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What is a Central Love Story? feat. Nisha Sharma
37 Plays11 days ago
In the third episode of The Write Way of Life’s ~Romance Season~, Karis Rogerson had a conversation with popular YA and Adult romance author Nisha Sharma. Nisha’s upcoming YA romantasy, Illusions of Fire, releases Oct. 7, 2025. Karis and Nisha chatted about what a central love story means, why it’s important, how to create chemistry, and so much more about crafting a great romance novel!
You can find Nisha Sharma on Instagram and TikTok as well as subscribe to her newsletter.
The Write Way of Life is a craft-focused author interview podcast by Karis Rogerson & A.D Jolietta. Follow The Write Way of Life on Instagram or find us on our website. Follow Karis on Instagram and subscribe to her newsletter. Follow Adi on Instagram.
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Transcript
Intro
00:00:27
Speaker
Hello everyone and welcome to a new episode of the Right Way of Life podcast. My name is Karis Rogerson. I am an author, editor, and podcaster and I am here with my co-host, the one and only Aidy Joletta.
00:00:41
Speaker
How are you, Addie? I am doing well, doing well. It is a Sunday morning at the end of September, which feels crazy. Because it's still so hot.
00:00:53
Speaker
This is true. This is, that's actually the worst part is I i can't handle September heat. I think it's immoral. Yes. To speak to the manager about it. I can barely handle July heat. Like, what do you mean it's September and I still have to sweat?
00:01:10
Speaker
Unreal.
00:01:13
Speaker
Unreal. Unreal. Oh my god. This just reminds me that the rapture was supposed to happen last week. On Tuesday. Speaking of the manager. God, their rapture. It's been a wild time, but apparently they've rescheduled the rapture. Well, yes, because didn't you see they were going off the Gregorian calendar, which didn't exist during Bible times. Right. So it needs to be the Julius calendar. Which is October Right. Or 7th. Some wiggle room there for...
00:01:45
Speaker
You know, God can choose his time. Although we also know, biblically speaking, um nobody will know the time of the rapture. So I'm pretty like, I'm i'm like pretty confident that it's not going to happen on October 6th or seven
00:02:03
Speaker
um Anyway. It's a wild time. Such a wild time. ah My god. I haven't been here. I haven't done an intro in like four weeks.
00:02:17
Speaker
um Thank you so much Adi for doing the solo intro for our last for second episode to our listeners. um I will just share what happened because I don't mind and I love to be open about things and I also posted about it on Instagram already.
00:02:33
Speaker
Um, but two weeks ago, the day we were supposed to record our intro for the episode on the HEA with Shelly J. Shore, which is simply such an incredible episode. I adored listening to it.
00:02:45
Speaker
But that day I ended up going to the ER, um, in an attempt to check into the psych unit. Alas, insurance exists and is a pain in the ass. And so I was unable to be admitted.
00:02:58
Speaker
But I did hightail it down south for a couple of weeks to hang out with my family. um Turns out that I need like social time approximately, you know, 10 hours of the day which I've not been getting.
00:03:14
Speaker
And so my therapist, my doctor, my parents are like, you know, I just go to South Carolina, you can just follow your mom around like a little lost puppy. for a couple of weeks. You'll get your social time built up. You'll get back on your meds. You'll feel better.
00:03:27
Speaker
um so I did that and I do feel better. So yeah. but Thank you, Addy, for that intro that you did and for Just taking the reins for that week.
00:03:40
Speaker
Absolutely. i got you. got you anytime. Mental health is really important and I'm glad that you asked for help and that you got help. Me too Yeah. Yeah. This podcast is really important to me. And so if I don't ask for help, I can't keep doing the podcast. And what ah what a shame that would be.
00:03:56
Speaker
That would be a shame because this podcast could not happen without you all. Well, no, no, no. let me Let me be so very, very clear.
00:04:09
Speaker
um Oh, man. ah Great. So we got one update. what are you What are you writing? Have you been writing in the last couple weeks?
00:04:20
Speaker
Yeah. So it's wild because two weeks ago I was in the middle of a draft of a a young adult novel in verse that I was revising. um i actually put the finishing touches on that draft one week ago today.
00:04:34
Speaker
Sent it off to a beta reader. Had a couple days of being like, woohoo! Yeah! And then was like, fuck it, we draft. And so now I'm back at drafting my witchy paranormal romance.
00:04:48
Speaker
And I'm having so much fun with it. This is an adult project. It's the quick pitch that I give is that it's like witches meets Pokemon Go for monsters in New York City while they fall in love. Like, um you got to collect them all.
00:05:03
Speaker
Parentheses monsters. um And it's just been a blast. And it's very like, it's so interesting writing. This is now my second adult romance that I'm drafting.
00:05:15
Speaker
And the first one was very, like, there it's... spicy in the sense that there are spice scenes in the first book, the revenge book, but it's not horny o per se.
00:05:28
Speaker
It's like, and I still think it works. Like I still think it, the spice works. It's just the characters are not as like horny as the ones in this book, which are, they like, you know, make eye contact across a crowded room and they're both like, I gotta get her clothes off. Like,
00:05:45
Speaker
jump her bones, make out, let's go. And I was like writing that and I was like, holy crap, they're so horny.
