April 7, 2025
📚 Behind the Scenes with Stevie Hostetter

Welcome to the heart of my writing world. This is the place where polished pages give way to scribbled ideas, deleted chapters, strange dreams, and everything in between. Whether you’re here for the horror, the healing, or the whispers between the lines—I’m giving you a peek behind the curtain.

✍️ Writing Rituals & Creative Quirks

 I write between the roles I juggle—caretaker, student, full-time worker, and mom. Most of my books are born late at night, when the world is quiet and I can hear my characters the loudest. My desk? Usually a tangle of notebooks, pens, and sticky notes.  Sometimes I write in silence, sometimes with rock and hard rock blasting from my speakers. Favorite writing vibe: Rainy window, hoodie on, and something spooky in my headphones.

đź“– Book Origins & What Got Cut

 🧠 Inside the Chaos

Originally, this book was just a journal of raw thoughts during my darkest mental health moments. I never expected it to become a series, or that people would connect so deeply with it. One early draft included a chapter I cut because it felt too vulnerable. Maybe one day I’ll share it here…

Abyss of Nightmares

 This book was built entirely around phobias—and I actually made myself uncomfortable while writing it. One of the original poems about deep-sea terror had a very different ending. I wanted it to be subtle, but it ended up being so unsettling that I pulled it. (Want to read it anyway? Let me know.)

🌲 The Dark Archives

 This book was inspired by my son’s curiosity about urban legends. We sat down together and made a list of stories we wanted to explore—50 legends, one from every state. My favorite that didn’t make the final cut? The Grafton Monster from West Virginia. Maybe it’ll get its own drabble soon.

 📸 My Writing Space

 You won’t find a fancy office here. Most of my writing is done in a corner of my spare bedroom. When I do get a quiet moment, I light a candle, put on instrumental horror music, and disappear into the story.

đź’¬ Ask Me Anything

 I love questions from readers! Want to know what my favorite deleted scene is? Curious about the real story behind a poem? Message me or drop a question on Facebook, and I might feature it here next month!

Thanks for stepping behind the scenes with me. I hope this space gives you a sense of how much of my life—messy, emotional, and magical—goes into every page.