KG: I kind of wanted to do it too. Honestly. Like, it seems kind of fun like bocce but on ice and like with a broom.
KR: That’s exactly it. There is a ton of local beer leagues you can join to curl. A lot of people go to bonspiels on the weekends where it’s just like an excuse to drink all day and get together and play a really fun sport. I have friends that do that! So I knew enough about curling. I know how to play. I had to look up a few terms, mostly so I could just make them kind of sexual puns for one scene….
KG: Very important.
KR: It’s my favorite scene. Now, one of the main characters in your book is an improv comedian. Did you do a lot of improv yourself?
KG: I have dated a lot of comedians, and I’ve always been really interested in the women who are able to hang with it. I think it’s gotten better in the past few years, but it’s a really hard place for a woman to thrive. When deciding what Ari’s job should be, I felt like I wanted her to do something that was going to be really difficult, which requires somebody who can just totally roll with the punches, who’s very spontaneous and really funny.
KR: And there is so much humor in the book, but it’s also an emotional roller coaster. Both up and down. Where did you get the inspiration for the breakup in the book?
KG: I think part of that roller coaster is because this story started as fanfic. You post chapter by chapter, and you grow this built-in audience, and you have to take them up and take them down, leave them on a cliffhanger. But as I got into writing this book, I think I often felt I was arguing with myself, because I see both of the characters as aspects of myself, even though they’re so different. They’re arguing about things I feel that are deeply personal to me. Do you want to be in a committed relationship? How stable do you want to be versus how much freedom do you want to have? Just a lot of the internal struggles that I’ve had with myself over the course of my adulthood and often feeling like there are no right answers.
KR: How else do you think writing fanfiction affected how you approach telling a story?
KG: I come from the film world. I had written some plays and tried to write a romcom screenplay. So all of my knowledge about how you build a story comes from screenwriting books and screenplays. But being in the fanfiction community really helped me understand how to craft a longer narrative, because I had never tried to do that before. And I don’t think I would have written as much as I did if I didn’t feel like I had an audience. I had people who wanted to see what was going to happen next, and that was so encouraging. I don’t know if I would have ever been able to write this book if I hadn’t started that way. Was this your first book or had you written other books before? It doesn’t really seem like a debut to me. It seems like somebody who knows what they’re doing, and I’d love to know how you go about it.
KR: This was my third attempt at a book. The first book is so bad. I will save it. So one day, I can give it to people and make them laugh and show them that you can get better at things if you try. I saw a clip of Ed Sheeran on some talk show where he says how talent isn’t something you’re born with, it’s something you need to develop. They played a clip of him playing guitar and singing earlier in his career, and he’s genuinely terrible. It was the same for me. I get better with every book. My first book is like that clip: genuinely terrible. And then I loved the next book I wrote, but it wasn’t the right time for it. But it was a good learning experience for me. And then with this one, I had an idea. I knew how it ended before I even sat down to write it. I had the plot in my head. And it just flew out pretty quickly.
KG: Was there any time you had to kill a particular darling? Where you had to get rid of an entire character or scene you really loved?
KR: So…I really hate owls. And there was this rant about owls in one scene, how they’re the absolute worst, and our editor eventually had to say…I just don’t think this rant really fits here? But other than that, no. I’m definitely an underwriter. I had to build out things a bit more, like the sister relationship, to make the story fuller. So I think I’m not one to kill darlings but add additional ones. What about you?
KG: Oh, there’s literally almost nothing that hasn’t been touched or transformed in this book. There are a couple of characters who were some of my favorites that had to go for different reasons. But there was a whole sequence where Ari worked as a comedian on a cruise ship…
KR: No!
KG: Yup. There was a whole cruise ship section, but it just seemed like a bridge too far, and so eventually I cut the whole thing, and that’s probably one of the biggest changes. But maybe I’ll save it for another book, because I do find cruise ships really fascinating. I did a lot of research. I’ve watched so many “cruiser” channels on YouTube. My YouTube recommendations are screwed forever.
KR: I love it. I actually started to write a story about yachties, because I have always wanted to be one. I thought there could be so much good scandal that would happen on a yacht. So I do understand the love of the cruise ship culture.
KG: And we also agree that, as you wrote in your book, pants are the worst.
KR: And tequila. We both have excellent taste in tequila! Each of our characters drink Casamigos.
KG: And both of our books are pretty spicy! How did you approach incorporating spice level into your book?
KR: I think steam in romance books is having its day right now. People are looking for fun stories and then some hot sex.
KG: Yeah, I feel like it can be weirdly controversial sometimes, but I do think that when you’re writing romance, there’s something nice about the story “paying off” in a way that you can actually describe without just emotion. It’s satisfying for the reader. There’s plenty of books I love that have zero steam, but I find that when people can skillfully portray sex and intimacy, it really helps to drive home the development of a relationship. And I think that was perfectly done in your book.
KR: And I think with my book, there’s lots of things that wouldn’t really happen in real life. Let’s hope. You don’t do a spell and wind up in an alternate reality. But it’s fun to imagine, and then I also wanted to deliver with fun, satisfying, steamy sex as well.
KG: You know, reading your book reminded me of the 2000s era of romantic comedies, like 13 Going on 30, or Just like Heaven. Where there was a sprinkling of fairy dust and somebody could live a different aspect of their life. It brought back a lot of those vibes.
KR: It’s funny you say that. When I wrote this, we were smack-dab in the middle of the pandemic, and those types of movies were all I wanted. I couldn’t read; my brain just wanted to watch movies where I already knew the ending. I just wanted that predictable comfort of a little bit of whimsy. That was my mind when I wrote this: I don’t want to be here. I just want to escape. I want something that makes me happy the entire time I’m reading it.
KG: Absolutely. That’s what made it so easy for me to just fly through it, because I was enjoying every moment. Is that what you look for when reading romance, too? For me, as a reader, there’s nothing better. There’s no better sign than when I can just read something straight through and don’t even want to take a break to eat a sandwich. I just want to keep reading. That’s the sweet spot for romance, because it just feels right to read.
KR: Yeah, I love to get my heart torn out. I love angst. Sometimes. But sometimes I just like easy, enjoyable reading. And I think that there’s a whole bunch of different types of romance books out there, and you can choose your adventure. What are you in the mood for? What’s your kink? What’s your trope? What are you feeling tonight? And you can find something excellent for every different situation. That’s why I love romance.
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