A.J. Maguire

Category: Writing

  • A Hill to Die On

    I’ve been watching the Bookish/Author community for a while now and I can’t help but notice some trends that are cropping up. Or at least a certain cycle of events that keep circling.

    It has become the popular thing to do to draw lines in the sand or find hills to die on. Some of these are in good fun, told in a tone of voice that proves the creator is merely claiming their opinion on something silly.

    Things like which Book Boyfriend is the best or which magic system they would prefer to live in. Things like this I have no problem with, they are meant in a joking manner and are both entertaining and fun.

    But then there’s the other type of Hill to Die On.

    Said with capitol letters.

    Things like, First Person POV is the best POV.

    Which, hey, if you love First Person and that’s where you go to relax and enjoy a book then hey… You do you! I’m so glad you enjoy those. I do too.

    However, there seems to be this trend that says “If you don’t die on this hill with me, then you’re wrong and you’re awful and we’re going to throw bricks at you until you come around to our viewpoint.”

    These Hills to Die On are everywhere.

    Audiobooks don’t count as real reading!

    Em-Dashes mean it was written by AI! (Reminder, this is utterly false and AI learned to write based on all of us authors, using tools we often use, so OF COURSE AI learned how to use the em-dash.)

    Clean romance versus spicy romance!

    Romantasy is killing literature!

    Now… because I am a human being, I have opinions on these things, but I have them with the understanding that my opinions and tastes are going to change as I grow. So, why would I want to die on a hill here?

    Further, why would I want to alienate people by deciding to plant my flag on that hill and start shouting it?

    Again, when it is all in a joking manner there’s no issue but these days it seems were are hunting for ways to divide ourselves. Instead of a Reading Community that is welcoming, we start congregating in subsects and ganging up on anyone who likes different things.

    I’ve watched it get super ugly.

    And I can’t help but wonder why.

    Why do we do this?

    Why can’t we say – Hey! You read? That’s amazing! What are you reading right now?

    And then, you know, NOT JUDGE THEM for what they choose to read?

    There doesn’t need to be a war here. If someone reads a book you don’t like, why does it matter to you? For the love of God, stop trying to control other people. Their decisions are not up to you.

    Yes, you can have an opinion, but don’t cross the line into – You are so stupid for liking that book.

    Or

    That book is ruining literature by merely existing.

    First of all, the hubris on that last accusation is so high that maybe you should take a few moments of genuine self-reflection. Literature existed long before you were born and it’ll survive long after you’re gone. Further, literature is a reflection of the culture and times in which it lives.

    I digress.

    And I suppose I have found my own Hill to Die On.

    Stop the division. Stop finding reasons to hate each other. Stop attacking people who have taken the time to read and stop trying to control people.

    You’re allowed your opinions. You can write them in your reviews and give your stars, one through five, but at the end of the day it is nothing more than your opinion. It is not something to foist on other people and demand they agree with you.

    We’re beautifully diverse. It’s alright to compromise here. It’s alright to be different. You live, you laugh, you love, you matter. And so does the person sitting next to you.

    Happy Reading, everyone.

  • A Candid Conversation about Spice (Yes, Book Spice)

    Warning, this conversation may make some uncomfortable. But you know what, sometimes the hardest conversations to have are the ones that help us grow the most, so let us go ahead and dive in.

    Let me start by stating that not all books are for all audiences. Only you can decide what you like and dislike, so my job here is not to sway you one way or another in that argument.

    If you like spice, good for you.

    If you DON’T like spice, also good for you.

    You know yourself and that is a great place to begin.

    Now then, do you know what ELSE is not my job? Judging other people for what they like to read.

    The beautiful thing about humanity is that we are all different. Our tastes sometimes align, but then vary in the next instant, and that’s GOOD. What isn’t so good is deciding that because someone’s tastes are different from yours, that they are somehow lesser human beings and unworthy of respect and space.

    I beg of you, stop doing this.

    You breathe, you live, you laugh, you matter. And so does everyone else. Give people the space to live differently from you because, at the end of the day, the only choices you are held accountable for are your own.

