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The Official Bio
As a reporter and community editor, Stephanie Carroll earned first place awards from the National Newspaper Association and from the Nevada Press Association. Stephanie has a bachelor’s degree in history and graduated summa cum laude from California State University, Fresno.
If you really want to get to know me, get the stuff you won't find online, back story behind my books, writing, and publishing, plus giveaways, free-bees, and opportunities to become a test reader, then don't forget to sign up for my VIP Reader newsletter (click it to find out all the weird stuff you'll get when you sign up!) Come on . . . the voices in your head are telling you do it. . .
The Official Bio
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| Photo by Kim Lamb Photography |
Her dark and magical writing is inspired by the classic authors Charlotte Perkins Gilman (The Yellow Wallpaper), Frances Hodgson Burnett (The Secret Garden), and Emily Bronte (Wuthering Heights).
Stephanie blogs and writes fiction in California, where her husband is stationed with the U.S. Navy. She also writes The Unhinged and Empowered Navy Wives blog.
Stephanie Does Speaking Engagements!
Unhinged & Empowered
A blog for Navy Wives & Navy Girlfriends to conquer those little moments that make us feel crazy, and to remember that we are some of the strongest women in the world.
Unhinged & Empowered Forum on Facebook!
From Stephanie Carroll
I'm not going to lie. I was the weird kid.
Little bit of a loner, pretty strange. It's cool, artists right? Funny thing is I didn't know what kind of artist I was even in spite of the fact that I knew I was a writer. The first time I remember writing a story and being praised for it was in second or third grade. That's when I got hooked. I kept extensive journals and I didn't even know that was a way to train a young writer. I attempted my first novel in junior high but didn't get very far. I did the depressing poetry in high school, the academic historical writing in college, and the public forum writing as a paid reporter thereafter. Yet, it wasn't until I finally had the skill and time to work on a real novel that I realized my passion had been staring me in the face all along.
If you are curious about why I write fiction, check out 'Why I Write Fiction' on Book Connection. That post was one of the most difficult and rewarding things I have ever written. I had to really think about why I love to do what I do and why it matters. That is something, I've never really been able to put into words before.
I don't know if it's just coincidence, but I've never been able to tell people my beliefs or ideas verbally. If you've seen me speak, you would say, nuh uh, you speak just fine but I rehearse a lot before a public speaking gig, even if it's reading my own book.
But when I write, especially fiction, I can express my thoughts and ideas and move people the way people who can speak well can move people. I don't know if I've moved anyone to do anything great, but I feel like through my writing I can make a connection with another person in a way I've never been able to connect with people before. When these people read my words, they see a part of themselves reflected in it. Those are the people I want to connect with. I feel like we are long lost friends.
I'm still the weird kid as an adult. I'm your average starving artist except thanks to my dear husband, I'm not actually starving, hurray!
I'm also a fire dancer in the group Twisted Embers! Check out my Fire page to see more. That came out of left field huh? I wasn't expecting it either but when it happened,
it was just wow. It's the only time I'm not in pain.
Better explain that now . . . I have scoliosis, but it started out as mild which doesn't usually cause problems in people but for some reason when I got older, it did. I started pulling muscles in my back and despite multiple physical therapy rounds kept re-pulling them. I have a chronic pain condition as a result called Myofascial Pain Syndrome, and as my pain progressed from my back to my hips and neck, I was then diagnosed with degenerative disk disease (which technically isn't a disease), and basically chronic pain syndrome. All of that means I'm not dying, or in severe, nonfunctional pain, but I am in pain daily and I can't cure it, just manage it. It's not an unbearable, non-functioning kind of pain, but more like having sore muscles, a sensation like internal bruising, and the feeling of someone stabbing you with a skewer some days. This all started when I was twenty-three or twenty-four, so that's kind of lame.
It also makes the writing process more of a challenge. The pain is in my back, hips, and neck, so it hurts to sit for more than about 10-15 minutes. So I stand while I write, kind of like Lewis Carroll or Ernest Hemingway, which makes it kind of cool. Unfortunately, standing upsets my hip problems so then I have to alternate between sitting and standing. I'm supposed to do it every 30 minutes, but that doesn't usually happen . . . I'm a bit of a rebel pain patient. =)
Scoliosis and invalidism were a big deal in the nineteenth century, (don't know if you caught it, but that was what was going on the with the father in The Secret Garden and what the son feared was wrong with him - crooked back, hump . . . (yeah I got a hump but it's little! You wouldn't even call it hump unless you knew what it was, and it looks more like I'm lopsided, and I don't want to talk about my hump anyway!) Anyway, I like to think I have something in common with that part of history, not to mention, it kind of gives me one of those dark sources of artistic inspiration. You know like Edgar Allen Poe stuff (my fire dancer name is Rayvn - hehe).
