WEBVTT 1 00:00:07.780 --> 00:00:09.260 Joe Sidery: Hello, everyone! 2 00:00:09.760 --> 00:00:18.240 Joe Sidery: If you can see and hear me, could you please drop your name and location in the chat just to make sure you can all hear me and see me clearly. 3 00:00:27.390 --> 00:00:35.900 Joe Sidery: Look cozy in Texas. Florence. There we go! Oh, wow! Latvia. Seattle, San Antonio. 4 00:00:38.110 --> 00:00:41.140 Joe Sidery: San Francisco, Kentucky, fantastic. 5 00:00:42.830 --> 00:00:49.879 Joe Sidery: Just give it a couple more minutes just to make sure everyone is in Chicago, Vancouver. 6 00:00:54.160 --> 00:00:55.799 Joe Sidery: How are you? Fantastic? 7 00:00:57.800 --> 00:00:59.019 Joe Sidery: Las Vegas 8 00:01:05.030 --> 00:01:06.499 Joe Sidery: blue from Canada 9 00:01:11.360 --> 00:01:13.269 Joe Sidery: and Calgary, Canada brilliant. 10 00:01:13.780 --> 00:01:19.740 Joe Sidery: Just give it a few more seconds, guys, and then I'm gonna run through some quick housekeeping rules before we start. 11 00:01:26.680 --> 00:01:29.630 Joe Sidery: Oregon, another from Calgary. Wow! 12 00:01:31.980 --> 00:01:33.580 Joe Sidery: Western Maryland brilliant. 13 00:01:34.670 --> 00:01:37.429 Joe Sidery: and another one from Calgary Heath and says. 14 00:01:40.570 --> 00:01:54.749 Joe Sidery: great. So I'm gonna now start, guys, thanks so much for joining us today. My name is Joe from pro writing aid? So before we get started, I've just got a few housekeeping items to run through which I'll go through now. 15 00:01:56.150 --> 00:02:22.119 Joe Sidery: So in terms of replays for the sessions, replays will be added to the Hub page. Once they are done being processed by zoom the time it takes for this can vary. So please don't worry. It will be added as soon as possible. And replays will be available for everyone for a week after the event. So that's until the first of March, and then after this date, replays are available for premium and premium pro members only 16 00:02:23.500 --> 00:02:38.789 Joe Sidery: in terms of premium day details. So Monday to Thursday sessions have been free to everyone to attend. Friday. Sessions are limited to premium and premium pro users. Now free users can upgrade their accounts by Friday morning in order to gain access 17 00:02:39.380 --> 00:02:48.200 Joe Sidery: and premium and premium pro users, will receive an email Friday morning with instructions for attending the live sessions and viewing the replays. 18 00:02:48.910 --> 00:03:00.640 Joe Sidery: So currently for remarks license, we, we are offering a 25% off yearly premium or premium pro licenses. Now this offer will end on the first of March. 19 00:03:00.730 --> 00:03:09.000 Joe Sidery: You can find out more information on the hub, and I'll be sure to drop the link to the hub in the chat in a second. So please don't worry. 20 00:03:10.870 --> 00:03:23.189 Joe Sidery: And if you want to keep talking romance writing, you can join our online writing community using a pro writing aid login. Here you can keep talking with other romance, writing fans and keep up to date with more of our writing events. 21 00:03:24.930 --> 00:03:35.279 Joe Sidery: So just a few reminders from this session. If you have a question, please use the QA. Box for for our speaker, and if you'd like to chat with other viewers. Please use the chat 22 00:03:35.670 --> 00:03:50.200 Joe Sidery: links to your office, and from our speaker will be available available on the romance right as we Hub and in our participants guide, and you can see the link to our hub here, and I'll be sure to drop that link in the chat in a second for you. 23 00:03:51.800 --> 00:03:56.999 Joe Sidery: Okay, so thank you very much for joining us today, guys. And let's get started. 24 00:04:00.010 --> 00:04:23.790 Joe Sidery: So today we are joined by Callista Foote. Calista is a lifelong student of storytelling. She is a story, grid, certified editor, where she mastered the demanding art of diagnosing story problems accurately and recommending effective solutions to authors. She also studies book coaching through author, accelerator, where she's learned how to cultivate a writer's potential. 25 00:04:24.060 --> 00:04:35.590 Joe Sidery: Her passion lies in providing authors with the structure needed to continually build competence, fostering a safe environment, to learn from mistakes and maintaining high standards of excellence. 26 00:04:35.640 --> 00:04:41.670 Joe Sidery: This ensures that every writer she works with can approach the market with their head held high. 27 00:04:41.750 --> 00:05:01.189 Joe Sidery: As a developmental editor, she specializes in guiding authors in the romance, horror and fantasy genres as they build their creative careers. She believes the path to greatness isn't preordained by some mystical force of talent, and instead, it hinges on the knowledge and dedication to develop one's expertise. 28 00:05:01.770 --> 00:05:07.720 Joe Sidery: So without further ado, I will now hand over to Calista. Take it away. 29 00:05:10.820 --> 00:05:30.279 Kallista Foote: Hello, everyone it is good to have all of you here. This is going to be a fun next hour I don't know how many of you are already familiar with dark romance, or this is going to be a brand new introduction either way, this should be fun. 30 00:05:30.660 --> 00:05:35.440 Kallista Foote: I don't really have that long of an intro, though. So I say, let's just jump into things 31 00:05:36.250 --> 00:05:45.349 Kallista Foote: throughout this webinar, we are going to be focusing on 4 different topics. We're going to be defining dark romance and audience audience expectations. 32 00:05:45.370 --> 00:05:58.640 Kallista Foote: which is probably a little obvious from the title we're also going to be discussing. Why do readers love these types of stories? And I'm also going to be giving you tips on how to achieve audience expectations. 33 00:05:59.610 --> 00:06:25.060 Kallista Foote: So who is this webinar? For who is going to benefit the most from this? This is for anybody who's interested in breaking into dark romance as you're going to learn a lot of the foundational knowledge that you need. And this is also for anybody who's just curious to know what this is all about, whether you've read a dark romance before, and we're just kind of like, what is this? Or you've never heard it before, and just wanna know what's going on. 34 00:06:25.110 --> 00:06:27.929 Kallista Foote: I got you. This is all for all of you. 35 00:06:29.070 --> 00:06:31.969 Kallista Foote: So what is dark romance? 36 00:06:32.010 --> 00:06:49.129 Kallista Foote: This is a sub genre of romance that is, very controversial, to say the least. You either really really love it, and you find it fascinating and thrilling, or you really really hate it and wanna kill it with fire. Very little in between. 37 00:06:49.320 --> 00:06:55.520 Kallista Foote: However, Google defines it as a subgenre of romance with darker themes and mature content. 38 00:06:55.610 --> 00:07:03.450 Kallista Foote: And I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, Calista. What does that even mean? That was about as clear as mud 39 00:07:03.620 --> 00:07:05.700 Kallista Foote: And you also might be wondering. 40 00:07:06.230 --> 00:07:09.590 just gonna be romantic, suspense repackaged. 41 00:07:09.740 --> 00:07:18.979 Kallista Foote: After all, romantic suspense can have mature themes. Romantic suspense can have dark content, and the answer is a resounding no. 42 00:07:19.100 --> 00:07:22.780 no! Romantic suspense and dark romance are anything alike 43 00:07:23.010 --> 00:07:27.829 Kallista Foote: where romantic suspense is the intersection between romance and thrillers. 44 00:07:28.200 --> 00:07:42.699 Kallista Foote: Dark romance is the intersection between romance and horror. How fun! I love telling people that because the reaction is always really fascinating, and it's usually something along the line of 45 00:07:42.810 --> 00:07:44.929 Kallista Foote: how could that even be? 46 00:07:44.950 --> 00:08:07.280 Kallista Foote: Because the emotional experience of a horror novel and the emotional experience of a romance novel very different from each other. Right? Horror inspires terror and makes you wanna hide under your covers turn on all of the lights at night, whereas romance inspires that butterfly feeling inside of you. It's warm, it's cozy, it's 47 00:08:07.450 --> 00:08:24.649 Kallista Foote: makes you feel connected. So how could these 2 things ever align in a way that doesn't either water down the horror to appeal to the sensibilities of a romance, reader, or ruin the romance to give it that edge that horror readers like. 48 00:08:24.810 --> 00:08:28.870 Kallista Foote: And I love the way that this genre solves this problem. 