    Now that we’re on the same page, I am going to admit that Blood of the Witch Heir gets a little racy. I still close the door/fade to black, but the intimate scenes are more noticeable in this book than in many of my other works, and this was on purpose.

    Trigger Warning – The book does deal with SA. The actual event is not shown on the page, but it is relevant to the characters and has to be dealt with, which means that the intimacy between our two main characters was as much a part of the story as the grander plot.

    Why?

    Because intimacy after SA is difficult. It can also be either a detriment or a healing moment for the survivor. This is a sensitive subject, I know, and I suppose I am risking a lot in how I have done things in the book, but I believe the message is important.

    Spice in books is not inherently bad. You either enjoy it, or you don’t, but please don’t shame the people around you who do because, quite frankly, it is none of your business. Not to mention the fact that books are a safe space where survivors often find healing.

    No, sincerely, this is a thing.

    Books permit us to explore in a safe, private manner and (at least one hopes) showcases healthy relationships on the page. I know that often there are unhealthy relationships (codependency/ jealousy/ etcetera) in these books and we end up swooning anyway but they are FICTION and still a safe space.

    So whether you want no spice, low spice, closed door, open door, or the spiciest of the spice, please respect the rights of other readers to be different from you.

    Read responsibly. Read often. Read Happy.

  • Compelling Conflict – May 2025 Round Robin

    I am going to admit that this is the area I have grown the most in as an author.

    Having just gone through a major revision of an older work, I can see that back in my twenty’s I focused a lot on building neat worlds and having neat stuff as opposed to the more compelling conflicts that come from people.

    It’s not about earning that throne back when it has been stolen, it’s about why the character would bother. Who actually wants a throne in the first place?

    Even the power-hungry villain has a reason behind his actions. If the quest is only for power, then that quest is boring. True conflict, the stuff that we can sink our teeth into, pits characters against one another.

    It is far more interesting to know the villain wants the throne because they have a vengeance stake involved. A previous ruler rampaged through their childhood village and killed everyone they loved.

    Now our hero has the dilemma of family drama, because SHOULD they retake the throne if they are descendent of such brutal behavior?

    What it all boils down to is character.

    If the characters on the page aren’t that interesting to begin with, then we are not going to care how or why they achieve their goals. The conflict comes from within. It comes from WHO they are as people.

    Compelling conflict shows the struggle these characters have with the decisions they must make on the page. Their growth comes from that struggle.

    That said, the struggles on the page will also help define those characters. We know Frodo and Sam for who they are because of the struggle they went through to get the ring to Mount Doom. Plot and Character go hand in hand. If you skim on one, the narrative will be lacking and you won’t have a compelling conflict.

    So!

    What do I do to help create compelling conflict in my works?

    On a PLOT level, I follow “Yes, but” / “No, and”

    This is where you ask the question for each scene – Does your character achieve their goal?

    The answer is always either “Yes, but now (she has a stowaway on board her ship/he got gravely injured and is leaking vital fluids)” OR “No, and (her attempt has left the ship without power, so they’re floating dead in space with only 4 hours of air left/he accidently struck the prince so now there’s going to be a price on his head)

    See how that works?

    That’s on the plot level.

    On a CHARACTER level, I have the major players in a scene noted off to the side of my screen with their core motivations for that scene highlighted. This just helps me to remember what is ultimately at stake for that character.

    Example:

    Chapter Three – Blood of the Witch Heir – NOTES

    Dorian Feverrette arrives at Delgora Court. He is hunting the Bedim assassins who recently tried to take his life (see Chapter One). If he doesn’t succeed in locating them soon, it is quite likely that he will be assassinated.

    Elsie Delgora is hiding in plain sight at Delgora Court. She is keeping tabs on the Vicaress who murdered her family. She needs the Vicaress to stay happy and oblivious to Elsie’s machinations.

    Now we enter “Yes, but” /”No, and”

    Does Dorian succeed in his goals for this chapter? No, and he has stumbled into a bigger plot revolving around the Delgoran throne.

