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genre hopping, but keep the smut - feat. e.l. lewis

• Sydney Applegate • Season 2 • Episode 5

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0:00 | 22:33

Welcome back to another episode of Talk Wordy, with today's guest being the wonderful EL Lewis! Happy belated release day to PRETTY LITTLE PROMISES, and you guys, miss girl has cool things to share in this episode. You won't want to miss it. Thanks for tuning in and I'll see you in the next one! (Recorded February 2026).


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🏍️MY GUEST❤️‍🔥

Author Website: https://ellewiswrites.com/

Buy DARLIN: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F6M3FZHT

Buy SWEET SINNERS SERIES: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FVHCXL2V?binding=kindle_edition&ref=dbs_dp_rwt_sb_pc_tkin

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ellewiswrites/?hl=en


SPEAKER_01

Hello everyone and welcome back to Talk Worty, my hub for all of the words that I read, write, or otherwise want to yap about. Today I have a very special author guest on the pod. She's the Ukrainian-born and Canadian-raised author of Dark Romance, and her newest Broody Biker meets Southern Bell romance, darling, is available now. Please welcome Ia Lewis.

SPEAKER_00

Thank you for having me. What an intro. I feel like that I just came out in like a sporting event.

SPEAKER_01

Yes. Oh my gosh. It makes me think of like when Kevin James is doing the like NASCAR racing, is like, gentlemen, start your engines. And it's like got the real height music in the background.

SPEAKER_00

I've been watching a lot of like the New Heights podcast because like Travis and Taylor and like the their intros are insane. Oh yeah, like they go ham. Like a minute and a half, too.

SPEAKER_01

One day, you know. Yeah. I'm like, one day my creds will like really line up like that.

SPEAKER_00

To the point where you gotta start cutting stuff out.

SPEAKER_01

No, exactly. That's the dream. Yeah, no kidding. Um, have you seen the clip from New Heights where he broke the chair?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I think I've watched it like three times. I'm like obsessed. I don't know. I'm not really I'm not super like gung-ho about most celebrities, but that I was a Chiefs fan before, and like so I like Taylor Swift a lot. Like she was one of my favorite artists, and I really like the Chiefs. So when they kind of came together, my worlds collided, and I was like, Yeah, I was like, is this like a romance book? I was like, what is happening right now? And I think actually a few authors like wrote like a pop star sports romance. And I was like, wow, you're really on it.

SPEAKER_01

Pop star, ex-football player, yeah, romance. I saw so many of them, or like pop stars on tour, like the uh I think there's a book called like the breakup tour that's kind of modeled after that, which I think is so cool. Anyway, speaking of things that we're obsessed with, normally when I have full-length episodes, I like to ask my authors what we're reading, writing, or reading, watching, and listening to. Um, but since we're on a little bit of a time crunch, I'm just curious what are some of your current hyperfixations?

SPEAKER_00

I recently signed my first trad deal. Oh my gosh, congratulations! Thank you. Very exciting. And it was so you mentioned that I read dark romance, rom-coms. Um, I decided to dip into romanticy. Uh, and this came the it came out because I I read Onyx Storm, and then I had the biggest book hangover for three weeks, and I was literally like depressed. I was like, like I like comatose, like I can't move. And I was like, I'm writing my own, like because I don't know how it ends. I don't know, I don't know what happens to Zaidan. I don't know what happens to Violet. So like, I'm gonna write my own um my own romanticy. And I did, and my agent pitched it and it got picked up pretty fast. Wow. So I'm working on book three already now. Oh my gosh. Yeah, I'm like 75% into book three, and that's slated, book one is slated to release like early 2027. Oh my god. Which is super cool.

SPEAKER_01

Okay, wait, what's it called? I usually am such a big publisher's marketplace lurker. I don't know if I've like not seen the listing somehow.

