Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Area author Kim Stevens, otherwise known as KA Stevens, recently self-published “Original Sin,” after 2 1/2 years of work. 

“It’s a young adult book, I have it listed as 14 and above, or of course young at heart,” she said.

The book tells the story of Everleigh and her mother, who move to a small Wisconsin town, where “weird” things start to happen in her life.

“She’s trying to figure out what’s going on, and she decides she’s not really a normal teenager, that stuff doesn’t happen to a normal teenager,” Stevens said.

So it’s up to Everleigh to figure out what was happening to protect herself.

“There’s stuff going on — and it’s really paranormal — that she doesn’t remember,” she said. “But she has to in order to save herself.”

Admitting she enjoyed “really weird stuff” that happened in television or other books, Stevens said the idea came about while spending time with her sister and brother-in-law, who own a cabin she described as “spooky.”

“I’ll go up there and I’ll take this computer with, [and] it’s like I can sit and write a little bit about it,” she said.

Besides being drawn to “creepy” things, the story was also inspired by other books she read, as well as the fact Stevens’ deceased pets would be buried in the backyard, and people referred to the area as a pet cemetery.   

The story started out as a gift to her sister, but then other people started becoming interested in it. So Stevens continued.

Developing the book started with notes she started taking for herself, noting ideas. She took those notes and compiled them to form a story. She also joined the Park Avenues Authors writers group, whom she described as being great and providing answers to questions.

Sevens developed an author’s copy of “Original Sin,” which she sent to beta readers in early May. And after they sent their notes back to Stevens, she would then go back and attempt to clarify questions.

“Once that was re-wrote to where I wanted it to be, then I would go into this [Kindle Direct Publishing], where you can do all the formatting, everything has to be done yourself,” she said.

After she completed that and was approved, she had to come up with a book cover.

“I always wanted the cover with the flame,” she said. “I just always thought that really kind of told the story. When you get to the end of the story you understand what the flames stand for.”

And while this was a labor of love, she enjoyed the story, writing it and hearing feedback from people regarding the ending, which she described as having a twist.

Her biggest hope is that readers enjoy the book, adding she loved hearing feedback from readers.

For her, the biggest challenges were editing and selling; at the same time, publishing a book has shown her she was capable of the challenge.

“I would’ve never thought that I’d be able to write a book, so just to [know] that I can do that,” she said.

According to Stevens, so far the majority of buyers have been adults.

The book, released in mid-June, was published through Kindle Direct Publishing and is the first of the “Hells Legacy” series. It’s available through Amazon as well as Homestead Boutique. It can also be found at Sweet Reads Books and Candy in Austin, and she will be at an author’s panel from noon to 1 p.m. Sept. 30 at the Northwood Public Library, 901 First Ave. South.

In the meanwhile, she’s hard at work on the second part of the Hells Legacy series, and described as following two main characters, one of them being Everleigh. Her hope is to have it out by next June.

“It all just depends on how fast the whole process [goes],” she said. “I gotta look for beta readers again.”

Stevens can be reached at her Facebook Authors page, K A Stevens, or on Goodreads (under the same name).

“Original Sin” is also the planned book for September at AJ’s Book Hideaway.