00:05:54
Speaker
Who let them out of the house like this?
00:05:59
Speaker
Indeed. Okay. So we got, so yearning versus, versus Yeah. And there's still going to be yearning. I hope. I love to write a year. And I did watch, All of the summer I turned pretty this year. um Adore the show. Adore Conrad.
00:06:16
Speaker
and ah i was about to ask. oh Are you team Conrad or team, what's the other one, Jeremiah? Jeremiah. So here's the thing, though. Okay. In season one, i was, so when I read the books as a teen, as a early 20s, I was like team Conrad all the way.
00:06:30
Speaker
We love a moody boy. we love a you know, whatever. And then i started the show and I could see the argument for Jeremiah. And because we weren't getting the context of, like, why Conrad was the way he was in season one, I just was like, I think Jeremiah might be better for her.
00:06:50
Speaker
And then we got to season two, and I was like, oh, no, but they're so cute. Like, her and Conrad. And then season three, and I was like, Jeremiah, come near me, and I'm gonna kick you into the ocean. Like, you're just, it's over. You're evil. You're bad. You're the villain.
00:07:08
Speaker
So I've come full circle ah back to my original. That makes sense. I have been osmosis watching The Summer I Turned Pretty on TikTok in clips. And that is that is generally the vibes that I have gotten. i am also Team Conrad.
00:07:23
Speaker
I've not seen the show, but I'm like- Let's go, Connie baby. Speaking of TikTok, what are your thoughts on the new TikTok like acquisition thing? Because I've deleted my account.
00:07:37
Speaker
um I think it's a very funny thing happening, um mostly because my understanding of how business deals work is that if you're going to acquire a product from a foreign um entity like ByteDance, one presumes that ByteDance would need to be in the room for such deals. Right.
00:07:58
Speaker
One does presume. One does presume. My other understanding is that the Chinese government has a significant stake in ByteDance and would need to approve said deal. And um my understanding is that ah the Chinese government has not approved said deal. So I'm perplexed.
00:08:14
Speaker
I'm perplexed at the fact that Oracle has seemingly paid the federal government in a finder's fee to and be chosen as the entity that is going to buy the U.S. version of TikTok.
00:08:27
Speaker
I'm not saying that that sounds like a bribe, but I looked it up in the dictionary and they use the same words. So maybe we're, maybe we're changing the definition of bribe.
00:08:38
Speaker
i did look up bribe in the dictionary and I saw a photo of Oracle. That's a lie. I didn't do that. um Fake news, fake news. um Yeah. I, I, I don't know. I think that like,
00:08:55
Speaker
Yeah. I think that ah ah there's a lot of clowning around going on and a lot of money being moved.
00:09:06
Speaker
And I don't know if it's meant to actually buy the things that it's meant to buy or if it's... I mean, who knows? Who knows? i i will say this.
00:09:18
Speaker
I love to be a pirate. I love my VPN. So um for me... I will always have the international TikTok.
00:09:28
Speaker
i will like Life finds a way. um i But I don't, I think, here's the thing. it it feels like you're It feels like Donald Trump is trying to parent the United States and being like, we're going to take away TikTok from you.
00:09:45
Speaker
Meanwhile, he has zero coping skills, just as parents can say all they want that they're not going to let their child watch television. Or let the TV be a babysitter.
00:09:56
Speaker
And then you have a screaming toddler that won't shut up. And you're going on three hours of sleep in the past week. And you say, you know what, Bluey? It's on. You're Here you go. and Take the reins, Bluey.
00:10:10
Speaker
Take the reins. And that's what TikTok is. And I think that Donald Trump can say that he's going to ban this app or he's going to change it. like But I just don't believe it. I think you're so correct because the word that has come to mind so often over the past months when I look at like the administration and their plans for this country, apart from, you know, fascism, authoritarianism, evil, etc.
00:10:31
Speaker
A word that has come up often is like paternalistic. Like they they genuinely think that America is a country made up of toddlers who don't know how to run their own lives. And we need these child men they are they're they're babies but we need them to tell us how to live and that's why they're doing like and to me that and patriarchy honestly explains so much of the the choices they make where it's like you know what we know better than you you don't need reproductive rights you just need to have my babies you know you don't need a job you just need to raise my babies
00:11:06
Speaker
Yeah, have have the babies with zero um ah pain relief or medication. No Tylenol. the Nothing. You need to have, you need to experience pregnancy, ah you know, as natural as can be. You need to experience childbirth and the ramifications of that because pain, pain is godly.
00:11:25
Speaker
Pain necessary. Until I kick you in the nuts. And then pain is a bad thing. Anyway, um to be clear, To whoever is listening, I'm not planning to assault anyone in the administration by kicking them in the nuts.
00:11:37
Speaker
I'm not planning it. But if the opportunity arises, no, just kidding. I'm not planning to. That's all I'm going to say. We will only have to be charged with the second a second degree. This is a hypothetical.