SPEAKER_00

It'll it's called the Celestial Seal Series, which okay, it's really funny how I was just able to say that because the first time I said it out loud, I recorded it on an IG story. And it's kind of no, it's kind of a tongue twister. The Celestial Seal series.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. I had to practice like 27 times. I'm not I'm not joking. It's it's embarrassing. There's there's evidence of that. But the first book is called Dawn of the Eclipse. Um, and it's about an Imperial soldier who um gets takes a rotation at a maximum security prison and then comes head to head with one of the prisoners, and she learns a lot of truths about her empire that she didn't know, and yeah, I think that's all I can say for now. Oh my gosh, you said early 2027? Early 2027.

SPEAKER_01

Already marking my calendar immediately.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, it's been it's been so fun to write, like compared to contemporary or rom-coms or dark. Yeah. You just I felt like God, you know, like because I get to just create I'm creating an entire universe. Yeah, it's super challenging. Like like going from contemporary to fantasy, there's such a learning curve, but it was I was just about to say, like, what was that learning curve like for you?

SPEAKER_01

What were these new kind of trials that you had to navigate in writing?

SPEAKER_00

I think there's lots of dislike you have to describe a lot of stuff, and in contemporary, you don't really have to, like when a character enters a bedroom, for example, in like a dark romance book or a rom-com, like you can just say, you know, but in a fantasy, obviously it's different, and that it's a chamber and it's enchanted, and like this and that, and the colors and the vibes, so it's definitely a little bit more immersive, I think. And that was something that I struggled with in my previous books, not really struggled with, but I I didn't find it necessary. Like I'm more of a dialogue girly or like internal monologue. So, but that would I think it's like really helped my craft, and I can hammer out chapters so easy now, like it's just so it's it it's great. It was it's been a great experience. Blood, sweat, and tears though, like hard, hard. It's not it, it's not for the faint of heart, but I've been having a really good time, and I'm really excited for it to be out in the world.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, it sounds amazing. Um, what was the process like for you switching from indie to moving towards trad?

SPEAKER_00

Um so I had like a bun, like I had indie releases already, and it's honestly been a really good experience. I'm signed with Arndell, and they're very author forward, like very supportive. Um and I I haven't had a lot of issues. Like, I mean, you get edits back, but every single edit that I've gotten back has helped my manuscript in a way. Like, obviously, there's a part of every author that when you get an edit back, you're just like you're like, let me hold my breath real quick. Yeah, like let me pop my like hydroxizine, which I have done a couple of times, but honestly, it's nice to have like an outside perspective as well because it's like they know the they know the market, they know readers, they know reader expectations. Not that I don't, but obviously it's nice to have people in that like professional space where they're able to like give you these resources and kind of help shape your manuscript to be the best possible. So I'm having I'm having a really good I'm having a really good time. So I'm I'm enjoying the trad process so far. It's just it's slow, that's the only thing compared to indie. Indie's like boom, boom, boom, every three months release, release, release. Indy's like very, you know, chill, like we'll get there.

SPEAKER_01

Like, let me build the anticipation. Yeah, and then be patient.

SPEAKER_00

Patience is like the number one thing I've learned as an author. Like, I don't know, it just patience is a keyword. Like, if anybody wants to be a writer or an author and go into trad, you just gotta be patient. Yeah, things take time. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01

Oh my gosh, don't I know it, girl? Yeah, um, so not book related, but I have it on good authority that you're a Swifty. Yes. Okay, dying to know. What are your top three albums? And what tracks from her entire discography do you claim as favorites, or you feel like she wrote for you?

SPEAKER_00

Okay, um, I'm not gonna do albums, but I'll do songs. Okay. Is that fair? Absolutely fair. So Long Live, Enchanted. Incredible. Those two are, I think those are on Speak Now. Speak Now, yes. Yeah. Um I was watching the documentary, and she didn't do Long Live in like the one of the versions of the Ares tour, because I didn't go and I was like, Where is it? But but on the other one, she did it. I love that song. I actually played that one a lot for my romanticy. Yeah. Not like just like the chasing dragons. There's a dragons in my book, but it's like the fairy tale kind of vibes. Um, I love that song. Anything off of like Evermore Folklore, I willow, like a very good one. Um, I've recently, after watching the Eras Tour, I really like Reputation. Um Ready, get read, ready for it. Ready for it, yeah. I really like that song. Yeah, and honestly, any Taylor Swift, Cruel Summer. That's like that's the one I attribute to like this book to Darlin. Yeah. Every time I post anything related to Darling, I just put on Cruel Summer.

