Brooke Gaspard Interview Published on: 20, Jun 2024

I have always enjoyed reading the high fantasy realms. Writing these realms to share with my readers seemed the natural move for me. Why not write what I enjoy reading also?

The world-building process for The Mage Rebellion series is a delicate balance of what logically happens mixed with folklore. Creating the intricate and immersive settings was fun. I simply wrote the places and realms I would love to live in.

Truthfully, what drew me to explore the dark mafia romance genre was a pure need to challenge myself. I’ve always marveled at authors that could walk that fine line of anti hero and villain, blending them with romance just added a bit of color to my world. Problem is I wanted to make the anti hero female. That’s something I don’t see very often and pushing those limits always gave me a thrill.

Balancing teasing readers while maintaining a bit of mystery has been hard for all of my books. Thankfully, social media tends to help me limit with characters or even minutes on my videos.

Choosing what to share, though, has become easier with time. I’ve found if I love it, my readers will too. After all, we are all just simply along for the ride with my characters.

I want my readers to take a wonderfully emotional journey of self-discovery and acceptance from The Mage Rebellion first and foremost. I want them to feel in one way or another understood no matter how different they might feel from the world around them. They aren’t alone. There are others out there like you no matter how different you may feel.

Mostly though, I want them to feel empowered. Even if they are small in these realms, they can make a difference with small steps of change in themselves and the people around them.

My other goal is to simply give them a good adventure, a place to escape when things become too much.

Betrayed is a different beast in itself. Most of the dark mafia romance books I’ve read the male leads are the morally grey character. In this book, Faye the main female character is the morally grey character on a mission of revenge and making the decision of staying in the dark criminal world once that revenge is enacted.

In a sense, this is a feminine rage kind of book where the main female character not only takes revenge on those who have wronged her but also stepping back into her power after being stomped and beaten down.

Switching between writing high fantasy and dark romance is done with the right playlist and a schedule for my brain. No, I don’t find one genre more challenging or rewarding than the other. They are both challenging and rewarding in their own unique ways.

For example, dark romance is where I challenge myself to not become so wordy and dive deeper into the romantic emotional aspect of the characters’ lives.

My high fantasy series is where I can be as wordy and colorful as I want. There is no true limit on it all, although I do try to cap my word count at 180,000ish. In my high fantasy series I can twist and turn the magic and plot easier than dark romance simply because it’s not set in the real world, so that in itself comes with challenges of not going over the top. I tend to shy away from too much romance being in my high fantasy because it’s more about the exploration of new realms and conquests.

Developing characters that feel authentic and engaging is a process that’s simple. I simply borrow personality traits and such from people I know in real life or have observed from afar and made them larger than life. Every character I’ve created has a personality trait from someone in the real world. I’ve just simply exaggerated it.

I have several favorite characters from both of my series. My high fantasy has to be Sara, Lor, Rei, and War. They are so different from one another and are just a joy to explore.

In my dark romance series so far, my favorite is Bren. The misunderstood quiet guy seems to be something I enjoyed exploring so much so he’s earned his own book that will release soon.

The most challenging thing about writing fantasy is not getting too wild. With a wide cast of characters keeping it clear and concise with each character getting their own spotlight is hard. Then there is the plot and rules to the realms that must be followed or bent, as the main character Sara would say.

Writing romance with darker themes is one of the harder things I’ve done. Keeping the main characters walking the morally grey side of things instead of simply pitch black or even golden boy good was a hard line to learn to walk, but I loved every moment of it.

I keep my writing fresh and innovative by not writing tropes. Writing tropes feels like a box. I don’t like being confined to a box, running wild and free with my imagination and characters is the only thing I truly want to do. If I’ve written a trope, it was never done on purpose.

There are many authors and books that have influenced my writing style. Just to name a few I would have to begin with Jody Offen, Heather Fleener, Brenda Dyer and Amanda McCauley.

I can tease or even spoil the twists in The Mage Rebellion. We’ve seen the characters through tons of change trying to bring peace to their realms, but not all is as it seems to be. Friends may become foe and the very danger that started this entire mess is hidden right in front of your nose. Sara will find her peace and happily ever after, eventually. The devil is always in the details.

As far as my dark romance books, well, Faye’s story may not be fully finished and will possibly bleed into other characters’ stories.

Note from author, thank you so much for taking the time to help me get my books out there for others to read and enjoy. I've truly enjoyed working with AllAuthor and how much they get me out there for others to find me. Brooke Gaspard