Kingsley Pearson: ‘Don’t just describe what a place looks like, ask yourself how it feels to the character’
BY Maya Fernandes
10th Jul 2025
Kingsley Pearson was a student on our Writing a Psychological Thriller, Plot & Story – The Deep Dive and Edit & Pitch Your Novel courses. We caught up to discuss his debut novel, Flat 401 – out now from Orion.
Read on to discover Kingsley's advice for crafting a strong sense of place, his thriller recommendations and how his experience as a clinical psychologist has impacted the writing process of his debut novel.
Kingsley, you’ve studied on several of our courses, including Writing a Psychological Thriller, Plot & Story – The Deep Dive and Edit & Pitch Your Novel. How did your time studying with us shape your approach to writing?
These courses helped me move from 'having a good idea' to understanding what makes a novel work. I came in with the concept for Flat 401, but I didn’t yet know how to use structure to build tension, or how to shape a story that balances character and plot. The sessions pushed me to think about what readers (and the publishing industry) want to read. I also valued the feedback from other course participants, and have made seeking regular feedback an integral part of my practice. Having a place to ask questions, test scenes, and learn from other writers gave me the confidence to keep going.
Your debut, Flat 401, is a suspenseful thriller that explores powerful themes like race, sexuality and grief. What drew you to these themes and do you feel that your background as a clinical psychologist had an impact on the story?
Definitely. As a clinical psychologist, I work with people whose lives are affected by their perspective on themselves that may have been unhelpfully shaped by negative experiences earlier on (as well as ongoing situations). I’m therefore professionally more aware of shame, guilt and internal conflict – emotional drivers that are very useful for character-driven stories.
Being mixed-race and gay, and living in London, I wanted to make sure that my book had a diverse cast whilst also having universally-relatable themes. Those themes and tensions are central to the plot of Flat 401, as well as feeding its claustrophobic atmosphere. I wanted to write a thriller where the suspense wasn’t primarily external (although the threat of being returned to prison is that!): it’s also psychological and social.
The book brings south-east London to life in such a vivid way. What’s your approach to crafting such a strong sense of place and do you have any tips for budding writers looking to bring their own settings to life on the page?
I wrote a lot of Flat 401 during the pandemic, staring out of my flat window, wondering what stories were unfolding behind other people’s doors. It also helped that I lived in the area I was writing about! For writers: don’t just describe what a place looks like (although visiting in real-life, and/or using Google Street View can help); ask yourself how it feels to the character. What emotions or memories are tied to it for them? Setting isn’t just location – it’s atmosphere. In fact, as someone who is barely able to visualise when reading, I write primarily impressionistically and evocatively – the location (and other) descriptions are intended to elicit emotions in the reader, and I think that’s what stays with them and makes the experience more immersive.
Your writing has drawn comparisons to authors like Lisa Jewell, Paula Hawkins and Mark Billingham. Which writers are you enjoying at the moment?
I recently finished an amazing debut police thriller by Hannah Brennan, No Safe Place. I like watching police procedurals but not necessarily reading them, and Hannah makes hers amazing for me by including points of view of people implicated/involved in the crime, which makes it much more thrilling. Through being on a panel with Chris Curran at CrimeFest, I got to read her When The Lights Go Out, an incredibly claustrophobic slow-burn psychological thriller. I also read (for the first time) a number of classics, such as Thomas Harris’ Red Dragon and Dorothy B Hughes’ In A Lonely Place – both classics for a reason!
What’s one piece of advice you’d give to someone writing their first novel?
OK, so this is two pieces rolled into one: learn the craft and find your people. There’s so much talk of ‘talent’ (especially as part of the ‘cult of the debut’), but writing a novel requires developing expertise in a complex set of complex skills. Understanding structure, tension, pacing etc. are all things that can be learned. And you don’t have to figure it out alone. Courses, workshops, feedback groups: the connections I made along the way were just as valuable as the skills, because they helped me keep going on the road to getting that first novel published.
What does a typical writing day look like for you?
I’m not sure I have one! Over the years since I started writing, I have moved between unemployment, part-time and full-time work, so I fit writing into the time I have available. I don’t chase a routine, but instead develop a roadmap for myself of what I want to have achieved by when e.g. first draft, beta reader feedback. I then carve out what time I have within those phases in order to meet my goals. My process looks different with every project, and that’s OK for me.
And finally, what’s next for your writing journey?
I’m currently working on my second novel, another psychological suspense story, this time set on the Isle of Wight. It follows a therapist who gets sucked in to investigating a mystery at the clinic where he works. I’m experimenting with a simpler structure, narrative and prose style for this one, as I find my voice as a writer, so will be interested to see how it lands with readers.
Get your hands on a copy of Flat 401.
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