With a knack for fear-inducing prose, Cody Williams has forged his own path to become a successful local author.

“I’ve always wanted to be a writer,” Williams said. “I have written on and off since middle school. I didn’t get serious until the summer of 2013.”

That was the year he graduated from Elizabethton High School and founded True Terror Publications, which is his own personal management and publisher for his stories.

At 20 years old, Williams has written and published several works, which all aim to make the reader tremble.

“I was in the seventh grade when I first discovered ‘It’ by Stephen King,” Williams wrote in an introduction for his short story collection called “On a Midnight Stroll: A Study in Fear.”

Since then, his goal has been to write stories that would scare even a master novelist like King.

He credits his success so far to joining an online writing community called WritersCafe.org to which he dedicates “On a Midnight Stroll.”

“I just jumped in and before I knew it, I had about 200 stories written,” he said.

It was on that website that Williams was noticed by a publishing company in Missouri.

The launch of “On a Midnight Stroll” began his relationship with the Show-Me Doctrine Literary Magazine, which now goes by Circus of Indie Artist.

Williams had trouble selecting a favorite story to talk about.

“That’s like picking your favorite kid,” he said.

Still, he favors some stories over others like “The 13th Floor.”

“I just really love haunted hotels,” he said.

He is also very proud of “The Great Curtain Call” as it was inspired by another one of his favorite authors ­— H.P. Lovecraft.

“It took a lot more energy to write,” he said. “It was the hardest one to write, and I really didn’t know how things were going to end until I start writing it.”

The story was also inspired by his college experience at Carson-Newman, where he studies music education and English.

The indie publishing company really adored the story called “Buck’s Game,” Williams said.

It’s possible that story could be adapted for radio play on YouTube’s live streaming services, he said.

Regardless of how much money he makes or how well known he becomes, Williams plans to keep churning out pages for readers to turn.

The next project, set to launch July 3, is titled “Toys in the Attic,” which brings toys to life after a writer’s son dies.

Looking further into the future, Williams has plans to launch another book in November titled “Santa’s Workshop.”

For more information, visit trueterrorpublications.weebly.com or search for the organization on Facebook. Readers interested in following Williams can visit codywilliams.weebly.com, facebook.com/codywilliamsauthor or twitter.com/CodyWill.