Author Interview – Kat H. Clayton

Can you tell us about your main character? Casper isn’t your typical highschool girl. She’s not into fashion and boys. All she cares about is her family’s horses. She also has no interest in her parents high society life style. But her world is turned upside down when her family moves to Charleston and she meets Cal. Ths world she was already struggling to fit in gets even more complicated and she has to grow up quickly to make decisions that will forever effect her future.

How did you develop your plot and characters? I don’t really make a plan. I fly by the seat of my pants, writing what comes to mind. The same is true for my characters. Then I go through a heavy editing process.

Who designed the cover? Streetlight Graphics. They did both the cover for The Kings of Charleston and All the King’s Men. They will also be doing the cover for The Kingdom’s Revolt.

Why did you choose to write this particular book? I didn’t choose to write this book, I think it chose me. I was actually writing a totally different novel when the story for The Kings of Charleston was taking up all the creative space in my brain, so I was forced to stop and write this story. But I’m so glad that I did. My subconscious knew this was the story I should be writing, before I did.

What was the hardest part about writing this book? The moments when the story seemed to just stop in my head. Sometimes it would require days of “meditation” to work through the problem. Sometimes describing the scene to my husband and talking with him about the problem gets me moving again.

Did you learn anything from writing this book and what was it? I learned that I can actually write a mystery. The first couple of drafts leaned a lot more on the romantic elements and I tried to focus on that, but my editor thought I needed to play up the mystery of Kythera. I was intimidated, but once I got into it, I quickly realized that’s my comfort zone.

Will you write others in this same genre? I already have some new ideas floating around for some new mystery/suspense books and/or series. One is a paranormal suspense and another contemporary mystery/suspense. Most likely this genre is where I will spend most of my career, but I’m okay with venturing out into other genres. I’m actually working on another novel that will be a contemporary romance.

Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp? I want them to think about what’s really important to them in their lives and what they would do if that person or thing was threatened.  To what links would they do to preserve the things they hold most dear?

The first book in The Kings of Charleston Series.

Casper Whitley is forced to move to Charleston, South Carolina where she’ll be the new kid her senior year of high school. Casper’s upset about the move until she meets the Roman family’s gorgeous son, Cal, but there’s a problem. A mystery surrounds him which can be summed up in one word…Kythera. Never heard of it? Neither has Casper until she finds the word tattooed on cars, paintings and all her new friends.

After Casper’s life is threatened, someone is forced to tell the truth about her parents, the Romans and Kythera’s motives for her being in Charleston. Once the truth is revealed, she must decide whether to protect her family and Kythera’s secrets or walk away from everything she has ever known.

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Genre – YA / Mystery / Suspense

Rating – PG13 (No sex scenes, some violence)

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Website http://kathclayton.com/