I have done it again, folks. I went and got inspired by a premade book cover and… BOOM new story. Why do I do this when I have tons of books to write already? I have so many sequel books, so many re-releases to prepare for; yet I go and fall into another WIP. I need to be restrained. I need to stay off Facebook. But this cover is sooooooo worth it. On top of this, I had a cover done for another fae story I came up with a few months ago. I know a lot of people love SJM and her fae, but I like to believe that I am bringing something else to fae stories. My stories are as if Holly Black and Sarah J Maas had a lovechild. Though I cannot reveal too much on here because those kinds of things are reserved for newsletter subscribers only, I want to talk about these two stories a little bit. No SPOILERS. Or at least I’ll try not to. I’m terrible at this shit. I will literally reveal everything about my books, no pressure or persuasion needed.
Story #1. Girl falls into fae portal. Finds herself in the thick of fae betraying fae. Accidentally brings the Seelie Court to its knees. And the youngest fairy prince adores her for it. -THIS IS MY PROBLEM- I have two books to tell this story about the girl and fairy prince. When should I bring the romance in? What is too soon or too late?
Story #2. Girl is an assassin and thief. What seemed like a good idea turns into a hunt for her, by none other than the prince she just stole from. Only he isn’t hunting her down to exact punishment. He just heard a rumor about who she might be, and now he must pretend to want to hurt her so he can get close to her and reveal his own secret. Some secrets are in line with each other, and these two people couldn’t be more so. -THIS IS MY PROBLEM- This will be a trilogy. I don’t know if I want to have a romance for these two. What do you think? Stick to the secrets being revealed and/or get them hitched?
Let me know your thoughts.
I’ve gone and done it again
Response
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Hey Jenn! Thought I’d return the comment and now I’m seeing exactly part of your problem you mentioned on my blog. These really are super fun ideas, I can see why you’re torn. From a marketable POV, Romantasy is a bit of an easier sell these days, so either idea would probably work if you include the romance somewhere. I’m a huge slow burn fan, but you can also confuse your readers about what’s in store in future books if you don’t mention somewhere in your blurb it’s a slow burn lol. Example: some people tried calling Craving Beauty a clean romantasy but I was actually saving the juicier bits for future sequels. So it’d depend on the genre you’re writing whether you wanna bring out the romance, or make it an afterthought. Romance readers will expect it to be the focus of the story but fantasy and YA readers will be here for the adventure and intrigue if you go with your second idea.
From a writing standpoint, I think your first idea sounds like it’d be the easiest to write with a lot of fun potential. The second would probably take more world building. But you should write what you’re most excited to write about. Try rough outlining both ideas maybe to begin with. Try to write everything down and then see which draft starts exploding from there haha. Don’t know if this helps, but wishing you all the luck!
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