{"id":3064,"date":"2025-09-16T14:13:26","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T13:13:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/londoncomicconwinter.com\/YALC\/?p=3064"},"modified":"2025-09-16T14:13:26","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T13:13:26","slug":"qa-with-kat-ellis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/londoncomicconwinter.com\/YALC\/qa-with-kat-ellis\/","title":{"rendered":"Q&A with Kat Ellis"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hi Kat,<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

– Thank you for joining us here at YALC. We would love you to introduce yourself?<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Hello! I\u2019m an author of weird and creepy YA books, including <\/span><\/span>Harrow Lake<\/i><\/span><\/span>, <\/span><\/span>Wicked Little Deeds<\/i><\/span><\/span>, and my new YA horror \u2013 <\/span><\/span>The Devouring Light<\/i><\/span><\/span>. I live in North Wales where there are lots of old castles, ruins and cemeteries to explore whenever I need to stir up some story inspiration. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

– Can you give our readers an overview of your YA novel <\/span><\/span>The Devouring Light<\/i><\/span><\/span>?<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Young musician Haden, along with her bandmate and a rival rock band, get stranded in a deadly swamp when their tour bus crashes. The only shelter they can find is a seemingly abandoned house which seems to have been expecting them \u2014 and now won\u2019t let them leave.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

– And, if you had to do it in just 5 words or less, what would they be?<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Rock\u2019n\u2019roll hell spiral.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

– What was the inspiration behind <\/span><\/span>The Devouring Light<\/i><\/span><\/span>? And what are some of your favourite horror stories?<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I love exploring and creating new settings with my stories, and have wanted to set one in a swamp for years. Once I have my setting, I tend to work outward from there: the Light \u2014the creepy abandoned house Haden and the others find \u2014 appeared next. Then I figured out what kind of horrible surprises might be lying in wait there, and what dark and twisted history the house might have. I thought about what kind of characters I\u2019d like to throw into this terrifying situation, and suddenly I had my tour bus full of rock musicians with their own aspirations and tangled connections and rivalries going on. And so <\/span><\/span>The Devouring Light<\/i><\/span><\/span> was born. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

It shares certain tropes and themes with some of my all-time favourite horror stories. <\/span><\/span>The Creeper Man<\/i><\/span><\/span> by Dawn Kurtagich is a fantastically creepy YA horror which takes place in an isolated manor house; <\/span><\/span>Burn the Negative<\/i><\/span><\/span> by Josh Winning is an adult horror novel about a former child star coming face to face with something evil that\u2019s been terrorising people for decades, and <\/span><\/span>It\u2019s Behind You<\/i><\/span><\/span> by Kathryn Foxfield is another isolated-setting YA horror-thriller where teens seeking fame and fortune on a reality TV show end up finding something much darker waiting for them beyond the bright lights.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

– Who was your favourite character to write and why?<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

My main character, Haden, has to be my favourite. I love horror stories with a protagonist who doesn\u2019t fall to pieces at the first flickering light, and she\u2019s someone I\u2019d want to have in my corner if I was trapped in a creepy house.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

– Which character did you find the most fun to write?<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Deacon, who is Haden\u2019s long-time rival, was definitely the most fun to write. He has his issues, but he\u2019s so dramatic and provides some of the funnier moments in the book \u2014 at least I think so!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

– Where do you write?<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I have a study at home that\u2019s just mine, and I love working there. One wall is entirely bookshelves, floor to ceiling, and I have a writing desk as well as a comfortable chair to write in \u2014 though I usually have to share this with at least one cat.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

– What made you want to get into writing? Was there a specific book you read which inspired you?<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I got into reading YA in my 20s, which kick-started my love of reading in general after a pretty long dry spell. It was reading books like <\/span><\/span>Unwind<\/i><\/span><\/span> by Neal Shusterman, <\/span><\/span>Stolen<\/i><\/span><\/span> by Lucy Christopher, and <\/span><\/span>Pretty Bad Things<\/i><\/span><\/span> by CJ Skuse which first gave me an inkling that I\u2019d like to try writing a YA novel of my own \u2014 something dark and gripping and fun. That\u2019s the vibe I always try to capture now with my writing.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

– What is your favourite genre to read?<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s probably no surprise, but I\u2019d say horror is my favourite genre to read. Though I do also love fantasy, thrillers and \u2013 perhaps more surprisingly \u2013 romance. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

– Have you read anything brilliant recently?<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Tons of great books have come out and are coming out later this year. Some of my recent horror faves are <\/span><\/span>And the River Drags Her Down<\/i><\/span><\/span> by Jihyun Yun, <\/span><\/span>Empty Heaven<\/i><\/span><\/span> by Freddie K\u00f6lsch and <\/span><\/span>They Own the Night<\/i><\/span><\/span> by Amy McCaw. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

– What is your favourite horror film?<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Honestly, there are so many. But if I have to pick just one, then I\u2019ll choose <\/span><\/span>Aliens<\/i><\/span><\/span>. I can watch <\/span><\/span>Aliens<\/i><\/span><\/span> over and over again and still be scared, and I think that\u2019s the sign of a great horror film. Also Ripley is a total boss.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

– Where can our readers find you on social media?<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

You\u2019ll find me mostly on Instagram and TikTok \u2013 I\u2019m @katelliswrites on both.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

– Finally can you give us your favourite quote from a novel (it can be yours!)?<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m terrible at remembering quotes, but this is one of my favourite lines in <\/span><\/span>The Devouring Light<\/i><\/span><\/span> (and definitely gives a flavour of what you can expect!): <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Whoever was staying in this room died in that bed. Died, and lay there long enough to liquefy.<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi Kat, – Thank you for joining us here at YALC. We would love you to introduce yourself? Hello! I\u2019m an author of weird and creepy YA books, including Harrow Lake, Wicked Little Deeds, and my new YA horror \u2013 The Devouring Light. I live in North Wales where there are lots of old castles, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":3067,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3064","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-qa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/londoncomicconwinter.com\/YALC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3064","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/londoncomicconwinter.com\/YALC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/londoncomicconwinter.com\/YALC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncomicconwinter.com\/YALC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncomicconwinter.com\/YALC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3064"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/londoncomicconwinter.com\/YALC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3064\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3070,"href":"https:\/\/londoncomicconwinter.com\/YALC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3064\/revisions\/3070"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncomicconwinter.com\/YALC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/londoncomicconwinter.com\/YALC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncomicconwinter.com\/YALC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncomicconwinter.com\/YALC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}