Kate Uncovered
Secrets, Stories, & Insights 🔍
Welcome to the page where I share the real story behind my books, from writing process secrets to reader questions and slice-of-life moments that make the author journey wonderfully unpredictable.
Behind the Scenes: How Kate’s Stories Really Get Written
Forget everything you know about writing romance. I don’t plot, I don’t use character sheets, and sometimes I write chapters backwards. Here’s what actually happens…
💡Where Ideas Come From
Story ideas hit me at the most inconvenient times. In the grocery store checkout line, during yoga, driving downtown, or in the shower. Once my brain is in brainstorming mode, it’s hard to get the ideas to stop! I should keep a Notes app on my phone, but instead I scribble random snippets on sticky notes, like “MBA student’s last chance with favourite customer” or “second chance romance with naughty desserts.” Often, it’s just titles. In these cases, the story ideas spring from the titles. Whether or not those titles remain is another matter.
Kate’s Secret: The entire Wild Nights series started because I heard an old Beach Boys song on the radio while driving: Good Vibrations. Immediately, I knew my FMC for a novella I wanted to write worked in a love shop and vibrators factored into the opening scene. But that wasn’t enough. My brain wanted 3 titles, and they needed to rhyme. The second two that popped to mind were Sweet Sensations and Pure Temptation. Good Vibrations ultimately became His Wild Touch, and Sweet Sensations became His Wild Love (Risa’s bakery is called Sweet Sensations). I never did write the story germ for Pure Temptation, but it’s scribbled down somewhere and in my brain for a possible future story. Instead, I wrote Callie and Marc from His Wild Kiss.
🌱 Growing Stories Scene by Scene
I’m what is called a “discovery writer” or “pantser,” or what I like to term an “organic writer,” which is a fancy way of saying I have a limited idea about what’s going to happen when I sit down to write. And honestly? That’s just how I like it.
Traditional plotting doesn’t work for me. When I’ve tried outlining a story in detail before beginning writing, the magic disappears. My stories need room to surprise me, to unfold organically. One scene after another.
How it works: Each scene grows from the one before it. I might know the general direction. Example, “Siri, Grace, and Layla talk about Siri’s dissatisfaction with her love life at the tea shop in Sugar Rush.” But I don’t know what they’ll say to each other, what their body language will reveal, or what unexpected vulnerability will surface until I’m writing. When Siri shows her new piercing to her friends? I had no idea she had an intimate piercing! Or what it says about the relationship she kicks to the curb the night she meets Lucas. She told her friends about the piercing, and she told me, at the same time. Then I had to research “intimate piercings” and ensure Siri’s reasons for getting one developed over the story, just as her relationship with Lucas developed.
This discovery process means I’m constantly learning about my characters . And I revise as I go. I’m not a writer who can draft a scene and then the next one and the next. My bare-bones scenes are too sparse. I need to “grow” the bones into a plant (pardon the messy metaphor) before the next scene naturally develops, advancing character, motivations, goals, and plot structure.
Kate’s Secret: While some authors can draft a book in a month and then revise later, I need to stay completely immersed in my characters’ world. Writing scene by scene, tweaking the dialogue, strengthening the emotional beats, making sure the chemistry is sizzling exactly how I want it. The constant refinement means my first drafts are much closer to final drafts. When I type “The End,” the book is pretty much done. No massive rewrites. It’s a slower pace, but writing slowly isn’t a character flaw. It’s just a different way of crafting stories. Some writers are architects, designing every room before construction begins. I’m a gardener, planting story seeds and seeing what grows. Both methods produce beautiful books. We just take different paths to get there.
❤️ Writing Love Stories Within Love Stories
When I wrote A Little Wild, at first I didn’t realize Chloe and Ethan needed their own story, not recounted after the events of A Little Wild but alongside the main romance. I wanted to balance Tess trying NOT to fall in love with Zach while sleeping with him every chance she gets versus her best friend Chloe trying NOT to jump into bed with Zach’s older brother, Ethan—a bad habit from previous relationships.
