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More about Katie:
Instagram: @katiekeridan
TikTok: @katiekeridan
Twitter/X: @KKeridan
Full Transcript:
Cat Galeano:
All right, let’s get started. A big hello to our Highlights Foundation family. We’re so happy to have you here with us this morning. For those that may not know me, I’m Cat Galeano. My pronouns are she, her. I’m the social media manager here at the Highlights Foundation, also known as the person all resharing your post, responding to you with the blue and green hearts. I am the person behind all of that, so very nice to meet you.
I’m joining you from Westchester County, New York, on the traditional lands of the Seewanoy people, and it’s just very, I’m very happy to have you all here with us today. Apart from all the very cool and fun things I get to do at the Highlights Foundation, one of my greatest joys, if not the greatest joy truly, is getting to celebrate the book birthdays of our community members, friends, and family and friends, because your wins are our wins. And today I have the honor of celebrating our friend and faculty, Katie Keriden, who is celebrating their latest YA book, Realm United, the final book, here it is, in the Felserpent Chronicle series.
We’re so excited to welcome you, Katie. Thank you so much for joining us today. But before we dive in, I want to remind our viewers that joining in on any Highlights Foundation spaces and sessions to do so with no hate, no harm, and no harassment of any kind.
And now let’s get started. First, I want to take a deep breath with you, with all of you, because Katie, you just completed a whole fantasy trilogy, which is no easy feat. Like that is so incredible to me, because this book is a big baby, and then multiply that by three is a lot of book babies that are very big. So wow. And now that Realm United is out in the world, and in the hands of your readers, how do you feel? How does that feel? What are you feeling? Tell me everything.
Katie Keridan:
That’s a great question. It’s such a pleasure of feelings. On the one hand, I love the way the trilogy was able to be wrapped up and that is such a feeling as an author to actually be able to love the way that your series ended and where I left off with all the characters. And so I was really excited, very pleased, also exhausted. You know, three books, years was a lot. It was also a phenomenal opportunity. So, you know, no complaints here, but it was my life for three years.
It was write, publish, get it out there. But it’s also bittersweet because this world and these characters have lived in my mind and my heart. To feel like I’m closing the doors and saying goodbye has, has definitely been bittersweet. So it’s that…come up with it. But the nice things helps me get through the sadness of not spending every day with these characters anymore. It belongs to readers. You know, once a book leaves an author’s mind and actually takes form and is in a condition that someone else can read it, then the characters don’t just belong to me anymore.
Cat:
And I love that they’re out in the world for anyone to enjoy now. Isn’t that so special? You’re like, they’ve been living with me in my head, in my computer, in my hands for so long. And now it’s like off you go into all, all the readers hands now.
So my second question is: now we’re going to reflect a little bit. What inspired this story? How did you get all of this onto the page?
Katie:
I have been a lifelong reader. I grew up in the middle of nowhere on a ranch in Texas. And besides my horse and my other animals, books were my best friends. Books allowed me to go places when I was too young to actually, you know, take myself. They exposed me to new ideas and concepts that I didn’t see in my small town.
And so I’ve always had such a love for story in my heart that from as for as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to be a writer and I have no doubt all of the stories I consumed as a child nestled inside me, stayed with me and formed the foundation for the kind of stories that I wanted to tell and stories that I love to tell are stories where things are hard. Things are not easy for my characters and they’re not, they don’t live in a perfect world but it’s about where the characters are…is what they do with what they have.
How do they…because those are the stories I want to read. I want to know that good ultimately triumphs over evil. That at the end of the day there is a happily-ever-after and you know I can’t magically control that in my real life unfortunately. So I really wanted something that felt timeless that had a little bit of the air of a fairy tale with it. I love fantasy; I’m a huge huge fantasy fan and I really tried to create the story that I wanted to read that would speak to me because I did read it a hundred thousand times.
in editing it, so it’s so fun to take something that’s been in my heart and share it with other people and to see it strike chords in other people. There is nothing, nothing better for an author than seeing something you’ve written resonate with readers.
Cat:
Isn’t that special? And so that leads sort of into my next question: Did you always know how this was gonna end or sort of like as you were writing, you kind of discovered it?
Katie:
So I always know how my stories are going to end. I can see it cinematically in my mind. I tend to write like I’m watching TV, which is great because when scenes unfold, my job is to just kind of type as fast as I can and keep up with what my muse is giving me, deigns to spend time with me.
And so I always knew how I wanted this to end. I could see it. For me, the problem is allways the middle of the story. I know how I work backwards and I try to find a place that makes the most sense as a beginning. Tricky middle; you have to navigate and to make it satisfying, to make it challenging, to make sure that, you know, you fully flesh out all of your character arcs and your subplots.
