Template:FeaturedAuthor/September 2017

K. Banning Kellum

BIO:

My name is K. Banning Kellum, I'm a horror writer and admin on Creepypasta Wiki. I'm a native of New Orleans, LA as well as a proud husband, father and US Army Veteran.

I started writing when I was very young, often drawing very poorly illustrated comics based on whatever subject I was interested in at the time. I can recall taking a piece of paper, folding it in half and creating little comic books based on the game Centipede that I owned for the Atari 2600. My first attempts at the written word were short stories based on the Nintendo game, Maniac Mansion. Around the time I was 13, I started writing stories about Mortal Kombat, the most cringe inducing likely being one that featured Liu Kang going to outer space. By simply beating up an astronaut and putting on his helmet, Liu Kang was able to board the rocket without being recognized or challenged at all.

Fast forward to 2012. I was stationed in Kuwait, still serving in the Army. On one very boring night, I Googled some cheat codes for a game and somehow stumbled into the Creepypasta Wiki. I read a few stories and from then on I was totally hooked.

It actually wouldn't be until 2014 that I made my official entry into the world of Creepypasta under the username banningk1979. My first real attempt at a Creepypasta was Secret Bar. Honestly I am amazed that it stuck simply because I had no idea how to format stories on a wiki at that time. I remember it being one huge wall of text for a couple of days before I figured out how to go in and edit it and fix it up. Either way, I kept going, writing The Demon in the Mirror Trick next, which was the first of my stories to get a Youtube reading. Eventually I would write The Demon Tobit of Delphia, which would later spawn the Tobit Series, which is most likely the work I am best known for.

I credit my love of horror and my desire to share my stories with the readers, combined with the support of those who enjoy my writing as some of the chief factors that inspire me to write. My family as well as the esoteric nature of my city also play a massive role in my motivations to create.

MY SUGGESTED STORIES

Secret Bar- I always suggest this one because it was my first piece of successful Creepypasta writing. The main character, Kurt, is a young man who is bored with life and looking for more. I based much of this character on my own traits from my early 20's.

The Doctor and the Coffin Song- This is one of my more recent stories but it has received a lot of positive comments. I wrote this story based on an event from my mother's childhood that she once told me about. I remember her telling me that she misheard some song lyrics from a muffled radio playing in another room. Whatever she thought she heard terrified her.

Hyraaq Tobit: The Complete Collection- What started as a stand alone story evolved into a two year endeavor in writing. This story delves into the hidden city of Delphia, a place of magic and madness, ruled by a cosmic entity that compels its fanatical worshipers to dine on each other. With this one, I really want to give a huge thanks to Creeparoni over on Youtube. She took on the daunting task of reading the entire series. Her incredible voice and character work brought my characters to life in ways that I never knew possible.

CURRENT AND FUTURE PROJECTS

Honestly not too much at the moment. I am working over on Spinpasta, developing a series based around my story Jeff the Killer 2015. I've already completed the first story, Jeff the Killer: Scars of Corruption, which can be found on Spinpasta. I am thinking of writing at least two more installments to this. I also have plans to go deeper in the Secret Bar story which will tie in a few characters and events from some of my other work.

Outside of Creepypasta Wiki, I just completed a promotional project with the literature company Sweek, in which I served as one of three judges in their Micro-fiction contest on their site.

I was also involved in doing some article writing for documentary film maker Richard Santiago on the subject of bullying among adults in the workplace. I wrote a rather lengthy article which was featured on Soapboxie and also wrote the teaser article for some of their informational pamphlets. It's a great cause and I was very excited to work with Richard on his project.

As for any other exciting future projects, just follow me @banningk1979 and keep an eye out for what's to come. As always, thank you to everyone who reads and supports my work.