Kate’s Secret: Not only did Chloe and Ethan’s characters enrich the primary storyline, but layering in their romance after Tess and Zach’s main story was written helped ensure my secondary characters enhanced rather than distracted from the main characters. Then, once I was working on the full manuscript and reached the scene where Zach and Ethan break into a wrestling match about Zach’s choices while playing racquetball, I had the full sense of them as brothers, just like I grew the full sense of Tess and Chloe as best friends from including Chloe’s point of view. And how wonderful to tie the two romances together! In my mind, Tess and Zach and Chloe and Ethan will always be part of each other’s lives. Like an HEA within an HEA. My writer’s brain thrives on these sorts of connections.
🔥 The Art of Writing Heat That Serves the Story
Intimate scenes extend beyond the physical in my books. Love scenes advance character development and, in my world, each spicy scene deepens and propels the relationship of the primary couple. Whether a couple is testing their boundaries or discovering emotional truths about each other, steam balances story progression, resulting in ultimate payoffs on several levels!
I know going into a book whether it’s going to be a 4-flame or a 5-flame story. For me, the distinction relates to word length. 4-flame books are novellas of around 23K – 40K or full novels of 60K and up, because those stories require more space for the characters to grow and “breathe.”
5-flame books are fiery quick reads below 20,000 words, a glimpse into a developing relationship where the HEA might be present from the get-go. Example, married couple Grace and Nico Delgado in Sweeter Than Cream. Or, a main relationship is evolving, such as when Gil Cuthbert introduces spicy times with his best friend Hunter into his relationship with Layla Aziz in Tea for Three. Both Tea for Three and Sweeter Than Cream are titles in my Tease Sizzling Romps series.
Kate’s Secret: Including “Sizzling Romps” in the Tease series title keeps me focused on providing scorching heat within a tight timeframe. My three main characters—Layla, Siri, and Grace—are close friends open to discussing anything and everything about each other’s love lives, which offers quick insights into their characters as their individual stories develop. Their secrets are sizzling, their “romps” off the charts, and Tease is the name of Layla’s tea shop, the setting that kicks off events with Layla, Gil, and Hunter in Tea for Three.
⏪ Writing a Chapter Backwards
One of the challenges of being an organic writer is sometimes it’s easy to write my way into a corner and then go round and round with my muse trying to figure out a solution. In A Little Wild, I knew Tess and Zach were going to have an “almost” love scene moment. A hot kiss against her apartment door before he leaves after an afternoon of working on his business plan. I needed Tess to yearn for that kiss every bit as much as Zach did, but I knew her lawyer’s mind would keep getting in the way.
Finally, I thought, what the heck, I’ll write the last paragraph and then write toward it. But I could not write toward that scene. I was stuck. So I got a brainwave to write the paragraph preceding the last paragraph, and it went well! So I wrote the third-to-last paragraph and then the fourth-to-last and the fifth-to-last and then—well, you get the idea. I wound up writing the entire scene and chapter backward! I was blown away by the end result.
Kate’s Secret: Sometimes the “right” way to write a scene is whatever way gets it written. I’ve never written backwards since that chapter, but I’m not afraid to try it again if I need to. The lesson? There are no rules, only tools.
⭐️ Trust Your Process (Even If It’s Weird!)
When an aspiring writer starts exploring the spicy romance world, they might discover a lot of conflicting opinions about the “right” way to write. I’m here to tell you that one size definitely does not fit all. Each writer needs to discover the process that works for them, even if their favorite author’s process is completely different.
Once you find your process, which you can really only accomplish by writing a lot of words (!), whether it’s organic writing (revising as you go), versus “pantsing” or “flying into the mist” (trusting your muse to guide you through the entire first draft), versus plotting everything out in advance, versus multiple hybrid approaches, your authentic voice will propel you toward writing the stories only you can tell.
Kate’s Secret: The best part about being an organic writer? Every day at the keyboard is an adventure. I never know exactly what my characters will reveal, which emotional truth will surface, or what creative solution they’ll find to their romantic conflicts. It keeps the writing fresh and surprising. For me and hopefully for my readers too.
