An Interview with E. J. Kingdom

Always having a book and pen in hand, E. J. Kingdom is convinced that they are from a dark fantasy realm. They host The Writers Den and graduated with an English and Creative Writing degree, and want to progress into becoming a Further Education English teacher.

They love to take walks through the local forests and enjoy books that have something to say about the world, whilst giving them a new place to explore. You can find them on Linktree for more information on their work and on Instagram @ericaj_kingdom for behind-the-scenes content.

Who/what made you want to write? Was there a particular person, or particular writers/works/art forms that influenced you?

So I have a complex relationship with writing. Reading was never really something I enjoyed doing until I found Derek Landy’s Skullduggery Pleasant series. I then went on to the, now departed, Joseph Delaney’s The Spooks series. From there, I felt that I’d experienced enough of literature, at thirteen, to try and write my own. Years later, I met Derek Landy at his author signings, and he gave me a bit of advice which I would later use for my personal statement for my degree entrance: to build a world, you first must make a person. That really made me reconsider what I was doing and how I played around with the themes and the characters. I, of course, was only writing for myself and never even considered publishing the novel.

Fast forward to through to the end of my degree and now, I have three years of education at the intersection between Literature and creative writing craft, do lectures on it occasionally, and I’ve got so much more to draw from. What this manifests itself in, then, is the finished product having some form of absurdist elements (and tragic elements, too) and also what I would deem neurodivergent self-narration and internal sense of internal identity (I realised I was not cis because of the book for damn’s sake). I don’t think I’m quite on Virginia Woolf’s writing level, but I would say considering where it came from, she is quite an influence on my work, even subconsciously and I am so thankful to my lecturers for introducing me to her work.

What inspired you to start writing this book?

In terms of inspirations, this book has so much to it. As it chronicles about seven years of continuous development there are so many influences – the gritty nature of Derek Landy novels, the movie-like nature of a lot of what I was consuming and how I wanted to write Demon Road in a different context which is more personal to me. The most important ones, though, are fighting against authority and asking questions about three things: identity, place, and morality. I wanted to ask questions about my place in the world as a young person growing up. I also wanted to write a novel that would give me control over a world that my parents could never take away from me because it was in my head and it was mine and I wanted predictability in a world filled with unpredictability. Writers, I believe, write because they’ve got something to say but also because they like the control of the narrative.

I am like a puppet master of sorts, knowing that the characters need to do this, that, and the other to get to wherever I need them to go. Writing for me was very much an act of resistance against my emotionally abusive father and mother who was stuck in the situation because of her own want to marry him. That’s where the central conflict comes from and that’s what I was feeling. In the introduction, I describe it as a novel that’s a highly dramatized version of my life. The storyline is about finding and negotiating identity and resisting the influences of people who you want nothing to do with. As the same breath comes, though, it’s also about realising how many paths are open to you and also dealing with grief, loss, changing relationships, and understanding where you stand on large issues about who you are. At its core, it was written as a tale of resistance, and I am very proud of it.

Tell us the story of your book’s title. Was it easy to find, or did it take forever?

The story of this book title was a hard one that spans a significant timespan. I originally published it under a different pen name and title and called it The Hell Of Demonic Royalty. I don’t know why, but thirteen-year-old me thought it was a cool title. Then I realised, at eighteen, I was trans and felt intense dysphoria from that old name and thought ‘Well, if I’m going to publish it, then I’m going to change the name’. During a rewrite, I had just discovered the idea of an extended metaphor and felt that having a literal and metaphorical Burning Throne was going to be a great idea. Being an unimaginative human, I decided that the title would be The Burning Throne. I’ve always been good at names, apparently – I did, after all, get to choose my own.

If your book had a soundtrack, what are some songs that would be on it?

For soundtracks, I think a lot of Twenty-One Pilots would most likely be on it, and their album Blurryface and to an extent Trench, too. Set it Off is also a massive musical influence on my writing, with the gritty, rock style of their work lending well to the style of the novel. I think also some cinematic NF-style music would work wonders.

Describe your dream book cover.

That’s such a tough question. For my project, I don’t trust anyone other than myself to design the covers because I enjoy doing everything myself in terms of design and formatting. I’m lucky to have been trained in how to format the book from my degree, which has helped wonders. For The Burning Throne, the cover I ended up with is the best and perfect one – although iterations of it have had the Throne being words and the first chapter titles, which I might get a designer on if the book sells enough – but we’ll need to see on that. As for perfect covers, I would say that Derek Landy’s Demon Road is a perfect cover and encapsulates everything I love about graphic designs. But also I’ve been toying around with the idea of words-only covers, which I also adore.

What other professions have you worked in? What’s something about you that your readers wouldn’t know?

So I worked in a bookshop for about five months and now work in a library and am moving north to pursue teacher training and follow that passion. The beauty of publishing a novel so relatively young is that I’ve gained so much experience (relative to my age) in writing that I can pass on to the next generation of creative writers. I think the most surprising thing is that I am disabled and have both ADHD and autism, which might explain why I did my whole dissertation on disability in YA literature, but there you go. Oh, and I also really enjoy public speaking and delivering academic conferences when I’ve got an idea of what’s going on.

What books did you read (for research or comfort) throughout your writing process?

A lot of queer literature and Virginia Woolf and works of modernism as well as other types of literature, as assigned to me by my wonderful lecturers, which I was very happy to read for pleasure and academic stuff. As an autistic person, pattern spotting and connection drawing are pleasures, so I am always willing to get to grips with it.

Aside from that, A Darker Shade of Magic was something I really enjoyed and read quite a lot of, while Gallant was another piece I’ve read quite heavily. Finn Longman’s Butterfly Assassin trilogy, which from what I can tell is one of the first scholars to take a stab at it because it’s so new, was a massive comfort read. It’s funny, they actually wanted to read my academic work on their novel and I sent it over as soon as I could to them. I hope they enjoyed the analysis, to be honest.

What is one thing you hope readers take away from reading your book? How do you envision your perfect reader?

The point of the novel is to help readers negotiate the world in their own way. Much like a character does in the novel, I wanted to illustrate that just because you are from one place and are one thing, doesn’t mean you can’t re-negotiate your morals, your identity, your world, in the face of new information.

My perfect reader is someone interested in deconstructing themselves and remaking themselves. In that sense, I want someone who is interested in trying to understand, but I want people to get out what they put into the novel, whatever that may be.

Are you a writer, too? Submit your manuscript to Atmosphere Press.