Let’s get something out of the way: yes, my books have death in them. Yes, characters break. They lose their minds. They kill or are killed. Yes, I write about grief, guilt, trauma, obsession, rage.
And no, I’m not sorry about it.
Because fiction isn’t supposed to be soft and digestible all the time. Sometimes, it’s supposed to be a little uncomfortable. Sometimes, it’s supposed to sting.
But that doesn’t mean it’s dark for the sake of being dark. It means it’s honest.
For the readers who want ‘lighter’ stories
I get it. Not everyone wants to read about death and ruin and the ugly side of being human. That’s fine. There’s space for every story.
But when people tell me “your stories are too heavy” or “you should write something more uplifting”, I can’t help but wonder — why are we so afraid of going there? Why do we flinch at fictional violence when real violence is something we live with every day?
My work doesn’t exist to glorify pain. It exists to examine it. To ask why it happens. Who it affects. What silence costs us. What we carry and bury and call healing when it’s really just numbness.
If that feels too dark for some, that’s okay. But I won’t dilute what I believe to be a truth worth examining just to make it more digestible.
What makes it worth writing
Violence in my stories isn’t a plot device. It’s a lens. Through it, I explore heartbreak, power dynamics, the ache of being misunderstood, the cruelty of being silenced. In Things You’ll Never Understand, there’s no murder scene — but there is emotional violence. Systemic violence. The kind that leaves no physical bruises, only internal ones. And that’s just as worthy of being written.
If you read closely, you’ll see the light is always there too. It’s just not where people expect it. It’s in the survivors. In the characters who endure. In the tiny moments of softness that bloom despite everything else.
So no, my work isn’t “just dark.” It’s complex. It’s layered. It’s honest. It offends me when people think otherwise.
And if writing about the hardest parts of being human makes some people uncomfortable? Good. That means they’re paying attention.
— Montse
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