Where the heck have I been?
It’s been a while since my last update. There are reasons for that! Some of you might remember I was going through the ringer last year with vision problems due to Visual Snow Syndrome. Well, around the end of 2021 and into the first few months of 2022, it got so bad I literally could not spend more than a few minutes per day on my computer. (Even though I used all sorts of vision aids/dark glasses etc.) I got multiple second/third opinions from eye doctors who couldn’t understand what was going on or didn’t take my issue seriously. I wore sunglasses indoors because my light sensitivity was so bad. I couldn’t even be in the same room as a TV/computer without experiencing excruciating eye pain that led to constant headaches. In March of this year, I started experiencing daily panic attacks. I couldn’t work, I was terrified of what was happening to me, etc. Finally, my GP prescribed me anti-anxiety medication for the panic attacks.
Believe it or not, that worked for my vision. My vision problems didn’t disappear, but they alleviated about 70-90%. I no longer have to have my computer brightness at 0% and wear sunglasses to look at a screen. I still have light sensitivity, but it’s far less severe and manageable. I believe that losing about a dozen people over the last few years just caused me so much anxiety that I was in denial for. I don’t tend to be an outwardly emotional person, so I must hold everything in until I break (quite literally). Vision problems, I’ve learned from experience and my latest eye doctor who actually cares enough to listen to me, can be neurologically-related to anxiety. Just advice for anyone out there struggling with the same issues I have.
Anyway, because I was freaking out about my loss of work (due to not being able to write), I’ve spent months and months training for and starting a business in something else I’m passionate about: yoga, focused on pain management for people who go through the same things I have. It was something I didn’t need to use a screen for. Now, although I am busy with yoga clients and group classes, because my vision is far better, I want to get back into writing. The last Shapeshifting Seas book has obviously already been in the works, and I have a few other projects I had to temporarily abandon because of the vision issues. So for those of you worried I quit or am going to abandon writing for yoga, no worries. I’ve always been a multi-tasker because I’m passionate about too many things and life is so short.
Survey Results! My readers like the same themes I do: who’da thunk it?
Now for survey results! I made a survey last year that I never got around to announcing to you all called the Genre/Book Preferences Survey. Guess what? So many of you found it and took it that SurveyMonkey is now harassing me to upgrade my account. What are some of the most interesting finds, you ask?
71% of you read fantasy. 65% of you read science fiction. Horror is the least popular genre in speculative fiction amongst my readers (makes sense; although I’ve written it, I’ve yet to publish it, so you found me in a different genre!). Just 39% of you read horror.
Most popular subgenres of fantasy amongst my readers:
- Epic/high fantasy 56.76%
- Dark fantasy 40.54%
- Sword and sorcery 37.84%
- Other 35.14%
- Military fantasy 27.03%
- Grimdark 21.62%
- None 2.7%
This is super interesting to me. I am a little disappointed that more of you aren’t interested in grimdark considering one of the projects I’m working on is pretty damn bloody and bleak (features a whole cast of high-level prisoners and lots of psychological horror elements). I was highly inspired by Bloodborne, and I’m a huge fan of Warhammer books/games. I’m still hopeful that some of you dark fantasy lovers would give it a try. Grimdark is pretty niche, but crosses over quite a bit with dark fantasy.
Most popular subgenres of science-fiction amongst my readers:
- Dystopian 52.63% Found my New World series readers!
- Time Travel 47.37%
- Post-apocalyptic 44.74%
- None 15.79%
- Other 10.53%
There are tons of subgenres of science fiction I didn’t include because I just don’t want to write them. Some of my favorite themes in science fiction (space, space/horror, discovery, etc.) are ones I wouldn’t want to touch with a ten-foot-pole because readers of space fiction tend to be so picky about what they’ll accept, even in fiction. Plus, I tend to be really picky myself about how realistic things are. The research I went through for the Six Elements was intensive and insane, and that was for fantasy, something that many readers accept more liberties in. Still, the Six Elements lore is birthed in futuristic science-fiction, so it was something I felt I had to get right.
