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


 




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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
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