Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m an author and machine learning researcher in Silicon Valley. My two novels are both speculative fiction centered on young women, but beyond that they have little in common! My debut novel is climate fiction, about near-future California ravaged by wildfires and a rising sea, and it’s really a character study of a female software engineer displaced by climate change. My second novel, coming out in a few weeks, is a dark retelling of Cinderella.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Pretty Deadly is my (very) dark retelling of Cinderella. I came up with the idea after reading a number of books pitched as dark fairytale retellings and not finding them dark enough! I wanted something brutal, with a true antihero (or even villain) in the role of the fairytale’s princess. I wanted to put the agency firmly in the hands of the protagonist, but make the reader wonder whether that’s a good idea. Pretty Deadly answers the question, “What if Cinderella were a psychopath?”
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I edit while walking around! In order to type quickly enough for drafting I have to sit and type with both hands, but while editing I think much more clearly holding my laptop and pacing in my kitchen, correcting typos and flagging sentences as I spot them.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
I have too many influences to possibly name them all, but honestly I grew up deep in mid-aughts YA, and that shaped me. Those books often wouldn’t fly now–full of saviors flying in from outside, instalove, and other things that I see as problematic today–but I loved them. They made me believe in the fantastical and made me want to be a writer myself.
What are you working on now?
My next projects are both more fairytale retellings. First, there’s Snow White, but gay and violent (I guess violence is a thing I want to see added to fairytales in general!). I submitted it to PitchWars; we’ll see where that goes. And my writing group is currently reading my asexual/aromantic take on Beauty and the Beast. I love this one a lot, but I’m a bit worried that people won’t take to a classic love story without the romance.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’ve found success with Amazon ads for sales on Amazon, and for in-person sales the thing that has worked best is communicating very directly with local bookstores. There’s not tons of volume that way, but it’s so satisfying to see my book on a shelf and then to hear from the store that it sold and they need to order more!
Do you have any advice for new authors?
My best advice is nothing new: keep writing. Remember that your first draft (and even best draft, probably) isn’t done, and that your publisher will assign an editor who will make it even better. I’m always astounded by how much my work keeps improving right up until publication day!
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Write what you want to read. This doesn’t mean you’ll be published or successful–your markets may not match the market–but it does mean you’ll have lots of fun.
What are you reading now?
I’m currently reading Beloved by Toni Morrison, which is very heavy. When I needed something lighter, I picked up Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson, but that’s not really any less intense! Usually I try to read two or three books at a time.
What’s next for you as a writer?
Hopefully I’ll have some exciting news soon about one of my completed manuscripts! I’m also hard at work drafting the sequel to Pretty Deadly, which I’ll submit to my publisher sometime next year, assuming all goes well. And I’m going to be writing the foreword to a rerelease of a classic novel that I can’t yet reveal, which I’m very much looking forward to.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Oh, this is so hard! I’d want one of my comfort books from childhood, maybe The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale, a more recent favorite like Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston, and then something really long and detailed. Honestly, maybe Ministry for the Future would be a great way to round it out! Or perhaps The Overstory, which is similarly involved.
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Kelsey Josund Website
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