Kat Ellis

The Devouring Light by @katelliswrites.bsky.social is so much fun, and so gross, and so creepy and so fungrosscreepy! Highly recommended! Great pacing and set pieces. Ellis has a very deft hand with action sequences and body horror descriptions. Love a rock band road trip gone wrong.

Read it. 🖤🦷

Thank you so much! 😊

Thank you! ☺️

#TheDevouringLight by @katelliswrites.bsky.social is a creepy mystery perfect for dark nights and cosy chairs.
Urban Legends✔️
Missing YouTuber ✔️
Abandoned House✔️
Music Superstars✔️
Sabotage✔️
Paranoia✔️
...and a growing body count✔️✔️✔️

Thanks @netgalley.bsky.social

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Huge thank you to @katelliswrites.bsky.social for a great #ukteenchat! Can't wait to scare myself up a copy! And of course to our host-mistress extraordinaire @finlaysonpalmer.bsky.social 😊

Thank you for having me! #ukteenchat

Thank you for joining in! #ukteenchat

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And just keep going! #ukteenchat

Also read as much as you can, in whatever format you prefer, because it works your story muscles even while you’re not actually writing. #ukteenchat

Hmm, let’s see… Try to write stories you’d be excited to read. I think if you’re feeling that excitement while you write, it carries through onto the page. #ukteenchat

I have something top secret that I’m not allowed to talk about, but I’m also working on another horror that explores the idea that we’re never truly alone… even when we want to be 😱 #ukteenchat

(Yes, that is a cat asleep in my desk drawer.) #ukteenchat

No rituals (other than requiring tea on tap!) but I have a dedicated writing room, and I love my space so much. I’ve written 3 books here so far, and hopefully there’ll be many more to come. #ukteenchat

Totally understandable. #ukteenchat

Absolutely! 💯 #ukteenchat

I think it took me one book of pantsing to realise I wasn’t built to write that way! 😂 People who can write without an outline have my utmost respect but they also baffle me completely. #ukteenchat

Ellen Ripley is a lifelong fave of mine 🥰 #ukteenchat

Plotter, for sure, though my outlines are always kind of loose and subject to change. I feel like that way of working allows me room to explore as I write, and keeps my excitement for the story as I’m telling it while avoiding tripping up because I haven’t planned ahead. #ukteenchat

I love the haunted house trope, naturally 😇 I’m also a big fan of the descent into madness trope, body horror, and stories focused on badass final girls. #ukteenchat

100% agree! And it’s so fun to create a world where anything you can imagine can happen. 😈 #ukteenchat

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The house is almost a character in itself, and seems to have a mind of its own… and Haden & co won’t like what it has planned for them. #ukteenchat

The bulk of the story takes place in a swamp at the bottom of a ravine, and within that there’s a dilapidated house called The Light, where MC Haden and the others find themselves trapped. #ukteenchat

My stories always begin with setting. I pull a lot of the horror from the characters’ surroundings, so creating a layered creepy setting is a great jumping-off point for me. #ukteenchat

That’s interesting! I can’t even have a ticking clock in my house while I’m writing, I’m so easily distracted 😂 #ukteenchat

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My Name is Human by Highly Suspect makes me think of Deacon, one of the central characters (I based his description loosely on how singer Johnny Stevens looks in the video for that song). #ukteenchat

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But there are definitely songs I associate with the story: thematically, Hotel California by The Eagles works perfectly.

I loved writing about musicians (I was an enthusiastic but highly untalented rock guitarist as a teen) but I can’t listen to music while I write - I find it too distracting. #ukteenchat

The episode came with content warnings 😆 #ukteenchat

Fair 😂 #ukteenchat

Even that had the bog of eternal stench 😁 #ukteenchat