When I was a child, I used to think that I wouldn't be able to do anything truly artistic unless something horrible had happened to me and in my teen years, I kind of went in search of it and got a taste of regret. That didn't really help artistically speaking, but I like to think of the pain thing as a type of dark fuel. In reality, I'm kind of a goofy person to have a dark side, but if you've read my fiction . . . you already know I'm not joking.
Now that you're in such a good mood with all of that, let me tell you about something else gooey. I'm in love! I have the most amazing husband in the world. I don't know how I got so lucky or why he keeps saying he's lucky to have me because it's clearly the other way around.
He was in the Navy for 11 years before he transitioned out and as Military Wife, I learned a lot so I started a blog called Unhinged and Empowered and still keep it up.
My husband and I have been married for more than ten years and it's amazing. I can't wait for the next ten, and the next, and the next. He supports me in my writing and publishing so much I hardly believe it. He lets me use him as a sounding board, helps me with ideas and figuring out things I don't quite get, and he even will act out parts with me to help me figure out the scene. He's so perfect and I love him. I wouldn't be a writer without him because as I said, without him, I'd be starving. ;)
We don't have children yet and are probably going to adopt because of my pain issues, but we do have two puppies and two cats and they are my babies for now. Coconut is an albino Chihuahua and she's a mommy's girl. Gigget is a daddy's girl and she's a deer Chihuahua which as you can see means she looks like a mini-deer. So cute.
I also like penguins.
Shelf Unbound Magazine Notable Page Turners & Favorite Cover! Pg 36 & 40
USA Book News Best Book Award Cross Genre Category
Appearance on Authors & Artists
Post Your Review Today!
Q&A on Central Valley Talk
Check out the Fire Section!
Stephanie Does Speaking Engagements!
Unhinged & Empowered
A blog for Navy Wives & Navy Girlfriends to conquer those little moments that make us feel crazy, and to remember that we are some of the strongest women in the world.Unhinged & Empowered Forum on Facebook!
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From Stephanie Carroll
I'm not going to lie. I was the weird kid.
Little bit of a loner, pretty strange. It's cool, artists right? Funny thing is I didn't know what kind of artist I was even in spite of the fact that I knew I was a writer. The first time I remember writing a story and being praised for it was in second or third grade. That's when I got hooked. I kept extensive journals and I didn't even know that was a way to train a young writer. I attempted my first novel in junior high but didn't get very far. I did the depressing poetry in high school, the academic historical writing in college, and the public forum writing as a paid reporter thereafter. Yet, it wasn't until I finally had the skill and time to work on a real novel that I realized my passion had been staring me in the face all along.I don't know if it's just coincidence, but I've never been able to tell people my beliefs or ideas verbally. If you've seen me speak, you would say, nuh uh, you speak just fine but I rehearse a lot before a public speaking gig, even if it's reading my own book.
But when I write, especially fiction, I can express my thoughts and ideas and move people the way people who can speak well can move people. I don't know if I've moved anyone to do anything great, but I feel like through my writing I can make a connection with another person in a way I've never been able to connect with people before. When these people read my words, they see a part of themselves reflected in it. Those are the people I want to connect with. I feel like we are long lost friends.
I'm still the weird kid as an adult. I'm your average starving artist except thanks to my dear husband, I'm not actually starving, hurray!
I'm also a fire dancer in the group Twisted Embers! Check out my Fire page to see more. That came out of left field huh? I wasn't expecting it either but when it happened,
 |
| Photo by Randy Enriquez |
Better explain that now . . . I have scoliosis, but it started out as mild which doesn't usually cause problems in people but for some reason when I got older, it did. I started pulling muscles in my back and despite multiple physical therapy rounds kept re-pulling them. I have a chronic pain condition as a result called Myofascial Pain Syndrome, and as my pain progressed from my back to my hips and neck, I was then diagnosed with degenerative disk disease (which technically isn't a disease), and basically chronic pain syndrome. All of that means I'm not dying, or in severe, nonfunctional pain, but I am in pain daily and I can't cure it, just manage it. It's not an unbearable, non-functioning kind of pain, but more like having sore muscles, a sensation like internal bruising, and the feeling of someone stabbing you with a skewer some days. This all started when I was twenty-three or twenty-four, so that's kind of lame.
