Kristen is a Young Adult author in Kentucky, but before that she changed her college major three times and attended graduate school in yet another completely different field. After many years, she finally gave in to her life-long passion of writing.
Kristen spent her childhood in the mountains of Eastern Kentucky. It is the most beautiful place she can think of and it laid the foundation for who she is today. Those mountains have given her the passion to write stories in rural settings with strong family dynamics, often sprinkled with supernatural elements.
When her nose isn’t stuck in a book, Kristen is visiting theme parks, cooking, camping (car camping, not backpacking), and getting really interested in starting a hobby, but never fully committing to it (e.g. Tarot, beekeeping, Latin, calligraphy).
What questions do my stories answer?
What would you do if someone you trusted was hiding something?
Who shows up for you when everything falls apart?
What does it mean to truly belong somewhere?
Who do you become when the people around you need you most?
What secrets can a place hold onto for years without anyone noticing?
And most importantly, who did it?
Why do I write YA?
The first book I ever wrote was a Middle Grade mystery. I’d recently been on a Middle Grade reading kick, and so when I decided to pursue writing seriously, it seemed like the age category for me. Except, once I finished writing that first book, it was 1) not well-written (because I had yet to discover craft books or beta readers) and 2) missing something. A huge chunk of something. And I couldn’t figure out what the something was.
That was about the time SCBWI came into my life, and a wealth of other writing craft resources including blogs, books, and critique partner meetups. I soaked up mountains of information and read voraciously. I revisited the Young Adult section of the library, a section I hadn’t been to in over a decade. And everything clicked.
The young adult years are the most high-stakes time of a person’s life. Every single decision shapes who you will become as an adult. The hardest part is that you’re expected to make those decisions before really knowing yourself or who you actually want to be as an adult. It seems impossible, yet humanity has been doing it since forever.
Every decision matters, but some matter more than others, like who you let inside your circle. How other people treat you and interact with you will form how you view the world and yourself. The people inside your circle matter a lot. Some of this is outside of your control. Family, homeroom teachers, the people in the community where you live–all outside of your control. At least for now. The decision here is more about how to handle these interactions, especially if they’re detrimental and causing a negative impact on your worldview or self-esteem. How you handle those interactions often comes down to who your friends are. Fortunately, you can choose your friends.
You can choose who/if you decide to date or who your best friend will be. You can choose the group of people that will be your sounding board. They will help you overcome the bad stuff and not lead you straight into the bad stuff. Though determining that group of people can be tricky.
The young adult years are a time of big changes, big decisions, and big emotions. Everything is dialed up to a hundred. Because it all matters. There is no other time in your life where you will have this much independence while also grappling with an overwhelming amount of authority. There is a constant tug of war.
All of this gets reflected in young adult stories. These years are about exploring, pushing back, and taking chances. The safest way to feel out all these moments is through story, putting yourself in someone else’s shoes and wondering, Would I handle this the same way?
These are the stories that I love to tell. The ones where a seemingly small decision has a domino effect, because in real life there is always a major chain reaction with an everlasting impact on who you will become. That was the missing chunk. I want you to read my stories and walk away understanding those dominos, and hopefully, yourself.