    Does Elsie succeed in keeping tabs on the Vicaress? Yes, but now this stupid noble boy has shown up and is making the Vicaress suspicious.

    Anyway, that’s what I do. Many thanks to both the late David Farland for his book Million Dollar Outlines, and the Writing Excuses Podcast… Because that’s definitely where I learned this from.

    Check out what my fellow authors do to help create compelling conflict in their works!

    Bob Rich https://wp.me/p3Xihq-3sY

    Belinda Edwards  https://booksbybelinda.com/blog/

    Helena Fairfax http://www.helenafairfax.com/blog

    Connie Vines http://mizging.blogspot.com/

    Sally Odgers https://behindsallysbooksmark2.blogspot.com

    AJ Maguire https://ajmaguire.wordpress.com/ (YOU ARE HERE)

    Skye Taylor http://www.skye-writer.com/blogging_by_the_sea

  • Calendar of Doom

    SO!

    I did my Calendar of Doom this week, trying to make sure all of my deadlines are still going to be met. Life often gets in the way of these deadlines, but they are doubly important this year because of the tight publication schedule.

    For example, the release of Blood of the Witch Heir is exactly 45 days away! That’s… really not that long. Especially since I am still refining it. Reminder that this is a RE-RELEASE. The original title was Witch Born and it was put out by Double Dragon Publishing an embarrassing number of years ago.

    Sadly, Double Dragon sold to a new company and I decided to get the publishing rights back to it, thinking a re-release would be super easy.

    (Insert maniacal laughter here.)

    Safe to say I was wrong. There’s nothing easy about this.

    However, I still love the story. I love the characters and the world and want to give it a decent chance out in the wild. To do so, that means editing.

    A whole lot of editing.

    But what about Nora’s final book?

    Nora and the Vampire Court is set to release in 170 days!

    And yes, that is a VERY short amount of time for a brand new book.

    It’s a panic-inducing deadline, but it is one I will keep because of the (spoiler) cliffhanger at the end of Nora and the Siren Song. I simply refuse to leave you beautiful, amazing, lovely readers hanging for longer than six months.

    Rest assured, this will be released on time. I have hit the mark in the novel where I had to re-read everything already written. (Why yes, this includes books 1-3, in case you were wondering) This is so that I do not miss anything, and so that I can add things into the early parts of the book that I have learned during the drafting process.

    This means that, by the end of May, I will have a completed draft for the editor and Alpha Readers.

    Also, in case anyone was keeping count, I have read 15 of the 50 novels I wanted to read this year. Which means I’m behind by 2 books. But I refuse to feel bad since I literally just spent a week re-reading my own novels for Nora’s series.

    I’ll catch up, I’m sure.

  • Revising Old Work – Blood of the Witch Heir

    Recently I had the publishing rights to several of my novels returned to me. This was a strategic decision made due to the original publisher selling itself to another site, which I felt wasn’t a great fit for my work.

    Before I did this, I reached out to Amazon to make sure there wouldn’t be any copywrite issues once the reversions were done and exactly what I was allowed to do with the work once it was mine to publish again. Things like if I wanted to change the title (which I did) and if I should put a notice in the front of the novel letting readers know that this is a Re-Release.

    The answer to both those questions was yes, I could change the title but it would be like releasing a whole new book so the reviews I have on the original won’t be transferable. And yes, I can put a notice in the beginning pages letting people know so they aren’t shouting at me that I stole someone else’s work. (Difficult to do there, it’s still the same author name.)

    Due to contracts and all that, the things that I COULD NOT use from my original publication was the cover art and the editing. The Publishing House paid for the editor to this work originally, and thus owned the rights to that version.

    This was fine. I have grown enough in my craft that I felt confident I could take the book to the next level.

    That said…

    Revisiting old work is hard.

    Mega hard.

    Tooth pulling hard.

    It hurts to see what I put out into the world. Not only have I grown as a writer, I have grown as a person too. Things that I didn’t blink twice at before have been unpacked and rewritten. The themes at the core of the book revolving around trust and independence and how the two have to learn in live in harmony are being highlighted better.