So for me, I knew the ending. I wasn’t sure how I was going to get there in a few areas. And thank goodness for amazing editors is all I can say.
Cat:
That is amazing. So we’re gonna shift a little bit and talk about your journey as a writer and how the Highlights Foundation has played into it.
Katie:
The wonderful Highlights Foundation. So some of my happiest memories as a child were going to the orthodontist’s office. I had a terrible messed up mouth as a child. I went through retainers and braces and all kinds of different devices to straighten my teeth out and the best part of going to the orthodontist office was they received Highlights magazine in the mail and I loved Highlights magazine to the point that honest, they would start setting aside copies for me would let me take home you know once a new issue came out, and my grandmother saw my enthusiasm about this and actually got me my own subscription to…and so oh you know I was waiting by our mailbox for it was that magazine and Ranger Rick–one all about animals–animal lover here and I just and there were all kinds of word searches, hidden puzzles, and it was just immersive. And I lost myself in that. And I felt full experience and escape, a child who really is safe. And so I was always familiar with the magazine side of Highlights.
And you know, I wanted to be there, but I’m the first person in my family to go to college. And so I wanted to choose that had somewhat more stability, any level of stability than being a…neuropsychologist.
I did my undergrad, my master’s, my doctorate. I did my internship at Johns Hopkins, I did a two year research fellowship at the National. I specialized in working with children and teens with leukemia and brain tumors. And I loved the work that I did, but I knew in my heart, it wasn’t the way I was supposed to be connecting with people, that I was supposed to be sharing stories. And so I went back new, which was, well, let’s see if Highlights has anything to offer new author or, you know, I know they have this magazine. What else do they have? And then I was shocked to discover retreat center, workshops, classes. I went to my first Highlights Foundation workshop in 2022. I was there to work on a middle grade book, but I actually spent most of the time working on Blood Divided, the second book in my trilogy.
Those through these books from the amazing workshops I was fortunate to take; the people that I’ve connected with champion my books and supported my stories. And also, I think for me, it’s been so, so unbelievable and such a dream come true to become a faculty member at Highlights. After I was there in 2022 at the workshop, I set a goal for myself and I said, okay, within the next year, I really want to become a part of this organization. I don’t just want to appreciate the things that they’re offering. I want to offer things. I want to give back. I want to help other people looking to write as well. And I was able to become a part of this amazing family and offer workshops this year. I will be offering, we’re in the process of planning workshops for 2025.
So incredibly exciting. And I can’t, I can’t express my gratitude enough for being so welcomed into such an incredible family. And to be part of that is like a dream come true. The little me is just so excited.
Cat:
Aww. And that’s sort of like, everything you’ve said is sort of: me as the person who works for Highlights is sort of like that feeling of what you’re talking about is like the feeling that I want to capture and sort of send back. And so as the person that works here I’m like I want to take the people that either are community members or are faculty or are just people that retreat with us, I want to celebrate them and their wins. So I’m like this is how the book birthday started this is how celebration station happened this is how cover reveal started because I’m like we have to celebrate everyone’s wins and so this is how this started so this is why I’m like thank you everyone who has has taken a leap of faith with us and done a book birthday with us and has done a cover reveal with us and has sent in their good information, their scholarship stories.
So I’m like thank you, thank you, thank you, because this is exactly like the full circle moment of like what we want is for you to come and take a class with us eventually possibly become faculty and come do a book birthday with us and it’s like a beautiful kind of like full circle moment that just keeps going because we want to keep celebrating each other as our careers grow and keep going and just keep celebrating and and supporting each other because this is a long road and and the whole thing is to keep going so the whole point is to keep our community growing and going and supporting each other!
So thank you for taking that leap of faith and Googling and finding us because now look where we’ve landed; and we have each other now and it’s just like a beautiful thing so thank you, thank you, the love is is pouring right back to you.
Katie:
As you said it’s a long road and it is a lonely business being a writer. I mean you know you, you have all these characters that live with you basically but most of the time it’s you over your computer just typing, and so to have these kind of celebrations and connect with people in person and virtually it’s, it’s phenomenal for authors who are spread out all over the world to be able to connect.
Cat:
Truly. So the next question is, I kind of put it for myself, because I’m just like, I kind of really want to ask Katie, because I’m sure someone else is going to ask this question and be curious: What advice would you give other writers out there that are wanting to tackle fantasy or a series? Because personally, I’m incredibly intimidated by two of those things, fantasy and a series. So the fact that you did both of them is like, my hat off to you. So please, please talk to us about how you did that and the advice that you would give others who are curious about that.
