BEFORE THE PLOT
Stamford’s Elise Hart Kipness spent the first part of her professional career as a television sports reporter who thrived on the high-energy, pressure-packed and unpredictable world of professional athletics. A former journalist for Fox Sports Network, Kipness covered the Oalympics, the NBA playoffs, the World Series and the U.S. Open, interviewing superstars ranging from Mia Hamm to Tiger Woods.
Taking a hiatus from her travel-heavy schedule after having children, Kipness never imagined that she’d one day find herself a best-selling author. Missing her days of reporting, she found herself slowly gravitating toward writing and began taking classes that eventually led to navigating her first novel, Lights Out.
BEHIND THE WORDS
“I should have a PhD for all of the time that I put into learning, maybe two,” she jokes. Showcasing her manuscript at a “pitch fest,” which Kipness explains is “essentially speed dating with agents,” she was able to secure a literary manager, and from there, things took off. Kipness based her series on a combination of real-life experiences, both on and off the field, and used her knowledge of what goes on behind the scenes of sportscasting to create stories with an inside view. Lights Out (2023) is centered around the murder of an NBA star; Dangerous Play (2024) revolves around women’s Olympic soccer and another murder; and Close Call, released August 18, is centered around a kidnapping at the U.S. Open. Each story is told through the lens of Kate Green, a female sports reporter, and gives the reader a tangible feel of everything from what it’s like to be inside a locker room, to navigating interpersonal relationships with players and coaches. Kipness, currently producing a book a year, uses her passion for riveting plot twists to keep her readers on their toes in new and shocking ways.
IDEAS TO INK
When asked about her creative process, Kipness reveals that she’s “a roadmap person” and that when it comes to outlining a new plot, she always starts with the crime and setting. Kipness then creates spreadsheets for her suspect lists. “The red herring people are in red text, and the really bad guys are in blue,” Kipness says. Laying out her characters in this type of format allows Kipness to decide where she’ll “sprinkle hints and breadcrumbs” throughout the book. But still, Kipness notes, even with a plan, she often finds herself discovering new and unexpected directions as she writes.
“I try to write in the morning right when I wake up, so I’m still almost in a dream state,” says Kipness. “I’ve usually only had two cups of coffee, and I’m not yet completely awake,” says the caffeine aficionado who jokes that “hardcore, hot coffee is her religion.” After years of reporting, Kipness has a deep understanding for the importance of deadlines and tries to think of her own book writing in the same way, even on “bad writing days.” “You just have to write every day. It’s like working out even when your muscles hurt. Your brain is a muscle, and you just need to get words on pages no matter how much it sucks sometimes,” says Kipness.
While all of the characters Kipness creates are fictional, she often starts with someone from her real life in mind. “The more I write, the more my characters begin to meld into their own person,” she says. “In Dangerous Play, there’s a scene where Kate is asked a question by her boyfriend who is anchoring the newscast. He knows that he’s inquiring about something she can’t answer. Her quick and witty response of pivoting by saying, “That’s an interesting question David, but the real question is…” was based on a real-life scenario that Kipness encountered.
“I was sent to cover the collapse of a grocery store ceiling. I got there at 10:59 for the 11pm news and knew very little about what had happened before I was on the air. As I was reporting what I could see, the anchor said, ‘Elise how much does the snow on the roof weigh that caused this collapse?’ I was very new at reporting and stumbled around a bit because I didn’t know how to respond, and it was a live show. When I got back to the station a Senior Reporter pulled me aside and explained what to do when something like that happens. That’s how I learned how to deflect by pointing out an interesting question and then changing the direction of the question,” says Kipness.
SHAPING VOICES
Coming full-circle, Kipness is an instructor at the Westport Writers’ Workshop and loves being able to give back to aspiring writers and help them turn their ideas into stories. “You have a lot to learn when you’re first starting out. You wouldn’t start trying to do math and expect to know calculus without first knowing how to add. It just takes time. I wrote multiple drafts of my first book and made lots of mistakes,” says Kipness. “At first, I didn’t know how to write more than one page. I went to the Sarah Lawrence writing center and took online classes. I was a co-founding member of Sisters in Crime CT, which was a great resource and helped me learn the craft of writing a mystery,” she adds. Kipness helps her students interlace plots, settings, characters and twists to create their own perfect mysteries.
LOCAL ROOTS
Having resided in Stamford for the last 23 years, Kipness first started writing at Starbucks on High Ridge Road. “It was so much fun because I’d always run into friends while I was there. And I appreciated all their encouragement.” Kipness also wrote in the car while her kids played travel soccer in Stamford and waiting at pickup from the local schools. Kipness’ main character, Kate Green, has a deep love for pizza that Kipness said was inspired by all the amazing and internationally renowned options in Stamford. “Anytime I craved pizza I would say it was research,” Kipness joked.
When thinking about the ideal setting for Lights Out, which features an NBA player who was murdered in his mansion, Greenwich was the first choice for Kipness. “I wanted to write about somewhere close that I knew well and could continue to explore. Greenwich is just such an interesting and charming place between the town itself and the backcountry with all the mansions, and you can see an NBA player living there. I really wanted to dig through any preconceived notions and focus on nuance to discover all the multiple layers that exist in town,” says Kipness. And while it wasn’t the main setting, Stamford made its debut appearance in Lights Out as well.
Living in North Stamford for more than two decades, Kipness continues to enjoy all that Stamford living has to offer. Between tapping maple trees to make syrup when her children were younger, to walking her three labradoodles at the Mianus River or around town, to boating and paddleboarding at Cove Beach or Captains Island, Kipness has always taken advantage of her beloved hometown. Kipness has always immersed herself in the Stamford community, from her membership in the Stamford Moms Club, to her kids going to Stamford schools and playing soccer in “The City That Works.”
THE NEXT BIG THING
When asked about Close Call, Kipness explains the story is centered around a kidnapping at the U.S. Open tennis tournament, which was one of her favorite events to cover. A player is sent a text with photos of the missing player bound and gagged, and Kate teams up with her detective father, once again, to dive into the case. “The U.S. Open is very electric; not just a sporting event, it’s a scene with a lot of glamour, high-society attendees and super fans. This is the first sport I’m writing about that’s a one-player event as opposed to a team sport (Dangerous Play focused on women’s Olympic soccer). A single-elimination game raises the stakes, and it’s been really fun to dive back into something I enjoyed covering as a reporter.”
KATE GREEN ON SCREEN
“When I first wrote Lights Out, I always dreamed it would become a TV series,” says Kipness, whose mystery thrillers will soon be shared far beyond the pages of books. Kate Green and her adventures were recently optioned by Universal Television and Mary J. Blige’s Blue Butterfly to be turned into a TV series executive-produced by Debra Martin Chase (CBS’ The Equalizer) and Liz Friedlander (ABC’s The Rookie), who is also directing. “At five feet, zero inches, I stood on a milk crate to interview, not just NBA players, but all players. Given that, I thought it would be fun to make my main character Kate taller to see what that was like. So, she’s 5 feet 7 inches. And it was fun to be that vicariously,” laughs Kipness. We can’t wait to see who plays Kate Green.
When she’s not writing, Kipness enjoys boating, pilates, dinner with friends, reading thrillers, binge watching shows, (her absolute favorite being Succession), eating coffee ice cream and, of course, drinking hot coffee.
Kipness will speak at Harry Bennett Library in Stamford on Tuesday, September 16, at 5:30 p.m. For details, visit fergusonlibrary.org.