Interview – Kay Hanifen, Author of The Last Ballard

 

Title: The Last Ballard

Author: Kay Hanifen

Release Date: June 23, 2025

Age: New Adult

Genre: Horror/Thriller

Synopsis: There’s more than one way to be haunted.

After the deaths of her abusive grandparents, prodigal daughter Rhiannon “Rhea” Ballard ends her self-imposed exile and returns home to the stately Ballard House for one last goodbye. She expects to pay her respects, field awkward questions, and let her family name die with her. But when she discovers that she had inherited everything, she must stay in the house and act as the caretaker while it is under probate to put her family’s affairs in order.

As she digs into her family’s dark secrets, the spirits of the house reawaken and her own traumatic memories resurface. With the help of the family cook, Morgan Reyes, an alluring woman with her own dark secret, and the supernatural skeptic groundskeeper, Andy Higgins, she must solve a century old mystery and put the spirits of the estate to rest before she becomes one herself.

Author Interview

At what point did you decide to be an author, and what was your path to publication?

I decided that I wanted to be a writer in around the fourth or fifth grade, though I’d been telling stories for much longer than that. At the time, though, I had a lot of teachers see some talent in me and encourage me to pursue it. I went to high school for its creative writing program and then majored in the subject in college. In high school, my least favorite part of the courses was submitting my work, but around my final year of college, I realized that if I wanted to be an author, I had to, you know, get my work published. So, I started sending out short stories to magazines. I was rejected ten times and got my first acceptance right after I graduated college. Since then, I’ve been consistently sending out short stories and shopping around trunk novels. I found Miravalle books through social media and sent them the manuscript for The Last Ballard. They loved it, and the rest is history!

 

What do you do when a new idea jumps out at you while you’re still working on a book? Do you chase the squirrel (aka “UP syndrome”) or do you finish your current project first?

I usually write down the squirrel concept in the notes app on my phone, and if I can’t stop thinking about it, I’ll get to writing. Usually, I try to split my time between novels and short story open calls. In general, though, I only work on one novel at a time.

 

Who is your favorite character to write, and why is that person your favorite? If picking a favorite character would be like picking a favorite child, which character seems to be the most demanding of your attention and detail as a writer?

That’s a bit like picking your favorite child, but Rhea in The Last Ballard needed the most care and attention. She’s the main character, but she also goes through some terrible abuse—abuse that I have never suffered myself, so I needed to be respectful. In terms of fun characters to write, Andy was a great bit of comic relief, and I enjoyed writing his banter with the other characters.

 

Describe your writing process. Do you outline, plot, and plan, or is your writing more organic?

In the war of pantsers vs panners, I am a plantser. I usually have a rough outline that consists of some disparate story beats and a list of characters. I add to it if I have an idea for later in the story so I don’t forget it, but I also believe in following my instincts over an outline. Characters often grow in different directions than you originally intended, and that means that the story changes as well.

 

What are some books or authors that you would recommend to our readers?

I love the works of Jonathan Sims and Stephen Graham Jones. Shirley Jackson is another favorite author of mine, and there is a lot of Haunting of Hill House influence in The Last Ballard. I would never compare us, though, because her work is genius.

 

Tell us what you enjoy most about writing horror.

To me, horror is a funhouse mirror held up to society. It warps and emphasizes features that have always been there in order to reveal our darker inclinations. I love what you can do with the genre, and how you can tap into something primal to reveal a greater truth.

 

What have you found to be most challenging about writing in horror?

Because horror is a genre about violence, you have to be careful about where you are directing it. Like with comedians, you have to know how to punch up instead of down. Because horror is a reflection of society at large’s anxieties, it can have a lot of racist, sexist, ableist, xenophobic, and queerphobic elements that should not be ignored. It’s easy to fall into these stereotypes for a scare, so I have to think through the implications of my work and who it might affect, even unintentionally.

 

Have you been able to incorporate your previous experience in your jobs/education in your writing?

As a Taekwondo instructor and English tutor, I’ve spent a lot of time around kids. I think this has helped me a lot in capturing the voice of young Rhea in The Last Ballard. Writing children is a hard balance because kids are smart, but they lack a lot of context, leading to incorrect assumptions. Being around kids has helped me think the way that they think.

 

Do you identify with your main character, or did you create a character that is your opposite?

There’s a lot about Rhea that I identify with, and a lot that I don’t. We grapple with similar anxieties and anger at hypocrisies and lies, but her life is very different from mine. Because she is shaped by her experiences, her reactions are different from what mine would be.

 

Describe the book or series in 10 words or less for people just learning about it.

Rhea Ballard unexpectedly inherits a haunted house. Horror ensues.

 

Is there anything you would like people to take away from your book?

I’d like for people to take away that you can find happiness even after horror and that it might require a sacrifice to fix the sins of the past, but it will be worth it to create a brighter future.

 

Do you have any odd (writing) habits?

I write really late at night. I think best right before I’m about to go to bed. I also write in comic sans because it helps the words flow better for some reason.

 

What has been the toughest criticism you have received as an author? What has been the best compliment?

I think the best compliment I received was someone messaging me after reading a short story of mine just to tell me that the story made them tear up in the subway. It was a personal favorite of mine, so hearing that was heartening. As for the toughest criticism, it’s probably about an element of Morgan, the main character’s love interest, in the editing process. She was a bit underdeveloped, and I was aware that I’ve had that issue in the past. So, I talked with the editor, and we brainstormed ways to help make her stronger.

 

Share some advice for aspiring authors. What advice would you give to your younger self?

I would tell my younger self that putting your work out there is intimidating, but you have to do it. Rejection is not the end of the world, and it shouldn’t be taken personally. It’s not a reflection of you or the quality of your work. Just keep sending stuff out.

 

What is your favorite line from your book?

It’s hard to choose just one, but this is from the second chapter: “All love stories are tragedies if you step back far enough. Even if the love is perfect and they stay together until they’re old and frail and barely recognize each other, one will eventually leave the other behind.”

 

Have you ever experienced writer’s block? How did you deal with it?

I haven’t experienced a major block, but I do go through periods where my stories just don’t feel like they’re working or I’m having trouble putting one word after the other. I usually just push through and make the muse work for me instead of letting her come to me. My other method, which I mostly used in college, is the rage sheet. This is a separate document where I type stream of consciousness to try to just put down what I’m trying to say. It usually unsticks the clog in my brain and lets me put the words together more eloquently.

 

What do you like to do when you’re not writing?

I love baking and fiber crafts. I like to joke that, because so much of my work is in the arts, baking is my scientific outlet. Embroidery and sewing are my two favorite craft types, and I’m slowly teaching myself knitting and crochet. I also love spending time with my three cats, Bastet, Athena, and Edgar Allen Paw.

 

Author Bio:

Kay Hanifen was born on a Friday the 13th and once lived for three months in a haunted castle. So, obviously, she had to become a horror writer. Her work has appeared in over one hundred anthologies and magazines. Her first anthology as an editor, Till the Yule Log Burns Out, was published in 2024. Her first novel, The Last Ballard, will debut this year. When she’s not consuming pop culture with the voraciousness of a vampire at a 24-hour blood bank, you can usually find her with her black cats or at kayhanifenauthor.wordpress.com.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katharinehanifen/

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