Behind the Keyboard: An Interview with Katharine E. Wibell
Transcript
J. G. Gates:
Hello and welcome to the Behind the Keyboard segment of Authors Review Books. My name is J. G. Gates, and please help me welcome Katharine E. Wibell.
Katharine is a high fantasy author, artist, nerd, extrovert, and speaker. Her first series, The Incarn Saga, began in 2016 with Asara’s Claws. Soon three more books completed this fast-paced new adult shifter fantasy.
Currently, The Djed Chronicles, a Noblebrite YA portal fantasy series, will release its sixth book in 2026. She also creates hand-painted TTRPG miniatures based on her characters, along with accompanying game material.
So, Katharine, thank you so much for being with us to share your authorly insights today.
Katharine E. Wibell:
Thank you for having me here.
J. G. Gates:
Happy to have you. First of all, let’s dig into your writing process. Tell me about how you write.
Katharine E. Wibell:
That’s a big question! As far as process goes, I’m a morning writer, but I like to juggle multiple projects at once. In the mornings I focus on whatever new manuscript I’m writing—or sometimes editing—and in the afternoons I handle social media and publication tasks.
Having this kind of writing cycle, where I work on multiple projects at different stages and often from different series, allows me to release two or three books a year. I love high fantasy in all its forms, and being able to jump between mythic retellings and my YA portal fantasy keeps me energized. It helps me avoid burnout and writer’s block—at least so far!
J. G. Gates:
When you start a new project, how do you approach it? Are you a plotter, a pantser, or something in between?
Katharine E. Wibell:
I’m a plantser—I plant the seed and let it grow. I like to have at least a loose outline, often more detailed than that, but still flexible.
I always know the endgame when I start. I know my main characters, their personalities, and the basics of the world system. But if new characters or subplots emerge as I write, I let them. I don’t want to be so rigid that the story can’t breathe. I want the world to take its first breath and come alive.
J. G. Gates:
How long are your planning documents? Some writers have a few sentences; others have forty pages.
Katharine E. Wibell:
It really varies. For example, I’m finishing a Greek myth retelling right now. I have a loose timeline and scattered notes, but what I really use is what I call rolling notes.
Whatever chapter I’m working on is at the top, and below that are pages of notes—ideas, bits of dialogue, future scenes. As I go, I can drop those notes in chronologically where they belong. By the end, those rolling notes can be forty pages long! It keeps me from getting lost in the future while staying focused on the scene at hand.
J. G. Gates:
Do you keep those notes in the same document as your manuscript?
Katharine E. Wibell:
Usually, yes. But I also keep a separate style sheet—a reference for characters, physical details, personality notes, scars, wounds, place names, cityscapes, unique terminology. It’s easier to check that than scroll through a manuscript.
So I mainly use two key documents: the rolling notes and the style sheet.
J. G. Gates:
You’ve published quite a few books. How long have you been writing?
Katharine E. Wibell:
I’ve been storytelling my whole life. As a kid, I made up characters, backstories, and worlds with my sister. Some of those ideas—things I dreamed up at age eight or ten—became part of The Djed Chronicles.
I first wanted to write a book in high school, but I didn’t start with my “passion project.” Instead, I worked on another idea that became Asara’s Claws. I dabbled with it, took a break for college, and finally published it in 2016—about ten years after I first imagined it.
Since then, I’ve released nine novels and sixteen novellas, with special editions on the way soon.
J. G. Gates:
Where do your ideas come from now?
Katharine E. Wibell:
Everywhere. My brain just spins off stories. I’ve always loved myths and legends, so I split my writing into two main categories: myth-based retellings and original fantasy worlds.
Asara’s Claws came from a vivid dream. My multiverse grew out of my childhood play. One world came from a D&D character I played—I want to turn that into a D&D-style progression fantasy with Witcher vibes. Another story grew from a political intrigue challenge my husband gave me. Inspiration can truly come from anywhere, and that’s what I love.
J. G. Gates:
There’s a lot of talk about “writing to market.” How much does that influence your process?
Katharine E. Wibell:
A bit of both. My first series was 100% for me—I didn’t even know marketing was a thing. I published my first book, waited two years, and wondered why no one found it!
Now I still write what I’m passionate about, but I’m more aware of what readers are looking for. I think about how to describe my book, what tropes it fits, who my readers are, what the comparable titles are.
I don’t write formulaically, but I do think about marketing early so that I can connect my books with the right audience.
J. G. Gates:
You do a great job connecting with readers. What works best for you?
Katharine E. Wibell:
Start building your platform early. Pick one or two social media platforms and start talking about your process. It’s a free, organic way to reach readers worldwide.
