A little about me.
My real name is Olena Zhyvohliad; I write fiction as Olenka Dark.
I’ve spent more than a decade developing software, and that experience follows me into fiction. I want to understand how a world works: how its technology shapes its politics, what its magic makes possible, and who gets to decide how either is used.
I’m writing The Wrong Princess, set in Miovs, where advanced technology and magic coexist. At its centre is Serafina Faelor, a young woman whose future has been planned by other people—and whose choices begin to disrupt those plans.
I map the story so that it has room to surprise me.
I’m also working on The Most Original Dark Sci-Fi Romantasy Ever Written (working title), a satirical dark sci-fi romantasy for readers who love the genre and know its tropes by heart.
Writing the novel also led me to develop uNovelist ↗. I needed a way to follow the connections between characters, events, secrets, and the world around them. Building tools became another part of my creative process.
On Substack and Medium, I write about that process: the discoveries, the complications, and the moments when the best thing I can do is close my notes and write.