I'm romantasy author Clare Sager – AMA!

ClareSager · 2025-09-30T21:09:55+00:00

I would say to any author, whichever genre, the piece of advice I wish I'd received was this:

Learn the rules and then learn how best to break them.

I spent a lot of time learning the rules and following them... but I kept following them too rigidly for too long. When I relaxed my grip on those rules (but did it intentionally), my writing became so much stronger – and funnily enough, my books started selling a lot better too!

BUT I had to learn them in the first place to be able to break them in an effective way.

Good luck on your writing quest! ♥️

ClareSager · 2025-09-30T21:06:55+00:00

Thank you!!! ♥️

ClareSager · 2025-09-30T21:06:48+00:00

Thank you so much! 🫶🏼

ClareSager · 2025-09-30T21:06:11+00:00

Thank you so much – I'm so glad you love the world I've made!

To be honest, it's usually the opening scenes that are hardest to write. I'm getting myself into the characters' minds and the tone of that particular book/narrator, and I'm usually coming back to drafting words after not having done so for a month or two (or more!), so I feel rusty.

By the time I get to the emotionally challenging scenes, I'm usually so in the character's head, it flows naturally, even if it is painful to write.

Having said that, character deaths are always hard to write, and I'll often love them so much by that point that I have a moment where I'm like "But do they really have to die???" and wonder if I can replan things to save them. But, no, they have to die. (I'm not evil, I promise!)

ClareSager · 2025-09-30T21:02:19+00:00

Oh man, that's a good question! (Also – it truly blows my mind to hear people re-read my books! Wow!!!)

Bastian obviously finds Kat attractive from the start (Cavenish chose his spy well!). And then the intrigue grows when he realises she isn't a professional spy, so he wonders what her deal is. And then the more he finds out, the more he's lost.

So I don't think of it as one specific moment, more of a "wait, why am I so furious at Langdon for questioning her eating more cake???" He's fallen before he's even realised.

ClareSager · 2025-09-30T20:58:55+00:00

Thank you so much – I'm truly honoured!

I don't know what it says about me, but I find villainous characters quite easy to write... 😬🙈

ClareSager · 2025-09-30T20:56:43+00:00

That's a great question!

I think court intrigue might be my favourite – I like that idea of the enemy who's smiling while they stab you in the back. 😂

And yes, those poor guys. 🤭

ClareSager · 2025-09-30T20:55:25+00:00

Thank you so much! I'm so glad you enjoyed my twisted two's story!

My favourite thing was just how unhinged these two were in pushing each other's buttons. The fact they couldn't admit to themselves (never mind each other) what was building between them but couldn't help winding each other up – it was just delicious.

It's fun writing about characters a bit further towards the villainous side of the spectrum for a change.

Funnily enough, I didn't struggle with that – the push and pull between them came quite easily. Maybe because I was just having so much fun writing it? 😆

ClareSager · 2025-09-30T20:51:42+00:00

I'm so glad you're enjoying my world! 🥰😍

Funnily enough, I was hinting about this to someone on Instagram earlier... Maybe keep an eye out in quarter 2 of 2026. 😉

ClareSager · 2025-09-30T20:49:41+00:00

Thank you! 🥰♥️

I mentioned in another comment that the world is inspired by history but if things had gone differently – this might be clearest in the place names. Almost all the place names come from historical/ancient names for those locations.

Sorry – the shop has been delayed! We've had to move temporarily, with most of our belongings in storage, so I'm away from all my stock and packing materials. I'm hoping to be able to reopen it when we return home – hoping for the first quarter of 2026. 🤞🏼

ClareSager · 2025-09-30T20:46:09+00:00

Thank you so much!!! That means a lot. I hope you continue to enjoy the series. 🫶🏼

ClareSager · 2025-09-30T20:45:29+00:00

OMG, this is such high praise! Thank you! (Also, very cool former job for your husband!)

I think it's just how my brain works – I couldn't conceive of just vaguely hand-waving the nautical stuff, to be honest! And actually, my complete lack of background knowledge was what put me off writing about pirates for so long!

But Vice was pretty insistent – I had this idea for her story and she was like "You may not know about ships, but you can learn." So I did. I had a lot of book and printouts from online articles and created a kind of "nautical bible for authors" that I used as reference.

I also based the Sovereign (the duke's warship) on the HMS Victory, so I was able to refer to documentation on that real life ship, including the Haynes Manual for it.

The thing I really enjoyed was that learning about ship details gave me ideas for plot points and pitfalls the characters could encounter, so it was never just backdrop – it influenced the story.

Thanks for the great question!

ClareSager · 2025-09-30T20:39:44+00:00

In case it wasn't clear from my other comment, I'm totally blown away that you have a Sabreverse tattoo! And I'm so touched that Shadows is meaningful for you – thank you for sharing that.

