Sarah Z. Creates

Is there a funny thing about writing dark New Adult fantasy? Well, yes, because that wasn’t what I set out to write. I intended to write YA fantasy. When I started dreaming out the Sundered Realms, I was pretty sure I was going to write YA fantasy fairytale retellings.

And the further you get into the Sundered Realms, the more you might see hints of that original plan. But wow … things did go a little sideways.

For starters, I skew dark. Sorrow, anger, fear, vengeance, turmoil, grief … I wield those emotions with a deft brush and a wink. And I do well enough with sarcasm, dry wit and snark (ahem, Selah and Caden).

It’s the lighter fare – joy, happiness, satisfaction – that I often struggle with. I did not mean to make “The Ruin of Ehslyng” quite so despairing, and yet I still cry every time I re-read it. (And I wrote the dang thing!)

Don’t get me wrong; I think that story turned out amazingly well, but I wasn’t intending to go that dark. Could I have rolled some of that darkness back? Probably.

But the story is beautiful as it is, and taking a lighter brush to it would have, I think, muted it too much. That story needs to be dark, because it’s the impetus for some pretty dark happenings later on in the stories of the Realms.

For seconders (no, that’s not a real word, but yes, it absolutely should be!), I struggled to stay in the YA realm. And not just the sweary or steamy bits (and yes, there’s some of both in The Reckoning series). No, it’s the characters themselves. I have a lot of young, female protagonists, as planned and typical for the YA fantasy genre. Selah is 17 and Gwen, whom you’ll meet in the First Daughter’s story, is 18.

But man, I don’t know how to write secondary characters without giving them entire backstories of their own. And a lot of my really interesting secondary characters are not 17 or 18 years old. Heck, I’ve got a villain novella drafted for a 2,000~ year old fairy! And Emely has a story, and Nyota has a story, and Sophya has a story (a continuation of “The Seer’s Story” that I will get around to at some point, I promise!).

In other words, I have a world, populated with people of all ages, all persuasions and all types. And I think they make my world richer and oh, my … some of these stories. I can’t wait to share them with you! If you like dark fantasy world building, then join the ride! You will meet a diverse cast of characters, and you will love, laugh, cry and bleed (not necessarily in that order) with all of them.

If you haven’t already checked out the Sundered Realms, “The Ruin of Ehslyng” is free as is “Magic & Mischief,” the short story that introduces Selah.