Katelyn Costello is another indie author I met through Instagram. I enjoy her pictures and captions relating the excitement of her books and reading, and I was totally cheering her on during NaNoWriMo. She’s in the Rochester, NY area, and the one time I visited Rochester, I loved it. Keep reading to learn more about Kate and her writing journey!
Phantom of the Theatre
Emily: Are you a full time author?
Katelyn: At this time I am a part-time author. I try to spend between 2-5 hours, depending on the day, working on some portion of my author business, be that writing, marketing, or some other admin portion. It is something I would like to be able to do [full-time] by the time I am thirty.
Emily: Being an indie author is harder and way more involved than one would think. The marketing portion alone is a beast. What else do you do?
Katelyn: I work at a local arts council as a Grants Coordinator, and at a library.
Emily: Shout out to libraries! I volunteered at a library when I was in middle school, and I thought it would be awesome to work as a librarian one day. Eventually, I learned that libraries are haunted. Do you have any library ghost stories to share?
Katelyn: I don’t think I have any library ghost stories but I have a few theater ghost stories. I went to Wells College, which is considered one of the most haunted universities on the east coast. Phipps Auditorium has a theatre ghost named Nancy. For the most part, she doesn’t do too much to cause issues, but she does like to play with the lights. There was one show we finished and the audience was getting up to leave and the lights in the auditorium went out. No one was by any of the switches and all the equipment was still on. We were all sorta freaking out on headset, but Nancy was done and just wanted people to leave.
Emily: And now I have goosebumps! There’s a ghost at a local bar here named Helen…but I digress! Moving on before I freak myself out! What hobbies do you have?
Katelyn: I love reading, working out and running in road races (I am not that fast lol), and working in high school theatre.
Emily: At least you’re running! Good for you! My husband is a runner as well. Personally, I never enjoyed running. Ever. I really do admire the folks that do. Tell me more about the work you do with high school theatre.
Katelyn: Sure, so I was in the theatre all the way from middle school and after college. When our former director passed away, I applied. I had worked with most of the students in the short stint I had as a substitute teacher, or I had actually acted with some of them so it was a pretty smooth transition. We just had auditions for our spring musical last week, so my next few months will be pretty busy but it is so much fun.
Emily: I did theatre in high school and college as well, so I know how fun it can be! Your ghost story is still in my head though, and I am so creeped out. For some reason, theaters can be so eerie! Anyway, do you have any favorite play or performance?
Katelyn: My favorite musical by far is The Lion King, I have seen it four times. I love the story, and as a backstage junkie the puppetry, costumes, and sets, and lighting… so everything? It makes me so, so happy. (I saw it again last week and cried through most of it.) It is a dream of mine, just to stand backstage for a performance. I don’t think I have the skills to ever be in it, but I just want to be a fly on the wall for the magic it creates.
Emily: That’s still on my “to see” list! I hear it’s so amazing! I do have plans to see The Cursed Child soon, though! Pretty excited about that!
Current Reads and a Podcast
Emily: What have you read from middle school or high school—or any time—that just stuck with you?
Katelyn: DRACULA. I love Dracula, so much. I first listened to it in 8th grade, on an old blackberry. I got it from my local library, but because the phone didn’t connect to the internet I didn’t have to return it right away. I hacked the system! I want to say I listened to it at least 10 times that year. Since then the Blackstone Audio Edition is my go to version. I always make sure my library card is renewed even if I don’t live in that area any more to make sure I can get it. It is weird that one of the first horror stories is so comforting to me. I ended up writing part of my senior thesis from college on it.
Emily: That’s a really good story! What are you currently reading?
Katelyn: I am currently reading The Black: Evolution by Paul E. Cooley.
Emily: Ocean exploration; rich, underwater oil field; and a creature living in the oil that’s about to threaten all of humanity? The series sounds fascinating. How’d you discover it?