Katie:
I think a lot of it is you don’t know what you don’t know. And sometimes, I had no idea how difficult a trilogy or a series would be when I started. I knew I envisioned it as a series. from the get-go, and I was fortunate that it was able to be three books, but it’s incredibly difficult just to keep track of everything mentally. You know, as you said, fantasy, that can be intimidating enough for people. And then to think about how are things growing and changing. And it’s always a balance because, especially for a second and a third book, you have to reference things that happened in the first book, but you can’t just completely recap the first book. And so the second and the third book to be able to stand alone as interesting books on their own, even though they’re all supporting this series.
First of all, my advice for anyone who wants to write, whether it’s fantasy or a series or anything, is read: as much as possible. You have a really good idea on where is the market at. You know, I’m a big fan, of course, you want to write things that are meaningful to you. If you’re a career in publishing, you also want to pay attention to what is selling, what are people buying. And it’s always a balance between chasing trends and writing something that is deeply personal and meaningful to you. So the more you read, the more you have a sense of “this is what middle grade is like.” “This is what YA fantasy looks like.” And you really start to get a sense of pacing and of reveals and of how characters grow in a certain arc, because there’s…and, and that’s really fun. Sometimes you want to fully do…enemies to lovers.
That’s completely fine too. But the more you read, the more knowledge you have to decide how you want to take something as big as fantasy and really put your own spin on it and and make it your own. And the other thing I would say for people is your, your team that you surround yourself with–whether that’s agent, editor, publicist, critique partners, beta readers-whoever you have that’s in your corner for your writing: really appreciate those. Also make use of them, because there have been so many times that my brain–because I’ve worked on the same section so many times–I become completely immune to any mistakes in my book, or to where I’ve dropped a plot thread, or to the fact that I have literally said this same paragraph 200 pages earlier somewhere and other readers will catch those things for you that you…
And so I know it’s terrifying sharing your work with someone, especially when it’s not been published yet, when it’s still in the very raw stages, ready, take this little piece of my soul. And I hope that you’re gentle with your work in front of other people and getting feedback on it, as terrifying as it is. It’s huge. And I think if you’re really cautious with who you put in your writing corner and who’s there with you, it becomes less scary because you know they’re giving you feedback because they care about you and they care about the story and they want to make it better, not because they’re just trying to tear you down and to just say, so read as much as you can, find people that you trust and really lean into work.
Cat:
Amazing. So our final question, which tears, as I already said, we’re ending our conversation soon, but what do you hope kids and teens will take away from your book?
Katie:
So one of the things that I was really important to me in, in this series is how both of my main characters grow and change as voices that they make. And I think that anyone who reads these books realizes that you have the power to be the person you want to be. Terrible things may have happened to you. You may not have had anywhere close to the life that you deserve or the life that you would like to have. But the one thing you can always control are the choices that you make for better or for worse, as my characters find out. But I think it’s so important for people to know that if there’s some something, maybe they’re not happy within their self, they don’t have to stay there. They don’t have to stay feeling sad or alone or just people. They can make choices to do differently to try new things. And I think that’s such a beautiful aspect of being a living, breathing human is different voices and do things differently. And if we learned something that didn’t work and that’s coming from a recovered perfectionist, it’s a lot easier now than that was, you know, 20 years ago in my life. But there’s always the possibility for growth and change and to become that we want to be.
And I think that’s beautiful and incredibly powerful. And I think we underestimate in ourselves a lot of the time.
Cat:
Well, on that note, I’m going to, I’m gonna take all of those feelings with me and just say we didn’t get any questions in the chat but there was so much love and hellos and cheers for you and just what people needed to hear. So congratulations again. Thank you so much for joining us. I love any time I get to connect with you whether it’s by email, by social media, by IG live is a joy for me, Katie. Truly thank you, thank you, thank you. If you would like to order Katie’s new book baby or of any other book in the series you can purchase books at our virtual bookshop powered by bookshop.org. Katie I’m not sure if there’s a specific indie you work with, just email that to me and we’ll make sure we’ll put that in the blog and make sure you pick up this one and the other two. Please: it is a joy. It is a roller coaster and you will not regret it. So please do yourself a favor, get on that roller coaster, enjoy it.
The payoff is incredible and thank you so much everyone for joining us. Thank you for your comments, your love, thank you Katie, thank you for being with us and thank you everyone. Take care of yourselves and be well out there and have a great week everyone. Thank you, bye Katie.
Katie:
Thank you everyone so much, bye.