SPEAKER_01

It's the vibes. I was gonna say that's that perfectly leads into my next question. So to our listeners that may be new to you and your work, share a little bit about Darlin specifically.

SPEAKER_00

So Darlin came as uh my little brainchild after watching Sons of Anarchy. I don't care. I'm gonna do a little spoiler here. So if you've never seen Sons of Anarchy, sorry, close your ears. But everyone dies at the end. Like, not everyone, but like everyone, it's not a happy ending. And then you're just I was I was traumatized, and I decided that I'm gonna write my own motorcycle club romance where you know it is a happy ending. And Darlin was supposed to originally be a dark romance. Like I had I had like a like an old English font picked out, and then I was trying to think of like an interesting, an interesting plot line, and I thought, I was like, okay, well, what if like a southern bell kind of like infiltrates this motorcycle gang? But as soon as she opened her mouth, I was like, this cannot be a dark romance. Like, we're gonna have to try to rom-com a motorcycle club romance, which is a little like it's not as common, I don't think, as a lot of MC romances are darker and grittier. I just as soon as Savannah opened her mouth, I was like, no, this sweet girl, like she will not, like, there will be limits to what she can handle. Yeah. Um, so that's how Darling came about. And it was really fun to write. Uh I would say that this book is one of one of my most fun to read because it's there's a lot of dialogue and it's just it's just so much banter, and they were so fun to write as a dynamic together because she's like super sassy. She's like a Southern Bel pageant princess who learns that her runaway little brother joined a motorcycle gang in California. So she like uses all the money she has left, travels to California, doesn't tell her parents, um, and she wants to bring her little brother home, but he's not there, so she ends up having to shack up with the vice president of the Sons of Sorrow. And it's just yeah, it's it's beautiful chaos in a bottle. And they're like Jesse, my um MMC, he's broody and cocky, but he's also like very funny, like he's a little sassy himself. Yeah, like you know, he's not like cinnamon roll, but in the form of like leather vests and bikers. So that was really fun dynamic to write.

SPEAKER_01

I think it's such a fun way that you transitioned from because typically normally you're a dark romance author, or at least you were. I like I love seeing you break into these newer genres. And while we had talked about the difference of writing romanticity compared to your others, um, was there anything beyond the female main character's voice that was like, oh, here's me shifting from dark to rom-com? Like, what were the kind of challenges there that you had to navigate?

SPEAKER_00

I think especially with you know, marketing it as like an MC romance. Like I do like an MC rom-com so people know what to expect, but obviously there's like motorcycle club elements in it, and then it's it's challenging to balance, you know, the light side of you know, a criminal organization because you can't go too heavy on, you know, the crime or like the illegal activities while you want to keep it a rom-com, right? Like I would I would say this is like a pretty good beach read, so I can't go like super dark and gritty with it. So I had to balance how to figure out like what plot elements I could use that would still be realistic for Savannah to not look at Jesse and be like, oh, okay, like you're a monster, and I can't do this because like I'm supposed to be Miss USA, you know? Like um, so I had to balance that. So I think that was a little bit challenging. I like to um I don't have a specific genre that I stick writing in. I think it's because I'm a mood reader, like I will read anything, and I'm a mood writer. Like, I like if I write three dark romances in a row, like I your girl needs a break. Like we need something light and fluffy. Um, so Darlin was that for me. That was that was super fun to get into.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Um, so you recently also released Dirty Little Secrets, yes, um, and are set to continue the series with Filthy Little Games. Yeah. Um, how long do you expect the series to be? And what's been your favorite part of writing it?

