It was the miners spinning yarns in pubs and social clubs that inspired a teenage Kim Slater to become a writer. She grew up in the coal mining region of North Nottinghamshire in the days when life revolved around the “pit”. The now best-selling author explains: “Many people lived close to a coal mine, the men in the family worked down that mine and socialised with their families on Friday and Saturday nights at the Miners’ Welfares that were dotted around the towns and villages.
“I was surrounded by hard-working people who would enjoy a well-deserved drink or two, while dancing their troubles away.
“They were often great storytellers who would keep each other engaged and entertained with tense tales that relayed the drama of their week.
“It was an immersive storytelling education for an aspiring writer.”
Kim, who writes as KL Slater, adds she was fascinated by the hierarchy of mines around Kirkby-in-Ashfield, where she grew up. These included Newstead Colliery and Annesley pit.
She says: “The young lads would leave school and start on the bottom rung.
“I remember one of them describing going down into the pit for the first time – just going into pure black and crawling on their bellies.
“On the top rung were the face workers who would have to crawl the furthest into the most difficult areas.
“They took on the most risk as the most experienced, but those older men had status in the community and were often great storytellers, and would embellish the events of their work more in each telling.”
Despite being an avid reader as a child and writing her own stories, Kim, 58, says she did not have any role models in her tight-knit, caring, but economically deprived community.
She says: “Everyone talks about a lack of diversity in publishing – in terms of black and Asian authors – but there’s also a lack of diversity with working class people.
“You have to be middle or upper class to have had writers around you, so it’s quite hard when you go to a comprehensive school and are from a working class family, and think ‘how do I do this?’
“As a child, naively I guess, I thought I’d love to be a writer, but I didn’t know any writers. And nobody in my family had been to university or anything like that.”
Kim received 12 rejection letters after sending three chapters of novels to agents.
Then she put her dream aside after getting married to Mark and having a daughter Francesca. She worked doing the accounts for a local school, but at 42 decided to go to Nottingham Trent University to study Creative Writing.
By the time she finished her masters degree five years later she had written her first novel for young adults, Safe With Me, and three further YA books followed.
Since then Kim has penned 18 psychological thrillers for adults, which she has published digitally, but her latest Message Deleted is out now in hardback.
This sees Saffy waiting for a job interview when she gets a text message from best friend Leona saying: “Can’t speak … don’t text or call … please just come”.
Moments later the phone screen changes to say, “This message was deleted”.
Saffy rushes to Leona’s house but her friend says everything is fine and she did not send the texts, so she leaves. Six hours later the police knock on her door to say Leona and her child is missing, and there is blood everywhere in her home.
The inspiration came from Kim messaging her daughter and seeing a message deleted, which provided a seed for her thriller. She says: “To stand out with so many psychological thrillers being published you really need a killer hook.”
As a mature author she was determined to make the most of her opportunity, writing at a prolific rate. Kim says: “I’ve had that drive since I was young. Those people I was around, strong characters, they taught me that if you want something you don’t lose sight of it – and you might have to work really hard to get it.
“I believe if you work hard you’ve got a really good chance of getting your dream.”
And this is why she often writes about working class characters who have followed their dreams: “If a protagonist is successful and confident, there’s often reference to a personal history that has been a struggle and difficulties overcome.
“As a writer, I feel compelled to put my characters through the emotional wringer.”
In doing so she is hoping to keep the rich history and traditions of Notting-hamshire’s mining communities alive while also inspiring other mature and working class writers.
Kim took part in Creative Thursday sessions at the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate last week, which is supported by the Sunday Express, sharing her experiences and knowledge with aspiring writers.
This came 13 years after herself attending a similar session at the festival in the North Yorkshire spa town as an aspiring writer. Kim says: “I’ve got the life I always wanted and happily have successful writing career, so it felt like coming full circle to come back to Harrogate as an author.”
- Message Deleted by KL Slater (Penguin, £16.99) is out now. To order a copy visit www.expressbookshop.com or call 020 3176 3832. Free UK P&P on online orders over £25.