Today I have the pleasure of welcoming KT King to Chat About Books! 🙂
Where did/do you get your ideas from?
I spent 5 years at university studying French and English Literature so I inspired by many previous novels but I am also inspired by film, TV, theatre and the world around me. They say you should write about what you know so a lot of the action in Little Eden takes place in a café because I was a waitress during my teens and early twenties (although No.1 Daisy Place is, of course, the most perfect café in the world and not at all like the ones I worked in). I retrained as a healer, hypnotherapist, counsellor and reflexologist during my thirties due to having a chronic condition called Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (sometimes also known as ME). Back then it was not recognised at all by the medical profession and was known as Yuppy Flu. There was no support on the NHS and you couldn’t even get a diagnosis in those days. I had to learn to help myself. Once I discovered healing I realised that I had a natural talent for it and that I was also psychic (I found out later that it runs in the family) and so Little Eden is full of my experiences of the supernatural and paranormal – ironically the parts of the story which seem realistic are pure fiction and the parts which seem fantastical are based on real psychic events. When you live the life of a healer, the paranormal becomes your normal!
Are any of your characters based (however loosely) on anyone you know?
The main female character, Sophie, is based on me. She has CFS and is psychic but the other characters are a mix of friends, family and aquaintances, as well as saints and historical characters (such as Eleanor of Aquataine, Queen Bertha of Kent and Hilda of Whitby).
How do you pick your characters’ names?
I love to play with names and the names come to me intuitively when I visualise the character. If it feels right then it’s right! Some of the names are direct allusions to historical characters. Some say the names are too unusual but having lived in various places around the world, I don’t believe there is no such thing as a ‘normal’ name. I changed my own name from Kate Hare to KT King – just because and why not!?
Can you share your writing process with us, in a nutshell?
I write in my head first. Due to having CFS I cannot sit at the computer for more than about 2 hours a day (and that is on a good day) so I do all my plot and scenes in my head from my bed then type them up when I feel well enough. I write in the same way as one might paint a picture – I start with the basic draft and then go back to each chapter and colour it in. I keep doing this over and over until each chapter feels polished. My sister then checks the spelling and grammar for me (and there are always plenty of mistakes) and my two best friends are my beta readers. It took me five years to write book one because I was in bed for nearly three years until I could start typing it up and I can go for months without being able to even think (one of the symptoms of CFS is cognitive fatigue which means memory and thought processes are impaired).
Who are your top 5 favourite authors?
I’d have to say Jane Austen, Enid Blyton, Lucy Maud Montgomery, Andre Gide and E.M. Forster. I could write a very long list…
If you could meet any author, who would it be and what would you ask them?
I would chose to meet Jane Austen because I too am single, without children and don’t have any money or home of my own so I feel a bit akin to her (although I don’t get to stay in stately homes as she did). I would ask her how on earth she wrote with a quill and paper – I am forever retyping and thank god for the computer!
Were you a big reader as a child?
I loved reading and writing as a child. The Faraway Tree was my first favourite book along with all fairytales. We were only allowed new books for birthday’s and Christmas so I would have to wait for the next in a series which meant that I read the same books many times whilst waiting for the next.
When did you start to write?
I wrote the school play when I was seventeen and wrote my own healing newsletter for a few years but I only started to write novels in 2014
If you could re-write the ending to any book what would it be and what would you change?
I wouldn’t change the ending of any novel but if I could, I would change the ending to my life so far and make it ‘happily ever after’.
Is there a book you wish you had written?
I would love to be able to write like Jeanette Winterson. Her ability to play with narrative style is beyond me! I would like to have written The Passion or The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman because that had me hooked and has the creepiest reveal ever!
If you wrote an autobiography, what would your title be?
I think it would have to be something like: Never give up, Never Give in
If you could invite any fictional character for coffee who would it be and where would you take them?
I would take them to the fictional Daisy Place Café! But, if it has to be a real place I would take them to a local hotel called Tickton Grange for afternoon tea!
Tell us a random fact about yourself
I have jumped out of a plane at 12 thousand feet over Western Australia
What are you working on right now?
Book Two in the Little Eden series. I hope there will be at least nine in all, so I’d better keep going!
Tell us about your last release?
My last is my first which is Little Eden, A Magic Book. It’s called a Magic Book because it ‘opens the heart and expands the mind’ (in the spiritual world it is known as an awakener book). It is full of cliff hangers, thrills, magic, supernatural events and humour but it also touches on social issues such as domestic violence, mental health, CFS and self-care. It also takes the reader on a healing and spiritual journey showing how to weave the supernatural into daily life and how to cope using spirit guides, angelic energies and prayers. I wanted a book which would be like having a one to one session with me. My clients always said I should write a book so that more people could hear about what goes on ‘out there’ and so I did but I also wanted to make it a novel which anyone and everyone could enjoy.
Do you have a new release due?
Little Eden, Book Two should hopefully be released early 2020. Book One just came out in paperback but has been out as an eBook since 2018, you can get it in both formats on Amazon and other eBook sites.
What do you generally do to celebrate on publication day?
I have only had one and I had afternoon tea with my best friends – it had to be afternoon tea!
How can readers keep in touch with you?
I am on all social media platforms and I love to hear from my readers. One Facebook I have a Dear Readers group and readers can share their bakes and experiences (there are some recipes in the back of the novel which feature in the story). I also have an Etsy Shop where I sell handmade healing jewellery and gifts inspired by Little Eden. My link tree which takes you to all my links is https://linktr.ee/ktkingbooks
Is there anything else you would like us to know?
I have suffered with chronic pain and CFS for over 25 years and am hoping to help raise awareness for CFS with my novels. Millions suffer with this illness and the World Health Organisation is trying to encourage world governments to treat it as a biological disease rather than as a psychological one. It is considered on a par with AIDS in that there is little or no research and the numbers with it are growing annually, yet sufferers are blamed for the illness due to a lack of understanding of the cause. There is no state aid, disability allowance or help on offer. Until the governments add it to the list of recognised disabilities many of us are dependent on family charity to survive and struggle to work, have any kind of social life or hobbies and we can spend years at a time bedridden. The fluctuating nature of the illness makes it baffling to the medical profession. Most of us are housebound over 80% of the time and find having relationships, children, holding down a job, earning a living or even taking a shower almost impossible. I am reliant on my elderly parents to provide me with a room and board after I lost my business and home in 2012 when I had the worst relapse of my life and from which I have never recovered from sufficiently to work again. Until the profile is raised there will be no biomedical research, without which, another generation will battle with poverty, depression, suicide, homelessness and by in constant pain. Please help me raise awareness by reading Little Eden and spreading the word! For more information on CFS/ME please visit http://millionsmissing.meaction.net/
Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions! 🙂
A Magic Book opens the heart & expands the mind…
2012. Little Eden, London, England.
The beautiful sanctuary town of Little Eden is under threat. Human greed, selfishness and disregard are about to turn the last 1,000 years to dust. Robert Bartlett-Hart must make a choice.
With the help of his friends (plus plenty of tea and cake), Robert learns that there is more at stake than just Little Eden.
Something lies at the heart of the Abbey; something that stands between mankind and Armageddon. The friends must navigate past lives, other dimensions, and even Heaven itself, to find a way to save Little Eden and themselves.
Will Little Eden survive to usher in a new age, or will humanity perish with it?
happy reading 🙂
