Originally published at: Heart’s Choice Author Interview: Erin Rowlands, “Spellbound: Malachite Coven” - Choice of Games LLC
Your magic awakes in your new college town—and so does your heart! Can you discover who is trying to steal your power before it’s too late?
Spellbound: Malachite Coven is a 147,000 word interactive romance novel by Erin Rowlands. I sat down with Erin to talk about her upcoming game and the process of writing an interactive romance. Spellbound: Malachite Coven releases next Thursday, May 8th. You can wishlist it on Steam now!
This is your first time publishing interactive fiction, but certainly not your first time writing romance or longer fiction. Tell me about your background.
For many years, I wrote short stories for literary magazines and then over the pandemic, I was craving something more upbeat and I got really into romance novels. Reading and writing rom-coms has been my obsession ever since!
What inspired this extremely cozy supernatural game and its setting?
I grew up in a quaint university town and I always loved walking around the campus in the fall so it was fun and nostalgic for me to write about that kind of place. For the supernatural element, I’m a fan of shows like Charmed and The Vampire Diaries…I like when TV shows feature both magical shenanigans and smooching. I tried to bring that type of energy to this game.
What surprised you most about working with ChoiceScript?
I don’t have a coding background so it was a pretty sharp learning curve for me but once I got the hang of it, I really enjoyed it! I bought a bunch of highlighters and I have a notebook where I tracked all of the branches and I also had Post-it notes with various bits of code stuck all over the walls. For a while my office was giving a misunderstood conspiracy theorist vibe. In terms of the process, my editor Abby was so patient and awesome and the beta feedback I received was so insightful and helpful. I’m used to writing being a solitary endeavour so it was really lovely to get advice and input from more experienced folks.
Did you play any Heart’s Choice games to prepare for writing one?
I played and really enjoyed Brimstone Manor by Frances Pauli, Changeling Charade by Ruth Vincent and Their Majesties’ Pleasure by Leia Talon. The first game I ever played was Crème de la Crème by Harris Powell-Smith which is not a Heart’s Choice game but I loved the relationships in it.
Which of your NPCs would you want to go on a date with?
I love them all equally (I say diplomatically, as though they might hear me and get offended). But today it is raining in my city so I’d like to get tea and wander around a bookstore with River.
What are you working on next?
I’m writing a romantic comedy novel that incorporates two of my favourite things…the fake dating trope and board games. I also had an idea about necromancers and psychics that I always thought would be a novel but now I’m like, hmm, could this be a game?