Hello! I’m Dawn Klinge.

I’m a novelist and essayist writing about story, faith, and the interior lives of women, with a focus on how we come to trust what we know—and what it costs when we don’t.

I’m the author of the Historic Hotels Collection, including Sorrento Girl, Palmer Girl, and Biltmore Girl. I hold a Diploma in Creative Writing from the University of Oxford and am currently completing an MFA in Genre Fiction at Western Colorado University.

I’m also a writing teacher, focused on helping writers create stories with psychological depth, consequence, and moral weight.

I live in Washington State and am at work on new fiction.

About this Substack

Above the Waves is where I think out loud about story, faith, and what it takes to write work that carries weight.

Here you’ll find essays on:

• craft and moral imagination

• psychological depth in character

• consequence, transformation, and truth in story

• faith, voice, and what it means to live and write honestly

Some essays are practical. Some are reflective. All are grounded in the belief that story is not neutral. It shapes what readers believe is possible.

If you want to create work with depth and lasting impact, you’ll find both the thinking and the tools here.