Katelyn: I learned about The Black though a podcast Paul is on called The Dead Robots Society. It started out ten years ago and is run currently by Paul Cooley and Terry Mixon and they talk about self-publishing, writing for audio, the genres they write in, and have a guest speaker every so often. I started listening back in 2016 but I honestly can’t remember how I found the podcast.
Emily: Thanks for the recommendation! I’ll have to check it out. What are you reading next?
Katelyn: Finale by Stephanie Garber
Emily: Ah, Caraval is another series on my TBR. I am so behind. What did you read last?
Katelyn: Becoming by Michelle Obama.
Emily: Yet another book on my TBR. Honestly, I gain more “to reads” than I can keep up with. Do you have a preferred genre?
Katelyn: I read a bit of everything but gravitate mostly to Young Adult Fantasy. Gee I wonder why :p
Emily: Ha! It’s definitely a popular genre these days!
All About the YA Fantasy
Emily: How long have you been writing?
Katelyn: I have been writing professionally for about 2 years, but I started writing when I was 11. I wrote my first story in 8th grade.
Emily: What was it about?
Katelyn: “The Visions” was a short story (though I thought it was long enough to be a novel then it felt so long) about a princess named Leona in a desert city-state called Joyetta. Every few months her family had to pay a tithe to the nomads outside their city-state to avoid a war. As the city-state was a Matriarchy, it was Leona’s job to go out and initiate the tithe. But Leona also had visions, which while weren’t always right always had a grain of truth. Leona went out and got herself captured, and found a macho cowboy and they escaped together. He got hurt and she ended up in a gladiator-style battle with the leader of the Nomads. She killed him because she was a badass archeress, and then the story just ended with her at home. There were a lot of plot threads that if I were to rewrite it would be fun to work with, but, at this point, a rewrite is not on my radar for this.
Emily: It sounds fascinating! I bet if you were to revisit it in the future, you could do a lot with it. I saw on Instagram that you were interviewed on TV! What was that like?
Katelyn: Yeah! It was very surreal. I have done theater and presentations for my books and things but this was so different. I actually filmed 2 segments, which I was NOT expecting! I walked in and they were like “hey, our segment for tomorrow morning backed out can we throw you in?” One was a live recording, which means it was a one-take shot. Whatever I said was going up, but it wasn’t being broadcasted as I spoke. It was more about Rebellion and the release of my second book. The 2nd [segement] was an edited piece that was a bit longer, and it was about how I have built my online following and how I use social media to attempt to break up the wall that authors are these superior beings compared to the “average person,” as well as what it is like to be a female author entrepreneur.
Emily: For anyone interested, here are the links to watch Katelyn’s interviews:
Emily: Which of your books should we read first?
Photo by Katelyn Costello
Katelyn: The Frituals is the first book in my series, it definitely should be read first.
Emily: What's your book about?
Katelyn: Every year humans and elves are tested when they come of age to see if any of them are able to control a nearly dead magick. Shauna Flynn, a scholar at heart, has always wanted to meet a Fritual, but when she finds out she is a Fritual things start to go wrong—especially when the Dark Ones, an extremist group of elves find out she, a human, is able to control an elven magick. She is forced to flee her home and family in an attempt to find others like her.
Emily: What genre is it?
Katelyn: Young Adult Fantasy
Emily: Which of your characters should I interview and why?
Katelyn: Either Shuana or her older sister Taytra. Both are leading ladies and deal with extreme change over the course of the books.
Team Ravenclaw
Emily: What are you binge-watching?
Katelyn: The West Wing
Emily: Which Hogwarts House are you in?
Photo by Katelyn Costello.
Katelyn: Ravenclaw. I have a massive Crest Cross-stitch created by my good friend @Sabrinas_spell.
Emily: As a fellow Ravenclaw, I find that very cool. What's the last movie you watched?
Katelyn: The last movie I watched was How to Train Your Dragon 2. I love the How to Train Your Dragon Series.
Emily: Me too! I mean, I haven’t watched the series, but I love the movies! Who's your Doctor?
Katelyn: Ten, David Tennet, I just love him, and will go back and binge any of his work all the time.