SPEAKER_00

Well, you know what's funny? So I have I released a book like probably five years ago. It's called Company Inc. and it was a love triangle. And like love triangles, people either love them or hate them. And I've been told they're like, write a why choose, why choose, why choose. So I was like, okay, we're gonna do a why choose. So Dirty Little Secrets is out. Filthy Little Games just came out like um a few weeks ago, and the third book, Pretty Little Promises, will be out at the end of March. So that series will be complete, and it's a slow burn why choose. So it kind of the first book kind of reads like a love triangle, but I just wanted the readers to know that it is gonna be a Y choose. Um and the for me, like the fun element of that is that the MMCs are rivals with like a really complicated past. Because I feel like sometimes when you read Y choose, it's like they're buddies, or like they're they're very known for like going after the same girl, or you know, there's like some sort of agreement, but um there's like an enemies that like there's an enemies to friends arc, and it's not even with like the FMC, it's with the MMCs, so like they have their own side journeys, which was really fun to write, and it's fun to write different dynamics. Um, I really played with the concept of twin flames versus soulmates, yeah. So this is like an MFM, so like she's with both of them, but they're not together, but they have like a good relationship towards the end. We gotta get there, it's pretty rough going. But um, with one of the characters with Damon, I really played into the twin flame aspect where you're kind of like you're so similar, but you're like you're polarizing, and you kind of there's always a push and pull. Yeah. And with Quintin, I wanted her relationship to be more soulmate-y, where it's like there's harmony and balance and they kind of fit. And it's fun to write a wide choose where it's like she doesn't have to choose between a twin flame or a soulmate, and you kind of get to see how those dynamics work out with them like supporting each other, you know, discovering their flaws and moving through, you know, difficult situations together. So that was really fun to write. Um, lots of banter too. Oh, really smuddy, like, probably like my smuttiest book. I was gonna do the dedication to that one to like to my family. If you're reading this, please put this book down. Yeah. Like, I would still like to make eye contact with you at dinner.

SPEAKER_01

Like, yeah, it was one of those. Um, okay, so in honor of the Winter Olympics that are happening right now, um, say that all of the book tropes were competing in the Olympics. What three tropes would you put on your personal podium?

SPEAKER_00

On my personal, oh, that's a really good question. I like this. Um, enemies to lovers. Yeah. And you know what? It I don't, I'm not one of those book girlies that's like, I need genuine enemies to lovers. Like soft enemies to lovers is fine with me too. Like, it just I it needs to be like a little friction at the beginning where you're like, I don't know what, like, I don't know how I feel about you type of situation. Um, so enemies to lovers, slow bird. I love a good slow bird, but not too slow, but like slow enough, you know, slow enough to keep it. Yeah. Um and like morally gray characters, those are always fun.

SPEAKER_01

Especially I love the rise of like morally gray female being characters. Yeah. I I love watching feminine rage on the page.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, one of my uh I have a book called Bloodlust, and it's about a mafia queen who gets sentenced to anger management after, you know, throwing like a lipstick or something at a kiosk at Chanel, and um so and she's like very ruthless, very, you know, mafia born and bred, and she's the new queen and she just took over. So she's kind of morally great, and that one's like a mafia queen therapist, but there's like lots of twists and turns. I find that though, when you write morally great characters, I have had a lot of pushback on that, like calling her, you know, like they'll call characters like, oh, she's like really bitchy or she's like too aggressive and to this. So I feel like there's a lot of double standards when it comes to writing female characters that act like male characters and then suddenly, you know, like I think Taylor Swift said that there's like a different vocabulary. Oh, it's like strategic versus conniving, right? Like, and I yeah, I I I like red I want redemption for Camilla because she's yeah, she does the things that a man would do. Yeah, and like that's what like one of the major plots in that book, as well. Is like I would not be dealing with all of this stuff if I had like male parts between my legs, and I don't.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, exactly. Okay, so word on the street. I was looking, I say word on the street, but it was just me cyber stalking your website. So, you know, one of your fun facts, you said that you got thrown out of ESL at age nine after you got scared of Frankenstein, and that meant that you understood it too well. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, this actually happened. I I vividly remember this. I was in like so ESL's like English as a second language. So like when all the all like the kids were going to English class, we would go to like the foreign kids would go to ESL and they you know teach us English. Um, and we would have to read books. And yeah, I think they made us read Frankenstein. And I went to my mom, I'm like, man, this is really scary. Yeah, like this is I'm alarmed. Yeah, they brought it, they were like, okay, like you can go back to the regular class now. It was really funny. Granted, this was like also in like the the early 2000s, like 2003. So maybe there would have been a little bit more maybe.

