Why I Love Writing Morally Gray Villains in Romantasy

I've always enjoyed morally gray villains in romantasy stories. Give me a man with a dangerous reputation, a questionable moral compass, a whole lot of secrets, and I'm already invested. But what I love most isn't how dangerous he is, but discovering what happens when someone comes along who makes him question everything he thought he knew about himself.

I find it fascinating when a powerful character who has spent his entire life maintaining control meets the one woman who can unravel him. A true morally gray character doesn't suddenly turn into a perfect hero because he's fallen in love. He has to struggle with it. I want his decisions to have consequences, his past to matter, and his feelings to complicate everything while driving him crazy.

That's one of my favorite things about writing romantasy. I get to create these magical worlds filled with political intrigue and impossible choices, then drop two characters into the middle of it who have every reason not to fall in love.

When I started writing The Shadow King's Curse, I knew I wanted to explore that kind of relationship. A heroine bound by a blood oath to kill a monstrous king, and a king who isn't prepared for what happens when she enters his world. He's powerful, obsessive, and hiding more secrets than anyone realizes. She's got her own reasons for being there, and falling for him is the last thing she'd ever planned to do.

And that's where things get interesting.

Of course, there's a difference between loving these characters in fiction and wanting to deal with them in real life. I think that's part of the fun. Books give us a chance to explore all those messy, complicated emotions while still being invested in a heroine who refuses to back down.

I'll be sharing more behind-the-scenes thoughts about my characters, worlds, and writing process along with some of the everyday chaos that comes with being an author, wife, and mother.

I'm excited to finally have a place where we can talk about more than just release dates and book announcements. And I'd love to know which morally gray fictional men have completely ruined your standards for everyone else.