A Little Atmosphere and Genre Talk

Atmosphere is something that every novel needs. A gothic novel will be far darker than a romance novel, unless the two twain shall meet. A misted night under the moonlight is a necessity.

But an inspirational book probably won’t have graphic violence or sexual-adjacent content.

There are genres for a reason. They help us classify books—though I believe in mixing genres for the greatest effect.

My four current projects are all different genres. One is a gothic horror and urban fantasy novel; the one whose preview is below is a dark romance novel; one is a high-fantasy story, and another is a second gothic fantasy set in WWII.

I believe in writing in many genres, though you’d likely never see me write a western story with cowboys (cool fashion, though).

Don’t resign yourself to writing in one genre alone.

Expand that skill set, reach new heights in writing other types of stories.

And who says a high-fantasy novel can’t have a love story as the focus? That’s where romantasy came into the picture.

Who is to say that a gothic horror novel can’t be comical in some ways?

Experimentation is the method by which the classics are made.

But, hey.

I’m not trying to make a classic.

I’m just writing true to myself.

And that’s the trick, isn’t it?

Here is the second chapter of Crown of the Orphic Queen for a preview. This story marks my first attempt at an enemies-to-lovers dynamic with my usual flair of the darker aesthetic.

This story is fun in its entirety and might make some people blush in later chapters.

But I had fun, and that’s what is important.