Indie Romance, Zombie Worlds, and Doing the Work — with Christine Layne

I met Christine Layne on Threads. She was organizing indie book signings, we teamed up for two of them, and I invited her to The Author’s Mic™. That’s the indie life right there: collaboration, not waiting for permission.

What I didn’t know then? Christine writes romance under a pen name and dark romance/horror under her real name. And her first big story started the way so many real stories do—at 3 a.m., with a wide-awake baby.

The midnight origin story

When her youngest stopped sleeping, Christine told herself “bedtime stories” to stay calm. Scene by scene, she built characters, a world, and a plot in her head. A year later she wrote it down: 90,000 words of zombie survival.

She queried. Rejections. Silence. Then she swapped drafts with two romance writers, tried the genre herself, and hit publish. One book became four. Momentum matters.

“For indie authors, the hardest part isn’t money — it’s discipline.” — Christine Layne

What counts as romance (and why readers care)

Romance lives and dies by the promise: HEA (Happily Ever After) or HFN (Happy For Now). You don’t have to jump to age eighty, but readers need to feel the commitment on the page. Christine often ends in marriage; her point is simple—happy looks different for different people.

Meanwhile, the zombie saga lives on. She’s planned it as a five-book series led by the same couple, new places, new antagonists, same heartbeat.

Indie truth: discipline over deadlines

Being indie means you are the calendar.

• Pre-orders only work if you upload on time.
• Editors and vendors depend on your files showing up.
• No boss = you still have to be the boss.

Craft notes: write the movie, then tidy the cuts

Christine writes cinematically—she can see the expressions and beats. That can lead to repeated tics (ask her about the winky MMC) or skipped transitions because she watched them in her head. The fix: beta readers and a trusted critique partner who flag gaps and patterns.

What’s next

• Novella collection: 12 interconnected standalones, rolling out quarterly starting in January. Read in any order.
• Zombie series: five books following the same couple across shifting settings and threats.

Why this matters for indie authors

• Start messy; finish anyway.
• Keep the genre promise your readers showed up for.
• Treat your timeline like a contract.
• Get eyes on your work before launch.
• Don’t rely only on social—show up in person when you can.

Find Christine

• Instagram: @ChristineLayneAuthor
• Books: on Amazon (signed copies available directly from Christine by request)

Be a Guest on The Author’s Mic™: https://brightheadedpublishing.com/be-a-guest

Join or Pitch the Indie Reader Society (indie authors only): https://brightheadedpublishing.com

Free 44-page guide — So You Wanna Write a Book: https://brightheadedpublishing.com

Your words matter. Let’s get them out there.