Katee Robert | When Horror Movies Inspire Sci-Fi Romance

Like so many other authors, most of the time I have some sort of playlist ready to go while I’m writing. Pandora is totally my BFF during those times. But, every once and awhile, a book decides it’s going to be different. Sometimes it demands total silence (or what passes for it in my house) and sometimes, like QUEEN OF WANDS, it’s something else altogether.

How was this book different?

It wanted horror movies as a background. Seriously—horror. It took me ages to figure it out. I flipped through more songs than words, and finally just ended up putting on Scream 4 as a distraction. And, suddenly, the book was magically cooperating.

I cannot begin to express how weird it is to write a sci-fi romance to the chorus of screams in the background. Or the fact that I’m not even particularly a horror fan. I like slashers and thrillers and scary stuff that makes you think, but overall I’d rather hit up an blockbuster action movie or a romantic comedy.

But horror it was. Luckily, Netflix had a variety all ready and waiting for me. I wrote my heroine and hero into all sorts of trouble while characters on the television got picked off by killers, ghosts, and demons. And let’s not even talk about the giant sharks and squids. It was the strangest thing.

And then, when I finished that book and moved on to the next, suddenly music was okay again.

So what kind of romance comes about when you’re inspired by horror movies? You’ll have to read QUEEN OF WANDS to find out!

What about you? Do you enjoy horror?