In the last few years, I’ve also been attending conventions—fantasy cons and book events—sometimes as a vendor, panelist, or moderator. That face-to-face interaction is invaluable for building community and meeting readers.
J. G. Gates:
That’s something I need to do more of.
Katharine E. Wibell:
Come to Georgia! There are lots of great cons here, from Dragon Con with 85,000 people to smaller local events with just a few hundred. They’re all fun and worthwhile.
J. G. Gates:
What’s the worst piece of advice you’ve ever received?
Katharine E. Wibell:
Anything that starts with “This is the only way.” There’s no single right way to write, publish, or market a book. Learn as much as you can, test things, and find what works for you.
J. G. Gates:
That’s so true.
Katharine E. Wibell:
Exactly. What works for one author might flop for another. Your genre, timing, and goals all change the equation. Take advice, try it, and if it doesn’t work, move on.
J. G. Gates:
I like that. What about good advice—what’s something you’d tell new writers?
Katharine E. Wibell:
Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Start your platform early. The writing community is incredibly supportive—especially indie authors. Ask questions, try things, and use the resources available. You’ll learn faster and grow stronger by collaborating, not isolating.
J. G. Gates:
The indie community really is amazing.
Katharine E. Wibell:
It is. So m...
In this episode, author Katharine E. Wibell discusses her “The Guardian’s Speaker” books and reviews Akithar’s Greatest Trick by Jason Dorough. Also mentioned are Dragons and Aces by J. G. Gates, Wild Reverence by Rebecca Ross, and The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss.
Transcript
J. G. Gates
Hi and welcome to Authors Review Books Fantasy, the show where your favorite authors share the books that they love. I'm J.G. Gates, bestselling author of over a dozen novels. Most recently, you may have heard of Dragons and Aces, which is about a biplane pilot and a dragon rider from enemy nations who, you know, fall in love. So it's got enemies to lovers vibes, mistaken identity, it's got some spice and... It may be the book for you, so check it out if you're looking for a fantasy read.
Our featured new release today is Wild Reverence by Rebecca Ross. True Love is more divine than any ruthless god. This is a standalone fantasy novel that features a goddess and a mortal with familiar characters from Ross's Divine Rivals series. that is our new release for the day. And by the way, if any of the books that are mentioned on this show sound like your next favorite read, there will be links in the show notes and captions where you can find them.
And now let's welcome our guest, Katharine E. Wibell is a high fantasy author, artist, nerd, extrovert and speaker. Her first series, The Incarn Saga began in 2016 with Ishura's Claws. Soon three more books completed this fast-paced new adult shifter fantasy. Currently, The Djed Chronicles, a noble bright YA portal fantasy series will release its sixth book in 2026. She also creates and hand-paints TTRPG miniatures based on her characters, which is super cool, along with creating the accompanying gaming material. So, Katharine, welcome.
Katharine E. Wibell
Hi.
J. G. Gates
Yeah, thank you so much. So I know you have a book you're going to review for us today, but first I want you to tell me a little bit about ⁓ your latest book.
Katharine E. Wibell
Well, I-- I'm gonna throw it for loop. I'm actually, instead of talking about the latest book, which is part of the Djed Chronicle series, my YA series, I did want to kind of focus on The Guardian Speaker, which for people who like, especially in the darker side of fantasy or mythic based retellings, this may be the one for you, since The Guardian Speaker, as of the end of last year, is now a complete series of 16 novellas and they're pretty much a deep dive in Nordic myth. You follow the point of view character, this young female essentially Viking character who was born with the ability to see and communicate with everybody's animal-shaped guardian spirits, but because of her ability is so rare that people look at her talking to herself and pretty much think she's a little crazy and so she's been ostracized her whole life and shunned out of society and so she lives on the fringes of the village and where she thinks at that point of her life that she's okay just doing what she's done. That is, until she meets another person who has a similar though different ability and but he is brought in as a person in bondage and he also brings in with a warning that he has realized there is a threat on humanity and his particular ability may allow him to help stop this oncoming plague that's coming out towards them. So she does the first big decision of her life and frees this man, and in doing so and the repercussions that follow send her and her family on essentially a Viking Odyssey throughout all nine realms of Nordic myth. So that's my series in a little nutshell, and I'm really excited about it. The first, as I said, they are novellas. come out independently, and then originally I bundled them in sets of four. So… print versions but what's really exciting for me is in November, I'll be launching my special limited deluxe edition of the series. And they're going to be bundled in a set of one through eight and a set of nine through 16. And they're going to have the works, the sprayed edges, the foiling. I have worked with a variety of artists. So you're going to have character art and beautiful scene art and everything you kind of hopefully want in a special edition. So for me, that's really exciting. And so that will be my last kind of gearing up release for the year. I'm really just thrilled
J. G. Gates
Love it Nordic Odyssey and you know beautiful fancy books. You gotta love that. Is it gonna come to Kickstarter? Is that what you said?
