Penn Cole: Focus on Your Craft
Penn Cole is an internationally bestselling author of magical worlds, feisty women, and angsty romance. Her debut series, The Kindred’s Curse Saga, has been sold in over a dozen languages to date. Before pursuing her lifelong dream of publishing, Penn had a prior career as an artist and attorney. Although she’s a Texas girl born and bred, she currently lives in France with her husband where she can usually be found eating far too many pastries and trolling her readers on Discord. For the latest updates on appearances, new releases, and bonus content from the series, join Penn’s mailing list at PennCole.com, or follow her on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook.
In this interview, Penn discusses the slow-burn romances she was raised on that helped inspire her new romantasy, Glow of the Everflame, her hope for readers, and more.
Name: Penn Cole (The Kindred’s Curse Saga, Book Two)
Literary agent: Kimberly Whalen of The Whalen Agency
Book title: Glow of the Everflame (The Kindred’s Curse Saga, Book Two)
Publisher: Atria Books
Release date: December 3, 2024
Genre/category: Romantasy
Previous titles: Spark of the Everflame (The Kindred’s Curse Saga, Book One)
Elevator pitch: When her mother suddenly vanishes, healer Diem Bellator’s search for answers forces her out of her poor mortal village and into the dark world of the cruel demigods known as the Descended. With bloodthirsty rebels recruiting her to join their civil war and the King’s mysterious heir watching her every move, Diem must navigate a dangerous game of love, power, and politics to save her mother—and all of mortalkind.
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What prompted you to write this book?
As part of a generation of women raised on Matthew Macfadyen’s hand flex in Pride & Prejudice, I really wanted to write a slow (slowww!) burn, enemies-to-lovers romance focused on that amazing period when the love interests are inexplicably drawn together but refuse to give into it. I adore a longing glance across a room, the not-so-accidental brush of a hand, all those moments that have us giggling and kicking our feet. I’m also a lifelong lover of fantasy, especially epic journeys led by strong female characters that are flawed but relatable. With the recent rise in popularity of romantasy, I was eager to combine those two concepts in a single series.
I was also really moved by everything going on in the world. It seems that everywhere you look, marginalized people are pushing back against their oppression and the people who put them there. One of the best parts about fantasy is how it allows us to explore complex social issues without the biases that color our view of real-world conflicts. My hope is that readers will come for the romance and adventure, but will leave with a deeper understanding of the many groups in the world who are fighting the same wrongs as Diem and her people.
How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?
I began writing the series toward the end of 2021, and I self-published the first book in June of 2023. About a year later, I partnered with Atria Books on the print edition of the series, which is rolling out over the next few months. Altogether, it has been about three years from deciding to write the books to seeing them on bookstore shelves.
I originally envisioned the series as a trilogy, with the story beginning just after the big inciting incident that provokes my main character to explore the world outside of the small village she grew up in. As I was writing, I started to think about how we so often see these kinds of stories in fantasy, where a hero is fighting to save the home or family they left behind, but we so rarely get to see those people or places ourselves in a meaningful way. So much of Diem’s journey is motivated by how she grew up, and I realized that readers needed to see that to care about it as much as she does. So, nearly 60,000 words in, I decided to reset. What I had written became book two, and I added a new book one exploring Diem’s life in her village and all the reasons she and her people are ready for war.
Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title?
Given that I originally self-published, every day was a huge learning experience! I think I made every mistake a person could possibly make, and many of them cost me dearly in time, money, and sales. However, what it taught me is that, as long as you really do your best to do right by the people who support you, there’s very little that can’t be overcome. I’ve tried really hard to keep my readers at the forefront of my mind and always consider how my decisions will impact them. It’s so important for me to give them the best possible experience, both inside the story and in their interactions with me, and never to let it become an adversarial or exploitative relationship. It took some hard moments to realize not everyone shares those values, but I’m so grateful to work with a publishing team that does. I’ve grown extremely close to my community of readers, and I think that has a lot to do with why my series has had the success it’s had.
Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?
I’ve been really shocked at how different writing each book in the series has been. The first book was so easy—the story poured out as if it had been sitting in my head fully formed for years. The second book was as easy to write, but so much harder to publish thanks to crippling imposter syndrome. I was certain I had used up all my good stuff on book one and would never achieve that again. Book three was a slog, as middle books so often are for readers and authors alike. Book four (which I am still drafting) has been an absolute beast. Knowing that my characters’ stories are coming to an end has been extremely emotional, and I feel an intense, sometimes paralyzing pressure to give my readers an ending worthy of the support they’ve given me. I knew that I would grow as a writer with every book I wrote, but I wasn’t expecting the process of completing a series to be such a formative experience.
What do you hope readers will get out of your book?
Compassion.
My main character, Diem, is trapped in the middle of a war between a marginalized group of people, many of whom have been radicalized and have turned to violence, and a privileged class of elites who hoard money, influence, and power, yet refuse to acknowledge their role in any kind of oppression. It would be easy to look at that and declare who are the heroes and villains, but as Diem learns, life is never that simple, and “doing the right thing” is often a lot more complicated than it looks.
I hope that readers go on this journey with her. I hope they jump to the same snap judgments as Diem, make excuses right alongside her for the people she loves who do the indefensible, and share her discomfort when both those biases are challenged. I hope they wrestle with the same question that plagues Diem: What does it mean to do good in a world that operates on such a fundamental wrong? I hope they join her in giving everyone a chance to be better than their worst moments. Most of all, I hope that when they turn the final page, they look up at their world and see it with clearer eyes and a more inclusive heart.
If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?
Focus on your craft. Don’t get caught up in the myth that you need great media placement or a viral video or a big influencer endorsement to change your career and make your book the next bestseller. All the marketing in the world won’t do you any good if the book doesn’t deliver, and nothing is as effective at selling books as reader-word-of-mouth. Dedicate yourself to writing a story readers can’t stop thinking about. Study writing techniques and storytelling from a diverse array of sources. Study the market religiously, analyze on a very granular level what readers love (and hate) about their favorite books. Think deeply about the common qualities of the books you love and always recommend. Why did you decide to read them, and why did that story stick with you long after you finished it? Don’t look at “writing to market” as superficial elements or checking off a list of tropes—think about it on an emotional level. How do the bestselling books make readers feel? If you can replicate that in your books, often the rest will fall into place.
