In her first book, Unfollow Me, she recounts her terrifying journey. The book is expected to be released in 2025.

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“This book was extraordinarily difficult to write. It is raw. Many of the experiences I wanted to put out of my mind had to be relived so I could write about it and stay true to the facts," said Caraway. "I survived the criminal court process, but I know this book will open me up to the court of public opinion. Readers can't say anything more harsh to me than I've already said to myself. But I've moved on from beating myself up over not seeing the red flags early on."

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Caraway's first fiction novel, which is expected to be released in 2026, follows the character Rebecca and her refuge in the Victim Assistance Program after falling victim to crime.

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"I’ve often wondered what that path would have looked like for me, so I wrote about it,” she said. “I got to write the kill scene of the perpetrator. I can’t tell you how many times I wrote that scene. It was very cathartic to kill him with my words.”

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With two books written, Caraway set out on the traditional publishing path. In 2023, she signed with a literary agent and by 2024 was offered a publishing contract.

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While the first two books were making their way to through the publishing process, Caraway wrote another two.

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Her third book weaves a thrilling tale, told from the perpetrator’s point of view, with the frustration Caraway encountered with the publishing industry. 

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“Writing from the perpetrator’s perspective was a learning experience for me. I had to dive deep into the criminal mind,” Caraway noted. “As someone who has only ever had a speeding ticket, I wanted to wrap my head around the motivations of a criminal. And given the complexities of the publishing industry I was feeling at the time, I made my villain a publisher.”

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She is currently working on a fourth novel centered around a young obituary reporter’s realization that some people die too soon and there's a reason why. One that just might hit a little too close to home.

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“As a victim of crime, you look inward as ‘what-ifs’ play through your head,” she said. “In my case, I journeyed back to my humble beginnings as a reporter, and it led me to writing this book. Although I didn’t pursue a career in journalism, I enjoyed my time in the newsroom.”

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An Emotional Toll

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As she penned her novels, Caraway's revisit through her terrorizing journey was not an easy one. In fact, she took a painful emotional beating as she recalled terrifying events. Eventually, she was affected physically as well. In March of 2023, Caraway suffered a stroke. 

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“I had to put everything on hold and focus on my health. I had to determine what my capacity was going forward,” she said. “There were passages I was writing that I felt like I was back in the time period I'd worked so hard to move past. As I was writing, I had to allow myself to live in those days. They always tell emerging writers to write what they know. It comes at a personal cost.”

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At a time when many would retreat into a sense of safety, from others and their own memories, Caraway continued on, battling through the often-unbearable recollections and the strikes against her as an author in hiding. She said even with a literary agent, books today aren’t selling to traditional publishers until the author has a social media following of at least 25,000.

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“The odds are completely against me, given my unique situation, because social media is a risk to me,” Caraway said. “The goal in publishing my novels is to find a safe way to connect to people again. I live a very isolated life and insulate myself with a select few who are committed to helping me stay safe.”

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Caraway has assumed a full-time career in writing, but reaching an audience is the biggest challenge she faces. Statistics on the publishing industry vary widely. More than 4 million books are estimated to be published annually with book sales of 788.7 million in 2022 generating $28.1 billion in revenue that same year.  

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“It’s a tough market but writing makes me happy and brings me joy. At the end of the day, writing is something I have control over. I use my fictional narratives to take back my control. And that’s the difference between why I write and why other authors write. I have found a way to empower myself and turn what was a weakness into a strength. No matter what, no one can take that away from me.”