Bio
Hayley is a fantasy romance author who has been chasing the high of Darcy's hand flex since 2005. Her books feature plus sized representation, lots of yearning, and messy heroines who tackle their internal trauma just as head on as their external demons. Like many others, she got her start writing novels by accidentally writing a self-insert LOTR fanfiction in middle school, and it wasn’t long before she was creating worlds entirely her own. She was a 2024 SmoochPit Mentee and is now represented by Brent Taylor at Triada US.
Manuscript
Wishlist
(MSWL)
I am open to NA and Adult in the romcom, contemporary, SFF, dark romance and paranormal/speculative space. I am happy with ALL heat levels. Above all, I love stories that have characters that feel real and that make me laugh as much as they tug my heart strings—even if your love interest is a seven foot alien.
Things I really want to see:
- CONTEMPORARY fantasy! I love the mash of modern tech with magical settings.
- Plus sized and/or neurodivergent rep!
messy, flawed protagonists who don’t always make the right decision (in both real-world settings AND fantasy worlds)
- Fairy tale vibes—think Once Upon A Broken Heart or Penelope (Movie)
- Fun twists on common fantasy creatures/tropes—unique magic for witches, twists on vampires, etc.
- Fantasy that connects to real world themes—IE mental health issues, feminist bents, climate issues
- Chaotic side characters (bonus points if they’re not human!)
- My favorite tropes include: enemies/rivals/haters-to-lovers, slow-burn, second chance, fake dating, grumpy/sunshine, forced proximity, time travel
Comps I LOVE:
- Studio Ghibli (Howl’s Moving Castle and Kiki’s are two of my faves, but ANY)
- 90s and 00s romcoms
- Fantasy TV of the 90s—X-Files, Buffy, Charmed and the 00s—Supernatural, Fringe
- Authors like: Rebecca Ross, Rachel Gillig, Ali Hazelwood, Sarah Hawley, Stephanie Garber, T. Kingfisher, Ashley Poston, Olivie Blake, Holly Black, Olivia Dade, Meg Cabot
This is definitely a long but not exhaustive list, so if there’s something on my profile that stuck out/made you feel like we’d be a good fit but you didn’t see it expressly here, please still consider me. I am probably not the best fit for: instalove, sports romance (I’m not a sports person!), romantasy with trials or secret royals, heavy themes of miscarriage/infertility or pregnancy/secret baby, on page child abuse or sexual assault (life is messy and mention of these topics is okay!), horror that has a high level of gore or cannibalism.
Mentoring Style
My approach to editing always includes celebrating what works well (because writing a book IS hard!) alongside pointing out potential issues (these could be in worldbuilding, character development, romance arcs, etc). I like starting with big picture edits before getting fussy with minutiae. Usually this looks like: reading the whole book for a “big picture” edit letter, reading the whole book a second time for line-level/clarity concerns, and then fine tuning further any passages that need extra attention. That said, I’m flexible/adaptable to what fits your editing style best and at the end of the day, my goal is to help you strengthen your vision for your manuscript and make your submission package shine.
After the mentees are announced, I’d love to hop on a video chat/call (if you’re more comfy camera off, that’s fine!) to get to know each other a little better, discuss your vision for the manuscript, and set mutual expectations for communication/how we’ll tackle edits. I’m the fastest to reply via discord, but e-mail/other apps are okay, too. I do work a standard weekday 8-5, but outside of that, I’d be happy to hop on additional calls if you wanted to check-in through the program.
Applications
from Connections
Please do not apply to me if I’ve already alpha read/beta read for you or we’ve been critique partners. If we’re mutuals on socials, or we’re in the same discord(s), but haven’t done more than chat occasionally, please feel free to apply!