Episode #13
On Literary Horror - with Katie Huttleston
Conversations on Craft with Katie Huttlestone Katie Huttlestone joins the show to discuss her debut novel, A Healthy Appetite, and the long, collaborative route that led to publication. This episode is especially useful for writers who want a practical look at pitching, querying, competitions, beta readers, editing, and finding the right publishing home. Follow Katie on Instagram Click to purchase A HEALTHY APPETITE Follow Ascent Novel Prize Hayley and Katie also dig into the emotional side of the process, including imposter syndrome, chronic illness, and why community matters so much in a solitary creative life. Key topics In this interview, Katie Huttlestone shares the origin of A Healthy Appetite, a literary horror novel about Hannah, a 30-year-old living with late-stage cancer and the fallout of a phase one medical trial. Katie explains that she writes as a discovery writer, and that her first idea for the novel came from her own experience of cancer and chronic illness. We discuss how the novel changed very little from first draft to finished manuscript, with the main work being expansion, added scenes, and deepening character relationships rather than major structural rewrites. Katie talks about the simple planning method she used early on: a before and after table that mapped her protagonist’s starting state, ending state, and transformation. She shares why the book sits on the border between literary fiction and horror, and why Dead Ink felt like the right home for something spiky and hard to categorise. Katie reflects on the unboxing moment and the emotional reality of seeing her finished copies and cover for the first time. The cover discussion includes why the guinea pig image works as a metaphor for medical testing, and how the pink palette adds flesh, desire, and unease. We discuss how competitions such as the Lucy Cavendish Prize and the Blue Pencil Agency Pitch Prize helped Katie gain external validation and confidence before querying agents. Katie offers a clear view of querying strategy, including batch submissions, keeping a spreadsheet, and using an offer of representation to create momentum with other agents. She explains how she developed her pitch, eventually distilling it into a short, punchy summary focused on character, setting, and crisis. Katie describes the submission process after signing with her agent, including rounds of editor interest, choosing Dead Ink, and the importance of finding a publishing team that felt like the right emotional fit. She shares how feedback, beta readers, critique partners, and editing have all strengthened her work, and why collaboration is energising rather than threatening. Katie also speaks openly about the financial barriers around courses like the Faber course, and why she tries to support other writers wherever she can. The episode closes with practical writing advice, including little and often drafting, letting people in, and staying in touch with the work without pressuring yourself unrealistically. To learn more visit: Ascent Novel prize Music: UJDM0MRSBB0POLNZ
