Authors have to perfect one skill: in order to make a reader feel the pain, triumph, devastation, and euphoria that a character feels, an author must be exceptional at the art of manipulation. I hope you’ll join me on my journey to master that craft.

“I have been obsessed with the idea of writing novels since I was a child. As I believed that very few are able to perfect the craft and actually make a living out of it, I took another path. At the age of 26, I graduated with my Masters in Clinical Psychology. Learning the ins and outs of how humans think, feel, and act has become a craft of its own. Being able to take a thought and turn it into action is a function that happens automatically in our brains, we don’t have to do anything other than think. However, being able to take those thoughts and pathways to action and put it into words, is another thing.

I will never assume I am perfect or someone who has mastered the art of writing, but what I do have is passion. With that passion, I hope to create a world (or a few worlds) that readers can get lost in. My goal is for you as a reader to take my characters and become them, identify with them. The only way I see that happening is if I put a little bit of myself into each character, which I have done. My own history of sexual/physical assault, psychological abuse, and other horrible things, have shaped me into the person I am today. I only hope that I can use my real life experiences to mold characters you will love and characters you will root for. I only ask that you remember that not all stories have a happy ending.”

— Celaena

Celaena is the best-selling author of The Diadem Series, proud mother to too many animals, and the world-renowned trauma mommy.