49 00:08:29.000 --> 00:08:54.589 Kallista Foote: and I liken the emotional experience of it to the sour Patch kids slogan. It's sour but sweet. It's really the contrast of that edge of a horror story mixed with the passion of a romance the safety of knowing that no matter what happens in this novel, it's going to end, and happily ever after. That makes it very thrilling and exciting. 50 00:08:56.040 --> 00:09:01.429 Kallista Foote: However, I want you to think of the term dark and dark romance as a spectrum. 51 00:09:01.450 --> 00:09:11.869 Kallista Foote: The lighter the dark romance is, the more the emotional experience of it is going to align with the romance genre. The more the reader is going to feel. You know all things fuzzy. 52 00:09:12.080 --> 00:09:21.020 Kallista Foote: whereas the darker the dark romance is, the more the emotional experience is going to align with. A horror novel. and 53 00:09:21.200 --> 00:09:32.429 Kallista Foote: one of the ways you can kind of get your finger on the pulse of just how dark is this story going to be is how extreme is the love interest going to be when they're pursuing a relationship with the protagonist. 54 00:09:32.590 --> 00:09:42.479 Kallista Foote: So the the more extreme they are, the more they use things like kidnapping, trafficking, non-consensual, touching, the darker the story becomes. 55 00:09:42.970 --> 00:09:57.159 Kallista Foote: so that kind of gives you an idea that dark romance is actually a very wide spectrum of different types of books with an audience that has varying levels of darkness that they're willing to go down to. 56 00:09:58.520 --> 00:10:09.179 Kallista Foote: However, that was also very abstract. So I want to ground that in reality, by comparing 2 different novels within dark romance that are on opposite ends of the spectrum. 57 00:10:09.460 --> 00:10:14.599 Kallista Foote: So I want all of you to draw your attention to the book God of Malice, by Rima Kent. 58 00:10:14.780 --> 00:10:40.869 Kallista Foote: This is a book that is definitely on the lighter end of dark romance, and it's rooted in the romance end of things. So this is a book that really explores. What does authentic love look like for somebody who has anti-social personality disorder. This is a book where Glenn, the protagonist, she really starts the story with like her head held down, keeping it keeping to herself in that sense. 59 00:10:41.190 --> 00:10:46.819 Kallista Foote: And through her relationship with Killian, she becomes more confident. She kind of 60 00:10:47.040 --> 00:10:53.050 Kallista Foote: has a little bit of the coming of age in that sense, whereas Killian becomes more gentle, more 61 00:10:53.290 --> 00:11:08.340 Kallista Foote: yeah, more gentler from his relationship with Glynn. And that's very romance, like right? That's kind of something. You would expect 2 characters who come together into a relationship and make each other better people from the relationship. Very romance, Esque. 62 00:11:08.630 --> 00:11:14.870 Kallista Foote: Let's be real, though it's still a dark romance. So it has that edge that readers really like. 63 00:11:14.880 --> 00:11:23.440 Kallista Foote: This is a story that starts with blackmail Killian blackmails. Glynn, that's not normally what you see in a romance novel. 64 00:11:23.700 --> 00:11:36.649 Kallista Foote: This is also a novel where Glen says multiple times. She's not really that interested in being in a relationship with Killian. And he's just like that's nice. I'm still gonna show up to some of your things. 65 00:11:36.920 --> 00:11:45.050 Kallista Foote: And so this is a novel that while the emphasis is placed on romance, it has some horror aspects to it. 66 00:11:45.220 --> 00:11:52.979 Kallista Foote: But let's compare that to a novel like Crawl, which is very much rooted in the horror end of the story. 67 00:11:53.140 --> 00:11:56.739 Kallista Foote: and this is very much a book that does not pull its punches. 68 00:11:56.790 --> 00:12:07.169 Kallista Foote: It's not for the faint of heart. This is a book that is about a serial killer. Yes, indeed, the love interest is, in fact, a serial killer. 69 00:12:07.280 --> 00:12:24.610 Kallista Foote: And this is a book where you have scenes where he mutilates some of his rivals. We have scenes where he chokes people to death. We have this. This is a book that explores sadism and masochism within sex scenes. So it's very 70 00:12:24.630 --> 00:12:38.439 Kallista Foote: hor based. But it's also still a romance novel. So this is a novel where you see how the love interest is. One of the first people to accept the protagonist, for who she truly is. 71 00:12:38.440 --> 00:13:00.650 Kallista Foote: He helps her overcome some childhood trauma, and he protects her from people from her past who are trying to harm her, which are very romance based things. So these 2 experiences are very different from each other. But they're still dark romance, which is something. I want you all to keep in mind as we move forward, especially for people who want to write this. 72 00:13:00.660 --> 00:13:03.189 Just how dark do you want to go? 73 00:13:04.610 --> 00:13:17.459 Kallista Foote: Dark? Romance is also known for its spiciness. For anybody who's unfamiliar with the term spice. It's basically a slang way of saying there's a lot of sex scenes within this genre. 74 00:13:17.630 --> 00:13:30.150 What I find super fascinating about it, though, is that dark romance tends to have the exact opposite relationship to sex scenes than traditional romance does. So when a traditional romance 75 00:13:30.170 --> 00:13:35.180 Kallista Foote: the focus is first and foremost on building emotional intimacy between the characters. 76 00:13:35.210 --> 00:13:44.100 Kallista Foote: And so, as the story goes on, it builds emotional intimacy, until, like the very end when that's expressed in like a physical act, which is sex. 77 00:13:44.380 --> 00:14:08.570 Kallista Foote: However, in dark romance we tend to see the characters jump into bed together very early on, and it's through jumping into bed together when they realize oh, we're actually quite compatible sexually, that ends up building and launching them towards emotional intimacy. So sex is used as a tool to build emotional intimacy instead of just being a 78 00:14:08.610 --> 00:14:10.309 Kallista Foote: an expression of it. 79 00:14:11.560 --> 00:14:32.220 Kallista Foote: and a really good example of this, because I love to ground. All of this in reality, is the book, the ritual. This is a book where the protagonist has a lot of shame around her sexual desire. She's very ashamed of, like the fact that she's not into traditional things, and it feels like, Oh, maybe I'm broken because I'm not normal. 80 00:14:32.270 --> 00:14:40.499 Kallista Foote: And this book is all about exploring the idea of you know. You shouldn't be ashamed of yourself. These are totally fine things you just need to find people you're compatible with. 81 00:14:40.570 --> 00:14:46.660 Kallista Foote: But in order to get that arc of change, there has to be multiple sex scenes within it. 82 00:14:46.750 --> 00:14:52.270 Kallista Foote: Otherwise that type of change isn't going to have any sort of a punch to it. 83 00:14:53.730 --> 00:15:08.229 Kallista Foote: however dark romance and dark erotica, not the same things. And when your outsider peering into this genre, these 2 things might seem like they're the same cause. They both have sex in them. They're not. 84 00:15:08.860 --> 00:15:18.499 One of the ways that you can tell is that the function of the sex scene is different. So the point of an erotica is to set up different reasons for the characters to have sex 85 00:15:18.670 --> 00:15:30.109 Kallista Foote: that makes sense. It's an erotica. however, any romance within an erotica is only there to make the sex scenes more interesting and more exhilarating to the reader. 86 00:15:30.370 --> 00:15:35.449 Kallista Foote: whereas in a romance the point is to get the characters into a relationship. 87 00:15:35.500 --> 00:15:54.110 Kallista Foote: and therefore any sex scenes within a romance is there to push the characters closer to that committed relationship? And if there is any sex scenes in a romance that aren't doing that, usually a sex scene that just needs to be cut cut because it's redundant. But that's the line in the stand between those 2 things. 88 00:15:55.750 --> 00:16:12.619 Kallista Foote: Dark romance is also a genre that's going to be exploring non-traditional relationships. So this is a genre that is often rooted in kink. And so the most common relationship dynamic you're going to see is like a dominant, submissive relationship. 