For Valentine's Day, I am spoiling you all with a teaser excerpt from Book Three of the Hartgrave Teller's Legacy Series that features Liam and Emma going on their first official public date after seven years of almost. He gets to lace up her heels in front of the stylists. (Throwback to when he had to hide in the shadows just to put her shoes back on in Through the Glory and the Mess.) And my favourite micro trope, Liam begs Emma to order what she actually  wants off the men

Writers love to plant seeds. We hint. We drop names. We tease ancient prophecies, feared warriors, unbeatable inner circles, and shadowy villains who drink blood and crush mountains. But here’s the thing about storytelling: Readers don’t forget. If you tell us a character is a force of nature, a war strategist, or the deadliest fae in existence, then when the final battle arrives, they better not stand in the corner while the heroine solo-powers her way through the climax. Be

Part of my writing journey has always been about confidence. I’ve been dreaming up worlds and love stories for as long as I can remember, but for a long time, I didn’t believe I was good enough to truly call myself a writer. So I studied. I took courses. I wrote in the margins of busy days and day jobs. I did everything I could to learn the craft. It took years to build the courage to join writing groups, read my work out loud, let others see it, and even consider publishing.

I was digging through some old writing today and found a bunch of snippets and stories from around 2017 and earlier, and honestly? There were some gems in there. So I thought I’d start sharing a few. Back then, I wrote almost exclusively in third person. I’ve only switched to first person in more recent years, which has been a fun evolution to look back on. This particular excerpt comes from a series concept I dreamed up about eleven years ago, which I originally called The B

In Chaos in Bloom: Part Two, the Hartgrave Tellers are booked to play the Calgary Stampede, and immediately face backlash because half the band is LGBTQ+ and not yt. Liam and Dan are British, so they’re also attacked for “not being country enough.” That wasn’t accidental. That’s the world they’re navigating. And it’s the one we are, too. I don’t write neutral stories about a neutral world. I write about art colliding with hate, about chosen family standing in the fire togethe

How romantasy bestsellers use classic storytelling structure to hook readers and land emotional arcs. ***SPOILERS AHEAD FOR TOG, ACOTAR and the Empyrean Series (Fourth Wing) *** Great romantasy isn't just about fae courts or dragon schools — it's about transformation. The Hero’s Journey works because it’s built around change, challenge, and emotional payoff. Let’s break it down beat-by-beat. Book 1: ACOTAR  (Feyre’s Arc) Hero’s Journey Beat ACOTAR Example (Feyre) 1. Ordinary

A story structure for character transformation, high stakes, and deeply felt arcs 📚 Use this beat sheet as a flexible roadmap, not a formula. It's a guide to make sure your story moves,  your character grows , and your reader feels everything. 1. The Ordinary World What it is:  Where your character starts. The “before” life. Purpose:  Show who they are before the story truly begins. Reveal emotional flaws, fears, or longings. What is the emotional wound or belief they’ll hav

One of the most powerful things about fiction is that you, the writer, get to build the world. You choose: The genre The rules of magic, society, or sport The characters and their emotional wounds The tone, the voice, the morality You’re god, architect, puppeteer. But here’s the truth every good writer, and reader, eventually learns: Once the world is built, you're bound by it. You don’t get to toss the rules just because a twist is convenient. You don’t get to change a chara

She earns her magic. She masters her mind. She faces gods, monsters, trauma, and kingdoms. She’s the blade and the storm, and she gets stronger every time someone tries to break her.

Writers (and readers) fall in love with their characters. It’s natural. We want to protect them. We want them to win. We want them to be understood. We want them to learn quickly, love cleanly, and never get their hearts broken more than once. But here’s the truth: If nothing bad happens to your characters, or they always make the right choices, you don’t have a story. You have a synopsis. A good story requires  tension, crisis, emotional failure, and decisions that crack thi

Let’s be honest, some villains feel like they were built in a video game workshop. They’ve got a magical box of endless powers, five steps ahead of the protagonist at every turn, and just vibe evil  for no clear reason. They’re untouchable. Impressive. Maybe even stylish. And ultimately… forgettable. Why? Because a good villain isn’t just powerful. A good villain is rooted . They have context. They have logic. They have a worldview that makes dangerous  sense. If your villain

I love a slow burn. I love stretching a moment until it hums. IMO tension is the oxygen  of romance. So, whether you’re writing a glacial slow burn or a fast, feral spiral, here are some high-impact ways to add tension that don’t rely solely on “will they / won’t they”  (though that still slaps). 1. Asymmetrical Want One of them wants more —emotionally, physically, or in terms of timing. One is ready; the other is terrified. One thinks this is casual; the other is already in

Write freely. Hit the beats. Keep the heart. Use this as a loose guide — not a rigid structure. These beats are about emotional shifts , not scene-for-scene plotting. ACT ONE: THE SETUP (0–25%) 1. The Spark (Opening Image / Tone Check) Establish genre tone. Romance readers want to know what kind  of love story they’re in for. Sports romance? Let’s feel the adrenaline. Rockstar romance? Cue the chaotic glamour. Romantasy? Set up the magic and mood. Sequel? Ground us in where

HGT's Revelations  album is the bands sixth album and is featured in Through the Glory and the Mess, as well as, the HGT Legacy Series. 1. King of My Heart — Taylor Swift 2. Heavy — Linkin Park, Kiiara 3. Bad at Love – Halsey 4. Champagne Problems — Taylor Swift 5. Figure It Out — Royal Blood 6. Overcome — Nothing But Thieves 7. Over the Love — Florence + the Machine 8. You Should Probably Leave — Chris Stapleton 9. Waiting Games — Banks 10. Still — Daughter 11. Without Me —

‘Breaking Point’,  written by Liam and Emma for the Hartgrave Teller’s sixth album, Revelations. After the Heartlines Tour in 2023—and before the creation of the Revelations  album—the band reached a breaking point and took an extended hiatus. ‘Breaking Point’  is a deeply personal song inspired by the events in this novella. To explore the full lyrics and dive deeper into the music behind the novel, click here. 1. Someone You Loved — Lewis Capaldi 2. Bad at Love — Halsey 3.

The Crisis: We’re Losing Experts — and Calling It Gatekeeping One of the strangest shifts happening in book culture right now is the idea that expertise is elitist . We’re living in a moment shaped by: • parasocial reading habits • algorithm-driven discourse • a distrust of institutions • and, frankly, epistemological decay — the belief that nothing is knowable and anyone can be an expert if they “feel strongly enough.” This mindset shows up everywhere. Suddenly: • craft is “

I’ve been thinking a lot about how fandom culture has shifted — and why so many of us feel exhausted by modern BookTok discourse.

There was a time when fandoms were small, intentional, and tucked away in corners of the internet — Early Tumblr, MySpace forums, fan-made websites, and niche spaces you had to seek out. If you were in a fandom, you were there because you loved the thing.

Let’s do a quick history crash course on how trends in genre fiction actually evolve. ACOTAR was drafted long before the romantasy boom. Sarah J. Maas started writing the earliest version around 2012, right at the tail end of the YA vampire craze. Paranormal was fading out, dystopian was peaking, and no one was touching fae in a mainstream way. When she finally published ACOTAR (2015), she absolutely reframed the fae mythos.

(A calm, grounded take — not ragebait, not a clapback, just clarity)