Emily McIntire was always meant to be a writer, ever since her mother named her after Emily Dickinson. And when she visited a psychic who told her he saw publication in her future — and later, revealed the same thing to her husband in his own session — it only cemented her destiny.
She’s always heard muses whispering stories to her, but it wasn’t until she almost lost them forever during her first round of chemo for Stage IV breast cancer that she realized just how integral storytelling is to her as a person.
PEOPLE sat down with the author in advance of the release of Beneath the Hood, out today, to talk about her process, how much she values her community of fans and the title of her new project — which PEOPLE can exclusively reveal.
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But before all of that came the voices. Her muses have been McIntire’s constant companions since she was small. While some writers meticulously plot out their books, guiding their characters through every beat of the story, McIntire considers herself more of a “conduit” for hers.
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“I’m sort of just along for the ride,” she says, laughing. “And sometimes, I’ll have an idea of where the story is going and my characters are like, ‘Ha, you wish!’”
And because stories have always flowed through her as naturally as blood through her veins, it was devastating when her muses went quiet during her first round of chemotherapy for breast cancer two years ago, after getting diagnosed at Stage III at age 31 while she was 36 weeks pregnant with her third daughter. She started chemotherapy just 10 days after getting induced at 38 weeks, right when her career was hitting its stride.
“I couldn’t write, I couldn’t read, I couldn’t even watch TV, I was so sick,” she shares. “It felt like I’d lost a part of myself when my muses went quiet. I can’t even put into words how devastating that was.”
Courtesy of Emily McIntire
And when the muses came back again after she finished that punishing drug and she was able to resume the writing that has sustained her ever since, the relief was equally unimaginable. The “breast cancer thriver,” as she proudly calls herself as she lives with Stage IV cancer, has made it her mission to help others in similar situations, every step of the way.
Since the beginning of her cancer journey, McIntire has been open and honest with her community of readers, sharing photos and videos of herself going through treatment and talking about her good days, her bad ones and everything in between — she was receiving chemo when her first book to do so hit the USA Today bestsellers list, for one. At her signings, she keeps a box of tissues by her chair because so many readers tearfully tell her their own cancer stories, or those of their loved ones, that they can’t share with anyone else.
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“When you’re going through something like cancer treatment, your family wants to support you, but you can’t really support them back because you’re like, ‘I’m fighting for my life over here,’” she explains. “So you may not have anyone to talk to and be totally honest about how it feels, because you don’t want to burden your loved ones, and they don’t want to burden you. So because there’s that slight remove between me and my readers, I can be that person for them.”
And as a cancer patient who had to fight for her diagnosis after doctors dismissed her concerns and told her she was too young to have the disease, she’s a vocal advocate for her readers to take control of their own health. “If I can save one person, help one person, then it’s all worth it,” McIntire says.
Today, McIntire is truly living up to her thriver status.
Talk to the Never After and Sugarlake author for any length of time, and you’ll realize she’s all about connections — eagle-eyed readers who notice the teasers at future revelations in her books know that already. That includes connections between herself and her readers, between the books in her series and, of course, the characters who populate them all.
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When she’s first working up a new book, she listens to the playlists that accompany each of her books and spends some time getting to know her characters for a week or so, then writes out in-depth character profiles before letting them loose on the story. The steamy, wild, sometimes frustrating and (let’s be honest) often downright infuriating ways they behave fleshes it out from there.
Her husband, who was able to quit his job after Hexed really took off, helps her with the business end of authorship, as well as the — ahem — business end of writing male characters, too.
“Sometimes I’ll ask him about, you know, how the anatomy feels,” she explains, giggling. “Because I’m not a guy, I need help in that way.” He’s not a big romance reader, but has been her rock throughout her journey, not to mention her biggest cheerleader.
And speaking of cheerleaders, McIntire is proud to use her platform to uplift other creators, too.
“I love working with up-and-coming artists for my covers,” she explains, “And I really want them to be unique and really different from what’s already on the shelves and from each other. So when you see a Sugarlake book, you know it’s going to be different from a Never After book, but all still have the Emily McIntire writing.”
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Next up on the horizon? A new series called Defying the Stars where, as McIntire teases, “the love is star-crossed and the gossip is HOT!” It will kick off with Burning Daylight, coming Sept. 30 No spoilers, but think gritty contemporary romance, a corrupt town with some morally gray characters, reimaginings of classic love stories (trust us, you’ll definitely know at least the first one) and of course, happily ever afters.
In the meantime, McIntire encourages her fans and newcomers alike to keep watching her channels and reading her books — and other romance writers’ too. “That’s the best thing about the romance community,” she says. “We all love each other, and read each other, and lift each other up. It’s just the best, most mutually supportive community there is. I love it. I love us.”