89 00:16:12.690 --> 00:16:25.689 Kallista Foote: Typically the love interest is the more dominant partner, and the protagonist is, the more submissive. One doesn't have to be those 2 roles could be reversed. But that's just normally what you see. 90 00:16:25.820 --> 00:16:38.080 Kallista Foote: However, you can also find polyamory within dark romance, sadism and masculism explored. Anything that could really fall under the king's umbrella is going to be explored within dark romance. 91 00:16:38.250 --> 00:16:51.320 Kallista Foote: What is not explored in dark romance are traditional relationships. They're traditional. This wouldn't be dark romance. We gotta have that. That kink focus. 92 00:16:52.440 --> 00:17:10.030 Kallista Foote: Now it is time that we address the elephant in the room. This might be a question you already wondered from the examples that I gave earlier, and if not, this will probably be a question. You wonder at some point in time when we start talking about audience expectations. But overall 93 00:17:10.319 --> 00:17:18.810 Kallista Foote: a question that gets laved at this community a lot is is this, quite? Is this genre romanticizing abuse? 94 00:17:19.020 --> 00:17:23.500 And the answer is a resounding No with a caveat. 95 00:17:23.660 --> 00:17:24.760 Kallista Foote: So 96 00:17:24.910 --> 00:17:31.119 Kallista Foote: any well written dark romance novel is not going to be romanticizing abuse. 97 00:17:31.140 --> 00:17:39.629 Kallista Foote: However, I'm not going to pretend that every single novel within this genre handles sensitive topics. Well, because some of them don't. 98 00:17:39.720 --> 00:17:58.759 Kallista Foote: and the ones that don't deserve the criticism that they get. But it would be equally disingenuous to say that every single novel within this genre doesn't handle sensitive topics well, that every single novel is romanticizing abuse, because at the end of the day most of them are not. 99 00:17:59.830 --> 00:18:25.199 Kallista Foote: and I think the best example of this to really wrap your head around. That is the book, the Ritual, because this is a book that goes out of its way to show the reader the differences we get to see an abusive relationship between the antagonist Matt and the protagonist Blake, and we get to see him being coercive, using controlling tactics, trying to shame Blake into being into a relationship with him. 100 00:18:25.200 --> 00:18:36.629 Kallista Foote: And that is very different from her relationship with riot, which is more of a dominant, submissive relationship. And that's a relationship. That's fun. It's thrilling. Both of these characters find it fulfilling. 101 00:18:37.280 --> 00:19:06.939 Kallista Foote: And what I love about that as well is you don't just see the differences between an abusive relationship and a dominant, submissive relationship. You get to feel it emotionally as well, because Blake's relationship with the antagonist is icky. It's gross. She's not into it. It's not at all a fun dynamic, whereas her relationship with riot is fun. It is exciting. Both characters are having the time of their lives with each other. 102 00:19:07.230 --> 00:19:15.559 Kallista Foote: So no, I want to keep all of you to keep that in mind as we move forward. This is a genre that is not romanticizing abuse. 103 00:19:16.680 --> 00:19:27.160 Kallista Foote: This is a genre that has ton of trigger warnings, though. What you see on screen are just some of the triggers that you'll find in some novels 104 00:19:27.220 --> 00:19:41.519 Kallista Foote: where, like a traditional book, you open it up, and there's like a dedication page. And then it's straight to like the first chapter. These are books where, like, yes, there's a dedication page. And then there's like a warning page that's basically like your mental health is important. 105 00:19:41.610 --> 00:19:47.400 If you can't handle these triggers. That's absolutely fine. That just means this book isn't for you. 106 00:19:47.680 --> 00:19:53.340 Kallista Foote: Which kind of makes sense. If you also think about this as the intersection between romance and horror. 107 00:19:54.710 --> 00:20:03.390 Kallista Foote: So now that we have a basic understanding of what is dark romance and what it does and what it explores. 108 00:20:03.420 --> 00:20:12.420 Kallista Foote: let's start talking about, how do you actually write a dark romance novel that's going to land well, with this audience. 109 00:20:12.620 --> 00:20:28.680 Kallista Foote: So when I say audience expectations, I'm talking about genre conventions, because those are one and the same. And what those are is that they are the essential features that create the experience. Reader search for when they open a book in a specific genre. 110 00:20:28.850 --> 00:20:32.729 Kallista Foote: Now, what does that even mean? Cause that was pretty abstract 111 00:20:33.470 --> 00:20:57.510 Kallista Foote: to make that make sense? I want all of you to picture a murder mystery novel. When you open up a murder mystery, there are certain things you just automatically expect to happen. First and foremost. You expect there to be a murder. It's in the title you also expect there to be clues and red herrings. Those are all genre conventions. 112 00:20:57.660 --> 00:21:07.969 Kallista Foote: Those create the foundational experience that those readers want to have. And that's the type of thing that we're going to be talking about throughout the rest of this webinar. 113 00:21:08.340 --> 00:21:25.199 Kallista Foote: I also want you to again imagine you're reading a murder mystery. Now imagine there's no murder in it, or there's no clues. The detective just sits there at his desk, and he just thinks about the murder real hard. 114 00:21:25.220 --> 00:21:36.130 Kallista Foote: You're going to be at least very disappointed and at most incredibly frustrated, because this book isn't delivering on the promises of the genre. 115 00:21:36.240 --> 00:21:49.980 Kallista Foote: That's the importance of understanding audience expectations. If these things aren't in there, it's going to lead to a very disappointing at best, frustrating at worst experience for the reader. 116 00:21:50.820 --> 00:22:03.960 You can also kind of like associate audience expectations with reader experience in your mind, and this is often why the readers love the genre so much because of these expectations that they have. 117 00:22:08.630 --> 00:22:15.280 Kallista Foote: However. this is not a mindless checklist, and I don't really want you to treat it like it is one. 118 00:22:15.710 --> 00:22:44.650 Kallista Foote: So if you don't really think about, you know, why do these conventions work? What function are they going to have in your story. That is what's going to lead to cliches and stereotypes. And I don't want you to write cliches and stereotypes. You don't wanna write cliches and stereotypes. The reader doesn't wanna read cliches and stereotypes. So the best way to avoid this is by really focusing on and thinking about these questions on your screen right now. 119 00:22:44.760 --> 00:22:47.169 Kallista Foote: Why do these conventions work? 120 00:22:47.850 --> 00:23:04.450 Kallista Foote: How do they connect to other parts of storytelling? And how can you put your own spin on them. That's perhaps one of the most important questions to ask yourself. I'm going to go ahead and steal Hollywood saying, and use it here. But the saying is, 121 00:23:04.560 --> 00:23:17.560 Kallista Foote: do the same thing, but differently kind of what you're doing with audience expectations. How can you have these aspects within your novel but make them unique to you. Make them fun to you. 122 00:23:18.320 --> 00:23:20.130 Kallista Foote: That's something to think about. 123 00:23:20.740 --> 00:23:23.019 Kallista Foote: So that leads us 124 00:23:23.560 --> 00:23:32.969 Kallista Foote: to the meat and potatoes of this, in my opinion. Why readers love this genre and what they are expecting when they open up a book within this 125 00:23:33.100 --> 00:23:48.510 Kallista Foote: genre. First and foremost, they're expecting to see complex relationships. Now, when I say complex relationships in this context, I'm talking about relationships that have a lot of moral ambiguity within them. 126 00:23:48.580 --> 00:23:59.390 Kallista Foote: These are relationships that are they kind of make you sit there and be like, is this, okay? Is this not okay? I don't know. I'm gonna have to continue to read and find out. 127 00:23:59.970 --> 00:24:05.969 Kallista Foote: And a great way of really thinking about this as well, is to think about the phantom of the opera. 