It also makes the writing process more of a challenge. The pain is in my back, hips, and neck, so it hurts to sit for more than about 10-15 minutes. So I stand while I write, kind of like Lewis Carroll or Ernest Hemingway, which makes it kind of cool. Unfortunately, standing upsets my hip problems so then I have to alternate between sitting and standing. I'm supposed to do it every 30 minutes, but that doesn't usually happen . . . I'm a bit of a rebel pain patient. =)
Scoliosis and invalidism were a big deal in the nineteenth century, (don't know if you caught it, but that was what was going on the with the father in The Secret Garden and what the son feared was wrong with him - crooked back, hump . . . (yeah I got a hump but it's little! You wouldn't even call it hump unless you knew what it was, and it looks more like I'm lopsided, and I don't want to talk about my hump anyway!) Anyway, I like to think I have something in common with that part of history, not to mention, it kind of gives me one of those dark sources of artistic inspiration. You know like Edgar Allen Poe stuff (my fire dancer name is Rayvn - hehe).
When I was a child, I used to think that I wouldn't be able to do anything truly artistic unless something horrible had happened to me and in my teen years, I kind of went in search of it and got a taste of regret. That didn't really help artistically speaking, but I like to think of the pain thing as a type of dark fuel. In reality, I'm kind of a goofy person to have a dark side, but if you've read my fiction . . . you already know I'm not joking.
 |
| Photo by Randy Enriquez |
He was in the Navy for 11 years before he transitioned out and as Military Wife, I learned a lot so I started a blog called Unhinged and Empowered and still keep it up.
My husband and I have been married for more than ten years and it's amazing. I can't wait for the next ten, and the next, and the next. He supports me in my writing and publishing so much I hardly believe it. He lets me use him as a sounding board, helps me with ideas and figuring out things I don't quite get, and he even will act out parts with me to help me figure out the scene. He's so perfect and I love him. I wouldn't be a writer without him because as I said, without him, I'd be starving. ;)
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| Gigget |
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| Coconut |
I also like penguins.
Stephanie Carroll has given us a truly amazing gift and I can't wait to see this one as a movie. A brilliant debut novel and I look forward to reading more of her writing. Thank you for a beautifully crafted tale. - Amazon UK Review
Shelf Unbound Magazine Notable Page Turners & Favorite Cover! Pg 36 & 40
“The best historical fiction makes you forget it’s fiction and forget it’s historical. Reminiscent of The Yellow Wallpaper, this book shows with alarming clarity what life was like for women before the modern age freed us of so many restraints … absolutely mesmerizing.”—Eileen Walsh, Ph.D. U.S. Women’s History, University of San Diego
USA Book News Best Book Award Cross Genre Category
A novel of grit, independence, and determination ... Despite the consequences, Emeline defies society’s expectations in her endeavor to help others, risking not only her marriage, but her reputation—and ultimately, her freedom. An intelligent story, well told.”
—Renée Thompson, author of The Plume Hunter and The Bridge at Valentine
Appearance on Authors & Artists
A White Room Made No. 1!!!
I totally loved this book. It's been described as being similar to Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper, ... Frances Hodgson Burnett's The Secret Garden, and Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights. Though I concur that all that is true, I go further by being reminded of why the Gothic writing work and home remind me of Nathaniel Hawthorne's House of the Seven Gables ... and some of the works of V.C. Andrews, such as Flowers in the Attic. She gives us a gothic feel reminiscent of Daphne de Maurier's works. - Amazon US Review
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(On Amazon just click the "customer reviews" link next to the star rating and it will take you to the reviews where you can click "write a review.")
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. . . if you want some realistic historical fiction that deals with difficult issues, that doesn't allow a love story to overcome the plot, and that has you really feeling for the characters involved, go and read this right now. - Goodreads Review
Q&A on Central Valley Talk
Fans of The Yellow Wallpaper will love this debut from Stephanie Carroll because it's about a woman feeling her house is alive and that other people are living in it. I, for one, couldn't put the book down but was also reading with the covers up to my chin and all of the lights on. It's not because the book is scary but because I could absolutely understand why Emeline was losing it. I could have sworn that my own walls were watching me ... - Barnes and Noble Review
Check out the Fire Section!
In addition to being an author, I am also a fire dancer! Betcha didn't expect that, did you?
