So this is kind of random, but I wanted to be an author as a teenager and kind of gave up because it was made out to be impossible by the adults in my life. Is getting something published realistic?
Becoming an author may not be the most practical path according to someone else’s definition of practical—but if writing is the path you’re meant to follow, it’s worth finding your way there.
Seriously. That’s the short answer. And I know that answer because I spent a lot of my own life believing the opposite. When I was a kid, my grandmother had a wall of old National Geographic magazines. I would sit and page through them, fascinated by the photographs and the stories of places I had never seen. I dreamed of writing for National Geographic someday. I wanted to travel the world and write about the things I saw.
Sometimes the best way to get more writing done is to stop trying to write at home. I know that sounds strange. After all, home is where most of us write. But home is also where the laundry needs to be folded, the dishes need to be washed, the dog needs to go outside, and the cat has decided that whatever you’re doing is less important than paying attention to them while they rest their behinds on your keyboard. Even when those things aren’t urgent, they’re always there in the back of your mind.
A ramshackle gray barn, rolling hills, and fog settling over the mountains—the perfect backdrop for my most recent creative writing retreat.
That’s one reason I’ve become such a fan of getting away for writing retreats. I’ve been taking long weekend writing getaways for several months now, and I’m amazed at how much work I can accomplish when I remove myself from my everyday environment. The trick is that these don’t have to be expensive, organized writing retreats. You can create your own.
I’m curious as to what other writers do when starting their second draft. Do you trash what you wrote in draft one and start totally from scratch? Or do you take some of what you wrote in the first draft and refine it? Or something else entirely? How does it work for you?
A first draft doesn’t have to be good. It just has to give you something to work with. The messy parts, the awkward scenes, the holes in the plot—they’re all part of the process. The magic happens when you give yourself permission to write badly enough to find the story.
Answer: For me, the answer is pretty simple: I revise my first draft.
I know some writers who essentially start over when they reach the second draft. They might keep the basic idea, characters, or plot, but the actual manuscript gets tossed aside and they write the book again from the beginning. And honestly, I can see the appeal. Sometimes a first draft teaches you so much about the story that you realize the book you originally thought you were writing isn’t actually the book you want to write. But that’s not generally how I work.
The question isn’t really, how do I share my work without having it stolen? The real question is: What makes you think anyone wants to steal your work?
My answer: Oh, precious. Do you really think the word vomit you’ve dumped into your Google Doc is worth stealing?
Worried someone will steal your novel if you let other people read it? Here’s the truth: your ideas aren’t what make your story valuable—your execution is. Don’t let fear keep you from getting the feedback that will make your writing stronger. Share your work with people you trust, use a little common sense, and keep writing.
Probably not. My rough drafts aren’t worth stealing either. As plenty of famous authors have said over the years, first drafts are garbage. (Or, to quote them more accurately, they’re shit.) You’re going to spend a long time revising that manuscript if you hope to make it worth reading. And if you’re sharing it with critique partners or beta readers, chances are you’ll be sharing it with several people who can all attest that the work is yours.
In today’s author interview, Sarah Gailey discusses the inspiration behind Make Me Better, including the novel’s themes of identity, belonging, cult psychology, climate anxiety, and the complicated pursuit of healing. In my recent review, I described the novel as an unsettling blend of literary fiction, psychological suspense, and horror that asks difficult questions about what people are willing to sacrifice for connection and certainty.
Author Sarah Gailey discusses the inspiration behind Make Me Better, including the novel’s themes of identity, belonging, cult psychology, and the search for healing. Image credit: Kate Dollarhyde
I had the opportunity to ask Gailey about the creation of Kindred Cove, the challenges of writing Celia’s emotional vulnerability, the appeal of high-control communities, and the literary influences that helped shape their work. We also discussed why stories about cults resonate so strongly today and what Gailey hopes readers will take away from the novel’s exploration of wellness culture, manipulation, and transformation.
Can omniscient point of view be written as if it’s directed at “you?”
ANSWER: Absolutely.
Many writers assume that omniscient point of view and second-person point of view are mutually exclusive, but they’re actually describing two different aspects of narration.
Can a story be written in both omniscient and second-person POV? Yes. Second-person tells us who is being addressed. Omniscient tells us how much the narrator knows. The two can work together to create second-person omniscient narration.
Point of view refers to the pronouns being used. If the story addresses the reader or a character as “you,” it’s written in second person.
Omniscience refers to the narrator’s knowledge. An omniscient narrator knows more than any individual character. They can reveal hidden thoughts, events happening elsewhere, future outcomes, and information that the main character doesn’t know.
Because these are separate concepts, they can be combined.