SPEAKER_01

It's first of all, the fact that you were reading Frankenstein at nine years old, props. I didn't read Frankenstein until I was 18.

SPEAKER_00

I think we were just like it might have been like a children's condensed version, you know what I mean? Fair, okay, yeah. But either way, I remember being frightened.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Well, it makes me curious because there was there's a new Frankenstein adaptation on uh Netflix, I think, with Guillermo del Toro. I saw that. You did. Okay, I was hoping you would watch the movie, but I saw that it's out there. I was gonna say, if you have watched it, were you still scared?

SPEAKER_00

It looks kind of spooky, like even just like the cover, it looks like very gothic.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yes, gothic is the perfect word to describe it. It was phenomenal. Probably one of my top movies of the year. Really? Wow. Yeah, because I really loved the book. Yeah. Um, and I think Guillermo del Toro does just such a good job, especially now that he's potentially in talks to adapt Phantom of the Opera, which as a theater nerd, I am obsessed with. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Phantom of the Opera is a classic one. It is. It's like the like the tortured. Like it's very, it's very like romance.

SPEAKER_01

Girlies love that type of vibe. Yeah, definitely. Okay, to close out the episode, I always like to do a game of rapid fire. Okay. So there's no wrong answers. There are only your answers. Okay. Ebook, physical book, or audiobook? Ebook Kindle. Oh, yes. Okay. Friends to lovers or enemies to lovers. Enemies to lovers. Yeah, I think we've established that. Um, writing playlist or a project Pinterest board?

SPEAKER_00

Project Pinterest board, probably, because I can't write I have to write in silence. Oh, really? Either like plinky plunky background music that you probably hear at a spa.

SPEAKER_01

But yeah. Okay. Um, couch reading or bed reading?

SPEAKER_00

Honestly, either just give me like a throw blanket and a pillow. Yeah. And I'm good to go.

SPEAKER_01

Someone made a good point earlier. They were like, I feel like if I read in bed, I'm gonna fall asleep. And honestly, that happens to me every single time.

SPEAKER_00

I have never fallen asleep reading in bed. I have like I have like one of those Kindle donuts where you like attach it, and I have and I I bought the clicker thing like three months ago. Revolutionary. Absolutely. My husband, like, he's not here right now, but I have talked about this Kindle clicker so much. It's like I'm like, I it's my most prized possession. Like, I I don't know how I ever live without it. Because your hand doesn't cramp, it's amazing.

SPEAKER_01

I know, I love it because like I go full goblin too. I'm like absolutely just peak laziness on my part. Um happy ending or a cliffhanger?

SPEAKER_00

Uh happy ending for like a full series cliffhanger, I'm okay with for if it's like book one or two or whatever, but if it's a cliffhanger at the end of a series, I'm gonna burn someone's house down.

SPEAKER_01

And then Forbidden Romance or Billionaire Romance? Put your hands together. Yes. Put them together. I want both. I want both. Awesome. Okay, so even though we're at Love Light Con right now, by the time this releases, we won't be here anymore, and it makes me so sad. So tell our future listeners where they can be. Find you online?

SPEAKER_00

You can follow me on Instagram. It's Ia LewisWrights. I will also be at Villains and Vixens later this year in Orlando. So you can find me there. My DMs are always open if you want to chat about anything. I'll be there. Awesome. Well, there you have it. Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_01

This is absolutely. Thank you so much for tuning in to TalkWorty. And again, my thanks to Ia Lewis for coming on the show. Thank you. Don't forget to follow the podcast on Instagram at TalkWordypod, and I will see you in the next one. Bye you guys. Bye.