Kenya knew from an early age that horror was in her blood. Realizing that her tastes leaned more towards ghost and the macabre than princesses and fairy godmothers, she began writing short-form horror in her teens. She published her first full-length novel in early 2014 titled Prey for Me. Since that release, Kenya has explored other genres like dark romance and thriller.
Join me as I get to know Kenya below!
Q: Who has been your biggest supporter(s) throughout your writing career?
A: I have, or had, two amazing supporters throughout my entire career. The first was my high school Literature teacher, Marla Jackson. She put Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison and The Scarlet Ibis by James Hurst into my hands when I was 14. Later, as an adult, I typed my first story on a typewriter while at work, that story was Patchwork. I mailed her a copy along with some other works in progress and she gave me so much feedback and encouragement to keep going. She read all of my work and stayed close until she passed in 2022. My sister has been my other supporter. She reads and supports everything I write, even though she isn’t necessarily a “horror fan,” she still reads, cheering me on and keeping me motivated.
Q: Where do you draw inspiration from in your work?
A: Everyday situations surrounding my life, what I see and hear in the news; basically, things I read or learn of each day. As a horror writer, I find so much unsettling in the world around us and you don’t even have to look too hard. Quite often I’ll hear a news story and I whip out my phone and write notes to myself on how certain elements could be shaped into a story. It’s always funny to me when I meet people who say they don’t read horror, yet they devour every news story about the heinous crimes that people commit against each other. That’s the worst kind of horror because it’s real!
Q: What does it mean to you to be an author?
A: I’ve been a writer since I penned my first story around age 6. But to be an author, to have published my work and allowed people to read and enjoy it, that makes me extremely proud. I am so glad I am able to share my work with the world. Like most writers, I’m always in the process of either outlining an idea or starting a WIP or wrapping one up. It’s frightening sometimes but there certainly is a higher level of satisfaction in sharing with the readers.
Q: What is your writing process like? Do you listen to certain music, snack, make loads of phone notes when inspiration randomly strikes?
A: Because I have a terrible memory, I have gotten into the habit of writing notes in my phone for stories that I’m either already working on, or ideas that come to me throughout the day. I have to capture that inspiration in some manner because I’m not always able to immediately build the story. But when I’m actually in the writing process, I’ve found that I write much more fluidly in the quiet. Which has been a revelation to me because I’m a background noise kind of person. I always have horror movies playing in the background, but I’ve discovered that that really disturbs my concentration, so I had to stop doing that. My production level went up when I began writing in silence.
Q: Is there a genre or subgenre that you want to explore that you haven’t yet? Conversely, are there any that you’ll never write?
A: I have frequently thrown elements of sci-fi and dark fantasy into some of my short stories, so I am developing a couple stories for those genres, as well as dark romance. When you write short stories, it’s fairly easy to jump around a bit, but the feedback from those attempts convinced me to complete a few dream projects and see how it goes.
Q: What has been the hardest part of your career as an author so far?
A: Being seen. Because everything revolves around the digital world, you’d think that would make it easier, but it makes it more difficult to be seen in a sea of authors. It’s a common struggle. You think if you write it, they will come. And they do. But trying to grow my following has been the most difficult. Being an author isn’t just about writing, there’s so much administration and marketing that also needs to take place in order to get the writing into the hands of the readers!
Q: What do you consider to be your greatest strength and weakness as an author?
A: I personally think my greatest strength is the way I develop characters and bring them to life including their backstory. But it’s also my weakness because I can get too far down a path and realize that I’ve just added 10k words talking about their childhood when that wasn’t supposed to be the focus of the story. I often end up chopping parts of a story and saving it into a folder to use later because I don’t want to delete it. It may have been really good, but it didn’t fit the story and completely threw off the pacing, but I’m not going to toss it! I’ll save it and rename the character and give it to another story.
Q: Who is on your radar as someone you’d love to work with?
A: I honestly don’t think I could write 1:1 with anyone else because we all have our own styles and connections to our stories. It would be difficult to blend with someone else and share control of decision making of the project. So, I don’t think about working with anyone in that capacity. There are quite a few people in the horror community that I’d love to be on a group project with because I know they’re going to absolutely bring their A game and I just want to bask in their light and learn from them.
Q: At some point in our lives, we’ve all heard the negative comments: “You’re not good enough.” “You’ll never make it.” “This is the worst thing I’ve ever seen.” “You don’t belong.” How do you move forward when faced with negativity?
A: When I was told that “black people don’t read horror,” I was determined to prove those people wrong because not only have I, as an obvious black person, been reading and writing horror nearly since I could read and write, I also know of dozens of other people (online) who were horror fans. But at that time, there really wasn’t a cohesive community of horror fiction lovers the way they exist today. I’ve seen this notion squashed over the years and that gives me great satisfaction and encourages me to keep going.
Q: What advice would you give to women who are wanting to write, especially if it’s something others might perceive as “outside of the norm”?
A: Do it anyway. Seeing that book complete and knowing YOU did it, that’s the best feeling in the world. Maybe stop telling others what your plans are and just do it, just write it. If people are giving negative feedback, stop talking to them about your dreams. Safeguard your sanity!
On February 5th, Kenya released Sick xoxo, a collection of stories about love, lust, and everything in between. These stories burrow deep into the darkest corners of love, sex, and other in-between connections that bind. The horrifying consequences of love have been taken to extremes by the “nightmare vendor” Kenya Moss-Dyme!
Kenya recently read The Asylum series by Toni Larue and Tanisha Stewart. She’s hoping to read The Reformatory next, if deadlines permit!
Check out Kenya’s website to sign up for her newsletter so you don’t miss any important updates! You can also follow her on Facebook and Instagram!
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