Leslie Baird’s debut novel Salomé is a hypnotic blend of literary suspense, psychological intrigue, and gothic atmosphere, following a young American woman who becomes entangled in the orbit of a charismatic French family and the enigmatic woman at its center. When I reviewed the novel, I was struck by its dreamlike sense of place, its exploration of longing and vulnerability, and its willingness to venture into stranger, more unsettling territory than readers might expect. In this interview, Baird discusses the cult-like power of charisma, the French landscapes that inspired the novel, the emotional foundations beneath its mystery, and why she is drawn to stories that take risks and embrace the unexpected.
Author Leslie Baird discusses the inspirations behind her debut novel Salomé, including cult charisma, the allure of France, and her fascination with the ways people become vulnerable to mystery and belonging.
Q: Courtney is drawn into Salomé’s world almost immediately. Were you interested in exploring why intelligent, perceptive people can still be captivated by charisma and mystery? A: I’m fascinated by cults. Not only organized groups, but how even something as ubiquitous as marketing copy can leak over into cultiness. (Shout out to Cultish: the Language of Fanaticism by Amanda Montell.) How quick we are to align with something, as humans seeking a safe group. And there are so many levels to this, which is fun to tease out in writing. Courtney may be able to scoff at a person who subscribes to Marco’s vitamin MLM subscription, but wasn’t she just as naive when a pretty French woman paid attention to her?
When do you decide if your novel is YA? Do you decide before you start writing or after you are done?
Answer: One of the questions writers ask constantly is whether a novel “counts” as Young Adult fiction. Sometimes the answer is obvious from page one. Other times, writers finish an entire manuscript before realizing they may have written for a different audience than they originally intended.
When does a novel become YA—and how much of that decision happens before you even write the first page? This graphic breaks down the key factors writers should consider, from voice and protagonist age to audience and market expectations, and why knowing who you’re writing for shapes every story choice you make.
The truth is that YA is both a category and a marketing designation, and those two things do not always align perfectly. At the most basic level, a Young Adult novel is written for teen readers, generally between the ages of twelve and eighteen. In publishing, though, that definition becomes much more flexible than people expect. A huge percentage of YA readers are adults, and many books with teen protagonists are actually shelved in adult fiction. That’s why YA is not determined by a single factor.
From gothic horror and tragic romance to epic fantasy and southern folklore, Laura Holt writes with a deep love for stories that blur the line between myth and reality. Holt is also featured in Beautiful and Terrifying: Tales and Visions from the Edge of the Uncanny with her short story “After Alice,” a fitting addition to a collection shaped by eerie beauty and unsettling imagination. In this interview, Holt reflects on the authors who shaped her creativity, the unexpected lessons she’s learned about storytelling and publishing, and the themes she returns to again and again in her work. She also discusses writing authentic stories in a trend-driven world, finding inspiration in mythology and folklore, and why coffee, cookies, and carefully curated playlists remain essential parts of her creative process.
Author Laura Holt discusses mythology, horror, storytelling, and her short story “After Alice,” featured in Beautiful and Terrifying.
Q: What/who were your early literary influences, and how do you think their writing has shaped you as a storyteller today? A: Some of my earliest literary influences were authors like Roald Dahl, Edgar Allan Poe, William Shakespeare, R. L. Stine, and J.R.R. Tolkien. For me, Dahl’s book The Witches was my gateway read to the fantasy genre, likeable villains, and morally gray characters, so he will always hold a special place in my heart. Poe and Shakespeare introduced me to poetry and short stories, as well as tragic love and darker subject matter, both of which play a big part in my writing today. And there is one author who has cracked the code on how to write the perfect story every time, it is Stine, so along with reading his books for a good scare, I study his writing style a lot.
From the haunted corridors of Kowloon Walled City to the restless spirits woven through Chinese folklore, Sunyi Dean writes horror that unsettles as much as it mesmerizes. In this interview, Dean discusses the cultural history behind The Girl with a Thousand Faces, the challenges of balancing myth with historical inspiration, and why morally complicated characters fascinate her as a writer. She also reflects on grief, forgiveness, experimental narrative structure, and the Gothic and speculative authors who helped shape her distinct voice in contemporary horror fiction.
Sunyi Dean discusses Chinese folklore, Gothic horror, and the layered themes behind her haunting new novel, The Girl with a Thousand Faces.
Q: The Girl with a Thousand Faces blends Gothic horror with Chinese mythology and the real history of Kowloon Walled City. What drew you to that setting, and how did you approach balancing historical inspiration with the supernatural elements of the story? A: Hong Kong is the place I grew up and learned Cantonese in (though I’ve since lost that language.) I have a complicated relationship with both the city itself, and my family ties there. It is a place of contrasts and contradictions, of extreme modernity and old traditions. I loved portraying it, and tried to keep the ‘important’ aspects of history as true as possible. A lot of trial and error was involved, and many rounds of edits. Whether the balance is right I will leave to the reader to decide!
