Author Kristal Kelm features relatable characters, themes in first novel
A first-time author living in Selkirk has released her book, Eliza Honey and the Debt, which follows the main character through a story of mystery and self-discovery.
“She’s just a normal person who makes bad choices, who’s just trying to do the best they can, and she ends up in an incredible situation,” author Kristal Kelm said of the book’s main character, Eliza Honey. “It shows that yeah, you can make a mess of things, but it doesn’t mean you’re not going to survive.”
The story focuses on Honey, who “is having a messy, murderous mid-life crisis that is being manipulated by a ghost. She doesn’t know if she’s the victim or the villain in the nightmare she is living,” the book description states. “She is being framed for murder — maybe, and losing her mind, possibly.”
The 300-page novel follows Honey as she, along with three others, work to find the true killer.
Kelm released the book in February, and the self-published work is available on Amazon as an e-book or paperback.
She started writing the book six years ago.
“My husband took a job where he was out of town quite a bit, and at the time, we had three younger teenagers. So I stayed at home, but I wanted to do something, I just needed something,” she said. “I thought, well, you know what, I’m going to try writing. And so that’s how the first book came about.”
Kelm was happy with just completing the book even if no one else ever read it, but her husband, who she says is her biggest supporter, encouraged her to self-publish it. He helped her through the process to get the book up on Amazon.
She intended for Eliza Honey and the Debt to be a standalone project, but an idea came to her to continue the story, an idea she couldn’t stop thinking about.
Kelm plans to release the second book about Honey in May, and the third in September. She’s in the early stages of book four.
She says it’s been surreal to have her book out there and in readers’ hands.
“I’m kind of floating up over in the corner watching it,” Kelm said. “I don’t have higher education, so it never occurred to me that I could do this, quite frankly.”
Kelm enjoys everything related to the paranormal, though she hasn’t had any paranormal experiences herself.
“I’ve always loved a good ghost story,” she said. “I love a mystery. I absolutely love a thinker, where you have to figure out what’s going on.”
She also liked the idea of featuring relatable characters and situations.
“I thought, why can’t there be a character, a heroine, who isn’t a beautiful 20-year-old who’s a size zero and a genius? Why can’t it be someone who’s middle-aged? Nobody’s interested in a middle-aged woman — that’s how it felt to me. And I thought, why can’t my main character be interesting, and be middle-aged, and be flawed, and be relatable, and still be interesting?” she said.
“Situations are often not what they appear in real life, and I brought that out in this book. … There’re so many things that can affect a person and can affect their growth, and it’s not always good, but it can be necessary.”
Though she may not know how the story ends she knows she’s going to continue writing.
“I’m going to write until I die,” she said. “It’s an escape for me.”
One time, she was writing, and said out loud, “I didn’t see that coming!” Her husband, who overheard, couldn’t stop laughing, wondering how she couldn’t see something happening when she was the one writing it.
“It really does take on a life of its own,” she said. “It’s almost like I’m just putting the words down. They really do have their own experience.”
Kelm’s book can be found on Amazon by searching Eliza Honey and the Debt, and she will be launching social media pages to promote her books.
