The Muse Who Wouldn’t Pick a Lane: Writing Across Genres

I went to college to study history, so when I started writing, historical romances were a natural choice. I loved the puzzle of fitting a story into the parameters of an established society, researching how people ate, slept, and lived in medieval Wessex or Regency England. My first published book, Forget Me Not, was a Regency gothic romance, and I hoped that was the beginning of a long, focused career in historicals.

(Keeping Track of Your Story With Maps and Paper Dolls.)

Then my publisher asked if I'd write for their new sci-fi romance line.

I said yes, figuring I'd knock out a few books, prove myself, and then they'd let me write my real passion. So I created the Dragon Lords series. These books are futuristic, other-planet, dragon-shifter princes finding their fated mates. I drew directly from medieval Welsh and English monarchy structures, layering in court hierarchies and political traditions that gave this alien civilization immediate texture. The rival civilization that later became the Lords of the Var series pulled from medieval Norse influences. Readers may not consciously register why these alien societies feel grounded, but their bones are historical.

To my surprise, I loved it. The freedom of building a world from scratch unlocked something in my writing I hadn't expected. And readers loved it too. That series eventually expanded into the Qurilixen World, which now spans eight series installments, over 40 books, and thousands of rave reviews. What started as a detour became one of the defining achievements of my career.

That was my "never say never" moment. I decided then that I wouldn't close myself off to one lane.

When I opened myself up to possibilities and put myself out there (not easy for us introvert writers), the opportunities kept coming. My medieval historical Maiden and the Monster won the Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award. Virgin Books and Random House wanted spicy contemporaries. Other publishers wanted paranormal. The common thread wasn't genre. It was my name. Publishers trusted me to deliver across categories.

But not every door opened.

Around this time, I wrote a gothic vampire romance series called Tribes of the Vampire. Dark, sensual, atmospheric. Forbidden passions and brooding antiheroes. I believed in these books completely. The rejection letters came back with a frustrating consistency, "We love the writing. Marketing doesn't know where these fit." The books weren't the problem. The market simply didn't have a category for what I'd written. I published them with a small e-first publisher, found readers who adored them, and kept writing.

The discipline I developed in writing historicals has carried into my other genres. When I write, I fall completely into the story. I see the rooms, hear the conversations, and feel the atmosphere. Even years later, these places feel like somewhere I've actually lived. I can walk back into the Dragon Lords' palace and know exactly where the banquet hall is. That immersion helps me keep worlds separate, even when I'm moving between multiple projects.

This extends to all aspects of world-building. When I write about a shifter’s transformation, I want the reader inside that body so they feel the bones cracking, clothes tearing, and fur pushing through skin. Beyond that, I want them to empathize with the terror of losing control to something primal. In my Warlocks MacGregor series, magic requires energy, whether drawn from nature or the heat between two people. It doesn't materialize from nothing. Use too much, and you could kill an entire forest. Rules like these give magic weight. Consequences make power feel earned.

There came a point, though, when the sheer volume of stories required systems I hadn't needed before. With 40+ storylines in a single book world, I had to go back and create series bibles, documenting details I once held effortlessly in my head. It's tedious work, but necessary when you need to remember years later exactly how your shifters transform or what color magic the warlocks produce when they're petrifying their siblings.

The practical challenges exist too. A large backlist across genres means readers sometimes feel intimidated about where to start, or dismiss me after seeing one historical without realizing I also write the sci-fi series they'd devour. Clear branding, intentional cover design, and organized website navigation help, but it's more work than maintaining a single lane. For me, the tradeoff is worth it. I'm never bored, I'm not dependent on one genre's popularity, and my career has weathered industry shifts because when one category cools, another heats up.

However, a piece of advice recommends splitting the different genres into pen names. This wasn’t an option for me at the start of my career when I was offered my first contracts, but I think it’s worth suggesting. Anything you can do to help new readers navigate your work is a win.

Remember those gothic vampire romances that publishers loved but couldn't place?

This year, Pan Macmillan's Tor Bramble UK acquired both my Tribes of the Vampire gothic vampire romantasy series and my Realm Immortal high fantasy romance series for new hardback and audiobook editions launching in 2026. The editor called me "a juggernaut when it comes to paranormal romance and romantasy."

All those years ago, those vampire books didn't have a category. Now romantasy is one of the hottest genres in publishing, and the stories I believed in finally found their traditional home. Sometimes you're early, not wrong.

That's what I'd tell any writer who feels pulled toward multiple genres: stay open. Say yes to the opportunity you love that seems like a detour. Keep writing the books you believe in, even when the market doesn't have a name for them yet. The landscape shifts. Categories emerge. What doesn't fit today might be exactly what publishers are hunting for tomorrow.

I thought I'd only write historicals. I was wrong, and being wrong turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to my career.

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