Missouri Stories Spotlight with Chloe Casey

Chloé Casteel is a working writer who received her MFA in Creative Writing and Media Arts from the University of Missouri-Kansas City. As one of the three winners of the 12th season of the Missouri Stories Scriptwriting Fellowship, Casteel has been published in Fiction on the Web, The Word’s Faire, Number One Magazine, and is forthcoming in Flare. Her short story “In the Spider’s Web” earned her a nomination for the 2025 PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers. She also serves as a writer and narrative designer at various indie video game development studios. She has a lifelong dream of creating her own game studio with a fully diverse team of creators. She loves speculative fiction, strong female protagonists, found family tropes, and anything within the horror genre. The Kansas City International Film Festival celebrated Chloe with a live-table read of her award-winning script, Sugar Babies.

Where do you get inspiration for your work?

I think inspiration can come from everywhere but mostly I get inspiration from the people around me. Things I admire (and playful pet peeves) of my closest friends often turn into various ideas for stories. I’m a bit of a mood based writer, so if there’s a vibe I’m craving on screen that I can’t find, then I have to make it myself. 

Tell us about a screenwriter who inspires you and why.

A screenwriter who inspires me is Emerald Fennell. Her work is always so bold and twists stories in a way I’d love to do myself. She has a way of layering characters and situations that results in a very gripping viewing. I like that she captivates the audience with female leads who know what they want, and then go and get it. 

Describe your writing process.

My writing process usually starts with me having one particular scene first. Most of my ideas start with one, fully fleshed out scene and then my brainstorming time is dedicated to figuring out how to get there. I love the notecard method. I write out each scene in a single sentence, along with what’s at stake in each scene, and color coordinate the character names (I have a very extensive pen collection). From there it’s shuffling cards around on my floor until it all flows. Then it’s time to draft. From there I meet with one of my screenwriting friends once a month where we workshop and hold each other accountable. After that it’s revisions. And revisions. And more revisions.  

How do you connect with other writers?

Online! The Internet is a great place to find writing groups, see people’s progress, and connect. I’m thankfully still close with some members of my MFA cohort and they introduce me to other writers or events to find writers. 

How has being a Missouri Stories Fellow affected you?

Being a Missouri Stories Fellow has truly been the highlight of my writing career thus far. It was an incredibly supportive and engaging experience. I made lifelong writing connections with the other fellows and received guidance I couldn’t have gotten anywhere else from the mentors. It made me go “I can do this. Film can be my life.” My writing skills have gotten much stronger and I can see errors, plot holes, and potential script problems much earlier in the process now. I also feel like I have support if I have questions about the industry which is makes things less daunting. 

What are you up to now?

I recently moved back to Kansas City and am working on a some new projects! I’m editing a script for a short film in the world of Sugar Babies, focused on Prudence’s origin, and just began drafting a feature that’s a gender bent Orpheus and Eurydice retelling. One of the video games I write for has a demo that comes out next month and, as always, I’m thinking of which projects I want to do after these.