Castle Envy With Katherine McGee

First Draft Episode #268: Katharine McGee Katharine McGee is the New York Times bestselling author of The Thousandth Floor series, as well as American Royals and its sequel, Majesty. Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode In her fanfiction, Katharine would correct existing books to have happier endings, like the His Dark Materials series by Phillip Pullman (she got so attached to her new ending that she hasn’t yet gotten the courage to read The Secret Commonwealth, sequel to The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage) and the Redwall series by Brian Jacques Katharine wishes she knew about National Novel Writing Month when she was drafting her thesis Katharine has a soft spot for works that reclaim the stories of women who, to this point, have mostly been known for being adjacent to men as the men make history. Novels like The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley; Margaret George’s Helen of Troy: A Novel Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston Katharine edited Pretty Little Liars books 9-16 by Sara Shepard, and Kass Morgan’s The 100 (listen to Kass’s First Draft interview here), and some of Laura Avery’s books When Katharine first tried her hand at writing American Royals, she’d been watching a lot of House of Cards, so the tone of her book was MUCH darker than what ended up on shelves Katharine was lucky enough to go on book tour with Kendare Blake, New York Times bestselling author of the Three Dark Crowns series, Anna Dressed in Blood, and more (listen to us chatting on this live episode of First Draft!) Katharine cites Scott Westerfeld’s Uglies series as a major influence over her vision for the future in the Thousandth Floor series Katharine pitches American Royals as Crazy Rich Asians meets The Crown If you get the chance, ask Katharine about her feelings on how publishing is represented in the TV show Younger American Royals was featured in The Skimm; However, Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine remains a moving target The Secret Diary of Ann Boelyn by Robin Maxwell   I want to hear from you! Have a question about writing or creativity for Sarah Enni or her guests to answer? To leave a voicemail, call (818) 533-1998. Subscribe To First Draft with Sarah Enni Every Tuesday, I speak to storytellers like Veronica Roth, author of Divergent; Linda Holmes, author and host of NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast; Jonny Sun, internet superstar, illustrator of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Gmorning, Gnight! and author and illustrator of Everyone’s an Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Too;  Michael Dante  DiMartino, co-creator of Avatar: The Last Airbender; John August, screenwriter of Big Fish, Charlie’s Angels, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; or Rhett Miller, musician and frontman for The Old 97s. Together, we take deep dives on their careers and creative works. Don’t miss an episode! Subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. It’s free! Rate, Review, and Recommend How do you like the show? Please take a moment to rate and review First Draft with Sarah Enni in Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Your honest and positive review helps others discover the show -- so thank you! Is there someone you think would love this podcast as much as you do? Please share this episode on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or via carrier pigeon (maybe try a text or e-mail, come to think of it). Just click the Share button at the bottom of this post! Thanks again!