K.A. Griffin Opens the Gates to The Accidental World and the Power of Imagination

PHOTO: Author K.A. Griffin at home in Texas, where imagination meets experience in the heart of his storytelling world.

Exploring Fantasy, Emotion, and the Craft of Storytelling

K.A. Griffin shares the inspiration behind The Accidental World, reveals how business shaped his storytelling, and offers heartfelt insights into world-building, character development, and the emotional roots of his writing.

K.A. Griffin crafts stories with the precision of a strategist and the soul of a dreamer. Best known for The Accidental World series, Griffin invites readers into a universe unbound by prejudice and division, where ordinary people rise to heroism through love, sacrifice, and sheer will. His writing is immersive, emotionally resonant, and daringly imaginative—anchored by the same clarity and foresight that shaped his previous career in corporate leadership.

Griffin’s prose is sharp and intelligent, his characters deeply human. His ability to weave moral complexity into fantasy storytelling sets him apart, grounding otherworldly adventures in the raw, lived truths of our own world. With a background that spans business warfare to backyard treetop daydreams, Griffin writes not only from skill but from a life fully lived—one marked by personal loss, transformation, and newfound joy.

In this issue, Novelist Post sits down with K.A. Griffin to explore the origins of The Accidental World, the intricacies of world-building, and the emotional journey behind his writing. This conversation offers a rare window into the mind of a storyteller whose work challenges genre conventions while remaining accessible to readers of all ages.

Griffin writes with depth, vision, and emotional truth—blending imaginative fantasy with authentic human experience in stories that resonate and inspire.

What first inspired you to create the world of Ethan Scott and The Accidental World series?

I started with the premise that there is a world where bias does not exist as we know it. There is no racism, no gender bias, no religion, and no one cares who you love. I wanted a world where heroes are nothing more than ordinary people doing extraordinary things out of love and self-sacrifice. And if we take away all of the bad that divides us…what happens next?

How did your background in business administration influence your approach to storytelling?

I find a remarkable similarity between corporate leadership and storytelling. In business, you must plan for hundreds of different scenarios that may or may not ever occur. As a writer, these experiences help me stay within the guardrails of my story, so I don’t end up on the edge of a literary cliff, asking myself, “Now, how am I going to fix this problem?” There is a lot of planning up front that pays off in the long run.

I think it also helps with the villains in my story. Along my corporate journey, I’ve met some truly sinister people who would give you a look of compassion while they slip the blade in between your shoulders and give the knife a gentle twist.

“My biggest challenge is not carrying over everyday things from our world into the one I’m creating.” — K.A. Griffin

Can you walk us through your writing process, especially for building a world that doesn’t exist on any map?

I always start with the first three chapters of the story and the ending. Knowing where the story ends keeps me from wasting time on content I’ll never use. Next, I build out a chapter-by-chapter, scene-by-scene outline. The outline is specific enough that I could pick up the work six months later and know exactly what I need to write.

My biggest challenge is not carrying over everyday things from our world into the one I’m creating. While I may have moments when I cuss like a sailor, our words of profanity don’t exist in another world, so expressing emotions may be more challenging. We tend to define race by geographical ancestry, but if the new world has only one nation, it redefines how we describe those around us. 

What challenges did you face while transitioning from managing businesses to writing full-time?

There is a similarity between the two roles. Both have budgetary issues, time constraints, and gatekeepers that block or prevent access to my vision of success. The only real difference is that one paid me on a bi-weekly basis, and the other is not quite as dependable.

How did your family’s reaction to your first mystery story influence your decision to pursue writing later in life?

Stealing all of the presents on Christmas Eve and making your family solve the mystery before they receive their presents might not be the best way to bring about good cheer to those in the home. Clearly, my older brother did not kill me, but I’m confident the thought crossed his mind. 

What it taught me was that even at the age of eighteen, I could craft an entertaining story. I learned I could create the concept, move the reader to the next page, and close the story so that the reader feels fulfilled.

“It is the emotion of the characters that will keep the reader engaged.” — K.A. Griffin

Were there any particular authors or books that heavily influenced your series?

As a child, I would climb a tree in our backyard and weave a rope chair out of its branches. In the summers, I would make a sack lunch and climb the tree, carrying books up in a pillowcase. It was a wonderful experience to feel the wind push the branches and make my chair move with each gust.

My authors of choice were Louis L’amour (Westerns), Kenneth Robeson (Doc Savage), and Ellery Queen (Mystery). I think I learned something from each of these authors. Louis L’amour taught me how to move the story along and create well-defined heroes and villains. The Doc Savage stories expanded my imagination to places I may never have discovered, and the Ellery Queen mysteries taught me the importance of fine details and clever red herrings. 

What was the most difficult scene to write in either The Accidental World series?

The most difficult thread in the story was a game I created, which is critical to the storyline. Describing a game that currently only exists in my head, and weaving it into the story so that it doesn’t become tedious as I tell it, was a challenge. 

The most difficult scene for me to write is in a later book of the series. I had to kill off some characters who are dear to my heart, and I cried on and off for two days while writing that chapter.

How do you balance creating tension for younger readers without making the story too dark?

I wanted to create a story that anyone could read, so I wrote it as a series, allowing my characters to evolve over time. Ethan Scott is introduced at fourteen, so the reader can watch him grow and mature. As the readers age, so will the depth of the story and level of darkness.

My goal is to entertain as many people as possible, and I didn’t want to create a world that would be inappropriate for younger readers.

“You are the expert, and everyone else is just along for the ride.” — K.A. Griffin

Can you share a little more about the symbolism behind Arcborne and its surrounding mountains?

Archborne is a secret place of higher education. It is a secluded place where only the brightest of the bright can attend. Situated in a pristine valley, the school and local town are surrounded by mountains that shimmer with crystals embedded in their walls, setting Arcborne apart from the rest of the world. 

It is much like the reality of our world. While the surface environment appears to be a place of fantasy and dreams, the unseen that lies beneath contains the evil that we all find in our nightmares. 

What advice would you give to aspiring authors who are trying to build their first fictional world?

Release your imagination, and know that it is your world. You are the one creating it. No one can tell you how the world is supposed to function. You are the expert, and everyone else is just along for the ride. No sacrilege intended, but for all practical purposes…you are God. Your world exists and functions the way you create it to be.

From a practical perspective, keep your descriptions of your world brief, allowing the reader to bring their own creative input to the foundation you provide.

While the world itself is important, live life and embrace every event that comes your way, because it is the emotion of the characters that will keep the reader engaged. In the past five years, I’ve lost my father, my mother, my son, and adopted a wonderful two-year-old boy. Those events have given me the ability to write about death, pain, and unimaginable joy in new ways that are genuine and real. Every life event, good or bad, will provide you with new ways to tell your stories.

The Invisible City

The Invisible City by K.A. Griffin is a gripping and emotional sequel that deepens Ethan Scott’s journey through a mysterious hidden school. Rich in world-building and character development, the novel explores themes of identity, power, and resilience, offering a thrilling and thoughtful fantasy adventure for young adult readers.