Author Kerry Williams
AUTHOR OF OTHER NATURE
How I got into reading
For as long as I can remember, I have always loved to read. Some of my earliest memories are of my mom taking me to the local library. It always felt like a magical place to me, the long aisles stacked high with books was like entering a new world.
I am told that when I was very young, I would amaze my family by memorizing the words of my favourite books before I could read, and would know exactly what words went with which pictures and would go back if I ever missed any.
My nan was also a huge reader and I have so many great memories of us talking for hours about books together. She was a huge Stephen King fan and she would give me watered-down accounts of what was going on in his latest novel that she was reading. I can’t have been more than ten! But I loved it so much.
When I was a teenager and was obsessed with Anne Rice, she would indulge me and let me go on for hours about Lestat. Unfortunately, she has dementia now, so she won’t be able to enjoy my book, but I know she would have been so proud of what I have achieved.
Other Nature
Mysterious twins.
Hidden secrets.
And a world of magic beneath our own.
Connie’s life and relationships with her lifelong friends are thrown into turmoil with the arrival of the Burke twins in a quiet country village in the heart of England. She longs for adventure and their sudden appearance, other worldly good looks, and unwillingness to share their past captures her imagination.
While Peter Burke is reluctant to be here, longing for before, for a place to call home, he has no interest following his twin sisters lead and making friends. But the more he is drawn to Connie, the more he wants to reveal about himself and his unconventional upbringing.
Connie feels Peter’s pull like gravity, but the more she learns about him the more she questions what is truly possible in this world.
As their relationship progresses, threads of Peter’s secrets come undone, threatening not only his relationship with Connie but all he holds dear, and making her wonder if some secrets are best kept hidden.
What made you want to become a writer
When I was in year four, I won a writing competition at school and my teacher made a really big deal about it. I have a lot to thank Mrs. Stone for – she saw a lot of potential in me and I will never forget that.
But being a writer was never a huge aspiration for me. I wanted to be many things as I grew up from Catwoman, to a vet, to an actress. My head is always in the clouds and my goals was always changing. But, writing was always something I did for fun. Something that I loved doing.
When it came time to go to university back in 2006, I still didn’t know what I wanted to do as a career, but I knew I wanted the uni experience. I decided to do something that I loved and chose to do a BA (hons) in Creative Writing. At the time I thought I might pursue a career in journalism, but over the course of the three years, I kind of lost the love for it.
After uni, I traveled and loved every second of those experiences. I am lucky enough to have spent time in India, South East Asia, as well as Central and South America.
After that I worked in roles that I always loved bringing creativity too. Today, I am lucky enough to work as a copywriter for a lovely fostering agency. It’s a double whammy for me, I work for a great organization that is dedicated to helping vulnerable children and I get to be creative every day. I love it!
But it wasn’t until COVID happened that I started to write for myself again. In the first lockdown, I needed to do something to keep my sanity, so I started writing Other Nature.
At first, it was a bit of fun, but soon I found that I had 90k words on my hands and I was like, “hang on, I have a novel in the works here”. I polished it and gave it to my sister to read. She devoured it in two days and loved it so much that it gave me the confidence to pursue publishing it.
The rest is history…
Where do you get your inspiration?
I am inspired but so many things.
My travels, especially some of my experiences in India. Other Nature is the first book in a series, and these experiences come more into the second book, so I won’t give away much more than that for now.
I am such a vampire girl and Anne Rice will always be the vampire queen. I love her stuff and Lestat was definitely my first book boyfriend. I think she really instilled in me my love for the anti-hero.
Harry Potter will always be my comfort read. My sister and I are both huge fans of the Wizarding World. It is just a world to get lost in and I love that!
Holly Black is also one of my favourite writers. She has this incredible capacity to cram so much onto each page. I feel like she doesn’t waste a single word, her storytelling and pacing are just incredible. She is someone I definitely aspire to.
Generally, I am always inspired by things that have a bit of magic in them. I love the idea that there is something hidden underneath the surface of things, an untold story.
When I am writing, a lot of inspiration comes from music. I will hear a certain song and an image will form in my head, or it will give me a feeling. Sometimes it will fit what I am writing at the time or other times I will put that song away for future use.
I have a specific playlist for each book. I am quite a visual person, so there are certain scenes in Other Nature that have been inspired by certain songs or others which I visualize with certain songs in the background. If it ever got turned into a film, I would have a lot of opinions on the music choices!
You can listen to the playlist HERE
What are your goals for the future?
I well and truly have the writing bug again. Other Nature is actually the first in a trilogy. Its sequels, Gemini and The Setting Sun will be coming soon.
Things have been a rollercoaster of emotions seeing them come to life during editing and getting my head around the world of publishing.
I am with a small press called Skye High Publishing, so things have moved quickly. I am so nervous for the next step and their release, but a good nervous. The thrill of doing something that you haven’t done before.
But I already have the idea in my head for my next series. And then… who knows after that.
OTHER THINGS ABOUT ME
College
I studied at Brunel University from 2006 – 2009 and have a 2:1 BA (hons) in Creative Writing.
Family
I live in the UK in a town called Redditch with my little family – my fiancée Ben, our small daughter Ivy, our cat Solo and our huge, horse of a dog Chewie. Yes, we are big Star War’s fans in this house.
CREATING OTHER NATURE
The idea for Other Nature had been floating around in my head since 2003 when I first saw Jeremy Sumpter’s portrayal of Peter Pan. I loved that scene where he flew back to Neverland and the whole island woke up. I was really intrigued by the notion of an individual having that kind of influence on the world around them, and the idea for Other Nature was born.
Although it took me many years to put those ideas down on paper. One day I was listening to a song by my favourite band, Arctic Monkeys, and an image came into my head, a scene that comes in the middle of the book and a lot of the story stemmed from there. (Chapter 17, in case you want to know).
The story is very much grounded in the real world but has fantasy elements and at its heart is a romance tale. The fantasy part of it is a slow drip and is part of the mystery, so it gets more fantastical as it goes on. By book three, you are fully immersed in this world. You go on the journey with the characters.
At first when you meet the Burke twins, you know there is something a bit strange about them, their upbringing was unconventional but the more you peel back the layers, the more there is to discover. There are references to neglect but nothing explicit.
There are twists at every turn, and I so hope it keeps people guessing right to the end.
I wanted to play with some of the tropes of the genre. I read a lot of alpha male types in paranormal romance and I wanted to turn that around this a little. The main character, Peter, is certainly reckless, but he is also probably the most vulnerable character of the series.
One of my favourite aspects about the book and the series as a whole is the character’s growth, I adored seeing them change and become who they were always meant to be. That doesn’t mean that they are necessarily heroes at the end of it, I love an anti-hero and like the idea that the characters we have come to know and love might not necessarily be good. But you root for them anyway.
To me Other Nature is a story about coming-of-age, love, and discovering who you are. But, it’s also about grief, power, and the complicated nature of good vs evil.
The whole story is told from multiple points of view, I really enjoyed writing this way. You get an insight into so many angles of the story straight away.
Overall, Other Nature focuses on the twins adapting to their new home and the effect they have on Connie and her lifelong friendships. As Connie’s relationship grows with Peter, we realize things are not all that they seem with him. Some of my beta readers had some awesome guesses about what is going on with him, so I would be fascinated to find out some more theories that people have.
Quote from the book:
“What are you?” I ask, although at this point I’m too far gone to care.
“Isn’t it enough that I just want to be yours?” he asks, placing a soft kiss on my shoulder.
I would usually find this a frustrating answer, but I know he isn’t being evasive. The truth is he doesn’t know.