Since it’s the beginning of the last quarter of 2026, we have a new episode of Authortalk. Allow me to introduce Karyne Norton!
Karyne Norton hasn’t found the key to time travel, immortality, or infinite lives, so she’s taking a break from nursing and photography to focus on raising four human beings while writing epic fantasy and science fiction. The third book in her epic fantasy series, The Half-Light Chronicles, is expected to release spring 2027 and her YA sci-fi debut is coming to Kickstarter fall 2026. Her standalone time travel thriller, The Things We Can Change, is currently being adapted to a vertical drama by Y+X Entertainment for their LumiView platform.
When she’s not writing, she’s reading, which is why she’s also the host of the Finding Fantasy Reads podcast, where she reads a new short story every week from a variety of fantasy authors.
Karyne, thanks for being here. I was on your podcast earlier this year, and it was so much fun hearing my short story, “The Greatest Adventure” brought to life by a narrator.
I’m interested in learning about your YA sci-fi debut currently on Kickstarter. Where did you get the idea for this Kickstarter?
A couple years ago, I started throwing around the idea of a subscription service and what that would look like. I think book boxes are fun, but they’re expensive and, being the practical person that I am, I don’t usually use fancy soaps, teas, stickers, etc. In my mind, I wanted a book a month, and I wanted the books to match up with seasons or holidays.
What a fun idea!
The logistics of that idea were a nightmare, so as I pitched the idea to a couple friends, it slowly evolved into a multi-author Kickstarter with 3 volumes of 9 books. And because fairy tale retellings felt overdone (although I still love them), we settled on classic retellings with sci-fi twists.
I immediately knew I wanted to “fix” Wuthering Heights, and any time something needs to be fixed, time travel is an excellent option, so my classic and twist were pretty easy picks. It was a relief to finally show a happily ever after for at least some of the characters in that story.
How did you get in touch with your “inner villain” to write the antagonist in this book?
I was super excited to highlight Heathcliff as a villain instead of a romantic hero (although Catherine could have easily been one as well). Wuthering Heights is a clear tragedy, but it’s brought on by the characters and the inner battles they face. As much as they’re victims of their upbringings and what’s likely undiagnosed mental illnesses, it’s never sat well with me when the romance of Heathcliff and Catherine is idolized. Their relationship was ridiculously unhealthy, and I wanted to show it.
You’re right—and there’s so many unhealthy relationships glamorized in fiction, especially in YA.
I will say that Tom Hardy’s portrayal of Heathcliff in the BBC TV mini-series (the edited version🫣) nailed the uncaring side of Heathcliff, and I often pictured him while writing my antagonist’s scenes. It was important to me that my version of Heath was equally able to manipulate and throw out hurtful words at any given moment.
Despite my dislike for all of Hollywood’s efforts to romanticize the story over the years, it’s still one of my favorite classics, flaws and all. Mostly because of the flaws. The people feel eerily real.
You’ve been writing for a while. What are your go-to writing resources that could help aspiring authors?
I’m a huge fan of the Novel Marketing podcast run by Thomas Umstattd on https://www.authormedia.com. The information he gives out for free on there is like gold, and the courses he provides are even better. The reason I’m able to do all the things I’m doing as a writer are because of the business practices I learned from him. And because I’ve so carefully put all his recommendations into practice, I’m now teaching at his conference next January on how to run Kickstarters. Even if you’re just thinking about writing, learning how to start your business out strong will save you so much heartache later.
Authormedia does have a wealth of information available for new (and old) writers. But information isn’t all that’s needed when you’re writing–you need creativity, perseverance, and inspiration. What keeps you writing when inspiration vanishes?
One of my favorite quotes is from Peter DeVries who said “I write when I’m inspired, and I see to it that I’m inspired at nine o’clock every morning.” I don’t have the luxury of only writing when I’m inspired. I have to work while my kids are at school, otherwise I’ll have to stay up late or get up early and the older I get, the worse both of those options sound. Getting sound sleep each night is pretty inspiring!
I feel that 100%!
I’ve honestly never experienced what people refer to as writer’s block. For me, if I get stuck, it’s because something’s wrong with my story, so I set it aside for a bit until I have a fresh perspective. But that doesn’t mean I stop working. I work on a different project or my podcast or the monotonous business tasks that require different parts of my brain and give my creative well time to refill. Because one of my other favorite quotes is from Marshall Vandruff, when he said, “One reason that people have artist’s block is that they do not respect the law of dormancy in nature. Trees don’t produce fruit all year long, constantly. They have a point where they go dormant. And when you are in a dormant period creatively, if you can arrange your life to do the technical tasks that don’t take creativity, you are essentially preparing for the spring when it will all blossom again.”
I’ve found time with family, being in nature, and just living life help “refill the well” so I can get back to writing. And for some reason, I get some of my best ideas in the shower–it’s like a short, creative reset. What’s your favorite part of writing?
Revision has always been my favorite part of writing. I’d much rather fix something that’s already finished than have an unfinished draft hanging over my head. But I will say that over the last two years I’ve really grown to love dictating. Staring at a blank page and rewriting the same sentence over and over can be paralyzing and SLOW. With dictation, I get the words out—even though they’re imperfect—and then I have that finished draft I like working with so much faster.
Plus it gets me away from my desk because I can dictate while walking around my house or outside. Depending on the scene sometimes I have it in my head well enough to dictate while driving or doing laundry. So it’s a time saver in more ways than one, and it’s probably saving my wrists from major issues down the road.
I’ve been looking into dictating—it definitely seems like a timesaver! So let’s pivot to a couple silly questions: shoes or barefoot?
Are socks an option? Or slippers? In my mind, I’m picturing this question as indoors because in Arizona going out barefoot gets you burned. So socks or slippers!
Mountains or ocean?
Mountains any day. I like looking at the ocean, but sand drives me crazy. Sand and glitter.
Well, that’s it—we can’t be friends. I love glitter! (Just kidding.) Thanks, Karyne, for sharing about your writing and your new release on Kickstarter!
If you want to follow Karyne or support the Kickstarter, check out these links!
Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/leafandlanternbooks/classics-rebooted
Website: https://www.karynenorton.com
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/karynenorton
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/karynenortonauthor
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@findingfantasyreads
Instagram: http://instagram.com/karynenorton