Q&A with Holly Race

Meet Holly Race, author of upcoming sapphic fantasy Six Wild Crowns.

A compelling epic fantasy filled with dragons, court politics and sapphic yearning, perfect for fans of The Priory of the Orange Tree, House of the Dragon and Fourth Wing. Read the author Q&A below!

Hi Holly! Thanks for answering some questions for us. How does it feel to have Six Wild Crowns almost out into the world?

Thank you! Honestly, I’m somewhere on a spectrum of excited to terrified, and swing one way or the other at any given moment. In some ways this idea has been brewing since 2022 when I started writing Six Wild Crowns, and in others it’s been lurking in my head for more than 25 years, when I was a Tudor-obsessed teenager writing stage plays about Anne Boleyn for my long-suffering friends to act in. Basically, it’s been a long time coming.

What inspired you to reimagine the Tudor Queens through a fantasy lens?

This might sound a bit odd, but after I published my Young Adult trilogy, I sat down and wrote a list: all the topics that I was interested in, followed by ‘but make it fantasy’. ‘The six wives of Henry VIII but make it fantasy’ was the one that immediately gave me goosebumps. There are some ideas that excite us but that we’re not meant to write. Those are the ideas you hope land with a more suitable author so that you can read it one day. This one; this one was meant for me.

Do you have any essentials in your writing routine process?

Post-it notes! Or notecards, revision cards or pieces of torn up paper. When I’m stuck on a plot point or character arc, I get out my post it notes and write loads of different options on each one, ranging from the mundane to the bizarre. At least one of them will usually spark something to unstick me, and because they’re on moveable pieces of paper instead of a list, it’s easier for me to look at them objectively instead of favouring the ones at the start or end.

What tropes can we hope to see in Six Wild Crowns?

Rivals to friends, just one bed, forbidden and unrequited love, polygamy and polyamory, tricksy prophecies, and found family.

Any advice for aspiring writers?

Get to the end of that first draft. It’s vanishingly rare to write a good first draft, no matter how much time you spend on it. Embrace the shaky first draft and just push to the end, even if you riddle your chapters with comments like ‘Make this better’ or ‘Add something fun here’. Only once you have a full draft can you get a clear idea of what needs to change to make your arcs or your plot twists more impactful.

Also, while you’re writing that first draft, hold the story close. Don’t tell too many people about it. Even people with the best intentions can start asking questions that make you doubt yourself or cause a block. In the worst-case scenario, those questions or comments puncture the idea and all the magic dissipates. The first draft should be a honeymoon period, where you and the story are getting to know each other.

We’re ready for sapphic yearning galore. And we’ve heard whispers of a love pentagon … how much spice can we expect from this book?

It’s probably a three on a one-to-five spice scale. This is a patriarchal world – I couldn’t write a feminist retelling of Henry VIII’s wives without that – so some of the sexual politics are nuanced or outright uncomfortable. There are some open-door sex scenes, although in my opinion the hottest moments are those where there’s no sex involved. Think Mr Darcy hand flex or Kanthony pining.

What’s up next in the Tudor fantasy trilogy?

I’m editing the second book in the trilogy at the moment, and I am so excited for people to read it. Each of the books in the trilogy have different main characters. Six Wild Crowns is told from the points of view of Boleyn and Seymour. The second book is told through the points of view of two queens who we meet in the first book, and a secret third character who we don’t. Sapphic yearning becomes sapphic spice, we delve deeper into the world’s magic system, and the stakes are higher than ever. Oh, and there’s a very brave little lapdragon who I hope readers will adore!