Rebecca Yarros' New Book Saved Her: 'If I Hadn't Written “Variation”, I Wouldn't Have Written “Onyx Storm'” (Exclusive)

The longtime contemporary romance author reflects on her stratospheric rise to fame after 'Fourth Wing' — and the social media tidal wave that followed

Rebecca Yarros has a new contemporary romance coming out, and writing it all but saved her life.

The Colorado-based author, 43, has written 25 books, but after her dragon-riding romantasy Fourth Wing rocketed to the top of the New York Times bestseller list in 2023, selling more than 2 million copies, and sparking hashtags that racked up over a billion views on TikTok, Yarros’ star rose with it. That attracted a ravenous online community, which brought adoring fans and harsh critics to her doorstep, sometimes literally.

“Social media is very much like a hall of mirrors, and when you stare too long, it distorts who you think you are,” Yarros says, echoing what she told her kids when the online firestorm began. “Mostly it’s just remembering that real life is what happens inside my house and not in my phone.”

In a conversation with PEOPLE for this week’s print issue, Yarros explained how she’s still emerging from the “tidal wave” of the past year that put her health, family’s safety and even her writing in jeopardy — with the help of her new book, Variation.

Related: Rebecca Yarros Has a New Book Coming — And It's Full of Family Drama (Exclusive)

The novel, out Tuesday, Nov. 19, from Montlake, follows an elite ballerina named Allie who returns home after an injury to find an old flame has resurfaced, not to mention swarms of painful memories. When that old beau’s niece shows up on her doorstep, it throws Allie’s life into turmoil.

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“Social media and TikTok play a role in Variation,” Yarros says, “so I can look back and see what I wish I had been able to say to myself, which is, ‘This is not a healthy place. You can delete [social media]. You don’t have to do this.’ "

And while some fans have questioned Yarros’ choice to write her new contemporary romance in the first place, as they clamor for the January release of Onyx Storm, she has an answer for that too.

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“I've had a year to kind of adjust and grow and write Variation, which I think helped process a lot of those emotions. And I can tell you, if I hadn't written Variation, I would not have written Onyx Storm. If I hadn’t written Variation, I wouldn’t have survived.”

The new novel also marks a return to the form that launched her career, and still represents the bulk of her creative work.

“Really, branching into fantasy was kind of an outlier for me, and my first loves are always a combination of fantasy and romance,” she says. “I couldn't write the fantasy without writing the romance. The romance is really what causes you to focus inward on internal conflict and character struggles. And it makes an even richer fantasy when you go back to it.”

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And never fear, fans: Yarros is not leaving either genre behind any time soon. When she’s writing fantasy, she’s usually got a contemporary romance spinning around in her head, and vice versa. 

“I get to balance both, so I honestly can't imagine ever giving either genre up,” she says. “They each enrich the other so very much that it would be impossible to let either of them go. Writing contemporary allows me to just let my brain go and really explore internal conflicts. And of course, love, because if it doesn't have love, I'm not interested.”

Variation by Rebecca Yarros comes out Nov. 19 from Montlake and is available for preorder now, wherever books are sold.