K. Valentin is the author of the critically acclaimed adult contemporary fantasy novel, An Amateur Witch’s Guide to Murder. She has also been published in the Bag of Bones Horror Anthology, Cosmos: An Anthology of Dark Microfiction and theLatino Book Review Magazine.

K. hails from England and Las Vegas and presently calls rainy Washington home. This far-ranging combination of formative locations makes K. very proper, occasionally scandalous, and extremely emo. When not writing about demons, she’s writing about hackers or elves.

I had the opportunity to interview K., which you can read below.

First of all, welcome to Geeks OUT! Could you tell us a little about yourself?

Certainly, and thanks so much for having me! I’m K. Valentin, an adult fantasy author out of Washington state who loves making horror-adjacent stuff and exploring the melancholy lack of belonging that comes with being a multicultural and multifaceted human being (but, like, with magic and humor).

What can you tell us about your book, An Amateur Witch’s Guide to Murder? What was the inspiration for this story? 

An Amateur Witch’s Guide to Murder is about a broke goth wannabe brujo with a demon trapped inside him, who takes on a rich, super cursed, and kinda cute client to pay for an exorcism, but ends up enmeshed in a deadly magical finance bro conspiracy—and the more magic he uses, the more delicious humans look.

The initial inspiration for the story happened when I walked into a local print shop and saw the most magnificently goth guy ever behind the counter. I’m talking: black eyeshadow, black lipstick, long black stiletto nails, and a jaunty work polo. I started making up a witch side hustle backstory on the spot. Also, I wanted to tell a story about the experience of being Puerto Rican but not raised in Puerto Rico, but steeped in magic, messy people, and cannibalism.

As a writer, what drew you to the art of storytelling, especially speculative fiction?

I’d love to point to a pivotal moment, but I’ve always played make-believe. I was the kid with the imaginary friend. I set up fanciful scenarios for my stuffed animals. I got the other little kids on the playground to banish demons with me (I went to a religious private school—someone probably should have stopped me from that one). My older sister and I put on scripted plays for our parents. I made up fan characters with elaborate backstories for cartoons I was into. I’ve spent my whole life imagining fake people and putting them through stuff, and that stuff’s a whole lot more interesting to me when magic or horror’s involved.

How would you describe your creative process?

Wasteful probably describes it pretty succinctly. I am, unfortunately, one of those hybrid pantser/planner people. I have to stream-of-consciousness draft an entire (underwritten) novel first. From that I get to know the characters and the plot possibilities. They’re not usable words, but from that bad draft I learn everything I need to know and can then create an outline that resembles a book-shaped thing.

From there it’s a series of drafts, steadily getting more coherent and detailed, fleshing out emotions, and repeatedly being told by friends and my agent to actually explain the worldbuilding, until it’s a real book.

What are some of your favorite elements of writing? What do you consider some of the most frustrating and/or challenging?

I really love that first draft where I feel like an amazing super-fast writer and there are no wrong answers. Thinking on the page is so fun, just letting the characters walk me through situations the way they would as I figure out their nuances.

I tend to have pacing problems in the first half of my manuscripts in early drafts. I accidentally make slow setups that crawl along until midpoint and then explode into everything happening all at once. My agent helpfully points out that no one wants to wait a hundred and fifty pages for something to happen which is, I guess, fair.

As authors, who or what would you say are some of your greatest creative influences and/or sources of inspiration in general?

Martha Wells is always top of my list as both influence and inspiration. She has such a way with character, and the combination of humor and emotion in her work is exceptional. I strive for that level of skill. Other authors responsible for altering some portion of my brain chemistry are Stephen King, Naoko Takeuchi, Anne Rice, V. E. Schwab, Ann Leckie, Q Hayashida, and William Gibson.

What’s a question you haven’t been asked yet but that you wish you were asked (as well as the answer to that question)?

I haven’t been asked why I keep making cannibalism a thing in my books (plural because the one I’m writing right now also has it). I think the concept of cannibalism is weirdly intimate (one person consuming another person). Can’t get any closer than that. It makes a great metaphor for a lot of things. Also, it reminds me that we’re all just talking meat sacks—which is fundamentally horrifying and therefore fun to write about.

What advice might you have to give for any aspiring writers out there?

Sheryl Sandberg said it and it’s the stone-cold truth: “Done is better than perfect.” You can’t fix what doesn’t exist, and you can’t aim for perfect on the first draft. Not on the first book, either. It takes a lot of words to get good, so get writing so you can get to those good words faster.

Are there any other projects you are working on and at liberty to speak about?

Nothing’s set in stone at the moment, but I am excited about that aforementioned also cannibalism book. It’s a bit more fantastical than my last one, with dual POV, and a not-quite-our-world setting I’m having a blast fleshing out.

Finally, what books/authors would you recommend to the readers of Geeks OUT?

These are going to be all over the place, but I’ve had a broad yet wonderful year of reading and have been gobsmacked by the storytelling prowess of Cassandra Khaw, S. A. MacLean, Tana French, Maiga Doocy, Kerstin Hall, M.L. Wang, Premee Mohamed, Chuck Tingle, and Rebecca Makkai. Also, everyone I mentioned in my influence answer!