    On the line-by-line level, the narrative has been given a major overhaul.

    But more than that, the characters are being given the chance to breathe more. Elsie Varene Delgora is as sharp as ever, and Dorian Feverrette remains my favorite roguish nobleman. Their story is one of tragedy and triumph, despair and love, and I sincerely hope that readers walk away from it knowing that no matter how dark the path they have traveled, joy and happiness can still be achieved if we’re willing to open ourselves to it.

  • Round Robin – Crafting Fictional Settings

    Last month we discussed settings in the real world and how we transport them onto the page. This month we’re looking at fictional settings, or settings that don’t exist OR are so far in the past that you couldn’t possibly have been there.

    Since the majority of my writing takes place in fantastical worlds, or in the case of Tapped, other planets in our solar system, this is where I have the most experience. Obviously I have never been to Mars or Pluto or Europa, and I won’t lie, writing those places was a challenge.

    It was a lot of FUN, but it was challenging fun.

    So here’s my process, grown over the course of a couple decades of practice.

    First, the rough draft is always bare bones. I can’t allow myself to get hung up on describing the setting too much or I’ll never finish the book. The rough draft is also where I spent an alarming amount of time researching/staring out the window/worldbuilding.

    However, worldbuilding is its own topic. I want to get into the act of making that setting come alive on the page. And to do that, we have to skip forward to the editing process. Everything I’m about to detail is used during the Second Draft.

    The KAVS Cycle

    The late great David Farland taught a class on settings and in it he discusses what he calls KAVS. You can still access it through the Apex Writers Group online, which you will have to pay for but I highly recommend. I have been part of Apex (off and on when I could afford it) for years now.

    Anyway.

    I have my rough draft and I make 4 passes through each chapter focused on a different aspect of the KAVS cycle.

    KAVS stands for Kinetic, Audio, Visual, Smell.

    First pass, Visual. This is literally everything my character can see in their setting. Often when I am doing this pass I also have DeviantArt/Pinterest up in another screen because I need the inspiration. Sometimes I’ll even go so far as to build a mood board in Canva, but admittedly this is rare and I reserve it for settings that I circle back to often.

    I do this for characters too. Here, you can peek at Nora Grayson’s file in Pinterest.

    Also, here’s the mood board for Nora’s family home.

    Alright, some important things to note. Not everything has to be exact in these mood boards. I’m just going for the feel of a place. For example, Nora’s office is in the round room of a Victorian House, though the picture shown is obviously square. What’s important about the image isn’t the shape of the room, but the style.

    You can see that it’s more masculine in nature, which brings me to the next element in the KAVS cycle: Kinetics.

    Kinetics is anything tactile (touch, taste), any movement in the scene (swish of a cuckoo clock’s pendulum as an example) AND the emotions.

    Nora’s study is still masculine because it was her father’s office. It evokes a slew of memories for her. SO my second pass is going through how this setting makes my character FEEL and WHY.

    The why is so very important, not only for character development but because showing the history of a place is one of the easiest ways to make a setting real for the reader.

    The third pass that I do is the Audio pass. Which is self-explanatory, but let’s go ahead and get into it. We tend to react to sound in our environments.

    Example, my cat just made a chirping noise, so I turned to look at her. She’s perched on the window sill, her tail flicking, white body coiled as though she might pounce through the windowpane to get to the bird outside.

    Characters in a setting will also react to sounds in their environment, so let them. Honestly, I might do this too much sometimes, but having a sound draw the character out of an internal dialogue is a legitimate storytelling tool.

    The fourth and final pass that I do is Smell.

    Of all the senses we put into our books, I feel like smell really solidifies an environment. Foul, sweet, musky, we all have references in our minds that we can immediately draw upon when a writer says, The room smelled like pencils and leather.

    Or

    The scent of cinnamon was heavy in the air.

    Or

    The back of her throat tickled at the heavy pepper. (That one you get Kinetics and Smell all in one go.)

    The reader picks up on the smell, has a reference, and suddenly it’s real.