Katharine E. Wibell
Yeah, so this will be a Kickstarter launch and I'm aiming usually for the third Tuesday of the month, though if you ask me what date that is right now, that is so far in advance because I am right now just working behind the scenes of setting up that Kickstarter and then that means after I hopefully fund the project, we'll be releasing these beautiful books to the world early next year.
J. G. Gates
That sounds super duper fun. I love it. I'm gonna definitely check that out. cool. Now you have a book I believe that you are going to review for us today. Is that right?
Katharine E. Wibell
Yes, of course. So, there were so many books in the world I could have chose. Today I decided to pick one of mine that when I read it a couple years ago, I was just stunned. It was just so phenomenal to me. And this is Akathar's Greatest Trick by Jason Thurow. And if you like these kind of these vast sweeping epic style fantasies with huge cast of characters, so many things going on, so many plots and so
plots and counter plots going on. This book is probably the one for you. There's that heist, there's this magical element and it pretty much the story in a nutshell for this one is it's set in a world where magic is outlawed and only the ruling person of this region can control magic and so anybody who's born with the gift of using magic is hunted down.
Now, in this one little town called Coolbridge, if I pronounce it correctly, there is a famed magician, the stage magician, and so magicians are okay as long as you're using technology and sleights of hand that's for showmanship, but he is so good that it brings the suspicion to him that is he actually just using tech or is he using magic? And so the Empire sends people to investigate and so the books called Akathar's Greatest Trick, The Stage Magician of course is Akathar himself, the great, and it's just this phenomenal book. Again, you think you know what's gonna go on and you definitely don't. There are, I don't remember if there's like over 20 POV characters, huge of everything from you have that wonderful antagonist, you have multiple different kind of protagonist, everything from the villains you love to hate to those that you sympathize with, you have some obscure characters that you think they're just gonna give you a little bit a glimpse of the world from their point of view that end up being very impactful in the end and one of my favorite favorite things about the book is that the main character arguably the main character Akathar the Great is actually not a POV character. His whole story is told by everybody else. So this was the first time I've ever read a book where the main character is not the one who tells his own story. But yeah, so I have a little cover here and that's Akathar's Greatest Trick by Jason Derowe.
J. G. Gates
Yeah. That's super interesting, you know, and it's funny bec...
In this "Behind the Keyboard" interview, we get writing, publishing, and book marketing advice from traditionally-published author Kait Ballenger, author of Original Sinner and many other books.
Interview Transcript
J. G. Gates
Hi and welcome to Behind the Keyboard where we explore the writing process of some of our favorite authors. Today we have Kate Ballinger with us. Kate is an award-winning author of dark romantasy and paranormal romance. She is obsessed with tales of morally gray, sometimes villainous heroes, and can't resist a spicy redemption arc. When Kate's not busy writing kinky paranormal fantasy, she can usually be found with her nose buried in someone else's naughty books. She lives in Florida's Bible Belt with her husband and two adorable sons, and she will gladly use that belt to whip you.
Kate, welcome. Thank you for being here.
Kait Ballenger
Thanks so much for having me.
J. G. Gates
So let's dive right in. So my first question is kind of open-ended, deliberately tell us a little bit about your writing process. Just like walk us through what it's like for you to approach a book from beginning to end.
Kait Ballenger
So it's definitely changed over the course of my career. I tend to be more of like a discovery writer or a panster as some people call it. I like discovery writer because it sounds like nicer. But I will say at the beginning of my career, I would plot out bigger plot beats like before I even started, right? Looking at like what's the inciting incident turning point one, right?
J. G. Gates
That's true.
Kait Ballenger
I can go through some of the bigger story arc structure and only then would I start to put pin to page. But I've leaned into my discovery writer-ness. we have a cat appearing with us. Welcome, pet friends. But I've leaned more into this discovery writer even more as I've started.
J. G. Gates
Good. Embrace the cats, please. Of course.
