By Natalie Hamren
NKyTribune reporter
Local author and freelance writer M.K. Hancock was inspired by Stephen King’s It so much that she crafted her own horror novel, The Witch’s Spiral.
Hancock’s debut novel features 31-year-old Rachel Ogden who has recurring nightmares but can never seem to remember them when she wakes up. Rachel’s life has many mysteries that she’s never been able to solve—like memories of a house fire in her childhood or the fate of her mother who disappeared shortly after. Rachel starts to wonder if there’s any meaning behind this phenomenon. Rachel soon realizes she’s an unwitting player in a game with high stakes that warns “all magic comes with a price.”
Hancock knew she wanted to write a book about witches in a novel, as well as the abandoned underground Cincinnati subway system. She thought the subway system was a perfect place for creepy stuff to happen, so she incorporated it into her book.
She researched the subway system through YouTube videos, articles, and people who have ventured into the tunnels themselves.
“It’s just such an interesting piece of history because if they had stuck through with it, the city today would be very different,” Hancock said.
Since this was Hancock’s first novel, she was figuring out the writing process as she went. She created character bios, calendars to keep track of dates and events in the novel, blueprints of the Cincinnati tunnels and more. Hancock used Google Sheets to keep track of the timeline of events in the book and make sure everything flowed properly. She held herself accountable by writing at least 2,000 words per day.
Hancock said part of the writing process is gathering little pieces of details until you have enough to form a full plot. She said sometimes she remembers stories her friends have told her or other anecdotes, and she incorporates those into her plots.
Hancock said the best part about writing this book was the initial feedback she received from her husband and friends. She lives in Northern Kentucky with her husband and two cats.
M.K. Hancock
“I let my husband read the first draft and he was—aside from me—the only one that got to read that one before I went hard on it because I knew that he would give me the most honest feedback,” Hancock said. “The best part of the whole process was after I revised it and rebuilt the whole thing. Getting the first feedback from a friend of mine whose opinion I really respect and her being like, ‘Holy crap, these are, like, real themes.’”
Hancock said she tries to maintain a good sense of humor, especially since she writes horror—a genre that can deal with emotional elements. In her novel, she said there’s emotional horror that involves family drama.
“It’s very intense. I found, probably, there were some very challenging scenes to write in the book. When I say there’s family drama, that should probably come with a trigger warning for some people because there’s scenes of emotional abuse in the story that are pretty intense,” Hancock said.
Hancock said when she finished writing the book and published it, it was a relief. She opted for self-publishing because she couldn’t find a publisher after trying to secure one for a year. The whole writing process — including research and searching for a publisher — took Hancock around two years.
“Hitting that button—getting that process all final felt great. It was just so awesome. Imagine if you spent two years on a painting and then couldn’t show anyone the painting. And then you get to hang it up, and everybody gets to see it. And then it’s like, ‘Oh, thank Gosh, it’s not just something for me.’ It’s something for everybody now. So it’s very much a relief to finish,” Hancock said.
Writing The Witch’s Spiral gave Hancock tips and skills for the next novel she’s working on. She said she has a better idea of how to maintain organization—such as using calendars, Google Sheets or note cards.
Hancock said readers will enjoy her book because it’s fun, similar to how ‘80s horror was fun to read.
“There’s lots of thrills and just twists. It’s just a good read,” Hancock said. “I wrote it trying really hard to make it as enjoyable a book as I could to read while still keeping it scary so that you have a good time while you’re reading it.”
Purchase The Witch’s Spiral here.
Contact the author here.
Book summary from Amazon: Thirty-one-year-old Rachel has been having nightmares for weeks, but she wakes up unable to remember what it was that has her heart pounding. Rachel is no stranger to mysteries, however, and has long accepted that she might never know the truth behind some of her life’s greatest enigmas, like the strange memories of a house fire in her childhood or the fate of her mother who disappeared shortly after. Is it possible that there is a meaning behind these recent uncanny phenomena? Rachel begins to fear the worst after a preternatural encounter in the midst of a violent thunderstorm, and soon comes to realize that she is an unwitting player in a game with the highest of stakes, armed only with a single, dire warning: “BEWARE – All magic comes at a cost.”
