How has the second time around with our style of interactive fiction gone for you?

In many ways, it was a much smoother process for me on the back-end. I had a whole game under my belt, so I didn’t trip up as much on the numbers and statistics side of things. I could understand more intuitively how to branch off and change values around, and how those would play into the product as a whole.

What did you feel you learned from Freshman Magic that you applied a little differently
this time, or did you learn something new from this project? 

One thing I tried in Freshman Magic that seems to have worked well is the approach to the romantic storylines. I come from a romance novel background, and tropes reign supreme there. When I wrote Freshman Magic, I aimed to make each individual romantic plot adhere to its own trope. Friends to lovers or geek-jock or bad boy. So I carried that into These Thieving Hearts, but I started on it from the very beginning and made it intentional. When I was in early brainstorming for it, one of the first things I wrote down was a list of five tropes, one for each romantic interest. While certain things changed throughout writing, since they always do, having that guideline to turn toward helped me keep things moving and make the characters feel more distinct.

I know you’re the kind of writer absolutely brimming with different ideas and pitches. What else have you been working on?

Oh lordy. So much. As I implied above, I’m noodling over an idea for another game. I haven’t even pitched it or hinted at what it might be, so I’ll continue to keep my mouth shut, but rest assured it would be more gay romance and more fantasy and just as spicy.

I recently wrapped up the first book in a new contemporary romance series, based around a home renovation show. That will be releasing soon, and I’ve started on the second book to make sure we can keep things moving at a clip. They’re not intense, very popcorn-style books. I love reality TV unironically, so it was a good fit.

Then, over in complete non-romance land, I’ve started in on my first progression fantasy. I have no clue when I’ll be able to get that up for public consumption, but it’s a style of fantasy that really clicks for me.

Are you reading any good romance or fantasy these days you’d recommend to our readers?

For romance, two that have really stuck in my brain as of late are Earth Boys are Easy by C. Rochelle, a really fun superhero romance, and Tavia Lark’s Fortune Favors the Fae series, which is just right up my alley. Hot fairy guys? Yes please. And on the non-gay romance front, Book Lovers by Emily Henry is straight-up just fun.

In fantasy, I’m almost through my second reread of Will Wight’s Cradle series. I’m a serial rereader, but I usually have to take at least a year gap between reading and rereading a series. Not this time. Cradle really got its claws in me. Next on the list is probably Babel by R.F. Kuang. I loved The Poppy War trilogy, and while this is definitely a whole separate vibe, it still sounds like it’s right up my alley.