Crafting a spicy romance novella can feel daunting. How do you fit all the elements of a fully developed romance into a short format while including several love scenes and introducing them early in the story?
For the purposes of this article, I’m focusing on “spicy romance” rather than “romantic erotica” or “erotica.” For an explanation of the differences, check out my Reader FAQ section.
Consider Word Count
The novella market has evolved significantly. Today’s spicy romance novellas typically range from 10,000 to 40,000 words (computer count). Over 40,000 words often qualifies as a novel, and a word count below 10,000 takes you into short story territory.
My novellas range from 10,000 to 30,000 words depending on the series and story needs. The following guidelines allow me to explore my characters’ sexual relationships while ensuring a well-rounded romance:
Writing Structure Guidelines
- Think traditional romance structure, but condensed. If you’re not a plotter, it helps to think of novellas as condensed versions of full-length romance novels. Traditional romance novels generally run between 50,000–80,000 words and feature approximately 15-25 chapters of 2,000-3,000 words each.
- Adjust your chapter length. For a 25,000-word novella with 10 chapters, you’re looking at approximately 2,500 words per chapter. For a 15,000-word novella with 8 chapters, aim for about 1900 words per chapter.
- Eliminate subplots ruthlessly. A novella typically doesn’t have space for subplots. If one tries to weasel its way in, thump it upside the head! Your word count is precious real estate.
Character and Conflict Focus
- Limit your cast. Focus on your main characters. Include secondary characters only if they’re essential to furthering the romance. The heroine’s best friend can serve as a sounding board, but if she starts demanding her own story space, reel her in.
- One central romantic conflict. Focus on one issue or problem between your story’s leads. They still need individual goals and motivations, but consider: “What is THE romantic conflict?”
- Start with interaction. Open the story with your leads interacting. This technique hooks readers and forces you to focus on the relationship from page one.
- Keep them together. If your leads appear in nearly every scene, you’ll naturally zero in on their romance.
Pacing and Timeline
- Compress your timeline. I’ve written novellas that occur over days and others over a few weeks. I’ve yet to write one spanning several months. For me, the extended timeframe would distract from the focused conflict and character development.
- Use pre-existing connections. Allow your characters some sort of prior relationship rather than meeting as strangers. This is especially helpful for spicy romance, which requires several love scenes and rapid but believable intimacy.
The Spice Factor
- Make every love scene count. Don’t skimp on intimate scenes, but ensure each one serves the story. Gratuitous love scenes don’t belong in spicy romance any more than they do in sweet romance. Each scene should advance characterization, plot, or conflict.
In spicy romance novellas, intimate scenes often serve as turning points where characters reveal vulnerabilities, confront conflicts, or experience emotional breakthroughs alongside physical ones.
Final Thoughts
Remember, these are guidelines, not rigid rules. The romance market continues evolving, with readers embracing everything from 10,000-word steamy shorts perfect for lunch-break reading to longer novellas that offer more character development. Find the length that serves your story and your readers.
Your mileage may vary, but the above approach works for me—and might work for you too.
The key to successful spicy romance novellas? Focus, heat, and heart. Every word should earn its place in service of the romance.
Copyright Kate St. James
Got questions? I’ve got answers! Here’s everything readers ask me most about my spicy romance books, my writing life, and behind-the-scenes details.
👩🏻💻 About My Writing
📚 About My Books
💬 Just for Fun
The lines between spicy romance, romantic erotica, and erotica can seem blurry, but understanding the distinctions helps both writers and readers find exactly what they’re seeking. Here’s how I differentiate between these heat levels and focus areas:
Erotica
Erotica focuses primarily on sexual fulfillment and the exploration of sexuality. The stories revolve around the main character’s sexual journey and if you removed the intimate scenes, there wouldn’t be much story left. The sexual experiences and personal discovery of the main character(s) are what’s most important and at stake.
The characters may end up in a committed relationship. Or not. The emphasis is on sexual satisfaction, experimentation, and personal sexual growth rather than romantic emotional connection. The reader’s investment is in the character’s sexual journey and what they learn about themselves.
