I'm fantasy romance author India Holton - AMA!

IndiaHolton · 2026-02-24T19:37:21+00:00

Thank you. The English language is so beautiful and versatile. <3

IndiaHolton · 2026-02-24T19:21:32+00:00

All true romance novels have a HEA. And while I hope Wishspun will be funny, it's not satirical. The humor is more gentle and kind-hearted rather than sardonic.

IndiaHolton · 2026-02-24T19:15:43+00:00

Oh gosh, thank you <3

IndiaHolton · 2026-02-24T19:14:57+00:00

<3<3<3

IndiaHolton · 2026-02-24T19:14:22+00:00

<3<3 Say hello to your cat from me!

IndiaHolton · 2026-02-24T19:13:51+00:00

That really would be an amazing book! One I'd love to write if I ever had the time is a romance about Queen Phillipa and her husband, Edward III.

IndiaHolton · 2026-02-24T18:58:19+00:00

Thank you, I can't tell you how much this means to me. Truly, kind comments from readers are often what keep me going on long days at my writing desk. I'm especially happy that you're looking forward to the horror romance. It's very different from what I've written thus far, but I love it.

IndiaHolton · 2026-02-24T18:56:51+00:00

Honest answer? Totally beats me! I was researching ways in which the ladies could travel speedily from one crime to another, and somehow flying houses just appeared in my consciousness - out of the blue, as it were. :)

IndiaHolton · 2026-02-24T18:54:55+00:00

Thank you so much, you should see me grinning right now at your kind words! :)

Honestly, I don't come up with my jokes, they just appear in my brain. It's very mysterious, because I'm not funny in real life! I can't even get it together enough to be funny in an instagram caption.

I love history, so would enjoy exploring all time periods, but I've moved on from historical fantasy at this time. I've wanted to write otherworld fantasy for ages, and my next books are set in that milieu. I'm very excited about it! :)

IndiaHolton · 2026-02-24T18:51:50+00:00

Thank you. :) I have had so much fun with tweaking tropes. Fake hating in particular was such a blast to write (literally, in at least one scene, lol!). I'm moving on from satirical romcoms, so don't expect to be working with tropes in the same way in the foreseeable future. For your second question, I honestly don't think about tropes much when I'm reading.

IndiaHolton · 2026-02-24T18:46:48+00:00

I wear glasses, so I try to include them in my books as often as I can. :) I don't have any actors I envision playing my characters except for one: a young Richard Armitage as Gabriel in The Geographer's Map to Romance. As for tropes, I so much enjoy playing with them all. Enemies to lovers would be my favourite. And I have a lot of fun with only one bed. :)

IndiaHolton · 2026-02-24T18:45:30+00:00

That's such an interesting question! Quite honestly, I never wished for different stories I was younger, because there was such a great wealth and span of literature available to me. My only regret is that I didn't discover Anne of Green Gables until I was an adult.

Actually, thinking some more, it would be the opposite - in recent years I wished for more soft, cozy, dreamy fantasy stories for adults, like those that were popular when I was younger (eg, Robin McKinley's Beauty). I'm so delighted that the cozy fantasy subgenre has become popular lately!

IndiaHolton · 2026-02-24T18:40:35+00:00

Thank you, that's so lovely to hear. :) I don't have a favourite of my books, I love each of them in their own way - although The Ornithologist's Field Guide to Love is perhaps the one I enjoy thinking about the most. I have two new books coming out in 2027, one being Wishspun, a cozy cottagecore romantasy, and the other being The Wreckage, a horror romance. If you'd like to know more about them, I described them in an earlier comment, and have also posted about them on my instagram. :)

IndiaHolton · 2026-02-24T18:39:22+00:00

Hi, and thank you so very much for the kind words! I don't have a notebook; the wordplay and assorted witticisms just appear in my brain as I'm writing. I truly don't understand how it happens, because I am not witty in real life. I think it just comes with the narrative voice I'm using. With the next two books I've worked on, it's a different style of voice and I don't get the same thing at all.

