Q & A: What Kind of Book Do You Feel Is Your Best to Write?

I have a shorter answer for this over on the Q & A page, but this is one of those questions I find myself coming back to over and over again. This is one of many possible answers, and as time goes on I may continue to revisit it.

What Kind of Book Do You Feel Is Your Best to Write?

I seem to be good at writing dark fiction. I love reading humorous pieces and have often tried to write lighter, funnier work, but the moment I start caring about the story and actually getting invested in it it goes dark – and often when it does it goes really, really dark. I think, though, that that’s probably tied to part of who I am as a writer and why I publish at all.

I want to give hope to the hopeless.

I want people who are suffering to be encouraged. I think I write really dark stories about really awful situations because I think there are a lot of people who feel trapped the way my characters do. Sometimes my characters are trapped in physical senses (Kayden is a slave; Felix has been kidnapped), but I think those situations can be symbolic of the inner turmoil many people face by feeling trapped in other ways and in other situations. If I write a happy story about happy people, I don’t think that’s going to give hope to people who are really suffering.

I hope that people read my books and think, “If those people could go through what they did and come out better for it on the other side, then I can, too.”