From Cozy to Chilling
The Thrilling Transition from Women's Lit to Domestic Suspense
This is something I've never shared before. In my younger years, I spent my evenings after work snuggled up with Agatha Christie, Lawrence Sanders, and Walter Mosley. Later, I got into binge-watching crime shows on TV. All while harboring a secret dream: I wanted to write one of these stories myself someday.
But here's the thing about dreams – they're scary when you start thinking about making them real. So I built my career crafting stories about relationships and women's journeys—tales that were not so far removed from my own life and the lives of my friends when I started writing. Soon I developed a formula that worked. My readers grew to trust me. Whenever I thought of making the switch to suspense it felt like I'd be stepping off a cliff.
The Gift of Time
Life has a strange way of creating opportunities when you least expect them. My 10-year break from publishing turned out to be more than just a pause—it was preparation for what came next. When I finally decided to return to writing, I asked myself: if not now, when?
Instead of letting my uncertainties immobilize me, I turned them into fuel. I became a student again, immersing myself in the craft of suspense writing. Every class I took, each book I studied, built my confidence bit by bit. I started seeing patterns in how my favorite authors worked their magic–how they planted clues like breadcrumbs, how they used red herrings to lead readers down misleading paths.
Let me say this—there's nothing like the thrill of discovering you can actually do something you've only dreamed about. With each new insight, my apprehension about switching genres transformed into excitement. I wasn't just learning techniques; I was finding my way into a new creative identity.
Bridging Two Worlds
And the biggest surprise? Switching genres doesn't mean throwing away everything you know. In fact, my years writing women's fiction turned out to be my secret weapon. Those deep dives into relationships and emotional complexity gave me a unique angle on suspense. I wasn't just writing about mysteries – I was writing about love gone wrong, about relationships that twist and turn in unexpected directions.
What started as a terrifying transition became an exhilarating adventure. Imagine discovering that you can take everything you love about one genre and combine it with the thrill of another. It’s like being a chef who specializes in Southern food and then gets into fusion cooking—using the best of two worlds to expand and create something new.
Now don’t get me wrong. It wasn’t easy. Writing suspense requires a whole different kind of mental gymnastics. While my women’s fiction could sometimes flow like a river, following the natural currents of character development, suspense writing demands the precision of a chess master. Every move has to be plotted in advance. Every scene needs to pull triple duty–advancing the plot, deepening characters, and either planting clues or leading readers down those twisty paths that make suspense so captivating.
It's like learning to dance in a new style. You know the basic rhythm of storytelling, but now you're adding complex new steps. And believe me, I stepped on my own toes more than a few times while learning this dance.
Taking the Leap
Fast forward to today. I'm two books into my new genre. You Never Know is out in the world, and Chloe: A Novel of Secrets and Lies is coming this March. Want to know something wonderful? The timing couldn't have been better. Over the last decade or so, the landscape of mysteries and thrillers has exploded with possibilities. Since Gone Girl hit the scene and changed everything, we've seen an absolute surge of suspense stories flood books, television, and film. From the gritty complexity of Karin Slaughter’s Will Trent on ABC to the addictive twists of Harlan Coben's Netflix adaptations, audiences are hungry for stories that make them think while keeping them on the edge of their seats.
Here's what I think is really happening: readers want it all. They want the deep character development and emotional resonance that I specialized in with women's fiction, but they also want the thrill of trying to solve a mystery. They want to feel something while they're trying to figure things out. And that's exactly what I love writing.
Lessons from the Journey
If you're standing where I stood, contemplating your own genre switch, here's what I want you to know:
The skills you've spent years developing? They're not handcuffs—they're tools you can use in new and exciting ways.
Take time to really study your new genre. Become a student again. It's liberating to be a beginner with expertise.
Don't be afraid to bring your unique flavor to a new genre. That distinctive perspective you have might be exactly what readers didn't know they were craving.
Trust your instincts, but back them up with preparation. It's important to pack a parachute before skydiving—you want the thrill of jumping, but you also want to land safely.
Sometimes the scariest creative decisions turn out to be the most rewarding. I won't pretend it's easy—changing direction never is. But if there's a genre calling to you, a type of story you've always dreamed of telling, don't let fear hold you back. Your writing journey is yours alone. The only real failure would be not trying something that makes your creative heart beat faster.