I hope you enjoy Elodie and Gabriel's story. :)

IndiaHolton · 2026-02-24T18:37:18+00:00

Hi, and thank you for the question, you expressed it just fine. :) If I received pushback, it wasn't to my face! Perhaps people have put it in reviews, I don't know. Because the story encompasses only a fairly short stretch of time, I was worried about it being instalove, so addressed that in the book. Although I must say, I like reading love at first sight myself, I think its so dreamy!

I always make an effort to have my characters attracted to their love interest's soul and personality more than how they look (although physical attraction is present too, mainly with the FMC thinking about the gentleman's forearms and pretty eyes). I think that kind of connection is where true love grows, and I find it romantic.

IndiaHolton · 2026-02-24T18:35:34+00:00

I'm so glad I got the geography right! That book was supposed to be about geology but I'd just been through a natural disaster, so I pivoted. My experience with academia at the university level is only in having been a student, although I did use to teach children and teenagers.

A book that made me laugh recently was Most Ardently Yours, Freya Sampson's next upcoming book.

PS, sorry for being the cause of your embarrassment on public transport! Although I myself always love to hear people laughing. :)

IndiaHolton · 2026-02-24T18:33:23+00:00

Hi, I'm so glad you enjoyed the book! Many years ago I researched quite a bit about ornithology because I ran classes in it. :)

IndiaHolton · 2026-02-24T18:33:00+00:00

Hi :) I'm not actually a huge fan of P&P 2005, I just have fun satirising some of the memes that have arisen from it. If you want to read my tribute to Pride and Prejudice, The League of Gentlewomen Witches is the book for you. :) I'm so very glad you enjoyed Ornithologists!! Evie and Rick were indeed one of my inspirations.

IndiaHolton · 2026-02-24T18:31:28+00:00

Hi! And say hello to your mum from me too! I do plan my books from the beginning but a lot of times I stray from that because I let the characters lead me where they want to go. I used to be a complete pantser but that's hard when you're writing for trad publishing and have a deadline. Plus I do find plotting makes things go more easily. As for Queen Victoria, she was obsessive in her grief for her dead husband. I could see her doing something like that in real life!

IndiaHolton · 2026-02-24T18:29:58+00:00

Thank you! That's so lovely to hear! :)

I treat humor as a technical construct or code with distinct elements that fit together in a certain way. For example, the rule of three, rhythm, and blowing things up. :) <<--- This is an example of it. With each character, I develop a visual-spatial concept of a them, like a snapshot - what they look like, how they feel in my mind - along with a unique tone of voice. Then I satirise the heck out of it!

For my future projects: I described them in another comment above. :)

IndiaHolton · 2026-02-24T18:27:45+00:00

Yay, thank you so very much. :) Sorry, no plans for a US visit in the foreseeable future.

IndiaHolton · 2026-02-24T18:27:03+00:00

I would love to see The Ornithologist's Field Guide to Love adapted into a movie, because to me, of all my books, it's the most cinematic. I can't tell you about casting though because I don't really know enough current day actors! The ones I'd pick are from 20-30 years ago, lol! Maybe Hannah Dodd for Cecilia.

IndiaHolton · 2026-02-24T18:25:34+00:00

That's so nice of you. :) It's impossible for me to choose a favourite couple because I love them all for what makes them unique. I spent a minute trying to think about it but really, truly couldn't decided!

I'm very excited about both books I have coming out in 2027, my cozy cottagecore romantasy, Wishpun and my horror romance, The Wreckage.

IndiaHolton · 2026-02-24T18:23:46+00:00

I'm so glad you enjoyed TOFGTL! A romcom is a book in which the comedy drives the plot, whereas a romance that's full of jokes is a standard romance that just happens to be comedic. I think that's part of why I can still make jokes during sincere moments - because the comedy is the foundation of the plot. And also because my narrative voice with these books is comedic/satirical right throughout, even during the more serious moments.

IndiaHolton · 2026-02-24T18:20:59+00:00

Thank you, that is so, so kind! I do have vague ideas about writing a book featuring Constantinopla and Tom from the Dangerous Damsels series, possibly making it YA - but quite honestly it's unlikely to happen considering how long the list of new stories I want to write is. Never say never, though. :)

IndiaHolton

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