Kalyn Josephson currently works as a Technical Writer in the tech industry, which leaves room for too many bad puns about technically being a writer. Though she grew up in the central coast, she graduated from Santa Clara University with degrees in Biology and English. Currently, she lives in the Bay Area with two black cats (who are more like a tiny dragon and an even tinier owl). THE STORM CROW duology and Ravenfall series are out now.
Kalyn’s latest book, This Dark Descent, releases TOMORROW 9/26! Kalyn recently joined us to answer some questions about this new release:
Hi! Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your upcoming novel, This Dark Descent?
I’d love to! My name is Kalyn Josephson, and I’m a young adult and middle grade fantasy author. This Dark Descent is a YA fantasy that’s like Peaky Blinders meets The Scorpio Races with Jewish mythology. It’s about a cast of characters forced together to win a cut-throat enchanted horse race.
Jewish folklore isn’t something we see a lot of in YA. What elements of it can we expect to see in This Dark Descent?
There’s a lot of subtle elements that are woven into the book, but the most notable is golems. Traditionally, golems are humanoid, but in This Dark Descent one of the main characters crafts animals out of clay, including the horse the other MC rides in the race.
What did your journey to publication look like for your debut novel? Do you have any advice for authors currently trying to get their first book published?
Oh gosh, do I. I did pretty much everything wrong when I queried my first couple books and didn’t land an agent until my fourth book. My advice would be to educate yourself on the process, and to make connections in the community with other writers going through the same thing. Publishing is a difficult landscape, and having that community makes all the difference.
How do you balance your novel-writing with your job as a technical writer?
a. To be frank, not easily. I think it’s important to be transparent about how demanding publishing can be on top of another job. I get most of my writing done before or after work and use the majority of my time off from work to meet writing deadlines. Time management becomes really important!
This Dark Descent is part of your third published series. Do you have any tips and tricks for other writers on how to plot series?
Actually plot them out—and I don’t mean that sarcastically. I’ve made the mistake of writing book 1 with only a very vague idea of what subsequent books will look like, and it can make drafting them difficult. You don’t have to get down an entire outline but having an idea of the major beats of a sequel can help you set them up better in previous books. Just be careful about setting yourself limitations: timelines, magic rules, etc.—anything that if you limit in book 1, you have to abide by in book 2.
How do you help yourself through writers’ block?
I always have to step away from writing and go do something else, preferably something that requires low thought engagement. For example, running or listening to music occupies my brain just enough to let my thoughts flow more freely. Often by giving myself a break from trying to figure something out, I’ll end up finding the solution when I least expect it.
Where to find Kalyn:
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