Autumn Woods chats her romantic dark academia, Nightshade
Nightshade is perhaps our new favourite book because it's ticking all the boxes
Nightshade is perhaps our new favourite book because it’s ticking all the boxes — dark academia with found family, and romance that has us kicking our feet. Today, we are honoured to have Autumn Woods chat about setting the story in a Scottish castle, and writing the witty banter between the characters.
Nightshade is set in a gothic Scottish castle. What inspired you to choose this setting?
It was a combination of a few things. The whole dark academia, castle setting definitely stems from the fact that I am a fantasy lover at heart. Anything eerie, spooky, whimsical, or cottagecore is always an instant win for me! The actual idea for the Sorrowsong hit me while I was staying in the Scottish highlands two years ago. In an old, isolated house on an island on the Hebrides, I started forming the university and the Nightshade mansion in my head, and finally felt ready to start writing it a few months later. My grandma was a very small but mighty Scottish woman, so the setting is a little tribute to her, too.
The book has great dark academia vibes. Why did you decide to blend in some mystery?
I love a romance book that has another side plot going on, and as a lover of a good thriller, I knew I wanted Nightshade to have a bit of mystery to it. The setting really lent itself to the murder and the mystery too; poor phone signal, dark hallways, and a long journey from any police or ambulance services. For anyone who finds themselves in trouble at Sorrowsong, there’s that extra layer of dread, like if you called out for help, there might be no one there to hear you. And then someone like Ophelia, who doesn’t have friends or connections at the university, she’s completely on her own.
Let’s talk about the characters. Even though Ophelia came from a rather different background, the classmates are generally nice to her, which is very wholesome. Why did you choose to depict these friendships this way?
This is quite a conscious effort on my part – in my own personal life I’m really lucky to have a very supportive group of friends who have been believing in me since before I ever wrote a word. Just having that in my life made me realise what an absence it is in Ophelia’s, and what a great development for her character it would be for her to find herself some people that really believe in her, especially some positive female friendships. I choose not to put a jealous ex-girlfriend or jealous best friend into my books – it’s just a personal preference but I always love to see girls sticking together. The found-family is something we get to see much more of in Book Two!
The side characters are amazing, and we would totally read a spin-off about some of them. Could we make it happen?
I would love that. It’d be so fun to explore more of the Sorrowsong universe and all its strange inner workings. And to give you all a bit more backstory for all the side characters would be so exciting, especially Vincenzo! He’s a gentle giant, but he’d kill for the people he loves. Hopefully we can make it happen.
The romance in Nightshade is amazing. We are sure all the readers are giggling and kicking their feet while reading. What was it like for you to write this slow-burn romance?
Writing a slow burn probably feels the same as it does for readers – frustrating but addictive. If you’re yelling ‘just kiss already!!’ at the pages, I’m probably yelling at my manuscript too. But I love a good slow burn, it makes it so much sweeter when they do give in.
We also love the witty banter between Ophelia and Alex, especially their email exchanges and crosswords. Why did you decide to add this to the story?
All the best romance stories have a bit of banter, in my opinion! Especially in that enemies stage of an enemies to lovers romance, the banter can hit extra hard. Also, because Alex and Ophelia are two young people going through some quite challenging times – Ophelia with her loneliness and Alex with his family – humour is definitely a coping mechanism for them both. I think Ophelia sees her life as a bit of a ‘if you don’t laugh, you’ll cry’ kind of situation.
There’s some dual POV happening here. Why did you choose to write some chapters in Alex’s POV, and will we see more of that in the next book?
Yes! There is a lot more of Alex’s POV in the second book. Nightshade was quite heavily based around Ophelia’s struggles and her mission for revenge, but it’s nice to inject Alex’s POV here and there so while she’s battling with her confusing emotions for him, we can see that he’s slowly falling in love, too. Book Two is much more Alex-focused. We get to explore his home life more and his regret for the way Nightshade ended.
Finally, anything else we can know about book 2?
Alex is YEARNING. He really can’t stop thinking of Ophelia, at all. And he paints her portrait! I have to stop now, before I just type the whole synopsis here, but just know he’s a man on his knees.
