Episode 227: Interview with Katee Stein

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Today on Fable and the Verbivore, we’re sharing our latest interview with sci-fi and fantasy writer Katee Stein. 

Katee is an active and encouraging member of the Instagram writing community. We connected with her on social media through her Flash Fiction Magic stories, candid posts about her writing life, and beautiful visuals. As she notes on her website, she specializes in writing speculative fiction that moves the soul.

Her debut novel Glass Helix was released on September 4th, 2023. It’s a YA dystopian romance set within a future world where a genetic revolution has backfired, leaving the people significantly weakened. The story is centered on Khai who escapes from the Research Center where he’s been tested on, into the wilderness and finds that he suddenly is able to heal others. But all is not what it appears and in returning home, he finds his best friend Mae no longer remembers him. The prologue for Glass Helix can be found here on Katee’s website.

Her next project is the first book in an adult fantasy duology called Of Earth and Sky titled Earthbound, which is set to release in September of ‘24.  You can connect with Katee on her author website KateeStein.com, on Instagram at @katee.stein, on Facebook at @Katee.steinauthor, and on Twitter at @kaiterest.

Throughout this episode, Katee talks about many different facets of her writing life as well as lessons she’s learned along the way. Things like:

  • Learning about yourself and what you need

  • Letting your creative process be what it needs to - even if it’s a little messy and involves discovering things along the way

  • Respecting how vulnerable sharing your work can be and reminding yourself how brave it is to put something out into the world

  • Allowing your personal truths to seep into your stories and add authenticity

  • Trusting that the story is there and allowing it to flesh out in the writing and come to life in the edit

  • Doing your research and not being afraid to ask other authors for advice and guidance in areas that you may not be as familiar with — such as nuances of the querying and publishing process, ways to promote your work, and what to look out for when reviewing a publishing contract

She ends with a fantastic reminder to just start by giving yourself the space to get the story written down the way you want to tell it. Editing is gold, but first just work to capture the story down no matter how messy.

We hope you enjoy this episode! It was such an encouraging conversation filled with honest and heartfelt writing advice, and centered on being open to the many different possible paths and trusting your gut about what feels right and like it serves your story best. It was such a pleasure to get to be a part of this!

Keep reading, writing, and putting your voice out there!

Into the woods,

Fable & The Verbivore

Notes:

Katee is an active and encouraging member of the Instagram writing community. We connected with her on social media through her Flash Fiction Magic stories, candid posts about her writing life, and beautiful visuals. As she notes on her website, she specializes in writing speculative fiction that moves the soul.

Her debut novel Glass Helix was released on September 4th, 2023. It’s a YA dystopian romance set within a future world where a genetic revolution has backfired, leaving the people significantly weakened. The story is centered on Khai who escapes from the Research Center where he’s been tested on, into the wilderness and finds that he suddenly is able to heal others. But all is not what it appears and in returning home, he finds his best friend Mae no longer remembers him. The prologue for Glass Helix can be found here on Katee’s website.

Her next project is the first book in an adult fantasy duology called Of Earth and Sky titled Earthbound, which is set to release in September of ‘24.  

You can connect with Katee on her author website KateeStein.com, on Instagram at @katee.stein, on Facebook at @Katee.steinauthor, and on Twitter at @kaiterest.

Books and Movies Mentioned:

Music from:https://filmmusic.io
 ‘Friendly day’ by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)
Licence: CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

interviewBethany Stedman