Some stories begin with a carefully planned outline. Stephanie Filicsky Muir’s story began at the edge of her children’s bed.
In this episode of It Just Takes One, Kelli talks with Stephanie, author of Hollows of the Oak: The Key, about the bedtime story that grew far beyond those quiet evenings with her family. What started as a tale created for her own children continued to grow as they asked for more, wondered what would happen next, and became part of the creative process.
Stephanie doesn’t usually describe herself as a writer. She thinks of herself as a storyteller, and that comes through in the way she talks about her book. Her characters, Gwen and Monty, live in a world filled with family secrets, old treasures, and a hidden place waiting to be discovered. Beneath the mystery and magic is a story about siblings facing fear while trying to understand what is happening around them.
Stephanie shares what it was like to take a story that belonged to her family and turn it into a published book that other children could hold in their hands. She also talks about allowing the story to unfold in its own way rather than having every detail planned from the beginning.
The conversation is a lovely reminder that an idea doesn’t have to arrive as a complete manuscript. Sometimes it begins with a child asking, “What happens next?”
Now a Pen to Prose Award winner, Hollows of the Oak: The Key is only the beginning. Stephanie has already begun working on the next book in the series, with another story waiting behind it.
Listen to this episode and discover how one bedtime story found its way from Stephanie’s imagination to the bookshelf.
