PHOTO: Onley James, author of dark and snarky m/m romances, pictured in the midst of her creative world.
Exploring Morally Grey Men And The Art Of Dark Romance
Onley James discusses her creative influences, character development, and the unique storytelling approach that drives her dark m/m romances, bridging trauma, diversity, and morally grey vigilantes.
Onley James is an author who dares to tread into the shadowy recesses where morality blurs and human behaviour reveals its beautifully flawed intricacies. With a bold lens trained on the darker shades of humanity, James masterfully constructs characters who are not merely ‘good’ or ‘bad,’ but richly complex, deeply layered, and infinitely compelling. Her stories explore a balance where love defies conventional logic, and her protagonists, often walking the tightrope of psychopathic tendencies, find themselves ensnared in romances that challenge more than just societal expectations. Her writing doesn’t shy away from the taboo—it confronts it with unflinching curiosity and a sincere desire to portray humanity in all its myriad forms.
At the heart of Onley James’s creative vision lies her fascination with the resilience of not only romance, but also the human condition itself. Influenced by her professional background in psychiatric nursing and a life-long passion for true crime, James crafts tales that delve into trauma, redemption, and survival—not as abstract concepts, but as lived experiences. Her ability to unearth raw strands of emotion and weave them into compelling narratives is a testament to her insight into the psyche and her refusal to shy away from the complexities of healing, love, and connection.
Through works such as the addictive Necessary Evils series and her espionage-layered Watch books, James reimagines what it means to write romance. She argues convincingly not only about the truth that monsters can fall in love but that they might love in a way far more meaningful than their ostensibly human counterparts. Such is the allure of her fiction—sharp-edged, unfiltered, and gloriously unapologetic. Beyond her stories’ polished intrigue and clever dialogue lies an intention to reveal how love, even in its darkest forms, remains a vital force to be reckoned with.
What inspired you to create the Mulvaney family of morally grey vigilantes in the Necessary Evils series?
I am a huge fan of Dexter. There’s something really satisfying about watching bad people do bad things for the greater good. And someone once said that the only way we knew Dexter was a psychopath was his inner monologue and without that he would have looked like the most well-adjusted guy ever. And that stuck with me. While psychopathy isn’t an actual clinical diagnosis, we all know that people exhibiting these traits, namely, a lack of empathy, remorse, fear, do exist. Most psychopaths live totally normal lives, but they have to work at ‘being human’. I wanted to know what that would look like as a love interest who couldn’t feel love. I had written a sociopathic character in an earlier series and my readers were demanding more. So I thought, why not give them a whole family of psychopaths, each one different and unique in how they approached the idea of love, romance and relationships.
How did you develop the unique dynamic between Mal and Nico in Barbarian?
They’re actually based on a real life couple. My favourite trope is the one where a couple is dating and everyone knows it but the couple. That was these two. Totally clueless about how in love and possessive they both were. Two very different brands of neurodiverse converging into one very chaotic relationship.
Can you share the inspiration behind the character of Arsen in Paladin?
He is based on a TikTokker out of Russia, blue hair and all. I don’t know this person aside from his thirst traps, so everything after that was just straight out of my head. I don’t plot or create character bios for my characters so most of the time I’m winging it. I know who they are only as they spill onto the paper. It’s why I make so many continuity errors. I never write anything down.
What challenges did you face while writing the final instalment, Maniac, in the Necessary Evils series?
Clinical depression, for one. Between the angst of these two characters, the years of hurt built up between them, and the level of expectation from my readers, I was pretty much on the verge of a nervous breakdown every day. I had a playlist of super sad songs I listened to just to get into the right headspace and my daughter was like this is so unhealthy. She was right, but this was written pre-therapy. In the end, I just had to write their story how it came to me and hope it resonated with my readers. It’s the fear of failure that tends to make or break an author over time.
How do you approach character development across interconnected series like Necessary Evils and Jericho’s Boys?
Once they’re on the page, it’s easy to see who they are, so to speak. Sometimes it’s not easy for my readers, but I know, deep down, the things that happened that shaped who they are. This is where my background as a paediatric psych nurse comes in handy. A lot of the trauma my characters experienced is based on real events. It’s, sadly, far too common. But the nice thing about writing interconnected standalones is that everyone gets their moment and everyone finally gets their happily ever after, even if it’s not quite how my readers thought it would go.
What themes do you explore in The Sin Eater, and how do they differ from your previous works?
The Sin Eater, and the Watch series in general, is both the same and different. The premise, children exhibiting psychopathic tendencies are placed with powerful people and raised to eventually go to the Watch to be deep cover operatives for the government. It’s Necessary Evils but global. However, these books are part romance, part spy novel so the plots have to be slightly more intricate and a lot more big picture.
How does your personal interest in true crime influence your storytelling and character creation?
I have been studying serial killers ever since I discovered the true crime section of my library when I was twelve. My parents were slightly alarmed by my hyperfixation but thought what could be the harm? I started reading books by Robert Ressler in high school. Whoever Fights Monsters changed my life. That book is where I decided I would study psycho-biology and become an FBI behavioural profiler. Being autistic, I’m extremely good at memorisation and pattern recognition, which is a lot of what profiling is. The other part is instinct. My parents were adamant that they did not want me studying psychology so in the end I became an RN who worked in psych. Now I use my love of true crime in a much different way.
What advice would you offer to aspiring authors looking to write compelling and diverse romance narratives?
Just do it. The biggest problem most authors have is never finishing the first draft. Anything can be fixed in edits but you can’t write what you can’t see. When it comes to writing diversity, make sure you’re writing real people and not stereotypes of those people. I’m sure I’ve made mistakes along the way but always keep learning. Go to romance education cons, find your network of authors who write what you write, get beta readers and sensitivity readers.