128 00:24:06.020 --> 00:24:19.819 Kallista Foote: How many people who have seen. The phantom of the opera wanted Christine and the Phantom to end up together. Despite the fact that he lied to her about his identity, he kidnapped her, and he murdered people 129 00:24:20.150 --> 00:24:28.750 Kallista Foote: if they had ended up together. That would be a dark romance. That's the kind of complexity that dark romance is exploring 130 00:24:29.140 --> 00:24:48.430 Kallista Foote: and that kind of makes sense right? How do we take what the phantom does which is immoral in his attempts to Christine, and make them have a happily ever after, where both characters are thriving and both characters are happy. That's the kind of questions dark romance is exploring. 131 00:24:48.530 --> 00:24:50.769 Kallista Foote: and that's what readers want to explore. 132 00:24:51.560 --> 00:25:08.979 Kallista Foote: Now, how do you actually create complex relationships? Though, because this is a really big topic that can have a lot of nuance to it for the sake of this, though I want to draw your attention to 2 aspects having a villainous love interest, and having compelling arcs of change. 133 00:25:10.470 --> 00:25:16.800 Kallista Foote: your love interest should be a villain, and when I say a villain I mean a real villain. 134 00:25:16.970 --> 00:25:27.909 Kallista Foote: I mean having our love interest, do things that are genuinely bad, and not caring because it got them what they wanted, whether it's murder, kidnapping, drug dealing. 135 00:25:28.060 --> 00:25:41.930 Kallista Foote: anything within that area. And the reason why the love interest needs to do genuinely bad things is because that's what creates the morally ambiguity. That's what creates the complexity within the relationship. 136 00:25:42.040 --> 00:25:45.300 Kallista Foote: You can also think of dark romance as 137 00:25:45.820 --> 00:25:54.730 Kallista Foote: exploring villain romances for anybody who's really loved the villain more so than the hero. This is the genre for you. 138 00:25:54.890 --> 00:26:05.409 Kallista Foote: and you can even, you know, think about what type of relationship dynamic would that look like? How do you get a villain? And the protagonist into an authentic, loving relationship? 139 00:26:05.780 --> 00:26:10.160 Kallista Foote: That sounds like a complex question that the readers would like to explore. 140 00:26:11.190 --> 00:26:17.000 Kallista Foote: But the love interest is not, though, is a fake villain. Now, what's a fake, villain? 141 00:26:17.130 --> 00:26:34.110 Kallista Foote: I define, fake felony as the love interest doing like one bad thing 10 years ago. And it's like incredibly haunted by it. Or it's the love interest blaming themselves for something that clearly wasn't their fault to the outside observer. 142 00:26:34.320 --> 00:26:41.520 Kallista Foote: The reason why that type of Angst does not work with this audience is that this audience would find it boring. 143 00:26:41.530 --> 00:26:50.409 Kallista Foote: This audience wants a real edge to to their romances. Again, intersection between romance and horror. They want the edge. 144 00:26:50.700 --> 00:26:53.820 Kallista Foote: So this is gonna bore the audience. If it's like a fake filling. 145 00:26:55.050 --> 00:27:11.359 Kallista Foote: The next thing I want everyone to really think about is the arc of change. What is going to change within your story. Typically it should be whatever is holding the lovers back from being in an authentic, loving, healthy relationship with each other. 146 00:27:11.460 --> 00:27:16.100 Kallista Foote: And that could be. Externally it could be internally, it could be a little bit of both. 147 00:27:16.410 --> 00:27:40.029 Kallista Foote: a good example of that to like ground that in reality is the book God of malice. So if we draw our attention back to that again, this is a book that explores. What does authentic love look like for somebody who has antisocial personality, disorder, and Glenn, the protagonist, asked to grapple with her own internal biases against people who maybe aren't neurotypical. 148 00:27:40.220 --> 00:27:47.219 Kallista Foote: And so she does undergo an internal change of she can't be in an authentic relationship with him without really 149 00:27:47.380 --> 00:28:06.409 Kallista Foote: asking the questions. Can he be in a authentic relationship with her? Is he just gonna discard her when he gets forward. That's something that she has to like, overcome and talk through and have conflict with with him in the novel. So that's the kind of thing to really think about when you're creating your own dark romance. 150 00:28:07.670 --> 00:28:20.670 Kallista Foote: What's equally important is knowing what doesn't change within a dark romance. And so what shouldn't change is the lovers going from a non traditional relationship to a traditional relationship? 151 00:28:20.710 --> 00:28:24.220 Kallista Foote: Now, what does that mean? So 152 00:28:24.380 --> 00:28:38.620 Kallista Foote: if we remember, dark romance is very much rooted in kink relationships. So if the message of the story is, you can't ever have a real authentic relationship if you're engaging in kink. 153 00:28:38.920 --> 00:28:59.809 Kallista Foote: The audience is going to feel very betrayed by that, and the audience is not going to react well. And the number one reason why that tends to be the case is because this is a type of audience who wants to explore non-traditional relationships, who wants to engage within power exchanges with other people. 154 00:29:00.470 --> 00:29:06.860 Kallista Foote: So overall the relationship, dynamic doesn't go from non-traditional to traditional. 155 00:29:07.660 --> 00:29:26.399 Kallista Foote: Let's put that together. So in order to create a complex relationship that has a lot of moral ambiguity in it. We need to have a villainous love interest who is going to do bad things, and we need to make the lovers change so they can be an authentic, loving relationship, both externally or internally. 156 00:29:27.890 --> 00:29:35.899 So. The second reason why readers really love these types of stories, and what they are expecting when they 157 00:29:36.530 --> 00:29:47.820 Kallista Foote: what's the word when they open a book within this genre is intense plot lines you may have already picked up on some of this from what I've talked about previously. 158 00:29:47.840 --> 00:30:00.599 Kallista Foote: but these are stories where the characters have really good reasons to do the whole will they? Won't they routine? If your love interest breaks into your house? That's a great reason to not wanna be with them. 159 00:30:00.800 --> 00:30:19.830 Kallista Foote: Therefore these are stories where the plot is going to require way, more pressure on it, and a lot more conflict to get to the, to get the characters to their happily ever after, and that makes it more interesting to this audience than just the traditional 160 00:30:20.040 --> 00:30:30.680 Kallista Foote: miscommunication angst tropes that you normally see in regular romances. But again, how do we actually do that, because that's a big topic. 161 00:30:30.970 --> 00:30:45.350 Kallista Foote: And what I would highly encourage all of you to think about is these 4 things on your screen power imbalances, breaking social norms, establishing emotional intensity and adding in subplots. 162 00:30:46.970 --> 00:31:03.190 Kallista Foote: So when it comes to power, imbalances either the protagonist or the love interest must have more power over the other. In some area of their life it could be multiple areas. And so what that looks like often is, 163 00:31:03.370 --> 00:31:19.369 Kallista Foote: let's say, it's a financial power imbalance. The love interest is like a billionaire, and they just have access to resources that the protagonist won't have, just because the pretenders just doesn't have the same amount of money that's power, imbalance. 164 00:31:19.370 --> 00:31:35.709 Kallista Foote: It could be a physical power imbalance if the love interest kidnaps the protagonist and whisk them away to an island, while the protagonist ability to move around and do their own thing has now become very limited to what the love interest wants them to do. 165 00:31:35.840 --> 00:31:42.639 Kallista Foote: That's power, imbalance. It could also be like a technological power imbalance. 166 00:31:42.700 --> 00:31:50.620 Kallista Foote: If the love interest is watching the protagonist through technology tracking them through technology. That's a power imbalance. 167 00:31:50.670 --> 00:31:53.289 Kallista Foote: And the reason why this is really important 168 00:31:53.530 --> 00:32:06.440 Kallista Foote: is because power and balances is going to be the crux of conflict within a dark romance. This is part of why, the characters have really good reasons to do the whole will they? Won't they? Routine? 