Hey friend,

It’s the middle of May and Ireland has apparently not received the memo. My kitchen garden is out there cowering under another wave of showers, and I’ve got the heating on like it’s February. I’ve abandoned my usual black tea for peppermint and green tea with ginger, which feels like a seasonal betrayal, but at least my hands are warm.

Since I’m hunkered down and not going anywhere, I figured today was a good day to answer some of the questions you’ve been sending me. I get the same handful a lot, in DMs, in reader group chats, occasionally shouted at me by my own brain at 2am. So here we go.

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You Asked, I Answered

“Where do you get your ideas?”

Folklore books, mostly. I collect old mythology like other people collect shoes. A single line in a 200-year-old folk tale collection can give me an entire book’s worth of “what if.” The Spirit Walker series started because I read one paragraph about spirit animals in a Native American mythology book and thought: what if that bond wasn’t a gift but a curse? I spent the next six hours in a research spiral and came out the other side with a trilogy outline.

“How spicy are your books, really?”

Depends on the book, but yes, there are explicit scenes. I write them because that’s where characters stop performing. No armor, no bravado, just two people figuring each other out. I don’t write spice for the sake of it, and if a scene doesn’t move the relationship forward, it gets cut. (My editor has heard “but it’s CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT” more times than she’d like.)

“Will the Spirit Walker trilogy get a spinoff?”

I have thoughts about this. Specifically, I have a character who won’t shut up in my head and keeps insisting their story needs to be told. I’m not announcing anything yet because I want to finish the trilogy first (Spirit Warrior, the final book, is drafted and in the editing queue). But if certain secondary characters keep yelling at me… I might have news later this year.

“Do you write every day?”

No. I wish I did. Some weeks I write every day and feel unstoppable. Other weeks, life eats the schedule: renovations, taxes, family stuff, and I close the laptop before I’ve written a word. I’ve learned not to beat myself up about it. The stories don’t leave. They just wait, slightly annoyed, until I come back.

“What’s your writing setup? Do you have a routine?”

Strong black tea, no sugar, and a morning where nobody needs anything from me. That’s the ideal. Reality looks more like cold peppermint tea and fifteen minutes between interruptions. I don’t have a fancy office. Right now I’m at a desk surrounded by paint cans and tile samples. The glamour.

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What’s on the Desk

Spirit Elfen has been out for a week now, and some of your messages about it have made my entire month. Spirit Warrior is next. It’s the final book in the trilogy, and I’m spending longer with the ending than I usually would, because I refuse to rush it. You’ll get it when it’s ready.

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Got a question I didn’t answer? Hit reply and ask me anything. I’ll save the good ones for next time. (And yes, “will they have a happy ending” counts as a good one. I just won’t answer it.)

Know someone who’d love dark paranormal romance? Forward this their way.

Until next time, xo Ella

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Reader Freebies

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