Intimate Interviews

The Hot Seat with @mrsdarcy222

Hello, AfterDark Lovers!

Join us as we chat with the talented author of dark romances featuring male doms and female subs, all wrapped in sweetness! It all began with Alexa and Cameron, and now she's back with more captivating tales. Don't miss her debut series, starting with Charted Territory and Knee Deep, and the ongoing The Submissive Wives Estate!

Let's dive in!

Hello, and welcome to Intimate Interviews mrsdarcy222! Can you tell us more about yourself?

I am a dark romance/BDSM writer. I have been writing on Wattpad for only a year now and I have been blown away by the amazing readers that continuously show up to support me as a new author.

Outside of writing, I am the ADHD teacher that has so many passions that sometimes I spread myself thin. Currently, I'm working on narrowing down what I want to do long-term. But, I love my job because I get to inspire others.

I am a family-oriented ENFJ, so you can often find me with my parents, my partner or one of my best friends when I'm not reading or writing. I also love to meet up with acquaintances for coffee and to yap. But, as much as I need the love of those closest to me, I also crave my solitude.

What made you pick up the pen and start writing?

Short answer, I've always loved writing since I was a child. I even won awards in Elementary School for my writing. Writing has always been something I need to do to feel sane. That said, I took up the pen to write on Wattpad because it felt like my soul was calling me to. The moment I started writing my debut novel for Wattpad, it felt so healing I knew I had made the right decision.

What inspired you to write your first steamy scene? Could you tell us more about that experience? Was it a slow buildup to a not-so-innocent kiss, or did your characters' jump right into the action?

I had pages and pages of steamy scenes written on my parents' PC since middle school. One, God forgive me (literally). And second, I thank my lucky stars that I have parents who vowed they'd never read my writing. And they never did! I'm not sure what would have inspired those first steamy scenes, but I come from a deeply conservative background, so funny enough, never a "slow build-up to a not-so-innocent kiss". All my earliest writing was the jumping right into action as it was often between young married couples...and a little too many about the "wedding night". From there, however, I evolved into writing about the deep-seated fantasies that were less orthodox.

Was writing "after dark" material something that occurred naturally to you, or was it a craft that you practiced till you perfected?

Unfortunately, (or fortunately), yes, I've always enjoyed writing [and reading] after dark material. Certain aspects (the kinky ones of course) flowed naturally. However, writing the more basic smut scenes definitely took some extra thought. At first, I wasn't sure if I had mastered the craft. Thankfully, my book was well received by the readers. But writing good smut takes time and effort. If it seemed lacklustre, I always threw it out. No one likes a diluted smut scene.

Do you have any challenges that you face during writing, especially spicy or mature topics? And how do you overcome them?

Definitely - especially since much of my content is antifeminist. While I'm definitely not sex-negative, ironically, I don't know that kink needs to be celebrated. Because our sexuality is so personal, a challenge I have faced is feeling like I am normalizing topics I don't necessarily support or practice myself. Ways that I have overcome that is allowing the fantasies to flow as that's generally what readers want. It wouldn't be a good dark romance/BDSM story if it didn't take its unscrupulous twists- twists that have often been buried in my mind for years.

Second, all my MMCs are domineering, rough, enigmatic and in many ways, flat out toxic (which some readers have picked up on). Yet, I feel my writing style is leaps and bounds ahead of the themes make me uncomfortable in other works. MMCs who are one-dimensionally brutal, strict and punish their submissives' at every turn disturb me to the point of putting the book down. So, I try to stay away from such attributes.

My characters are meant to be complex, and the sweet moments are what I enjoy writing the most. Things like making the characters sit on the couch and eating Chinese food or comb for seashells.