Set in a dystopian Southern coast of England, Stella has been selected to spend a year with the royal family. With her mind set on hating the palace, her heart is drawn to the wonders of the royal's way of life and the people around her; particularly the beloved prince and adoring queen. Despite her profound endearment with this new lifestyle, corruption threatens to crumble Stella's new life: A vengeful group of super-humans with magical powers are carrying out revenge against the crown, stemming from a four-hundred-year vendetta.

Before Stella can expose the king's inhumane crimes, she must gather undeniable truth through the skills she had been raised with. Venturing through the mystery and adventure of it all with a rebellious royal lady, justice will hopefully be one day served.

Image Credit: Courtesy of Azullyn from Azullyn's Graphics (@_azullyn on Instagram)

Combine this plot with the found family trope, ballroom scenes, sapphic pining, forbidden magic, and heartbreaking betrayal, as well as the feeling of the songs, “Wonderland (Taylor’s Version) by Taylor Swift”, “making the bed by Olivia Rodrigo”, and “Feels Like by Gracie Abrams” while reading…

…and we have “A Royal's Game”, the first novel in a YA fantasy series by debut author Georgina Bollom, perfect if you're looking for an exciting, fantasy-packed read, this is just the book for you.

Over the past couple of months, I have had the opportunity to come up with questions for Bollom on her writing and publishing, as well as some general questions on her novel and the world in which it takes place.

Although “A Royal's Game” has just recently been published a few months ago, Bollom's publication journey began back in 2021, when she first began considering the possibility of publishing.

“As everyone who wishes to be traditionally published does, I set my goals on finding an agent through querying. I went through lots of phases of sending out batches to agents, taking part in Twitter pitches, and throughout my attempts, I did get some partial requests and interests from agents. But when I decided to change the tone of my book from a high fantasy to a more dystopian-fantasy story with themes of girlhood, growing up, and a real focus on character and relationships, I drew back from querying to focus on making my book better.”

However, as many authors do (particularly younger writers), she had felt the pressure to get an agent before hitting larger milestones such as starting university. Bollom has now reflected back on these moments during her publication journey, and feels that this pressure many young authors feel is not okay, as potential and creativity does not run out with age.

So instead of dealing with toxic standards and overwhelming pressures, she had decided to gain an audience first, and test if her novel appealed to anyone. This way, she could potentially understand how it would be like to have her novel published and out there, as well as explore other publication routes. An important step many authors and publishers choose to include, especially newer authors, is beta readers. So that's exactly what Bollom did!

“I put out an application form on TikTok for people to fill in, and found my amazing group of beta readers, some who are still with me now, all this time later, helping me with ARG book 2. Beta reading is such an important part of publishing. My book would not be the same without them. (And now, I beta read for my writer mutuals online, which helps me understand what to ask of my own beta readers too!)”

As Bollom continued to post about “A Royal's Game” on her BookTok account (TikTok accounts dedicated to literature), her videos caught the eye of an indie publisher: Ipomoea Publishing.

“They reached out to me, we chatted over Google Meet as they’re based in Italy (and I’m based in England) and I sent them my official query letter, before we decided we’d like to work together.”

At this point in time, Bollom was only 18, and her debut novel was just about to take off. Nevertheless, one of the points in an author's publishing journey that is sometimes overlooked, are signing contracts. At only eighteen years old, Bollom negotiated her contract herself, as she had no agent, with a small amount of help from lawyers at a trade union in the UK named “The Society of Authors”.

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Despite Bollom's persevering journey, her “I did it!” moment, which many authors experience in their lifetime eventually, has yet to take place. The feeling that she'd truly come out and published her book hadn't quite struck her. Bollom hopes, this moment will come soon, saying, “I think it’s one of those things that I’ll know for certain when it happens”.

Bollom's favorite trope of all time is the “found family” trope, so watch out for that in her novels!