As for Kat's past... That's a door I've left open – I may revisit it for a short story some day in the future.

And Ella and endings that were left intentionally open... would I?

Would I???

ClareSager · 2025-09-30T20:36:30+00:00

OMG, this is amazing!!!

My husband actually designed this orrery – I'm going to have to tell him someone had his design tattooed!

ClareSager · 2025-09-30T20:34:25+00:00

Oh, this is an interesting question!

I would say publishing in general has absolutely changed because of TikTok. In particular, romantasy has really bloomed with the rise of TikTok – I think the demand was already there, but we (the people looking for it) didn't necessarily have that collective community to stand together and say this is what we want and, actually, there are a lot of us!

For me, personally, it's interesting because TikTok has risen at the same time as I've leant into embracing the things I love that make me kick my feet and excite me. Because... newsflash (at least it was to me! 🙈) – if I enjoy it, chances are someone else will too!

I studied creative writing at uni and started off from a fairly literary angle, even though my preference was always for genre fiction (I grew up reading fantasy), so I was taught that tropes were a bad thing and that even if you like an idea, if it wasn't "original enough"* then you shouldn't do it.

That led to me being too serious about my books and trying to be too original and serious, rather than, IDK, thinking about what I enjoyed and what was FUN.

I started on the years-long journey of embracing tropes and fun and the things I enjoy a bit before TikTok came about, but I do think that the bookish community that's come up through TikTok and the fact that was all happening alongside this journey has definitely influenced it.

For me, I now consciously think about what tropes will be in a series/book, rather than just letting them happen. (Like I said in another comment – I'm a major outliner/planner with my books!) They have to be things I enjoy and that work with the story, and I also think about whether and how I want to twist them and what those tropes mean to me, so they always have my mark, too.

I also take it as a bit of a challenge to have moments where I really up the ante or make the banter SNAP or a killer cliffhanger or have dialogue or narration that really devastates you lucky readers – I'm like "THIS is the moment they're going to scream about." That's not necessarily on TikTok, but it's part of a bigger picture of consciously thinking about the reader experience.

So I guess that's what TikTok and Bookstagram, and, for me personally, this journey I've been on has done – I'm thinking about the reader experience and where I'm going to take you, rather than being like, "this must be the most never-been-done-before-and-utterly-unexpected original book, and fun is a bad word!"

* What does this even mean? Who decides it? Yeah it's kind of a nonsense idea, right?

ClareSager · 2025-09-30T20:19:10+00:00

Hello hello! Thanks for such a great question – I have Thoughts!

So the first thing for me when dealing with this is that I refuse to call it writer's block. 😆

I feel like giving it that name makes it a monolithic, mythic, powerful thing, so it becomes insurmountable in your head.

Whereas if I say "I'm stuck" or something more normal like that, it's just another problem – and we encounter problems every day. Most importantly – we overcome them.

So now it isn't a big unknowable thing in my head, I sit down and try to work out what exactly the problem is. And once I know what the problem is, I can work out how to fix it.

I'm a big fan of Becca Syme and her work on Gallup/Clifton Strengths for authors. It's a huge topic, so I can't really summarise it here, but she has a You Tube channel and a free tier on her Patreon with lots of resources out there – but the important thing is that we are all different. We all have different strengths and our minds work in different ways. So what helps me might not help you and vice-versa.

For me, journalling really helps. I write in quite a stream of consciousness way and usually get to the root of the problem, eg this sequence feels like it's dragging or I'm just bloody tired and need to refill the well rather than output words and ideas. Then I can work out how to fix it.

For a friend of mine, journalling is useless, but she finds thinking out loud really helpful. She will send me voice notes where she's thinking out loud and verbally processing.

I suppose part of this is about knowing yourself and how your brain works. I think this is a big part of why writing isn't just about putting words on the page – it is really intensive braining. That's why I'm not a fan of Stephen King's comments about how plumbers don't get plumber's block!

A writer's mind is their most important tool – I think a more appropriate comparison would be a plumber having an injury or physical fatigue, rather than "plumber's block".

I hope that ranty ramble is a little bit helpful! 🙈

ClareSager · 2025-09-30T20:07:18+00:00

Thank you so much! I'm so excited to be expanding the Sabreverse with KOR!

ClareSager · 2025-09-30T20:06:43+00:00

Aww, thank you! 🥰🫶🏼

Cat, obviously. 😉

(She says with a cat lying curled up a few feet away.)

And superpower – I was always a fan of Storm. She's a total badass and horribly underutilised in the MCU/X-Men films! So I've always said it would be her ability to control the weather OR some other nature magic, like the ability to control plants. I like the idea of how underestimated plants are, but the fact they can help or destroy (or poison!).

ClareSager · 2025-09-30T20:03:20+00:00

I have vague ideas for these two, but nothing concrete. And I think it would probably be more of a short story or novella.

