Love Burned, She Rose Unscathed

Madge sighed. Her frustration was evident as she realized she had forgotten to pick up the allspice on their grocery run. "Anne, darling, would you mind grabbing a pack from that shelf over there?" "Sure." Roseanne knew it was Madge's way of getting a moment alone.

Once Roseanne was out of earshot, Madge said, "I mentioned it this morning. I'm still mulling it over."

"Mulling it over, huh?" Nadine retorted with impatience. "I brought this up three months ago, and you said you'd think about it. Fine. I gave you time, but still no clear answer."

Madge frowned. "We've been working together for years. My forte is crafting suspense and thriller novellas, stories that wrap up within two to three hundred thousand words. And now, you're asking me to switch to online novels? It's like comparing apples to oranges!"

"But it's all storytelling, right? How can it be so different? Literature has a universal language. There's no mismatch!" Nadine's tone grew stern, her smile fading.

Trying to reason, Madge explained, "First off, online novels usually run into the millions of words. And the popular genres online, like urban romance or elite love stories, are not my cup of tea. How am I supposed to write that?"

Bittersweet Youth? You also wanted to switch genres back then, but how did that

Youth was the title of Madge's

softer, "I know that book tanked your reputation, and you've been struggling to get past

stepped back, why push me into those

me out," Nadine pleaded gently. "Bittersweet Youth failed to break into the market because you were too slow to publish.

the blame pie too. I'm not making excuses. I'm just pointing out

couldn't deny that she was a slow writer, but that genre was far from her

love stories are always in demand. Whether you write fast or slow doesn't matter. We won't repeat the same mistakes.

Madge's eyebrows knitted tighter.

They're fast-paced, sensational, and wildly unrealistic. They might start interesting, but the quality dips as the story drags on endlessly. I've seen stories where the protagonist's name

eyes hardened. "After all this dialogue and all this effort