Show Notes
Taylor Grothe, who also writes as T.G. Laine, is the author of the YA folk horror debut Hollow, the upcoming Monstrous Beautiful Things, and the new sapphic dark academia horror romance Lethal Kiss.
Taylor talks about a Catholic childhood of cemetery trips and saints' relics, writing Hollow through their own autism and queer identity, and why horror works as a lens rather than a genre. They break down their writing process, from a 2,000 word synopsis to drafting 3,000 words an hour in a three and a half week sprint. We dig into balancing romance beats and horror beats 50/50 in Lethal Kiss, femme rage, and the real Duke professor behind the book's dean. Plus, writing their first smut scene, book bans, and a first look at the queer Arthurian romantasy The Mage and the Liar Knight.
Timestamps: 00:01 – Cold Open: The "Needles in Eyeballs" Feeling 00:46 – Welcome to Talking Horror & Meeting Taylor Grothe 02:54 – Begging Dad for Cemetery Trips as a Kid 04:30 – Saints' Bodies, Reliquaries and a Catholic Creep Factor 05:26 – First Word "Chandelier" and Writing Through COVID Lockdown 07:59 – Why Times of Terror Spark Creation 10:13 – Horror Tells the Truth: A Lens, Not a Genre 13:17 – Goosebumps, High Fantasy and Picking at a Scab 14:17 – A Nonfiction MFA and a Medieval Literature Scholar 15:09 – Autism, Auditory Processing and Failing Out of Catholic School 16:44 – Duke, Academic Corruption and Owning a Brewery 21:47 – 175,000 Words of Historical Fiction and an Icelandic Horror Novel 22:19 – Writing Hollow for Their Undiagnosed Autistic, Queer Teen Self 25:31 – Why Taylor Stopped Reading Reviews 29:16 – Meet T.G. Laine: Why a Second Pen Name 31:48 – Seven Book Ideas in One Email to Their Agent 32:22 – Goblin Mode: Drafting a Book in Three and a Half Weeks 33:55 – From Pantser to a 2,000 Word Synopsis 36:47 – The "Needles in Eyeballs" Test for a Wrong Turn 38:11 – 3,000 Words an Hour and Cat Therapy 41:35 – Lethal Kiss: Lacie Is Who They Were, Marcella Who They Wished to Be 45:50 – Their First Happy Ending (Still Bloody) 46:27 – Threading Horror Beats Through Romance Beats 48:42 – The Mortifying Ordeal of Being Known 49:54 – The Real Duke Professor Behind the Dean 52:44 – Girl Dinner and Storming a University Campus 54:19 – Writing Their First Smut Scene (and Hiding It From Dad) 58:12 – Why Romance and Horror Are Embodied Genres 1:00:56 – Writing, Coming Out as Nonbinary and Book Bans 1:05:53 – What's Next: Monstrous Beautiful Things and The Mage and the Liar Knight 1:07:22 – A Secret Mushroom Horror Romance for Fall 2027
Grab your copy of Lethal Kiss: https://amzn.to/3TtRvSx
Connect with Taylor Grothe: Website: https://www.taylorgrothe.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/taylorlgrothe/ Newsletter: https://hallowedwords.substack.com
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