Debut Novel › Kristine Starling

Book Update: Finding My Way Through the Forest

Kristine Starling April 29, 2025 December 30, 2025Blog, Creative Writing, Debut Novel, Literature

Book update! It’s been a daunting journey, but I’m excited to share that I’m about 80% finished with a major developmental edit of my novel! This stage of the process has been one of the most challenging and most rewarding parts of writing so far. Every chapter, every scene has asked for more care, more honesty, and more patience than I expected. There have been days it felt overwhelming, like wandering through a thicket without a clear path, but slowly, step by step, the story is becoming stronger. I’ve been focusing on these areas during this revision: In the midst…

Shaping a Stronger Story in A Developmental Editing Process

Kristine Starling February 28, 2025 December 30, 2025Blog, Debut Novel

There comes a time in every writer’s journey when the story we imagined, the one we poured our blood, sweat, and sleepless nights into, meets the cold scrutiny of an editor’s eye. And in that moment, we see it for what it truly is. Not a failure, not a mess, but something unfinished, something waiting to be molded into its final shape. You can read about my novel here. I recently had an editorial assessment done on my manuscript, and it was a revelation. A thorough, insightful look into the bones of my story, peeling back layers I had not…

The Secrets of Whispering Pines: How a Story Found Me

Kristine Starling October 27, 2024 December 30, 2025Blog, Debut Novel

a fantasy of mystery, magic, and self-discovery

There has been an update to this post. You don’t always go looking for a story. Sometimes, the story finds you. A Story That Beckons The Secrets of Whispering Pines wasn’t something I planned, not at first. It wasn’t the result of years of outlining, of carefully constructed plot points and deliberate world-building. No, it started the way the best things often do: quietly. A spark, barely there, a flicker at the edges of my mind. It was a class assignment, nothing more. A simple exercise, the kind you do and forget. But some ideas don’t fade. Some ideas sink…