Well hello there, Void I Scream Into Sometimes. Just wanted to give a small update that as of yesterday evening, the first draft of my next project is complete. Now comes the fun part: fleshing out plot points and editing what’s already there. Basic structure is there; it just needs brought to life!
This whole story is out of my comfort zone for what I’ve written most recently, but it’s right up high school fanfiction me’s alley. Dark romance is the only romance worth reading or writing in my ever so humble opinion. And also in my ever so humble opinion, this will be the best thing I’ve written to date. It’s also the most ambitious. I made the executive decision to split up this story into three separate books. There’s just too much going on to have it all in one novel.
Where to go from here? I’ll write up a second draft of this first section with a tentative deadline of March 31st, where I’ll hand it off to someone to beta. Another polish, and I’ll employ an editor to polish it better. I want to shoot to get this one published traditionally, but the backup plan as always is to self pub through the company we all love to hate.
While I’ve been drafting this, I’ve been reading a lot more romance than I ever have in my life. I tried out some dark romances, but they weren’t the flavor I wanted to read. I guess they were more erotica between Person A and Person B, but that’s all they really gave me. I couldn’t find chemistry in any of them that lasted more than a couple pages. So I moved on to fantasy romance, since it’s more likely to touch on the dark themes that keep it interesting for me. ACOTAR was a good one. I’ve reviewed those books before, but the series ended, or at very least I reached the end of what’s published for now, so I delved into From Blood And Ash, fell in love, and then jumped into Shadow in the Ember, and now I’m a fan for life. Sera and Nyktos are just…ah, chef’s kiss.
What I’m trying to get at without getting too long winded is that I am striving to have that same captivating dynamic for Vincent and Vivian as Jennifer Armentrout created for her characters.
Reading this genre started as research and now I’m emotionally invested. It’s a fun time. 🙂
In the meantime, as I rewrite this baby, do you have any recommendations for dark romances that I should read? I crave dark themes, character introspection, and morally grey to villainous leads. Sexual tension and rocky moments where you aren’t sure if they will ever forgive each other are a must. Gothic vampire aesthetic is a bonus.
Manda Kay Writes 