169 00:32:07.670 --> 00:32:11.749 Kallista Foote: There is a nuance to this, though, that I want to point out. 170 00:32:12.090 --> 00:32:26.070 Kallista Foote: and so the power and balance is not necessarily a source of evil within the story which is important to understand. Again, these are often kink relationships that are being explored here. So 171 00:32:26.100 --> 00:32:42.999 Kallista Foote: the characters aren't realizing that a power exchange is evil. It's more learning. How do we have a healthy power exchange where both of us feel fulfilled in this relationship, and both of us are excited by what's happening. That's usually more of of the conflict within the story. 172 00:32:44.240 --> 00:32:52.490 Kallista Foote: To give an example, cause again, let's root this in reality. I want to draw your attention to the book. There are no saints by Sophie Lark. 173 00:32:52.720 --> 00:33:22.420 Kallista Foote: This is a book that explores financial and social control. Cole, who is the love interest, has is a very wealthy world, renowned artist, and Mara, the protagonist, is dirt for, and she wants to be an artist. But you know, when you're poor it's hard to move up and things. So Cole has the ability to really control her access to an art studio, her access to things that she needs to 174 00:33:22.520 --> 00:33:36.000 Kallista Foote: move forward in her career. He also has the ability to control her ability to network and meet other people. And so that is an aspect of the novel that does create conflict between them. 175 00:33:36.150 --> 00:33:39.979 Kallista Foote: And it's something that is fun for this audience to explore. 176 00:33:41.140 --> 00:33:53.099 Kallista Foote: The second thing that I want you to think about is, how are you going to be breaking social norms? So within our society there are rules associated with how you're allowed to pursue somebody. 177 00:33:53.370 --> 00:33:56.459 Kallista Foote: Traditionally, you meet somebody at a bar. 178 00:33:56.720 --> 00:34:15.910 Kallista Foote: and you vibe well with this person. And so you decide to exchange numbers. Maybe you exchange social media, and so you all agree to go on a first date you buy well together. You agree to go on a second date. You buy well together, and then that just continues to escalate until 179 00:34:15.949 --> 00:34:29.540 Kallista Foote: you are in a committed relationship with each other. That's traditionally how that works dark romance is all about breaking those social norms and how you're allowed to pursue somebody. In fact, if you're not breaking social norms. 180 00:34:29.570 --> 00:34:32.189 Kallista Foote: You're going to board this audience. 181 00:34:32.650 --> 00:34:43.389 Kallista Foote: I want you to think of breaking social norms as also being a part of narrative drive within this story. It's what makes the conflict exciting. 182 00:34:43.650 --> 00:34:59.239 Kallista Foote: This is also the make it or break it. Moment for a lot of newcomers coming into the genre because you either reach this point and you find it super fulfilling and exciting, or you reach this part. And you're like, I hate this. Kill it with fire 183 00:34:59.300 --> 00:35:01.109 Kallista Foote: very little in between. 184 00:35:03.040 --> 00:35:05.780 Kallista Foote: Again, let's root this in reality. 185 00:35:05.940 --> 00:35:16.199 Kallista Foote: and the book haunting Adeline, which is very popular within this genre. It explores stalking. We have Zayd, who is a 186 00:35:16.370 --> 00:35:22.389 Kallista Foote: who is the love interest? Who breaks into Adeline's house? Multiple times he 187 00:35:22.530 --> 00:35:28.789 Kallista Foote: What's the word I'm looking for? And he lets her know that he breaks into her house. He does not make it a secret. 188 00:35:29.100 --> 00:35:38.690 Kallista Foote: He leaves behind evidence. He also watches her from outside her window. He uses technology to keep track of her. He even murders some of his rivals. 189 00:35:39.390 --> 00:35:45.549 Kallista Foote: This is very clearly breaking social norms, to put it mildly. 190 00:35:45.840 --> 00:35:56.489 Kallista Foote: and this is fun for this audience. This is exciting. How are we going to get these characters to their happily ever after. I don't know. We're gonna have to read the book and find out. 191 00:35:57.770 --> 00:36:03.540 Kallista Foote: The next thing that I want you to really be thinking of is emotional intensity. 192 00:36:03.880 --> 00:36:32.760 Kallista Foote: So when I say emotional intensity, I mean it in the most literal of ways. Readers expect to feel strong emotions when they're reading a dark romance novel. The specifics of that strong emotion is going to depend on how dark the story is. So if we pull back the romance to horror, spectrum in our mind. The lighter the story is, the more that strong emotion is going to be like, warm and fuzzy and rooted in that end of things. 193 00:36:32.780 --> 00:36:38.930 Kallista Foote: and the darker it is the more that strong emotion is going to be horror based revulsion, fear. 194 00:36:39.100 --> 00:36:52.030 Kallista Foote: But the reason why this is important is because this is the piece that actually makes the conflict intense. The other 2 aspects that I talked about are like building the foundation of it all, whereas this 195 00:36:52.230 --> 00:36:54.910 Kallista Foote: is what creates actual intensity. 196 00:36:55.660 --> 00:37:08.140 Kallista Foote: Now, you're also kind of probably wondering, how do I actually do that cause? It's not like, I have control over what the reader feels that's completely outside of anything I can control. 197 00:37:08.700 --> 00:37:18.330 Kallista Foote: Good question. And so this is, I, I should say, a general rule of thumb. Whenever you're trying to tackle this problem is to think. 198 00:37:18.430 --> 00:37:27.639 Kallista Foote: how am I? However, the protagonist is reacting to things is how the reader should be reacting to it as well. So the more 199 00:37:28.140 --> 00:37:46.190 Kallista Foote: positive the protagonist is to things that are happening, the more she's into it, the more she likes everything, the more positively the reader should be reacting as well, whereas the more negative she is, the more disturbed or distressed she is by events, the more disturbed the reader is going to be. 200 00:37:49.830 --> 00:37:56.040 Kallista Foote: I want to give some examples for this as well, so we can look at opposite ends of the spectrum here. 201 00:37:56.570 --> 00:38:06.950 Kallista Foote: So when it comes to a book like the ritual. Again, this is exploring the arc of change from shame to freedom, where the protagonist is very ashamed of herself and her sexual desires. 202 00:38:07.010 --> 00:38:17.579 Kallista Foote: And so this is a book that's much lighter. The reader gets to feel what it feels like to be ashamed of that they get to feel the experience of changing from that. 203 00:38:18.160 --> 00:38:25.150 Kallista Foote: And this is a genre, or I should say, the next book. There are no saints. It's going to be a lot darker. 204 00:38:25.210 --> 00:38:31.050 Kallista Foote: And the emotional experience of it's gonna be a little bit little bit harder to sit with. 205 00:38:31.200 --> 00:38:41.769 Kallista Foote: And so this is a book that is really exploring the ability to choose to thrive after experiencing horrifically traumatic things. This is a book where 206 00:38:41.930 --> 00:38:54.219 Kallista Foote: the protagonist, not the protagonist. The reader gets to experience traumatic things with the protagonist, and they get to feel it. They get to feel how awful that feels, and that's 207 00:38:54.230 --> 00:38:58.079 Kallista Foote: contrasted with the likeness of choosing to thrive. 208 00:38:58.250 --> 00:39:03.990 Kallista Foote: So that's the type of emotional intensities that you can see at opposite ends of the spectrum 209 00:39:05.130 --> 00:39:07.429 Kallista Foote: to put that all together, though 210 00:39:07.580 --> 00:39:23.299 Kallista Foote: the power. Imbalances are there to create the foundation for conflict. Breaking social norms is going to give that conflict excitement, whereas establishing emotional intensity is really what's going to create the actual intensity within the plot. 211 00:39:24.160 --> 00:39:30.230 Kallista Foote: Now, where do subclass fall into all of this? Because, if you remember. 212 00:39:30.760 --> 00:39:53.939 Kallista Foote: I also said, subplots were a way of creating and controlling the intensity within the platform. I want you to think of subplots as a way of getting your finger on the pulse of just how intense those other aspects are within a story. You can use subplots to contrast the darkness within the romance to lighten it up and make it more romance, Esque. 