The Fortune to Chat With Kaitlin Schmidt on Her Release Day!!!
I am SO excited to host Kaitlin on her release day. I love the enemies to lovers trope and she managed to include so many other details that have me ENTHRALLED!!! I’ll let her tell you all about The Cartomancer’s Curse.
How did you get involved with the Cards of Passion series?
Dr. J invited me to join after we worked together through Rosy Wellness. Unbeknownst to her, I was feeling stuck on what my writing critique group calls my “Swamp Situation”―the swampy queernorm dark fantasy novel that I daydream about and neglect in equal measure—and I was excited to divert my attention to a shorter, cozier project.
Tell us all about The Cartomancer’s Curse!
I’m really big on writing queernorm fantasy (I just wrote this post explaining what queernorm writing is—and M/F stories can be queernorm, too!). This novella is queernorm, it’s sapphic enemies-to-lovers, it’s cozy, it’s spicy, and it’s magical!! All the major food groups, haha. Meridian is a grumpy psychic who needs to learn that a partner can take true, selfish pleasure in her pleasure. Her defenses are high because she’s been hurt in the past, so she pushes away her sunshine counterpart, Wren. The universe rolls its eyes and curses the two women, and Meridian gets thrown into a reluctant enemies-to-lovers arc with the hot thief who keeps saying she wants to tie Meridian up.
The psychic ability to taste people’s desire? Molasses? Tell me more!
Okay, so my initial drafts of things tend to be overly abstract, so I was trying to turn Meridian’s ability into something concrete. I wrote a draft with her able to taste desires on an absolute whim for an unrelated flash fiction contest called Writing Battle. I believed I was having a fun romp and would then figure out the real story later. But it turns out it was *too* fun, and I had to keep going! So then I started smelling a lot of spices and tea and food―even metal!—to decide what they meant.
Molasses in particular has a special place in my heart. I find it to be a strange-yet-compelling combination of earthy and sweet, and it was introduced to me as a good ingredient for oatmeal by my loving partner in real life, so I associate it with them, too. When Meridian tasted it on Wren, I had a vague feeling about what desire it represented, but couldn’t put my finger on it until I was almost done with the draft. I was writing Meridian having an epiphany about it, and then *I* had an epiphany about it at the same time as her! But to find out what it means, you’ll have to read the book 🙂
This is a particularly adversarial enemies-to-lovers story—what inspired you?
I love to read adversarial enemies-to-lovers arcs, so I knew I had to write one. I think it creates really interesting power dynamics, including opportunities for sexy bondage (my favorite). It brings out the heat between characters! Unfortunately, I mostly see enemies-to-lovers stories that are M/F, and while I love those too, I want to bring that dynamic into F/F more.
What is next for Kaitlin Schmidt—editor and author?
As a writer, now that I’m done with the novella, I’m knee-deep in the Swamp Situation again. (I love it.) I also hope to write a Part 2 to The Cartomancer’s Curse featuring Riley, a character with their own secrets who gets introduced in the current book (and they may or may not be in love with both Wren and Meridian).
As a freelance editor, I absolutely love working with indie authors (now booking for late fall and winter!). I like copyediting and proofreading especially (though I also offer higher-level edits) and am primarily seeking genre fiction, especially fantasy, romance, LGBTQ+, or all three combined.
Cannot wait to read this story and you should not either–here is the link!!
