Meet Carly Stevens | Multi-genre Author

We had the good fortune of connecting with Carly Stevens and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Carly, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
I’ve always been obsessed with stories. It took me along time to realize that not everybody thought like that. It didn’t matter if it was books or movies, for school or pleasure. Stories help me understand and appreciate the world. I taught English for over a decade, but eventually I wanted the freedom of personal creative expression to take up a larger slice of my life. Writing can be magic–it lets me create worlds and meet interesting people and fall in love and have adventures. And it lets me share those meaningful experiences with others too. That’s why I’m grateful to have a creative career.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I devour stories. I’ll read Dostoevsky one minute and steamy contemporary romance the next. Each story has its place.
In the past year or so, I’ve embraced the fact that I can’t be satisfied staying in one sub-genre lane. For a while, I thought that I’d be solely a YA fantasy author. There’s a lot of range in that genre, and my first dark epic trilogy (the Tanyuin Academy series) was YA.
Making the decision to branch out, first to dark academia literary retellings then to romance and beyond at the same time as I was trying to make this endeavor a career was daunting. It still is. But I think the core of any creative career needs to be joy, and exploring different avenues in my writing gives me so much joy. I’m not earning a steady living yet, but I’m figuring out the path that works for me–my background, my strengths, my personality. I’m able to connect with more and more readers because, yes, I’ve written fantasy. I’ve written horror. I’ve written romance. I’ve written literary. I want people to come back because they can feel the love in my work and because (hopefully) they’re all well written, immersive experiences.
Writing has taught me a lot about myself. It’s challenged me in ways I didn’t expect. Running a business, for example, was never my forte. Writing is. I’m still learning about both the writing and business sides of this career. A few good decisions I’ve made to more than double my writing income in the last year have been doing live events and teaching webinars.
All this to say, I do want to earn a healthy living, but the part that gives me life is creating more stories that others love. The best feeling in the world is hearing someone say that my book made them cry, made them appreciate life more, or made their list of all-time favorites.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Colorado Springs is like a hodgepodge of different cities lumped together. You can find whatever you’re looking for if you know where to go. Going to Garden of the Gods is a rite of passage, so that has to kick things off. If my friend visited in the spring, we’d have to attend the Springs Book Bash. It’s one of the best book events in the country–lots of authors, vendors, and like-minded readers all in one place. It’s the perfect spot to find and support great indie authors. Next, we’d have to go on a speakeasy tour. I love a speakeasy. My favorite is Allusion, which changes its theme every three months or so. The decor and menu totally change from Lord of the Rings to Stranger Things to Barbie to Jurassic Park. It’s a blast. Runners up go to the Principal’s Office in a renovated elementary school (which sometimes plays movies in the converted gym), District Elleven (not a typo), and Shrunken Head Tiki Bar. Next, we’d hike the four-mile loop in Black Forest–Section 16–and we’d eat and listen to live music at COATI Uprise. We’d round out the trip at the penny arcade in Manitou, a weird and wonderful local spot with old, funky arcade games spread out over multiple buildings. I’m pretty low-key, so that sounds like a nice trip to me!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
One thing I didn’t fully appreciate when I started on this author path was how important supportive friends and family would be. I’m lucky to have family who support my dreams, and I’m so glad to have met other authors who understand what it’s like to have worlds in your head, to love characters like friends. I couldn’t have published anything without a whole group of others showing me the way and cheering me on, namely (and this is a terribly incomplete list) Amanda, Cheyenne, Debbie, Ed, Summer, Quinn, Caitlyn, Joanna, Jake, Melissa, Jeff, and Morgan.

Website: https://carly-stevens.com

Instagram: @carlystevensbooks

Other: YouTube: carlystevensbooks (channel for writers)
TikTok: @carlystevensbooks