16-Year-Old LHS Student Publishes First Book

Move over Stephen King, there’s a new King moving up through the ranks of authors – William Austin King of Loganville. This 16-year-old Loganville High School student has already penned his first novel, “Sleep,” which he began writing in his first year of high school.

“It took me exactly a year to finish; from halfway through ninth grade year all the way to halfway through my 10th grade year. I finished it on Dec. 27th, 2012,” King said. “This is my first book that I have had published – this is also the first book that I have written.”

King said the inspiration for the book came from a specific piece of music.

"I was instantly inspired when hearing a piece by Eric Whitacre titled, "Sleep." After hearing this piece, I went home and continued to listen to the atmospheric feeling it gave,” King said. “Oddly enough, the idea of a blind man appeared in the back of my mind... and I wanted to know more and more about this mysterious character, so I drew it out. I pulled out a blank notebook and began plotting events, and then connecting the events to each other. Eventually, I had the entire story down in my head, and that's when I began to write.”

King said he had no idea how far he would get with the book. He had tried before but never got past the third chapter before giving up and deleting the entire effort.

“This time, I found myself on chapter seventeen and still having a great amount of motivation,” he said. “It's weird once you write that last word. Honestly, it doesn't feel like you've written a novel.. just the beginning to something completely new in the future.” 

“Sleep” is a full-length novel under the Young Adult Fiction, Fantasy genre. King gives the following outline for the plot.

“Sleep” features a nineteen-year-old blind man named Jonah. He discovers a strange connection to his past once his vision is granted back after making a deal with a spirit that claims to have some type of connection with his family, but those connections remain vague and without answers. He then soon finds himself thrown into a game of life, mystery, secrets, and death between rebellious guardian angels known as, "The Spectators," and others that have found themselves in the same predicament while the connections from his past begin to piece themselves together. Little does he know, this is the beginning of something that should have never been tampered with. Secrets are unraveling the past to unveil an ancient secret brotherhood like no other, and he might just hold the key for eternity. 

King said “Sleep” will be on Lulu in paperback and on Amazon.com in eBook form from April 20.

“A few weeks later,  it should be on Barnes and nobles,  Amazon,  and other book seller sites in paperback,” he said.

And where does the young author go from here? Well, he’s not quite sure yet.

“My future is kind of mixed. I have always wanted to pursue my dream as a film director, but along the side, I want to continue writing books,” King said. “Maybe even get into Journalism since I have learned so much from my yearbook class. Writing or Directing; either one is perfectly fine to me.”

So will we see a “Sleep” collection along the lines of Harry Potter some day? Who knows - King has plenty of time ahead of him to explore those possibilities.