“Why do you write?” sounds like a simple question. It probably is for some people. I’ve never had a particularly tidy answer.

The short version is that I enjoy making up characters and seeing where they take me. I like working out who they are, what they want and what’s stopping them from getting it. Quite often, what’s stopping them is themselves. That feels fairly true to life.

I write sapphic romance and romantic comedy because those are the stories I want to spend my time with. I enjoy humour, complicated feelings and the slow realisation that two people mean far more to each other than either of them planned.

I also want to write the sort of queer stories I’d like to read: stories in which sapphic characters get to fall in love, be happy and have ordinary problems alongside the romantic ones. Their sexuality matters, but it doesn’t have to be the only thing happening to them.

There’s room for difficult subjects, of course, but I don’t believe every queer story needs to be miserable to be meaningful. Sometimes it’s enough to watch two women make a complete mess of something that could have been resolved with one honest conversation. In fairness, that would make most romance novels considerably shorter.

The characters come first

For me, a story begins with the characters.

I want them to feel like real people rather than a collection of attractive features and convenient personality traits. They should have flaws, insecurities and habits that annoy the people around them. They won’t always make sensible choices, because most of us don’t—despite what we tell ourselves afterwards.

What interests me is how two people affect each other. They might challenge one another, bring out qualities neither knew they had or make it impossible to keep avoiding something. Ideally, there will also be some decent banter along the way.

The world around them matters too, whether it’s familiar or friends. I want to create places readers can settle into and enjoy spending time in.

A break from real life

One of the main things I want my stories to offer is escape.

Life is busy, often stressful and occasionally just ridiculous. Reading gives us the chance to step away from it for a while. The problems don’t disappear, unfortunately, but they can wait until the end of the chapter.

If someone can pick up one of my stories after a difficult day and lose themselves in it, then I’ll have done something worthwhile. I want readers to laugh, care about what happens and look forward to returning to the characters.

I’d also like them to recognise something of themselves in those characters. Not necessarily their exact circumstances, but a feeling, a worry or a way of looking at the world. Fiction can remind us that other people have felt the things we struggle to explain. That matters to me.

What I’ll share here

This blog will be a place for me to talk about my writing, the stories I’m working on and what happens behind the scenes.

I’ll share updates, introduce characters and write about the parts of the process I find interesting—or frustrating, because pretending writing is always a lovely, effortless experience would be a bit much.

Mostly, I’d like this to be a relaxed corner of the website where readers can get to know me and my work.

If sapphic romance, romantic comedy and character-driven stories sound like your sort of thing, you’re very welcome here.

You can also join my email list if you’d like to hear about new posts, writing updates and future stories. I won’t email constantly. I don’t have the energy, and I doubt you do either.