Romantic Erotica
Romantic erotica bridges the gap between pure erotica and spicy romance. These stories feature frequent, explicit intimate scenes that are central to character development and plot, but the romance is equally important.
The sexual relationship drives the story forward, often beginning early, but emotional connection develops alongside physical attraction. Characters typically believe they want purely physical relationships, only to discover they’re seeking deeper emotional intimacy as well. The intimate scenes serve both erotic satisfaction and romantic development.
If you removed the explicit content, you’d still have the basics of a romance, but the story would lose character and relationship development. The sexual journey and the romantic journey are intertwined.
Spicy Romance
Once termed “Erotic Romance,” Spicy romance now encompasses a romance story with explicit intimate scenes. These stories focus on the romantic relationship and emotional conflicts. Steamy scenes sometimes drive the plot, as in my A Little Wild, and at other times the intimate scenes enhance plot progression, such as in my His Wild Kiss. Love scenes are hot and satisfying, but the emotional journey takes precedence.
Characters don’t necessarily start with sexual goals. They’re seeking love, connection, or a resolution to romantic conflicts. The intimate scenes develop naturally from the emotional relationship and serve to deepen character bonds and advance romantic plot points.
If you removed the explicit content, you’d still have a complete romance with full character arcs and a satisfying emotional resolution. The spice enhances the love story rather than defining it.
The Spectrum in Practice
Erotica ← Romantic Erotica → Spicy Romance
Many stories and authors straddle these lines, and the distinctions can be subjective. One reader might consider a story romantic erotica while another sees it as spicy romance. Context matters, including author intent, marketing, and reader expectations.
Relationship Dynamics
Monogamy and commitment expectations also vary:
- Spicy romance: Characters generally move toward monogamous commitment, although the path there might include past relationships or complications. The “happily ever after” or “happy for now” ending is expected.
- Romantic erotica: Characters might begin with multiple partners or non-monogamous situations, but typically move toward committed relationships, whether with one or more partners. The ending usually involves some form of romantic commitment.
- Erotica: Characters may explore multiple partners as part of their sexual journey. Commitment isn’t required for a satisfying ending.
Understanding Reader Expectations
Understanding these differences helps authors define appropriate content warnings and delivers reader satisfaction:
- Readers seeking erotica want sexual exploration and satisfaction as the primary focus.
- Readers seeking romantic erotica want both explicit content and romantic emotional payoff.
- Readers seeking spicy romance want love stories with satisfying steam.
These are guidelines based on my experience and also observation of the industry. Interpretations vary, and the most important factor is always reader satisfaction!
Copyright Kate St. James.
The real, unfiltered stories from my author journey—the funny, the frustrating, and the enlightening. These are the slice-of-life moments that remind me why I love this wild, wonderful career.
Kate’s Origin Story
When I sold my first spicy novella to a multi-author anthology, I had a problem: my name is Cindy Procter-King, and my anthology partners were Cynthia Eden, Mia Varano, and Larissa Ione. On the cover mock-up, my name stuck out like a Sunday school teacher at a bachelorette party.
I needed a pen name. Fast.
I’ve always loved the name Kate. It feels confident, a little edgy, exactly what I wanted for my spicier side. My sister agreed immediately. “It suits you,” she said. “Sharp edges.” (I’m still not sure if that was a compliment, but I’m choosing to take it as one.)
The surname was trickier. I wanted to honor family, but the options weren’t cooperating. My mom vetoed using her maiden name and insisted on her mother’s surname instead, but “Kate Harms” sounded more like a warning label than a romance author. I needed something that worked.
Then it hit me: Cindy Procter-King has three parts. Kate needed three parts too.
Kate (four letters, starts with K, mirrors King)
St. (for my husband Steve)
James (for my dad)
Kate St. James. My new name looked perfect next to Cynthia, Mia, and Larissa. But could I actually be Kate?
The real test came months later at a writers’ conference. I stepped off an elevator, heard “Kate!” behind me. Without thinking, I turned around. Standing there with a huge grin was Mia Varano herself.