Kait Ballenger
…Continuing in my career. And so for the original Sinner series specifically, this was very much a joy project for me. It was a passion project. So it just was like, I was going on vibes at the start of it. Like I had like a couple songs that were like, you know, sparking inspiration and like varying ideas for scenes. But when I sat down, I was really just kind of letting it free flow. I do tend to edit a lot as I go. So like once I drafted a scene before I move on to the next one, the following day if I come back to it I will go through and I will edit the previous scene as a means of almost getting back in the mindset of where I was previously. So there ends up being a lot of like iteration in the process even though I'm a discovery writer so my drafts really come out relatively clean at the end because I do so much editing, but it just kind of helps me get back in the mindset of where I was going with the story. But, very much a panster.
J. G. Gates
I love that. And it's so interesting, because I feel like that's one of the pieces of advice that you see people say is like, never edit as you go, right? Like always, like get it on paper, get the whole thing done. Don't worry about editing as you go. But I think, you know, what you're saying makes sense to like when you sit back down again, it takes a minute to get back into the world. So like, you know, why not reread that past scene, do a little revision on it, and then you're like fully back into the world to continue ahead.
Kait Ballenger
Exactly, , and like and I definitely do that in like chunks too because like I follow basically the W plot method and so like and I love using that and so I break the book basically into four acts and so like I Iterate the pages like as I'm writing the first act of like okay I'm editing and I'll go back to stuff that I've already edited even and kind of read through it like make little notes like as I'm going and then once I get to the end of that section and that section's polished then I go on to the next section. And I know a lot of writers definitely give that advice of like, don't edit as you go, but for me, it helps me get back in the mindset, it helps me continue on in the story, and then when I'm finished, I have a really polished draft that is like basically ready to go off to my editor.
So for me, the writing would not go faster if I didn't do the editing. The editing is a part of that process. I don't know if you're familiar with Becca Syme and her Write Better Faster courses, but I always just, I trust my intuition on that. That's the way it works best for me. And so my advice to writers is always to just go with, find what works best for you, trust your intuition, because it's going to be different for every writer.
J. G. Gates
That's so true. There's really as many varied processes as there are writers out there, right? You mentioned the W plot method. Can you tell us what that is a little bit? Because I'm not familiar with it either. I haven't heard of that myself, so.
Kait Ballenger
Yes. So, it's a plot structure that like it's very visual. It looks like an actual W, right? And so you start with the inciting incident is like the start of the W. And then as you're going down and you're getting like the problems are deepening for the main characters, right? Until you get to another like the bottom of the first part of the W would be another turning point, right? And then so your midpoint is your midpoint high and then you've your black moment which is like the major low of the story going up into the resolution of like the height of everything being resolved and so it's frequently used in screenwriting I would say and I love the visualness of it because what I don't love as much about other plotting structures even though a lot of them are very similar is that it I feel like other plotting structures don't really
give you the right rise and fall visual of the action, right? Because like when that inciting incident happens in the story, like everything's gonna get worse for the character up until they decide to basically accept that they need to go on this journey, right? And so I love the visualness of like the the downward spiral of things going bad for the hero or heroine and then you reach that turning point and things start to get better for a little bit. They start to think that it's figured out into they hit the climax and then no maybe I don't have this figured out the way I thought I was going to. So it's a very visual like plotting method with basic like turning points on it.
J. G. Gates
That's really true. mean, as I think through what you're saying, it definitely, my outlining process is very, it's like a Frankenstein mishmash of all different theories of plot, but all of it's kind of the same in a way, right? And it does sort of follow that. And I think I do like that visually that really points out the midpoint in the story that is important. So, that's great.
Kait Ballenger
Midpoint is so important and so like, oftentimes like, it helps me because then I know that like, okay, the midpoint, my character really has to feel like they're on top of the world and then I've got to just rip the rug out from underneath them. Yes.
J. G. Gates
Right, right. , they've been developing that mastery or their plan or whatever and it's like, finally did it....
Kait Ballenger, Author of Original Sinner, Reviews Shield of Sparrows by Devney Perry
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Interview Transcript
J. G. Gates
Hi and welcome to Authors Review Books where your favorite authors share the books they love. I am bestselling author J.G. Gates, author of over a dozen books, and most recently, you may have heard of Dragons and Aces. It's an enemies-to-lovers story about a badass dragon rider and dashing biplane pilot from enemy nations, which I wrote. It has banter, has spice, and has a morally gray male main character. So if you loved Fourth Wing, then this one might be your next favorite dragon read. So check it out!
Our featured new release of the day is Kingdom of Tomorrow by Gina Showalter. 20-year-old Arden Roosa has only ever known Ourland, a fractured world stitched together with fallen gods, heavenly artifacts, and a strange madness that haunts the night, turning innocents into killers. When she discovers a mysterious book written about her life, she's forced into Fort Bala Royal Academy, where she's paired with the ruthless High Prince Cyrus Dolian. Between combat training, panic attacks, and an invitation to the elusive Tome Society, a secretive group guarding a library of prophetic books, Arden realizes her entire destiny might be written long before she has a chance to choose it herself. The book is out now.
