MOUNT Cotton author Krystalle Bianca published her first novel last year, a thriller filled with heartbreak and tragedy.
The 24-year-old describes Perfectly Fractured as an intense suspense thriller that will leave readers on the edge of their seats.
Krystalle moved to the Redlands from Sydney last year after completing a Bachelor degree in psychology.
"I studied this degree because I have an interest in understanding human beings and their behaviour. After dedicating three years to my degree, I wanted to pursue a dream that I have had since I was younger and that was to publish a book," she said.
Krystalle said she spent most of her teens reading because books made her happy.
"I adored the idea of bringing the same joy to somebody else by publishing my own book one day. Writing a book was always a dream and I never thought that there was a real possibility that I would ever do it but then when the year 2020 rolled around I made it my New Year's resolution to finally publish a book and to follow my dream of becoming an author," she said.
Working on her book was a long process and Krystalle said she spent hours in front of her computer every day.
She started the writing process at the end of December 2019 with characters and personalities that she had in mind for a few years, but she had to scrap the whole first draft.
"The story just didn't work. I then replanned a whole new story with the same characters and started writing the first draft to Perfectly Fractured in January last year," she said.
"It took me just over a month to write it as I was getting down around fifteen hundred words a day."
The book was then read by family and friends who helped edit it.
Perfectly Fractured follows a young adult named Simone who finds out the hard way that the perfect family doesn't exist. Her family are keeping secrets and Simone must uncover the truth about the hidden danger stalking them.
"Music was a really significant part of the writing process. If I wanted to write a particularly emotional scene I would put on a certain artist and listen to their songs whilst writing. I liked to have fun creating the personalities in the book, making characters that I would like to spend time with in real life," she said.
Krystalle is writing a second book in the Perfectly Fractured series and hopes to release it at the end of the year.
"I think one of my biggest challenges whilst writing my book was self doubt. I think as a writer you put a piece of yourself down on paper and when you publish your book, you're opening yourself up to criticism and scrutiny, but you are also allowing your story to be enjoyed by the world at the same time."
