K.T. Sterling

K.T. Sterling (1986) has always loved to write stories, when she saw a movie she would write a story about it and fill it with magic, but she never had the thought of becoming a writer. There were, in fact, other problems. Her childhood was difficult, so she fled into the fantasy world of books. In her youth she was devoted to Harry Potter. There was simply nothing else for her. Until, at the age of nineteen, she half-forced to reach for the pen because she was having strange dreams and characters were walking around in her head begging to be known. This is how her steampunk/victorian high fantasy book series ‘Testra’ originated and the dream of becoming a writer. She continued to write, even after her criminology degree, through the many administrative jobs that brought her nothing but depression and burnouts. That way she had a first manuscript ready. She also had a manuscript ready for a sequel and ideas for a third book in the series.

By 2019, she had focused on writing contests and taken writing classes, and read books on story structure. That has paid off. She has published short stories, won an award and published books.

That is why she always gives advice to broaden your horizons. She was so blinded by her story that she could no longer really see. She had to learn first. And where do you do that better than in writing competitions? Stepping out of your comfort zone and trying something different … and then diving back into your story with a fresh look.

About writing

Writing is also part therapy for K.T. Sterling. It heals because she has childhood traumas that she still has to process and she can write off part of that and include it in her story. She’s had a lot of dark thoughts. She writes about the things she sees, hears and most importantly, feels. That’s why ‘Testra’ is so twisted and corrupted because she could express all her darkest feelings in it back in the day. It helped her get mad at the person she couldn’t get mad at in real life, especially her parents. It helped her take it out on the colleagues who bullied her or the classmates who once bullied her. Testra is therefore dark, because she had dark emotions at the time. But, she also wrote Testra when she was already together with her husband, so there are certainly positive parts in it, the parts that usually made it 18+…

In that respect, writing is definitely a liberation for her. It is so often said to write everything off. That’s why the stories she writes and the characters, are always a big part of her.

Writing is also special because it is the characters who guide her, the characters experience it and she writes it down. This sometimes happens at the most inconvenient times. Like just before she falls asleep or in the middle of the night. Those are also the moments when a new character or a new story introduces itself to her. Just as happened with Rosalie of ‘Meermintranen’.

She often thought she was strange because these things happened. Because the characters did things she didn’t want to happen. Because the antagonist killed someone she had another plan for in the next book.

But after reading Elizabeth Gilbert’s Big Magic, she knew that something like this is not abnormal. Even stranger things exist. It is a book that she recommends to every writer.

About Testra’s Heir

It is difficult to explain what Testra means to her. It’s her heart and soul that’s in it. The characters have become part of her and, conversely, a lot of her is in them. She has known them for over eighteen years. She cried and laughed with them.

Testra is the world she created when she was nineteen. She never thought she would write a book. The stories she wrote in her childhood were very different. Testra’s characters kept wandering around in her head, making it clear that their story needed to be told. So, she started writing. And writing. And writing.

At one point the real world passed her by and she lived in her own world. She lived there for years. She slept, worked, ate and wrote. Oh yes, she certainly did write. Everywhere. On the bus, train, in the rain, just before a job interview, even during a job interview, at work, on the ground, … in the strangest places. It was as if everything had to be on paper as soon as possible. The characters did not leave her alone for a moment. They were always present in everything she did. She had squeezed out a first manuscript of 479,000 words. A second manuscript soon followed.

In total she has been working on it for eighteen years. Testra is a world that is complete for her. One day she hopes to be able to share it with you. That was the idea anyway, otherwise she wouldn’t have worked on it for so long and so much, otherwise the characters wouldn’t have kept walking around in her head telling her what’s happening in their world.

Testra’s Heir is a steampunk/victorian high fantasy book series that can be compared to Game of Thrones: a political power game surrounded by intrigue, adventure, lust and a lot of fire.