Get Writing Podcast

Episode 141: Dark Academia, Toxic Obsession & Sorority Secrets with author Heather Colley

19 Dec 2025

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If you love stories that feel like they’ve been ripped from the headlines—and then turned just a little darker and stranger—you’re going to be obsessed with my guest this week.Her book is set in the Greek-life world at the University of Michigan and follows two undergrads, Stella and Penny. Stella is the sorority girl who seems to have it all; Penny is the introvert who becomes obsessed with the idealized version of Stella she sees. Their lives collide through sororities, frat boys, prescription drugs and psychiatric “care” that’s more comedy and chaos than actual help. Things spiral in a way that’s messy, unsettling and very human.If you love dark academia, complicated female characters, and endings that don’t necessarily offer a neat bow, this one’s for you.We talk about:The origin of The Gilded Butterfly EffectHow Heather took the mystique of sorority houses and Greek life and turned it into a literary campus novel.Imagined selves & performative perfectionHow Penny’s obsession with Stella is fueled by an imagined, “perfect” version of her—and how that connects to social media, curated lives and what we choose to show the world.Psychiatric care, pills, and dark humorWhy Heather made the psychiatrists in the book hilariously incompetent, and how Stella and Penny manipulate them for drugs, attention and validation.Short stories vs. novelsWhy she finds short stories easier than novels, how this book started as a single short story set in a church basement, and why she always knows the ending early.How her PhD shapes her writingHow studying 19th-century poetry and form at Oxford made her think differently about structure, language, and even commas—and how that attention to detail shows up in her prose.The long road to publicationGetting an agent in 2020 (yes, right as the pandemic hit), losing that agent, continuing to submit, and eventually finding the right home with small press Three Rooms Press.Bleak endings & “unfixable” peopleWhy she’s drawn to dark, unresolved endings and troubled characters who don’t necessarily get redemption, and how that connects to the Victorian novels she studies.Process, pressure, and permissionHer very unstructured, note-app-based writing process, why deadlines help her, and the reminder that your writing process doesn’t have to look like anyone else’s to be valid.What’s nextThe short story collection she has coming out (full of unhinged women and strange endings, with one story from Stella’s POV), plus her plans for finishing her PhD and staying in academia.About Heather ColleyHeather Colley is a writer and academic originally from New York and now based in the UK. Her debut novel, The Gilded Butterfly Effect, is a dark, literary campus novel set in the Greek-life world at the University of Michigan. Her short fiction has won awards including the Oxford Review of Books short fiction prize, the Hopwood Award, the BNU-Oxford short fiction prize (runner-up), and the Desperate Literature Prize shortlist. Heather is a PhD student in English Literature at Oxford University. She holds a master’s degree in literature from St Andrews University and a bachelor’s degree in the same subject from the University of Michigan Ann Arbor. Connect with Heather & Find the BookBook: The Gilded Butterfly Effect – available in print, ebook, and audiobook wherever you usually buy booksWebsite: heathercolleyauthor.comInstagram & TikTok: @heathercolleyauthor (lots of literary and bookish posts… plus cat content )🐈Listen + SubscribeYou can listen to this episode of Get Writing with Liz Mugavero wherever you get your podcasts. Remember to:Hit follow/subscribeLeave a quick rating or reviewShare the episode with a writer friend who needs a reminder not to give upAnd if you’re craving a little more support, come hang out with me inside The Creativity Lab—it’s where we write together, keep each other accountable, and make space for the kind of progress that actually feels good.

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3ª PARTE | 17 DIC 2025 | EL PARTIDAZO DE COPE

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Fin de Semana

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Get Writing Podcast

Episode 141: Dark Academia, Toxic Obsession & Sorority Secrets with author Heather Colley

This episode hasn't been transcribed yet

Other recent transcribed episodes

3ª PARTE | 17 DIC 2025 | EL PARTIDAZO DE COPE

13:00H | 21 DIC 2025 | Fin de Semana

12:00H | 21 DIC 2025 | Fin de Semana

10:00H | 21 DIC 2025 | Fin de Semana

13:00H | 20 DIC 2025 | Fin de Semana

12:00H | 20 DIC 2025 | Fin de Semana

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