    Generally speaking, I do a chapter a day during my second pass at a manuscript. I know I’m not winning any races here, but by the time I’m done with that second pass I am confident enough in my story that I can send it out to my editor.

    Take a look at what some of my fellow authors do to craft believable fictional settings in their work!

    Bob Rich https://wp.me/p3Xihq-3rJ 

    Connie Vines http://mizging.blogspot.com/

    Belinda Edwards https://booksbybelinda.com/blog/

    Anne Stenhouse https://goo.gl/h4DtKv

    Helena Fairfax http://www.helenafairfax.com/blog

    Sally Odgers https://behindsallysbooksmark2.blogspot.com

    Victoria Chatham http://www.victoriachatham.com

    A.J. Maguire  https://ajmaguire.wordpress.com/ (YOU ARE HERE)

    Skye Taylor http://www.skye-writer.com/blogging_by_the_sea

  • Embracing the Pantser In Me

    In just 7 days, Nora and the Siren Song will be available to the world. Hurray! Throw confetti!

    Which means I’ve officially been alerted that I have 48 hours to make certain all those files are the right files and that I don’t have any further changes I want to make to the book. Which, honestly, induces a mild panic attack and forces me to re-read everything.

    Even though I have literally read this book over a dozen times from first draft to finished product.

    Nora has come a long way since her inception.

    I first got the idea for her books from a conversation on social media where myself and another author were fangirling over the show Lucifer. We both found it deeply amusing that Lucifer had a therapist in the show, and the conversation stretched to… What if all these paranormal romances we read about with vampires and werewolves and other said shifters/magic user suddenly had to go to couples therapy?

    What would that therapists life look like?

    Enter Nora Grayson, an empathic wizard living in Boston whose private home study sees couples from the typical vampires and elves, to the more exotic creatures hiding in plain sight of humanity.

    I made her an empath for two reasons.

    First, I love Deanna Troi from Star Trek the Next Generation. You can say what you want about me being a Trekkie or whatever, I really don’t mind. Star Trek was my mother’s favorite show when I was growing up, so I come by my geekery honestly.

    Second, because I am an empathetic person myself and I feel like this trait isn’t given center stage a lot. The ability to listen and identify the emotional state of the people around you, and then genuinely understand, feels like a skill that is undervalued in the world today.

    We’re too busy.

    We have our own problems.

    Or worse, we’re scared of people.

    I mean, who wouldn’t be given what we see plastered over the news?

    I digress.

    Nora’s first book, Nora and the Werewolf Wedding has a simple design. It’s basically Clue, but with magic and werewolves. And yes, I learned to embrace my Pantser in that book.

    Or, well, this whole series.

    Don’t know what a Pantser is?

    A Pantser is someone who writes without an outline. There is a vague idea – in this case, empathic wizard stuck negotiating a socialite wedding where at least one of the guests is murdered – and you build from there.

    Which means literally everything that happened in that first book came as a surprise.

    True story, I honestly thought Derrick’s grandfather would be the big bad guy on the page. Spoilers! He isn’t.

    There are pros and cons to embracing the Pantser side of my muse.

    First, I’ve had a blast writing. That’s a huge PRO. I sit at the computer, stare out the window for a little as the scene starts to show itself, and then the narrative tends to flow. (Assuming I’m not interrupted. Interruptions are a part of life. I do have pets, a teenage son, a husband, and general biological needs like eating.)

    However, that PRO is often checked by the CON where I literally had to build Fairy from the ground up whilst on the go. I have a handwritten notebook with all of my world building notes, many of which required that I flesh out the rules during the editing process of the book.

    I mention this as a CON because I know the world is bigger than what has been displayed on the pages and I feel like I can do better.

    Another PRO is that I am genuinely surprised by the endings when I get there. Or… things like the surprise wedding in Book 2, which is still one of my favorite moments.

    Writing this way has made it feel like this is Nora’s story and she is telling it, first to me, and then to the rest of the world. All my other books, where outlines have been heavily utilized, I was directing things more than the characters on the page.