213 00:39:54.090 --> 00:39:59.849 Kallista Foote: or you can double down and use subplots to really darken it up. 214 00:40:00.000 --> 00:40:08.950 Kallista Foote: So to kind of like, give you an example. Let's say you're writing a story that is incredibly dark. Let's say you're exploring, trafficking 215 00:40:08.980 --> 00:40:18.920 Kallista Foote: right off the bat. That's a sucker punch to the audience that is hard to sit with. But you don't want it to read more horror like you want it to be a lot more. 216 00:40:19.110 --> 00:40:20.550 Kallista Foote: Romance-like 217 00:40:20.670 --> 00:40:45.890 Kallista Foote: subplots are a great way of lightning that up. Let's say you add in a found family trope that's going to let you things up quite a bit, you know. We see a protagonist who was very much abused. Then she finds her people. She finds people who love her, who she loves, they band together. It's great. That is really what subplots are going to do. They're going to allow you to control just how intense things get. 218 00:40:47.090 --> 00:40:50.439 Kallista Foote: The last reason why readers really really love 219 00:40:50.820 --> 00:41:00.540 Kallista Foote: dark romance and what they expect when they open up a book within. This genre is passion. These are stories that are filled with 220 00:41:00.600 --> 00:41:10.210 Kallista Foote: passion, and I kind of describe this in the same way that through a sound that you'll often find on Tiktok. 221 00:41:10.230 --> 00:41:29.130 Kallista Foote: which is the whole saying that a hero would sacrifice the lump interest for the good of the world. But a villain would sacrifice the good of the world for their love interest. And so that's the kind of passion these readers enjoy exploring that almost selfish, all-encompassing love stories 222 00:41:29.300 --> 00:41:39.030 Kallista Foote: that are really just explosive. In fact, if there's not a lot of passion within the story, it's gonna be very underwhelming to the audience. 223 00:41:40.330 --> 00:41:50.689 Kallista Foote: Now, how do we create that level of passion? I would have everybody consider the idea of an uncompromising love interest. and what I mean by that is a love interest, who 224 00:41:50.810 --> 00:42:00.130 Kallista Foote: a love interest, where nothing will dissuade them from pursuing the protagonist. They want to be in a relationship with the protagonist. They're going to pursue them, no matter what. 225 00:42:00.250 --> 00:42:13.059 Kallista Foote: What I don't mean is that the tactics they use to get the protagonist and a relationship with them won't change, because often those tactics do change. But the fact that they're pursuing them doesn't. 226 00:42:13.630 --> 00:42:21.990 Kallista Foote: And it's the uncompromising nature that gives urgency to the passion within the story. It's that's 227 00:42:22.660 --> 00:42:35.980 Kallista Foote: uncompromising nature that really adds to the immediacy that feeling of like they can't keep their hands off of each other. That makes it fun and exciting. You can also kind of think of this as the 228 00:42:36.220 --> 00:42:42.150 Kallista Foote: as part of the intersection between romance and horror, so like in a horror. Novel! 229 00:42:42.560 --> 00:43:08.859 Kallista Foote: The villain is usually intent on the annihilation of their victims, and there's nothing the victim can do to negotiate the villain out of that. If Freddy Kruger decides he wants to murder you. You're not sitting down with him for lunch and asking him to not do that. He's gonna do that. It's that same type of intensity between the love interest and the protagonist. However, the 230 00:43:08.880 --> 00:43:14.939 Kallista Foote: emphasis isn't placed on murder. The emphasis is placed on finding love which makes it fun 231 00:43:15.960 --> 00:43:21.770 Kallista Foote: to give some examples again. So we can see the reality of this in the book haunting. Add line. 232 00:43:22.020 --> 00:43:25.990 Kallista Foote: Caroline makes multiple police reports about Zayd 233 00:43:26.190 --> 00:43:51.630 Kallista Foote: stalking her. She doesn't just accept this. She even threatens him. Multiple times. And Zayn's reaction is to not be dissuaded in the least, he's basically like, you're a fighter. I knew I liked you for a reason in the book. God of malice, Lynn tells Kellyanne multiple times. She doesn't really wanna hang out with him. She's not interested in a relationship with him. And he's basically like, that's nice. 234 00:43:51.680 --> 00:43:58.840 I think you'll change your mind. I'm gonna show up to to all of your things. And so it's that type of a 235 00:43:59.140 --> 00:44:08.310 Kallista Foote: relationship dynamic that is fun to this audience. And that type of relationship dynamic that creates the passion these readers want to see. 236 00:44:09.260 --> 00:44:13.059 Kallista Foote: Now, where does that leave us? Because 237 00:44:13.440 --> 00:44:25.189 Kallista Foote: there's a lot of information I just threw out at all of you, and there are a couple of paths in front of you that you can take to really move forward with all this information. 238 00:44:25.370 --> 00:44:48.460 Kallista Foote: so you can use this as a way to study the genre. If you want to learn more about it. If you really want to get your finger on the pulse of what works and what doesn't work. I would suggest sitting down and looking at what are the best books within this genre? And how are they delivering on these audience expectations? How are they creating action? How is power? Imbalances being 239 00:44:48.890 --> 00:44:50.510 Kallista Foote: Used. 240 00:44:50.750 --> 00:45:07.319 Kallista Foote: That's a great way of studying. It's also a great way to use as a generative practice for writing tool. If you want to break into this genre and you want to write a novel, how are you going to use all of these expectations within the genre? 241 00:45:07.870 --> 00:45:28.199 Kallista Foote: You can also use it as an editing tool. If you already have a fully written manuscript. So this is something that you can like. Sit down and think about. Do I have these aspects within my novel? How are they being executed on. If you don't have them, I would highly consider that you put them in. 242 00:45:28.580 --> 00:45:30.530 Kallista Foote: And lastly, of course. 243 00:45:30.770 --> 00:45:49.059 Kallista Foote: this can be overwhelming. There's a lot to think about here. If you are overwhelmed, and you don't really want to do this alone, reach out for editorial help. It could be me. It could be anybody else really works in this industry. They're gonna know what they're talking about when they talk about audience expectations. 244 00:45:50.310 --> 00:46:10.180 Kallista Foote: Thank you all for listening to me. I know I ended it a little early, but that's also because I'm aware that this is a controversial genre. And yes, I am open to answering any questions anybody has. I'm also open to opening up a discussion, any insights that anybody has thoughts, concerns. Let's talk it all out. 245 00:46:11.910 --> 00:46:22.130 Kallista Foote: so I'll jump down here. So can Eradic or S. And M, like 50 shades of grey count, or is, and can be seen as dark romance or just erotica. 246 00:46:22.610 --> 00:46:27.659 Kallista Foote: That's a really good question, and I am going to 247 00:46:27.790 --> 00:46:42.800 Kallista Foote: share a guilty secret. I have not actually read 50 shades of grey. so my answer is based on what I know of it. So if it's basically about a sexual awakening of a girl 248 00:46:42.970 --> 00:46:47.999 Kallista Foote: that makes it a fine line between romance and erotica. 249 00:46:48.270 --> 00:46:54.059 Kallista Foote: I think it's more erotica than it is. Romance again. Haven't read it just from what I know of it. 250 00:46:54.200 --> 00:46:58.799 Kallista Foote: So hope that answered it probably didn't. 251 00:46:58.860 --> 00:47:00.480 Kallista Foote: So sorry. 252 00:47:01.080 --> 00:47:10.279 Kallista Foote: How to present a bad person in a way to clearly distinguish between them sexual sexual deviances and character without sounding judgmental. 253 00:47:10.460 --> 00:47:13.620 Kallista Foote: Yeah. So how do you present a bad person in a way 254 00:47:13.890 --> 00:47:24.009 Kallista Foote: to distinguish between? Oh, somebody who's genuinely bad and like a a fun, bad character, like a fun. Villainous love. Interest, I think, is what you're going at, if I understand correctly. 