Gran's Greenhouse

Imagine sitting by a warm fire while it snows outside, cradling a mug of hot chocolate. Your loved one (or a handful of puppers) are beside you, and you feel content.

Take that feeling and pop it in a book, and you have the cozy genre.

Whilst Miss Marple or Jane Austen might be the first books that come to mind, don’t let this make you think the genre is stuck in the past! The 2020s have seen a boom in cozies, as readers surge towards an escape from the chaos of COVID and dive into cute worlds where they don’t need to experience second-hand stress.

And to avoid the doomscrolling…

Cozies have expanded beyond their romance and mystery roots too. We now get to enjoy cozy fantasies, cozy sci-fi’s, even little slice-of-life fictions where we follow an intergalactic bookshop owner.

The key to delivering a cozy is:

• low-stakes (no world-ending disasters, or trauma in sight)
• they end happily (we want satisfying resolutions where everything works out)
• comfortable settings (quaint villages, seaside towns… etc, where everyone knows your name and the protagonist is getting to know them all)

Want to learn more about cozies? Take a look at our genre spotlight on “Hallmark-Style” romances. The perfect way to jump into the genre.

You can also look at the live-stream series we made on starting a cozy mystery in Novelcrafter ;)

Ever wondered how some authors create such vivid atmospheres in their stories? Whilst a lot of us use Pinterest boards and character sheets, there’s another powerful tool in your creative arsenal to appeal to the senses: a story playlist.

Think of it as a soundtrack for your novel. Just like how movies use music to enhance emotional impact, your playlist can help you tap into your character’s mindset or set the perfect mood for that crucial scene.

Plus, who doesn’t love scrolling through music to see what their character’s would love?

A recent trend in promoting fiction is sharing playlists with your readers in social media and newsletters, with the theme of “when you pass [character name] the aux”, via music platforms like YouTube or Spotify.

Take advantage of your story playlist by:

• sharing a “character theme song” each week leading up to your book launch (extra tip: turn this into a short for social media!)
• creating mood-based playlists for different scenes or chapters
• asking readers to suggest songs that remind them of your characters
• using playlist covers as additional branding opportunities

Music is universal. It crosses language barriers and creates emotional connections. Try including your playlist link in your next newsletter, social media bio, or book’s back matter to keep your story in readers’ minds even after they’ve finished.

I use Novelcrafter in 95% of my work on streams. 99%, if we’re being honest. But there are a few times when I divert from just asking AI to researching on other websites, and one of those is Google Maps (or another map website, i.e. Apple Maps, OpenStreetMaps). Seriously, they’re a goldmine for world building. I’m going to share with you a few of the ways I use online maps to help with my writing:

• Naming locations avoids AI-isms and keeps your place names realistic by taking inspiration from the real world.
• Learn how real life cities developed to inform your fantasy locations: look and see how different Salt Lake City and Paris are, for example.
• Branch out into less traditional maps (crime hotspots, infrastructure/cell service) to learn where to hide the body…

Explore how maps can ground your story's world