2024-10-11 08:00:50
What inspired you to start writing?
My short answer is reading. My longer answer is that I’d been a professional theater actor, which had more crossover with writing than I’d realized. When I stopped acting, I was desperate for an outlet that would let me explore words, characters, themes, and all the parts of storytelling that I was passionate about as an actor. I’d only written plays and screenplays in school previous to novel writing, but the transition into the medium felt natural.
Tell us about your work in 25 words or less.
Genre blending dark fantasy infused with horror and romance tropes. My current book,
In the Veins of the Drowning releases with Little Brown in 2025.
What was it about the horror genre that drew you to it?
I have always been an absolute scaredy cat, and both writing and reading horror have been such an impactful way to exercise my power over that fear. Horror makes space for powerful metaphor, for catharsis, for exploration of deeply buried personal and collective experiences. It allows us to examine imperfection, marginalization, and monstrosity (all big themes in my writing) in ways that no other genre does.
Do you make a conscious effort to include LatinX characters and/or themes in your writing and if so, what do you want to portray?
Much of my writing centers around my own experience as a Latina. I’m half Puerto Rican and half Irish. I grew up in a multigenerational home, with my abuela and abuelo speaking to me in Spanish and answering them in English. Burning my fingers on too-hot tostones. Looking white with the last name Quiñones. Being called “exotic”, or told, “Yeah, but you don’t look it”. It’s an odd experience to identify with both of my cultures so deeply and still feel that I do not fully “fit” in either one. Those themes of identity and belonging will forever be threaded through my writing.
What has writing horror taught you about the world and yourself?
Horror has taught me how to confront and heal wounds. It forces us into the dark, to look, to acknowledge the awful thing before it festers and consumes us. Collectively, it offers us the same opportunity.
How have you seen the horror genre change over the years? And how do you think it will continue to evolve?
I have loved seeing horror spliced through other genres in recent years. I am a big fan of the surge of “horroromance”. I think that horror tropes and themes are so impactful when they’re punctuated with lighter moments, with romantic ones, with magic and fantasy plots. It’s been so refreshing and fun to see people clambering for those darker, scarier moments in genres that have historically been without them.
Time to daydream: what are some aspects of LatinX history or culture – stories from your childhood, historical events, etc — that you really want our genre to tackle? (Whether or not you’re the one to tackle them!)
My family is from the mountain town of Lares, Puerto Rico and my abuelo would tell me the story of
El Grito de Lares, which was the historical account of the uprising that took place there in the late 1800s against Spanish rule. It was a short-lived revolt, and ultimately unsuccessful. The town is small and remote and old and I love the idea of possibly tackling a story inspired by that time and place in history.
Who are some of your favorite LatinX characters in horror?
True to my gothic horror preferences, I loved Guirremo Del Toro’s
The Devil’s Backbone when I saw it many moons ago. Carmen was such a well-written character in that film. More recently, I have loved both of the heroines in Isabel Cañas’s books: Beatriz from
The Hacienda and Nena in
Vampires of El Norte.
Who are some LatinX horror authors you recommend our audience check out?
I’m a massive fan of Isabel Cañas, Carmen Maria Machado, and Silvia Moreno-Garcia.
What is one piece of advice you would give horror authors today?
I don’t have advice that is specific to horror writers, but to all writers, and that is to prioritize rest. Turn off the laptop, close the notebook, and replenish everything that writing takes. Read, explore the world around you, and do nothing at all. Not writing from time to time has been the most beneficial act for my overall writing progress.
What is one piece of craft advice you’ve gotten that has really worked for you? Alternatively, what’s one that you’ve happily rejected?
The advice I’ve loved the most is the reminder that simplicity is most impactful in stories. I work to trim away the fat, the extra, needless character, and the too-many words that might be muddying my meaning. I tend to want to “do too much” but less has always packed a bigger punch for readers.
Conversely, I hate the all too common advice to “write every day”. I don’t think there is any “correct” process or schedule that one should keep. And see my note about rest.
And to the LatinX writers out there who are just getting started, what advice would you give them?
Build a community of supportive, kind writers. Lift one another up, celebrate, and critique each other’s work. Writing is an often lonely and anti-climactic art form and having other writers who understand you and your work makes all the difference.
Kalie Cassidy was born and raised in Southern California and spent over a decade working in L.A. as a professional theater actor, coach, and dialect coach. She now lives in Cleveland, Ohio with her children and husband. Her debut novel,
In the Veins of the Drowning, will be out with Little, Brown in the summer of 2025.
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