Success Story Interview - Carmen Catena

An Interview with Carmen Catena (carmcat on QT) upon receiving an offer of representation from agent Brent Taylor of Triada US Literary Agency.

06/12/2026

QT: Can you tell us a little bit about the book for which you've found representation? What inspired you to write it?

Carmen Catena:
SURVIVING SPIRITS is an adult horror-romance about rival ghost hunters. When they both land on a reality show set in a haunted house, they must overcome their rivalry and confront their deepest fears—and growing feelings—or become the next ghosts haunting the manor.

As for my inspiration, I was craving a specific type of horror romance blend. I couldn’t find a book that scratched that very specific itch, so I wrote it!

QT: How long have you been writing?

Carmen Catena:
I’ve been writing in one way or another all my life, but I started taking fiction writing seriously after my oldest child was born in 2018.

QT: How long have you been working on this book?

Carmen Catena:
About three and a half years. I got the first spark of what would become SURVIVING SPIRITS in November 2022.

QT: Was there ever a time you felt like giving up, and what helped you to stay on course?

Carmen Catena:
Oh, absolutely. The only thing that helped me stay the course was my writing community. My critique partners are what keep me going, and I was also extremely lucky to have been accepted into a mentorship program, where I revised SPIRITS with a mentor. She helped me stay on course with this book when I was really frustrated with it.

QT: Do you follow a writing routine or schedule?

Carmen Catena:
I have two young children, so over the years I’ve made a habit of writing in the early morning before they wake up (roughly 5-7am). Otherwise, I don’t have much of a set schedule. I rely on preschool, babysitters, and the weekends for the rest of my writing time.

QT: How many times did you re-write/edit your book?

Carmen Catena:
This question makes me laugh because this book has been through SO many versions, and each version had so many drafts. I rewrote/revised this book many, many times over the last few years.

QT: Did you have beta readers for your book?

Carmen Catena:
Yes! I’ve been so fortunate to have incredible beta readers.

QT: About how many query letters did you send out for this book?

Carmen Catena:
30

QT: On what criteria did you select the agents you queried?

Carmen Catena:
SURVIVING SPIRITS is a horror-romance genre blend, and I crafted to it be as even of a 50/50 split between the genres as I could. So, it was important to me to look for agents who represented both horror and romance, who would know both genres, both markets.

Query Letter:

Dear [AGENT]:

I’m so excited to share with you SURVIVING SPIRITS, an 89,000-word adult horror-romance that I’ve been working on with Charlotte Peters at Dutton/PRH as a part of The Word for Diversity Editor-Writer Mentorship. It combines the meta fun of Scream with the horror-romance genre blend of How to Kill a Guy in Ten Dates by Shailee Thompson and a fresh spin on the haunted house novel à la Rachel Harrison’s Play Nice.

Rose Simon is a ghost hunter who doesn’t believe in ghosts. Struggling to get her paranormal skeptic YouTube channel off the ground, take care of her alcoholic father, and manage her own crushing guilt and depression about her mother’s death four years prior, Rose feels out of options. So when she sees a casting call for a new reality show inside a (supposedly) haunted house offering a huge cash prize to whomever can stay inside the longest, she applies.

She is shocked to discover that the haunted house is Rosewood Manor, the set for an unironically campy gothic horror film—and her mother’s favorite—from thirty years ago. The manor quickly earned the reputation of being cursed after the deaths of all the cast and crew in the months following wrap. To make matters worse, frustratingly optimistic and insanely popular YouTube ghost hunter Ethan Holt, is also a contestant.

But the longer they spend inside the house, the more dangerous it becomes. When contestants start dying in ways that strangely mirror the deaths in the original film, they soon realize the house is forcing them to recreate scenes from the film it was built for. To escape, the remaining contestants must play the house’s game. Rose and Ethan must put aside their rivalry—and their growing feelings for each other—and work together, and Rose must decide whether she or her past has the power to choose her fate.

I am a neurodivergent writer currently living in northern New York with my family. My love of any story featuring a House is probably due to the fact that I’ve lived in twenty different houses (so far!). When I’m not writing or chasing my kids, chances are I’m reading, crocheting, or watching mid-century horror movies.

Sincerely,
Carmen Catena