255 00:47:24.230 --> 00:47:31.150 Kallista Foote: that's a really good question. So part of it is going to be. How does the protagonist react to them? 256 00:47:31.270 --> 00:47:50.590 Kallista Foote: because the more negatively they react to them, the more negative the audience is going to be. And something you can also really keep in mind is that every person is a 3 dimensional person. Every person is a hero of their own story. So a lot of these people who a lot of the love interest, who do kind of villainous things. 257 00:47:50.590 --> 00:48:03.499 Kallista Foote: aren't just all bad people. They usually have family and friends that they care about. There's usually more to them than just the fact that they do some bad things to get what they wanted. For example, 258 00:48:03.670 --> 00:48:09.800 Kallista Foote: I would argue a lot of mafia romances actually fall under dark romance. They're just on the lighter end of things. 259 00:48:09.840 --> 00:48:14.570 Those are stories where you know. If your love interest is up in the mafia. 260 00:48:15.000 --> 00:48:22.720 Kallista Foote: you know. A lot of people would look down on that. That person could be considered a really bad person. So how do you make them 261 00:48:22.770 --> 00:48:40.229 Kallista Foote: not bad people. Well, they're usually very loyal to their family. They're usually very within the mindset of like you take care of people who fall into your group, into your tribe. And so that can be something that can be really appealing. So it's a lot more thinking about. 262 00:48:41.860 --> 00:49:03.320 Kallista Foote: how are you gonna make them 3 dimensional? They shouldn't just be a bad person. Is the sex scenes a must and dark romance. I want to also market my book in a country that strict rules on sex scenes, if it's prohibited there. So sex scenes are not technically a must within dark romance. It's more that dark romance is simply known for having a lot of sex scenes. 263 00:49:03.430 --> 00:49:22.020 Kallista Foote: for example, the book that we talked about earlier there are no saints. It does have a sex scene in it, but it's only one, and it is at the end of it. So you can do so. Dark romance without sex scenes. There's probably an audience that wants a clean, dark romance novel. 264 00:49:22.190 --> 00:49:30.919 Kallista Foote: And that might be something that you can even use as a marketing packet to kind of differentiate you from the other stuff. This is clean. 265 00:49:31.840 --> 00:49:43.979 Are orgies also a topic or subject of dark romance. You can have orgies within dark romance. Orgies aren't necessarily inherently dark romance. If it has 266 00:49:44.080 --> 00:49:56.620 Kallista Foote: power dynamics within it like an exchange, we're with like dominance and submissiveness that it would fall under direct romance. But it's not necessarily like a yes or no answer, they could absolutely fit within 267 00:49:56.820 --> 00:50:04.519 Kallista Foote: within it all. Should you place trigger warnings in your blurb to ensure readers. Understand? It's a dark romance. 268 00:50:05.340 --> 00:50:34.170 Kallista Foote: You don't necessarily have to do it within a blurb, and a lot of people don't do it with blurbs. Usually. What you'll see is, people be like, if you want a list of trigger warnings. You can go to my website, or you can look at these things here. They're like they will link essentially usually. The reason why you don't have to put trigger warnings within a blurb is that the blurb usually makes it pretty obvious that it's going to be a dark romance just from the content of it. Like, if you're exploring stocking. 269 00:50:34.170 --> 00:50:48.580 Kallista Foote: That's usually pretty obvious. This is going to have sensitive topics within it. They might not know the specifics of the sensitive topic. But you don't necessarily need to spell it out in the blurb. You should, however, spell it out in the book with the trigger warning page. 270 00:50:49.690 --> 00:50:57.799 Kallista Foote: Can you mix dark romance with dark fantasy. A dark romantic, if you will. I love that. And the answer is, yes, absolutely 271 00:50:58.010 --> 00:51:11.490 Kallista Foote: well, while a lot of dark romances are known for being contemporary, they don't have to be, they can absolutely be a fantasy novel. This transcends reality in a sense. 272 00:51:12.610 --> 00:51:33.640 Kallista Foote: so would a dystopian romance be considered dark romance not inherently. So, for example, the hunger games is dystopian, and there's a romance between Catnis and Peta. That's not dark romance by any stretch of the imagination, and a big reason why it's not pink based like they have a regular romance between each other. 273 00:51:34.430 --> 00:51:39.679 So a good way of differentiating between like, can these other genres be dark? Romance 274 00:51:39.820 --> 00:51:45.030 Kallista Foote: really should think, am I exploring a kink relationship? If the answer is yes. 275 00:51:45.260 --> 00:51:47.209 Kallista Foote: it can fall in dark romance. 276 00:51:47.870 --> 00:51:52.900 Kallista Foote: can an anti-hero slash heroine 277 00:51:53.240 --> 00:52:09.810 Kallista Foote: can also count as a complex relationship? Yeah. So if you wanted the the villain to be more of an anti hero instead of a villain that can be a complex relationship. The main thing that I'm trying to dissuade you from is having a 278 00:52:10.320 --> 00:52:25.359 Kallista Foote: love interest that doesn't really do anything that could be considered that could be frowned upon socially, because that's usually a little boring for it. But If your if your hero still does kind of bad things, so just not a full on billing 279 00:52:25.840 --> 00:52:28.799 Kallista Foote: that can still count, it can create more ambiguity. 280 00:52:29.450 --> 00:52:43.359 Kallista Foote: What are the audience expectations for dark romance? How do we answer those questions from the slide about not mindlessly popping it in? Is it just, villain love, interest in non traditional relationship. No. So the audience expectations is that 281 00:52:43.640 --> 00:52:56.380 Kallista Foote: there should be complex relationships. There should be. What? Where am I looking for? Intense plotlines and passion. Those are just the ones that are dark romance specific. 282 00:52:56.460 --> 00:53:00.419 Kallista Foote: And again, some of the things that you think about to 283 00:53:00.680 --> 00:53:17.339 Kallista Foote: make it your own is thinking about. How am I going to write those aspects of it? How am I going to create an intense platform? And I would highly suggest as well considering and really thinking about the aspects like power imbalances. 284 00:53:17.350 --> 00:53:37.100 Kallista Foote: What were some of the other ones? Emotional intensity breaking social norms? Those are the types of things that I'm talking about when it comes to audience expectations. And there are, my slides are available in the resources section. So if you wanted to peek at those again to just see what were those expectations again? They're there. 285 00:53:37.140 --> 00:53:40.370 Kallista Foote: So is it. 286 00:53:40.900 --> 00:53:43.599 Kallista Foote: Is it just a villain romance. 287 00:53:43.780 --> 00:53:52.850 Kallista Foote: love, interest and not traditional relationship. No, it's all of the things. So basically, everything that I started talking about once I started talking about complex relationships 288 00:53:52.990 --> 00:53:55.730 Kallista Foote: can really be considered audience expectations. 289 00:53:57.290 --> 00:54:05.560 Kallista Foote: Can you explain the difference between dark romance versus paranormal romance? Absolutely? Is it humans versus monsters? Or is it more complicated 290 00:54:05.640 --> 00:54:31.629 Kallista Foote: humans versus monsters is actually not the distinction at all between dark romance and any other romance. You can have a dark paranormal romance just like you could have a dark fantasy romance. The differences between a regular paranormal romance is, it's is the fact that most of them aren't team based, and most of them aren't exploring power exchanges. So if the protagonists and the love interests are like 291 00:54:32.240 --> 00:54:45.190 Kallista Foote: have the same type of power within the relationship, where one is it more dominant, dominant, and one is it more submissive? Then it's not really dark romance. Whereas dark romance is very much keep based, and it's very much 292 00:54:45.350 --> 00:54:51.089 Kallista Foote: breaking social norms. All of that jazz paranormal romance doesn't inherently break social norms 293 00:54:51.100 --> 00:54:59.539 it can fall within the same spectrum that you normally think of when you think of romance. So you can also think of that as well. 294 00:55:00.760 --> 00:55:03.710 Kallista Foote: Does Stockholm syndrome count as 295 00:55:03.770 --> 00:55:18.009 Kallista Foote: something of dark romance. Yeah, you could see Stockholm syndrome and dark romance. They'll definitely be in there. what is a good example of a dark romance? Sub thought 296 00:55:18.040 --> 00:55:29.349 Kallista Foote: within an SFF. And horror main story. I don't think I could tell you. I don't. Nothing's coming to mind. Maybe somebody else in the chat has an idea of 297 00:55:29.530 --> 00:55:38.180 Kallista Foote: a dark romance subplot with science fiction, fantasy and horror. Main storyline. Yeah, sorry I'm not much help on there. Nothing's come into my mind. 298 00:55:39.150 --> 00:55:49.130 Could Akatar be considered dark romance. I would not consider Akatar dark romance at all. It has aspects of a dark romance to it. 299 00:55:49.280 --> 00:55:57.159 Kallista Foote: But the issue is that it's not pink based. It's really a regular romance in a fantasy world. 