I’d answered to Kate like I’d been doing it my whole life.
Kate’s Secret: Creating a pen name isn’t just about picking pretty words. It’s about building an identity you can step into. The moment I instinctively turned when someone called “Kate,” I knew my new alter ego wasn’t just a name on a book cover. She was real. And she was mine.
The Day I Met My Doppelgänger
My husband’s uncle (now passed away) and cousins live in Australia, and we’d been planning a trip to visit them for years. But guess what? By the time we went, I had three Kate St. James titles published and…another Kate St. James lived in Sydney.
Believe me, when I researched Kate St. James as a pen name before registering my website, I waded through 60 pages of Google searches. Aussie Kate was the only other Kate St. James I could find.
She and I connected by email after I received a website message saying Australians thought she was writing my books! We laughed about it, and thereafter we emailed every few months, each taking delight that I wrote the spicy romance she was being teased about while she edited an interior design magazine.
With our Australia trip on the horizon, I asked if she wanted to meet in Sydney. Her response? A resounding, “Yes!”
But she still knew me as Kate. Before we arrived, I had to come clean: my real name was Cindy. Again, she laughed.
My husband and I made our way to the crowded patio tables outside the Sydney Opera House. I barely knew what Aussie Kate looked like, and she had no clue what I looked like. We each nearly left, thinking we’d never find each other in that crowd, when we suddenly spotted one another. For the next hour, the three of us enjoyed wonderful conversation that ended with Aussie Kate inviting us to stay with her and her husband if we ever returned to Sydney.
I left with a copy of her design magazine, and she went home with copies of my books—both as Cindy and as Kate.
What I learned: There’s room for all of us in this creative world, even when we share the exact same name. Generosity and humor beat territorial instincts every time.
The Great Cinnamon Bun Disaster
It’s no secret that I love cinnamon buns. For years I’d been trying to duplicate the legendary recipe from my husband’s alma mater, the University of British Columbia. They were the fluffiest, most syrupy, most cinnamony cinnamon buns I’d ever tasted.
When I discovered the actual UBC recipe online, I knew my destiny had arrived.
I went to work, naturally adding more brown sugar and cinnamon than the recipe called for (if some is good, more is better, right?). Buns in the oven, I set the timer on our new stove and headed to my office to write.
Here’s the thing about me and cooking: the moment I leave the kitchen, I completely forget I was making something. Like, instantly. The knowledge evaporates from my brain.
I was deep into writing a pivotal scene between Siri and Lucas in Sugar Rush—the one where she’s trying desperately not to fall for him—when I caught the scent. Not heavenly cinnamon buns baked to perfection. The smell of burning cinnamon buns.
The stove timer hadn’t gone off. New stove. New timer system. Which I’d completely failed to figure out!
I raced into the kitchen before the smoke alarm got into the act, my beagle scampering behind me (although she’s a scent hound, if it’s not meat loaf or cat food, she’s not interested). The commotion freaked out the cat, who’d been sitting placidly on the portable dishwasher enjoying her much-coveted kitty food. She launched off that dishwasher so fast it was like she’d sprouted wings.
I grabbed the oven mitts and yanked open the oven door to billowing clouds of smoke and charred cinnamon buns that not even two inches of cream cheese icing could save. All that extra brown sugar and cinnamon? Scorched black inside a 350-degree oven.
My dreams of cinnamon bun heaven disappeared along with the smoke. I spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning the oven and making my husband Kraft Dinner for supper (hey, it was his favorite at the time). As for that pivotal scene with Siri and Lucas? It took me three hours to get back into their headspace. Groan.
Lesson learned: The unglamorous truth about the writing life? It involves smoke alarms, disappointed family members, and occasionally losing hours of creative momentum because you were convinced you could multitask your way to homemade perfection. Now I order cinnamon buns from the bakery and save my creative energy for the page.
P.S. Want to try your hand at the legendary UBC cinnamon buns? Here’s the recipe. Just remember to set your timer properly!