    Sure, Jorry and Trenna both had a huge say in what happened in their stories, but it was still ME telling those stories.

    Maybe one day I’ll go back and revise their books from this new, Pantser-loving lens, but don’t hold your breath for it. Nora’s final book is still in the works. It will be out in October of this year. And I have several others novels in various stages of complete or near-to-complete that will get to see publication first.

    In the meantime, here is me, embracing my Pantser. It’s difficult, but apparently well worth the editing time I have to spend after that first draft is done.

    Nora and the Siren Song will be available on April 8th!

  • March 2025 Round Robin – Real Places

    This month for the Round Robin conversation we are discussing how we plant real life settings into our work and make them feel authentic.

    I am going to preface this by saying there is no substitute for sitting in a place and letting it settle into your bones. Yes, you can research a setting. You can look at pictures and read through interesting bits about a particular area, and you should.

    History makes a place come to life. It’s why going back to your childhood home after several years feels weird, because memories haunt you. There’s the street corner where you fell off your bike and chipped a tooth, but it’s overgrown with weeds now or the city widened the sidewalk. Or there’s the shop where you used to buy ice cream and sit with your friends that was replaced by an automotive store.

    Layering your setting with history connects that setting to the character, which in turn connects it to the reader. And yes, this is a trick you can do for world building as well, but that’s for next month. For now, understanding the history of the neighborhood/town/city your character is sitting in will help increase authenticity.

    But, and this is a HUGE BUT, it also needs to be relevant.

    People care more about the chipped tooth incident than they do the about the building in the background and the fact that it was built in 1918 as the original town hall. Unless you’re telling a ghost story and ghosts from 1918 are out haunting people. Then the information is relevant.

    Now, back to my original comment.

    There is no substitute for sitting in a place and letting it settle in your bones.

    There just isn’t.

    You can research a lot and get away with looking like you’ve been to a place, but at the end of the day you miss the stuff that natives to that area will look for. Things like the smell of the repair garage as you pass it on the street, or the difference in the air from the valley to the mountaintop. The sounds that travel.

    All of these things you can try to fake if you ask someone who lives there to tell you, but you won’t quite get it. These are things you can only truly understand if you sit down and observe with your whole self. Then record what you’ve observed after.

    That’s where the art of writing truly comes into play.

    Does this mean I’m suggesting you go everywhere you intend to make a setting in your books?

    Yes and no.

    You can visit a region and get a fairly good sense of the setting without going to a specific road/house/whatever. A beach in New England will be different from a beach in California, however, and noting those differences firsthand will be a giant boon to the writing process. So I do recommend travelling.

    Travel. Experience. Observe. Let the world sink into your bones.

    Trust me, those bones will remember when you start to write.

    See what my fellow authors have to say about writing Settings and making them authentic!

    Bob Rich   https://wp.me/p3Xihq-3r1

    A.J. Maguire https://ajmaguire.wordpress.com/ (YOU ARE HERE)

    Belinda Edwards https://booksbybelinda.com/blog/

    Helena Fairfax http://www.helenafairfax.com/blog

    Connie Vines http://mizging.blogspot.com/

    Sally Odgers https://behindsallysbooks.blogspot.com/2025/02/romance.html

    Skye Taylor http://www.skye-writer.com/blogging_by_the_sea

    Anne Stenhouse https://annestenhousenovelist.wordpress.com/

  • Alterations, Updates, & Fun

    With Nora and the Siren Song about to be released, I’m doing my usual brushing up of the website, book covers, and general marketing upkeep.

    Those who frequent this site are no doubt noticing it is shiny and pretty, with a new theme that I have to admit I love. Depending on what device you’re using, you’ll find my new LinkTree either at the bottom (phone devices) or at the side (computer) of the screen.

    I am new to LinkTree. I only discovered it thanks to Threads, where I’ve had the joy of connecting with Indie authors I had never met before. I do still have an account on X, for those of you who linger over there, but sometime over the course of the last couple years X took away the ability to auto-link my posts to its site, so it is not as up to date as Threads or Facebook.