“I think my favourite trope is found family. Nothing beats it. It fits into almost every genre. I don’t care how good the romance is; if I can’t feel the bond between the main group of friends, whether it’s a duo, trio, or bigger than that, then I don’t want it.”

Image Credit: Nathan Mcgregor from Unsplash

Let's talk a little bit more about the book itself. As one of the questions, I asked her to describe the main characters of “A Royal's Game” through other existing book characters. If you see any of your favorites, perhaps it's a sign!

Stella's a mix of Pip (A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder), Cinder (Cinder), and Avery (The Inheritance Games). Two mystery queens and a cyborg Cinderella definitely gives off the thrill and dystopian-fantasy vibes spoken about in “A Royal's Game”. Cecelia is said to be parts of Scarlett (Caraval), Zoya (Shadow and Bone), and Evelyn (The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo).

I myself am not familiar with Evelyn and my memories of Zoya are pretty vague, but Scarlett's strong leadership and passion is definitely something I'd be excited to read about. Sebastian's character takes a turn, consisting of characters like Prince Rhen (A Curse So Dark and Lonely), Edmund (The Chronicles of Narnia), and Adam (Shatter Me). If you remember Ceclie (Serpent & Dove), she's pretty similar to Penny, from “A Royal's Game”. Lastly, Ajax is a blend of Rocco (Defy the Night), Alucard (A Darker Shade of Magic) and of course, Jasper (Six of Crows).

I mentioned a few favorite tropes earlier, but here's a more comprehensive list of tropes that “A Royal's Game” includes:

Found family. Unreliable narrator. Mentor/mentee dynamic.

Ballroom scenes. Complex relationships. Forbidden magic. Self-destructing main character. Strong female friendships. Secretly sunshine main character. Heartbreaking betrayals. Messed up royal family. Coming of age story. 60 year old mystery to solve. Political intrigue. Girlhood. Sapphic pining.

Image Credit: Mike Bird from Pexels

To end, here are a few words of advice from the author on what makes a good story:

Personally, I really value characters more than plot, and prefer character-driven stories. For me, even if the plot is moving forward and is interesting, if the characters aren’t convincing and exciting to read and invoke emotion in me, then I’ll struggle with the book.

Worldbuilding is so so important. Whether it’s dystopian, modern day, or in a whole other world, I want to know everything. I love little details to make the world feel more real. Everyday, mundane things about the ordinary unnamed characters getting mentioned is something I love, because that’s how you can tell the world is very well fleshed out.

An original twist on an essentially simple plot I find hits the best for me. A story doesn’t have to be complicated; if it is, you can lose your readers in the complexities of the narrative. There’s many media theorists such as Jean Baudrilliard and Steve Neale that I could quote on this, but essentially, originality is no more.

There is nothing that hasn’t been done before. That’s how genre exists: stories are grouped together because of their similarities. My favourite books are all similar. But what makes their stories all incredible are the original twists on them, the original characters and worldbuilding and backstories and layers to it. A good story is something that is from a fresh perspective or angle.

A general good aesthetic, colour palette, and vibe polish it off for me, too. Just like films, if the ‘picture’ you see in your head is coherent with the rest of the story, you can feel the vibes of the book, you know what colours you associate it with, a general tone, then it really does it for me. It helps transport me into the world, and makes it all the more believable.

A final note: a huge thing for me with making it a good story is believability. Not if I can imagine the world or the story really happening, but in relation to the characters, their reactions, their reasonings, how the narrative advances. If I don’t find myself believing that the character would act that way, or would say that, or the plot would take that drastic turn, then I find it hard to love the book. I don’t necessarily have to agree with what the character does, or if the story is being fair (the best stories make you angry for the characters we are rooting for) but I have to believe it would go that way.”

Image Credit: Olga Kalmazan from Pexels

For a full list with all questions and answers, you can access them here. All quotes and answers included within this article are respectively responses from Georgina Bollom. Thank you to Georgina Bollom for taking the time to speak with me.

All copyrighted images (thumbnail and book cover) have written, explicit permission from the owners.