300 00:55:57.200 --> 00:56:04.569 Kallista Foote: you can kind of see an exploration of an abusive relationship within the second novel of it. 301 00:56:04.680 --> 00:56:07.040 Kallista Foote: But overall 302 00:56:07.080 --> 00:56:20.669 Kallista Foote: I would. It's not dark enough to be a dark room. It's it's not breaking social norms by any stretch of the imagination, or at least I don't believe it does. There isn't really a big power imbalance. I guess you could kind of argue there is with the 303 00:56:20.730 --> 00:56:25.179 Kallista Foote: with the bargain that Fabra has with re sand 304 00:56:25.270 --> 00:56:30.209 Kallista Foote: But he doesn't really use that to his advantage, though that much 305 00:56:30.850 --> 00:56:36.400 Kallista Foote: throughout the majority of the novel. He kind of does at the beginning, but I wouldn't consider it dark. Romeo! 306 00:56:36.600 --> 00:56:47.030 Kallista Foote: Calista, how booked are you for editing service? It's hard to find editing services for this genre. Do you know of any other editors who could look at it? If you want? 307 00:56:47.130 --> 00:56:54.870 Kallista Foote: if you here, I'll move this if you can all see my screen, here's a link to my website. If you want to shoot me an email, I can give you 308 00:56:55.360 --> 00:57:06.840 Kallista Foote: better response than on here for what it would look like to, or how fast you could work with me. Do you know of other editors we could look at. 309 00:57:07.010 --> 00:57:22.959 Kallista Foote: There isn't a particular editor that comes to mind, because it is hard to find people who are interested in working with this genre. That's mostly because this is an up and coming sub genre where it's really been. What's the term underground for so long? 310 00:57:23.340 --> 00:57:28.150 Kallista Foote: But so yeah, sorry. Unfortunately, I don't have much help on that one. 311 00:57:28.420 --> 00:57:35.769 I'm realizing that I actually write dark romance, any suggestions how to alter marketing tactics from romance to dark? 312 00:57:35.820 --> 00:57:46.940 Kallista Foote: That is a really good question. I'm going to be dead honest with you. I don't specialize in the marketing half of the writing industry. so 313 00:57:47.150 --> 00:57:59.269 Kallista Foote: maybe take my advice with a grain of salt on this one. So how do you switch marketing tactics from romance to dark romance? I think part of it is probably 314 00:57:59.460 --> 00:58:02.309 Kallista Foote: going hard on. The idea of 315 00:58:03.270 --> 00:58:17.259 Kallista Foote: this is kink based. This is maybe Bdsm based. And this is breaking social norms. So within your blurbs, within your marketing, trying to think about what is the relationship dynamic? And how can I make that 316 00:58:17.440 --> 00:58:21.170 Kallista Foote: more apparent cause that's going to attract that audience? 317 00:58:21.290 --> 00:58:23.750 Actually, now that I'm thinking about it. 318 00:58:23.810 --> 00:58:46.360 Kallista Foote: If you wanted to, you could potentially use trigger warnings as a way of gaining the right audience. Trigger warnings might not just be a leave. If you're not interested in this type type of thing. This could also be a if you're interested in stocking, my novel. Has that come here, you will enjoy this. So that's kind of something to think about. 319 00:58:47.280 --> 00:58:53.590 So I'm a bit confused. The villains don't turn into good people, but there is a halfway ever after. Yes. 320 00:58:53.640 --> 00:59:04.730 Kallista Foote: so does the main character turn into a morally bad person to end up with the villain. Sometimes that's more book dependent. Sometimes it is a little bit more of like a 321 00:59:04.800 --> 00:59:14.329 Kallista Foote: this isn't just a dark romance. It's also like a villain origin story, where you see the protagonists almost get corrupted a little bit. Usually what you'll end up seeing is that 322 00:59:14.560 --> 00:59:24.100 Kallista Foote: while the villain is still villainous, they change their behavior towards the protagonist. They are very loving towards the protagonist. They are very 323 00:59:24.160 --> 00:59:30.939 Kallista Foote: caring towards the protagonist which leads to that happily, ever after. They don't always change their behavior towards other people. 324 00:59:31.080 --> 00:59:42.519 Kallista Foote: Which is part kind of part of the 3 dimensional aspect of them. They're not just a bad person. They have more more faxes to the personality than that. I hope that clears that up. 325 00:59:43.410 --> 00:59:52.049 Kallista Foote: So if props not quite sure if I know what you mean by props if prop breaks up with Oh, protagonist. 326 00:59:52.060 --> 01:00:03.530 Kallista Foote: I got you. If protagonist breaks up with traditional relationship, not embracing kink, and it end finds happiness as epilogue is that acceptable, or must end heavily ever after with lover and beginning 327 01:00:03.650 --> 01:00:15.010 Kallista Foote: If you want to write for this audience, it should end with a happily, ever after with the main love interest that you have. 328 01:00:15.230 --> 01:00:28.420 Kallista Foote: It's not that you can't write a story where that doesn't happen, where, the protagonist ends up somewhere else. It's usually the case that the dark romance audience isn't your audience. It's kind of like the 329 01:00:28.450 --> 01:00:37.230 Kallista Foote: The novella broke back Mountain. I don't know if anybody has seen it, although it's been out for like 20 years. So at this point. 330 01:00:37.260 --> 01:00:57.730 Kallista Foote: spoilers gonna spoil this it doesn't end in a happily ever after. But it's very much rooted in romance, and I would argue that that is a book that leads more with the literary fiction audience than it does with romance. Audience, because the romance audience wants that heavily effort ever after. That's what makes this fun. 331 01:00:58.390 --> 01:01:00.160 Kallista Foote: so okay. 332 01:01:00.330 --> 01:01:04.349 Kallista Foote: sorry. We just got more questions. 333 01:01:04.660 --> 01:01:10.760 Kallista Foote: yeah. So I think that's all the questions that we have here. 334 01:01:11.150 --> 01:01:14.469 I hope that answers all of it for you. 335 01:01:14.520 --> 01:01:22.080 Kallista Foote: Of course, if you have more questions that you don't want to explain or ask in this chat, live. 336 01:01:22.090 --> 01:01:39.010 Kallista Foote: feel free to go to my website, shoot me an email, and I will get back to you as fast as I can. We're also pretty much at the top of the hour, so thank you everybody for coming here. Thank you for listening to me. Speak. I wish you all the best of luck within your story. 337 01:01:39.220 --> 01:01:40.120 Kallista Foote: Yeah. 338 01:01:41.370 --> 01:01:55.989 Joe Sidery: okay, brilliant. Thank you. So so much. I think I speak for everybody by saying, That's great. Thank you so much. We really appreciate it. Such a wonderful webinar, and thank you for sharing such gems of wisdom. 339 01:01:56.520 --> 01:02:07.380 Joe Sidery: So as always, guys, you can find the replays to this session and the other sessions in the romance, Rice's Week. Hub. I will just drop the links in the chat. One more time for you all. 340 01:02:07.690 --> 01:02:30.480 Joe Sidery: There we go. So you can find the replays there. They will be available until March, the first for everybody, and then after that it will only be for our premium and premium pro users. But I really hope you guys enjoyed that as much as I did, and we hope to see you at our future sessions once again. Thanks so much to Callista, and thank you all for joining. 341 01:02:31.170 --> 01:02:33.750 Kallista Foote: See? You later, guys, thank you. Yeah.