    I’m sure there’s a way I can pay for that function, but quite frankly, I’m tired of every site known to man charging a fee for being ‘verified’ or whatever. I’m on a budget, guys. If I’m going to spend money, it’s going toward actual publishing costs. Or, shock of all shocks, trying to get author copies of my own books.

    Nora’s books got new covers. Again. Yes, this is in preparation for the series being competed this year. They have a matching theme and yes, one day when I can afford an artist who can do all four of them at once, then these covers will change yet again.

    And finally, to the last announcement, Torven & Tales from the Wood has been published through Draft2Digital. This is an experiment on my part to see how that publishing program works.

    For those who don’t remember, Torven is my Fairytale Novelette written several years ago for my son, who told me he hated reading and broke my heart. I wrote the little volume FOR him and read it to him every night over the course of eight days, and he admitted he actually liked that story.

    It must have been the right move because he’s a storyteller himself now.

    Anyway, Torven was taken off virtual shelves a couple years ago because it was too small to be worth printing anymore. I’ve been gathering some short stories to add to its volume and while I still think I should have added one or two more, I’m simply too busy to know when I’ll get around to writing another such tale, so it seemed a good trial book for the Draft2Digital site.

    When I figure out how to sell physical copies through this site, this will be the first one available. Since, you know, it is my test subject.

    That’s it. Those are my current updates!

  • February 2025 Round Robin – All Things Romance

    There is romance in all of my books, even the ones that don’t have the label attached to them, but they would not be considered Romance Novels. They are Fantasy Romances, not Romantasy or Romantic Fantasy.

    The general distinction here is that the Fantasy comes before the Romance, at least in my novels. The romance is not the driving force of the plot, the characters can take or leave one another in the end and still win the day, and I don’ t really write spicey scenes.

    I’ve tried, I’m just no good at it.

    And I know – have met, have heard, have politely just nodded along – to those who cringe at the idea of a book having romance in it. As though any sort of romance will ruin the plot. As though having a romantic interest waters things down and makes the work somehow LESS than it could have been without it.

    It has taken me a long time to decide that these naysayers simply have no bearing over me anymore. They can cringe all they like. They are allowed their opinions and if that means my books aren’t for them then that’s alright.

    There are millions and millions of books out there. There’s room for romance to exist without their approval. (Also, and with the utmost sincerity, if you are shaming anyone for what they like to read, then kindly scroll your digital devices past me. Their personal life choices have nothing to do with you. Go read the stuff you like to read and for the love of all that is good and right in this world, leave everyone else alone.)

    There. I’ll step off that particular soap box now. Where were we?

    Why do I love writing romance into my books?

    Honestly, because I feel like the more we showcase healthy romantic relationships on the page, the more we can hope to see it in real life. Let’s normalize the man who protects AND respects his woman. Let’s normalize communication between partners. Let’s normalize a fulfilling, respectful relationship both in and out of the bedroom.

    The stories that really grab me by the boo-boo and hold onto me from start to finish are the ones that showcase how complicated relationships really are, and also how WORTHWHILE it is to work through those complications. That’s what I love about romance. I can take or leave the spice, but give me a couple who are fighting to stay together amidst world-shattering events and you’ll hook me start to finish.

    Better yet, give me a couple who stride hand-in-hand toward doom together, because neither will let the other face it alone.

    See what my fellow authors have to say in this month’s Round Robin!

    Bob Rich   https://wp.me/p3Xihq-3pV

    A.J. Maguire https://ajmaguire.wordpress.com/ (YOU ARE HERE)

    Victoria Chatham http://www.victoriachatham.com

    Belinda Edwards https://booksbybelinda.com/blog/

    Helena Fairfax http://www.helenafairfax.com/blog

    Connie Vines http://mizging.blogspot.com/

    Diane Bator https://escapewithawriter.wordpress.com/

    Sally Odgers https://behindsallysbooks.blogspot.com/2025/02/romance.html

    Skye Taylor http://www.skye-writer.com/blogging_by_the_sea

    Anne Stenhouse https://annestenhousenovelist.wordpress.com/