Kristen Kiesling

By Margaret Lea    

     Growing up, Kristen Kiesling would watch a crime show and want to be a detective or watch a medical drama and want to be a doctor. Her dad owned a commercial greenhouse in a rural setting, and Kristen thought, even back then, that a compost pile full of worms would be a great place to hide a dead body. She grew up near Tulsa, OK but now lives in Katy and is part of our Houston SCBWI chapter. 

     Kristen heard her fair share of, “You should be a writer,” from teachers throughout the years, but she didn’t see how that could be a viable career, so she got a business degree at University of Oklahoma and worked for IBM. She took a few years off when her kids were born, then got her teaching certification and taught 3rd grade for a couple of years. She has since stopped teaching full time but misses interacting with the kids. She recently became involved with WITS— Writers in the Schools— where she enjoys doing some teaching again.      

     When Kristen decided to pursue writing, about nine years ago, she joined a critique group that met at a local library for at least three hours every week. To be a member of the group, you had to bring five pages to be critiqued every week. She said the group was great for spurring her to write consistently, and she learned a huge amount of craft from critiquing and being critiqued. Putting her work out there also helped her develop a thick skin for the inevitable rejections a writer will encounter. Group members were writing various genres, but it was there that she learned about SCBWI. 

     She began writing picture books and even found an agent but soon realized that writing novels was where her heart was. Since her agent represented only picture books, they parted amicably. She is currently represented by Dara Hyde of Hill Nadell Literary Agency.

     Several years ago, Kristen was chosen to be mentored for six months by author Heather W. Petty as part of SCBWI Nevada’s Mentorship Program. She says this mentorship was invaluable in helping her get her YA debut novel, THE HARROWING, ready for submission. 

     Kristen urges writers to attend conferences, especially smaller ones with access to agents and editors, to take advantage of the one-on-one networking. She also recommends critique groups, entering contests, attending classes, and reading voraciously. 

     Kristen will be the speaker for our Feb. 2, 2026 monthly meeting. Her presentation is titled, “Transform Your Story to a Graphic Novel.” You don’t even have to be an illustrator to do this— Kristen isn’t. THE HARROWING was first written as a prose novel. Since graphic novels were really popular, she decided to try it in this format. It took her four or five months to transform it, but when she finished, her agent liked it. She gave Kristen the choice of which manuscript to send out, and Kristen chose the graphic novel version. Evidently that was a good choice, as it quickly sold to Abrams Publishing. After another three years to edit and have the illustrations done, it was published in 2024.

     Kristen’s forthcoming book hasn’t been officially announced yet, but it will be a middle grade graphic novel. It will have lighter themes than her YA novel but is still a murder mystery. Kristen gravitates toward darker topics, especially to grey areas of moral ambiguity. She loves exploring the effect of perspective changes on a story and wants to make readers think deeply about ethical questions. She believes that writing on issues you are passionate about will lead to your best work. 

     A quote to aspiring writers from Kristen’s website, kristenkieslingbooks.com, states, “Believe in yourself and your unique voice, and remember every successful writer started as an aspiring one.”