I’m really happy to see dystopian at the #1 spot. I love, love, love bleak and dystopian can deliver it in spades. I’ve got a juicy standalone dystopian novel in the works a book or two ahead, so be on the lookout for that if you liked my New World series. 😉
Most popular subgenres of horror amongst my readers:
- Humorous horror 52.78%
- Creature horror 44.44%
- Psychological horror 38.89%
- None 22.22%
- Splatterpunk 19.44%
- Other 8.33%
Holy moly, Batman! Humorous horror is way more loved than I thought it would be, and thank goodness! One of my in-progress works (tentatively titled Godless) is just this, involving demon-murder, a deliciously immature, violent, and flatulence-loving heroine, and her drug-addicted, fallen angel of a mentor who is obsessed with ’90s Gothic fashion trends. They basically go on a mission executing the demons of hell in a quest to get on the good side of the Christian God. I’m a few chapters in and can’t stop laughing every time I re-read what I have. It’s insane and hilarious–but then again, I’m a 12-year-old boy at heart, so I thought maybe it would be way too “out there” for my readers. Who knows? Maybe I’ll publish it eventually and you can decide for yourselves.
Also–I’m really excited about your love for creature horror. If you’ve read my detailed descriptions of transformations in the Shapeshifting Seas trilogy or even The Six Elements, you might have noticed I have a fascination for creature and body horror. My late-brother (died February 2020) loved werewolves and thought Calder and the rest of the shapeshifters from my books sounded so cool even though he wasn’t a reader. I wish so badly that he could’ve seen the cover for Stemming the Tide; he would’ve gone crazy over it. Either way, knowing my readers love creature horror gives me some ideas for future books–ones that I might dedicate to my brother.
By the way–splatterpunk deserves more love, but I’m happy to see it got a decent amount of interest here. Splatterpunk is my personal favorite subgenre of horror. The more offensive, the better. No limits. Shock me! I remember there was a free short horror story on Amazon that I read years ago. It only had one review, and it was negative, saying that they couldn’t believe the author mentioned necrophilia. That was an instant download for me (haha–and I gave it its first positive review). For anyone wondering, it was literally mentioned, not even delved into with any detail. I believe the story was set in hell. Why set limits there, of all places?!
Top themes that my readers love:
- Love/romance 51.35%
- Moral ambiguity 48.65%
- Survival 48.65%
- Vengeance 45.95%
- Power and corruption 40.54%
- Rebellion 37.84%
- Suffering 27.03%
- Coming of age 27.03%
I was really surprised to see love/romance as the top theme considering all the rest play a bit more of a role in my books, but I get it. Love is a driver of so many story arcs. As my husband has argued before, the entire Six Elements series was about the beginning to end of a war Kai started for two men she loved, Cerin and Bjorn. It’s far more complicated than that, but I get it. I’m a huge lover of writing sex scenes (hence all the Six Elements erotica I have saved on my computer, haha), but I specifically shied away from writing more than one in the Six Elements because I didn’t think my majority-male readerbase would like it. I wrote the one for strictly story purposes and basically moved on. (Cerin and Kai get up to quite a bit in the erotica I have laying around, whereas the scene I have featuring Calder is super kinky because…well, just because my pervy little lizardman is fun like that.) Still–love as a theme goes farther than romance, and so I understand its widespread appeal.
Over 52% of you prefer character-focused books over plot-focused (me, too!), and over 47% of you prefer plot-focused. Great characters come first for me, so I appreciate this tidbit.
Thank You
Finally, thank you to all my readers who have noticed my hiatus but keep checking for news. Views of my website have done nothing but increased over the last year even though I’ve been away. I appreciate your continued interest more than you know. I’m busier now than I have been in years, but I will never give up writing. I wrote my first book as a toddler thirty years ago and no one’s been able to shut me up since.
-Rosie Scott