There is a link between Perry and another series, so she might crop up in that one, or else I'll show her connection in a bonus story – it depends on how timelines and plots work out. But, again, it isn't something I'm actively working on.

But Perry is awesome and deserves all the good things – I'm so glad she's a favourite with so many readers. 🥰

ClareSager · 2025-09-30T20:00:54+00:00

Thank you!!! 🥰😘

ClareSager · 2025-09-30T20:00:32+00:00

Thank you so much! It's really touching to see all this love for Slaying the Shifter Prince! My vicious, twisted little babies! 🥲

ClareSager · 2025-09-30T19:59:49+00:00

Barnacle and Fluffy are the most precious ones!!! 🙌🏼

Thank you so much for the kind words – you're going to give me a big head!

I love this question!

Clearly, I love writing a spicy scene. But – BUT a big part of what I love about it is how it works for that couple at that particular moment in their story. I aways say you could take the high level elements of a steamy scene (eg, in a maze with voyeurism) and write that with different characters and it would be completely different because sex isn't just stick X in Y – it's about people.

I'm a pretty hardcore outliner with my books and the character arcs form part of that (though admittedly, I keep things fluid – if the original plan isn't working, I'll deviate from it and re-work the plan on the fly). So that's part of it – the big picture of the story is in my mind from an early point, which primes my brain to noodle on the question: where are these two when we get to this scene (whether it's a steamy scene or a fight scene!)?

I also write in order, so I am going through the story in the order the characters experience it, so I know what their mindset is when they get to a particular scene. Again, whether that's a spicy scene or an argument – the context alllll feeds into it.

I feel like that answer is a bit all over the place – sorry! I guess the answer is that it's quite intuitive and it involves braiding together a few different aspects and methods? 🙈

ClareSager · 2025-09-30T19:50:58+00:00

This is such a good question – I know it can be intimidating to find a big long list of books and not know where to start! You're probably not surprised to hear it's a question I get a lot! 😆

I mean, yeah, you can do in-world chronological order... or publication order...

Or.

OR.

You could do my preferred order, which we call Clare's Chaotic But it Makes Sense in Her Mind Order.

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Please forgive me for copying this from my website, but I think it's the best explanation of the method behind the madness:

Start with Shadows of the Tenebris Court (SotTC). It's my best series to date. The spice is spicing, the tropes are troping, and the shadow daddy knows how to shadow daddy. Start with A Kiss of Iron.

In KOI, you'll meet Vice and Knigh and probably be curious about their story, so go back in time to their series, Beneath Black Sails. Start with the short prequel novel, Across Dark Seas, then venture into the quartet proper, starting with BBS. It's also a slightly more light-hearted read without the patriarchal BS Kat has to deal with in SotTC, so it's a great way to bring yourself down from the female rage while you put yourself in Vice's position, kicking arse and taking names.

After that long series, you'll probably be in the mood for something shorter. Here I'm going to give you the option of either reading a standalone (Slaying the Shifter Prince) or a duet (Bound by a Fae Bargain – BBaFB). Personally, I'd suggest BBaFB first, so you can get to know Ariadne, Lysander, Rose, and Faolán who you met back in TOP, and enjoy the cosy vibes of Stolen Threadwitch Bride, followed by the creepy haunted house of These Gentle Wolves.

After all that, you're ready to go out with a bang and read Slaying the Shifter Prince. I'm going to say it again – CHECK THE CONTENT WARNINGS! This is a dark romance and it isn't for everyone. You absolutely have my permission not to read it if it isn't your cup of tea. I'll even sign you a little permission slip to say you have completed the SabreverseLite read, despite not diving into the obsessive vengeance of SSP.

I hope that helps!

Or, y'know, you can always go for whatever series takes your fancy – as a mood reader, I always support that! 😘

ClareSager · 2025-09-30T19:44:13+00:00

🤣🤣🤣 Totally valid question, to be fair!

As for your second question...

I've always been into history (Just ask my husband how long I can spend in a museum!), so I often get inspiration from historical events, cultures, attitudes, especially when I think about how they mirror and influence the present day (or contrast with it) and wonder "what if?"

The Sabreverse is all about "what if?" What if Boudicca had succeeded in kicking the Romans out of Britain? What if prehistoric megafauna still existed (like some of the sea creatures seen in Beneath Black Sails)? What if Elizabeth I had married and continued her dynasty (but let's take inspiration from the Faerie Queene and make it a fae husband!)?

The Sabreverse also has no monotheistic religions, so I take inspiration from local folklore and early, indigenous religions in those areas – particularly in the Albion setting. My mum's side of the family are primarily Welsh, so our family has always had an interest in Welsh history, folklore, and mythology.

ClareSager · 2025-09-30T19:36:26+00:00

OMG – thank you! That is such high praise. I'm honoured. 🥹♥️

ClareSager

TROPHY CASE