Emily: You and me both! My husband just got me the whole Tennent collection! That hair! High five!
Interview with Shauna Flynn, Scholar and Explorer
Inspiration photo provided by Katelyn Costello, from Armstreet.
I get lost easily, so when Shauna Flynn asked me to meet her in the woods around Cabineral Lake, I was a little apprehensive. I also don’t know what kind of wildlife is in the area, but I’m all about my interviews, so here I am! The lake is gorgeous, and the woods are peaceful, and I’m really glad I came. While keeping the lake in sight, I managed to venture off—but not too far—on some trails, seeing if I could find anything of historical significance.
I find flowers, rocks, mushrooms…and Shauna! She’s blonde with grey-blue eyes and strolls through the wood as if she were a wood nymph.
She looks quite pleased and hands me a stack of bound papers. I flip through it.
Emily: What’s this?
Shauna: This is a copy of the Queen Moraine’s family tree. Mistress Biltar let me borrow one of the large books with all the information on Queen Moraine for a few days. Well I couldn’t take it home, but I did get my own corner desk to work in, and I didn’t have to turn the book back until I was done. I hope you don’t mind those few smudges, I have never been very good about waiting for the ink to dry.
Emily: Ah, this must be related to the Frituals!
Shauna: The Frituals are so interesting. I just want to like sit down and talk with one of them, if we ever find them.
Emily: What are they exactly…?
Shauna: They are elves that can control Magick, but they don’t have a basic control like most people. They have an extraordinary amount of magick, and it doesn’t drain them as fast as it does others. The name Fritual was orginated when an elf named Matron was born able to control four of the five elemental magicks. Now it is thought the Frituals will only be able to control one to two elements. I have only seen magick used once, and that was only for a minute. A traveling elf created a flower out of nothing. But he looked so tired after. I want to know what it would be like to cast magick, what would it feel like? Look like? I just want to pick their brain.
Emily: You sound like you’re on a quest for knowledge. Is that what motivates you?
Shauna: I’m not sure, I guess learning motivates me. I love history, and spending time exploring my home and trying to picture what it would be like when Magick was a regular thing. Magick motivates me. I love learning about it, and how it affected our world and how it still does now even though not many people use it, how it shapes our year through holidays and traditions, things like that.
Emily: So what do you do from day to day to continue learning?
Shauna: Explore! I have been doing research on these old locations in history for the last few years. Not all of them are known to be real, so…
Emily: Is that your goal in life? Research? Finding answers?
Shauna: Just to be happy. The last few months have been really hard since Mama died. And I kinda just want things to go back to normal. Or like as normal as it can be.
Emily: Sounds like family is pretty important to you.
Shauna: My family means so much to me. When I eventually get married I probably won’t live far from my family, I can’t imagine that. Their advice and my relationship with them means too much to me.
Emily: On the flip side, what irritates you?
Shauna: When people complain about how they are dumb or have no purpose! You may not have the best grasp on this thing, but you are amazing and know how to do that thing! That makes you smart right?! It's silly but I just don't like seeing people beat themselves up because they can't figure out the weight of a bag of flour or whatever when they are amazing at something "random" like navigating with a compass, or using healing herbs.
Emily: I have a special talent for getting lost. I’m amazing at it. What special talents or skills do you have?
Shauna: I have gotten really good at holding my breath underwater, it helps me when swimming races, cause I don’t need to come up for air as often as others.
Emily: That is a cool talent! Aside from that, what do you want people to know most about you?
Shauna: That I am kind, but just shy. A lot of people mistake me for my sister Taytra because we look alike, and she tends to…upset people we will say, with how brash she can be at times. But we are different for sure.
Emily: Well, I can vouch for your kindness because as we’ve been talking, we’ve been walking, and I can’t see the lake anymore. So, maybe you could help me find my way back?
For more information on Katelyn Costello and her books, check out the links below:
Website: https://www.katelyncostello.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authorkatelyncostello/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thescripturient101/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/scripturienting