And now let's welcome our guest. Kait Ballinger is an award-winning author of dark romantasy and paranormal romance. She is obsessed with tales of morally gray, sometimes villainous heroes and can't resist a spicy redemption arc. When Kait's not busy writing kinky paranormal fantasy, she can usually be found with her nose buried in someone else's naughty books. She lives in Florida's Bible Belt with her husband and two adorable sons and will gladly use that belt to whip you. I love that. Kait, welcome.
Kait Ballenger
Thanks so much for having me.
J. G. Gates
Awesome. And this is not our first time meeting, right? We were in school together. We were in MFA program together, right?
Kait Ballenger
Yes, yeah, yeah, in all transparency, we are already friends.
J. G. Gates
Yes, yes, absolutely. And it's funny. I mean, I think you were published at that time. But I do remember reading your work in workshops and stuff and just being like: no notes, Kait's fantastic. So yeah, yeah.
Kait Ballenger
Thank you. Yeah. That was my early Harlequin days. I was already writing for Harlequin at that period and it's been a long journey since then.
J. G. Gates
Absolutely. Well, you were a phenomenal writer then and are continuing to have tremendous success, which is no surprise to me, but I'm happy to be hanging out with you again. So, I know you have a book that you want to review with us today. But first, I want to give you a chance to talk about some of your books. So let's hear about it.
Kait Ballenger
Thank you. Yeah, so as we already mentioned, I write dark romantasy. So the current series that I'm focusing on is my original Sinner series. And the first book, Original Sinner, came out back in March. And then I just released book two in the series. Wicked Believer came out at the start of this current month that we're recording in. So yeah, the little bit of background about that series is I like to say that it's like Netflix's Lucifer if it had a baby with 50 Shades of Gray. So it's like that show but a little bit spicier is the best way to describe this series. In Original Sinner, Lucifer and the other seven deadly sins are now billionaire celebrities and they live topside in New York City and are kind of controlling the world.
J. G. Gates
Nice.
Kait Ballenger
And our heroine Charlotte is an ex-evangelical running away from her ultra-religious family to New York and she finds herself working for the devil himself, for Lucifer. And romantic chaos ensues from there. It's a fake dating trope, morally grey MMC of course, because he's Lucifer. And yeah, the chaos continues.
J. G. Gates
My gosh, that sounds super duper fun. Yeah, that sounds amazing.
Kait Ballenger
I've had a great time writing this series. It was very much a joy project for me. It was just something fun that I wanted to do. And then like the fact that it's, you know, taken off kind of the way it has has been really great. My readers are very excited for the book three's installment to come out.
J. G. Gates
I bet they are. That's just such a fun thing when you're an author and you have a concept that you're just like, ooh, like I'm gonna have fun with this. Like you can just tell it's gonna be a fun concept. So yeah, absolutely…
Kait Ballenger
Exactly. Sometimes you just have to do projects because there's the joy of it. And that was very much this series. And so the fact that readers are on board with it too has been extra special.
J. G. Gates
That sounds amazing. So awesome. So that's your book. Now, what book are you going to review for us today?
Kait Ballenger
Yeah, so we're going to be talking about Shield of Sparrows by Devne Perry. And this one was going all around BookTok when it first came out. It's a Red Tower title from Entangled Publishing. You know, I read a lot of the big romantasy books that come out and have varying opinions, but this one was just chef's kiss Good. So, yeah, it was an easy choice.
J. G. Gates
This is definitely a book that you're right… flipping through Booktok or wherever, you saw it a lot. It makes you go, hmm, there's gotta be something about this one.
Kait Ballenger
Sometimes I'm on board with the hype and other times more often than not I am not, but this one I was like, no, I see what the hype is about. This one's great.
J. G. Gates
So what's it about? Give us a little breakdown of the plot. Without too many spoilers.
Kait Ballenger
Yeah, not too many spoilers. So Shield of Sparrows starts in a fantasy world that is facing what is essentially called like a migration of these really large, almost like monstrous creatures each year, right? They have issues within these varying fantasy kingdoms of trying to figure out how to protect themselves from the migration, which happens, I want to say it's like every 300 years, like don't quote me on the specifics, and they're about to have another one. And Odessa, the heroine, is the second-born daughter of one of the kings of this kingdom and has spent her whole life kind of being in he...