00:11:50
Speaker
Hypothetically speaking. Oh, God. Okay. What about you, Addy? What have you been writing? Oh, God. I – okay. So i I had planned to take September to, like, focus on like, taking a solid two-week break from writing because I also rampaged and finished, like, a play that I had been writing since 2019. I talked about this in, like, the intro for the last episode because didn't have anything else talk about but um because I didn't have you.
00:12:17
Speaker
Yeah. So I thought that I was just going to like chill out and then wait for feedback from folks because I've yeeted out to to two stories now to folks. Like weve got the we've got the rom-com out in the world to my to my friends.
00:12:31
Speaker
And then I've also got the play to my theater friends. And so I was like, what if I just don't write? and then Regrettably, that didn't turn... Now I'm now i'm like cheating on myself and my writing schedule with something that is not... I'm i'm not planning to write. it It's going to be like my little treat of like when I'm not writing, I can work on this, but I can't really, really work on it. so it's like It's an epic fantasy that would never sell.
00:13:00
Speaker
It has... and it has Six or seven main characters. Nice. The joy of this project is I don't know where it's going. I'm purposely not plotting it out because I'm i'm allowing it to be – because like right when you're when you're so focused on, for me at least, like eventually getting traditionally published, I'm very cognizant of like the time that I am spending working on things.
00:13:25
Speaker
And sometimes I forget the joy of writing. And so I'm allowing this project to be my little joy, the thing that i work on when I am taking a quote unquote writing and break. I don't know if that is just overworking myself. Well, I think it's, there's a lot of validity to trying to to read rekindle the joy and the love of writing just for fun. Something that I have never in my life known.
00:13:49
Speaker
um I started writing because I wanted to be published someday. I was like very competitive about it with a dead 11 year old. No, she won' she didn't die when she was 11. She just was 11 like 100 years before 11.
00:14:01
Speaker
Wait, who are you competitive? What's her name? Who is she? ah Well, ah yeah I talk about this in another podcast that I do, so I'll like spill the beans there. Okay. All right. What's this podcast called? I'll tell you about it and some other time.
00:14:15
Speaker
But anyways, i am just deeply competitive and have felt like I was behind since I was like the tender age of 12. And now I'm the big old age of 32. And guess what? I'm still behind.
00:14:28
Speaker
Are you though? Or is the is the journey the... Okay, shut up. ah
00:14:36
Speaker
um Okay, what about – what have you read lately? oh i actually – was going to come prepared and then I didn't, um which is to say that I opened my Libby app and was like, I got to remember these books.
00:14:50
Speaker
um failed The one that I'm ah reading that I really, really like is it's called Chasing the Stars, which By James Lattice and Kelly Terrell, which is a, history well, it's nonfiction historical about astronomy in Wisconsin, which is where I'm currently living.
00:15:09
Speaker
Oh, cool. So it's really, it's really cool. I like, I like reading nonfictiony stuff. um So that's sort of like what's on my shelf right now. I'm doing, I've got one that's called Seven Brief Lessons on Physics.
00:15:20
Speaker
ah Alien Oceans, which I'm sort of rereading, finishing reading, which I talked about earlier in like February, March. Nice. And then the big title, the book that is, that I'm slowly making my way through is The Death of Public School.
00:15:37
Speaker
Oh. Yeah. so Heavy. Lovely American public school system. So nothing, nothing, because I think, I think my brain has too much. Mm-hmm. Too much of. You could try reading some like contemporary romance sometime.
00:15:52
Speaker
yeah Yeah, actually I should. yeah That wasn't like a, that wasn't like a won't because I do, I do love it. I go through those phases, right? Like you, like wind and wax, like wind, wax and wane. Wax and wane.
00:16:06
Speaker
Wind and wane.
00:16:10
Speaker
One of those. ah Yeah, I like wax and wane between like contemporary romance, romance, fantasy, nonfiction, self-help books. Yeah.
00:16:21
Speaker
I just read them all at the same time. Oh, I have to like, I don't know, my brain needs to like burrow in a Yeah, my brain explicitly needs to not burrow in. It needs a variety of things to taste every day.
00:16:40
Speaker
That's fair. But I am reading, I'm reading four books right now and I'll talk about two of them. um i'm about halfway through summer girls which is the 2025 young adult contemporary romance released by jennifer dugan who's one of my favorite sapphic romance authors and it's so it's just like fun it's you know hate to love these girls just can't stand each other they're so different one is a summer girl in a beach town in
00:17:11
Speaker
somewhere on the northeastern coast um and she's like rich and they come in and they just ruin things for the summer and the other one is a quote-unquote townie and she hates the summer girls and so of course they're gonna fall in love and it talks a lot about like class and gentrification and just all of that but i'm also reading um an arc of st gibson's upcoming ah novel which is called Savage Blooms it's part of the a trilogy that's like gothic erotic polyamorous romance and it is a little bit everything to me I'm having so much fun with it god I love it um and also I recently finished
00:17:57
Speaker
um I recently finished the anthology vampires wait what's it vampires never get old which is part of ah ah a trilogy of anthologies that were edited by Natalie C. Parker and Zoraida Cordova.
00:18:15
Speaker
And they're YA stories, and these ones are all vampire stories. ah Fun fact, this is where First Kill was first published. That's the V.E. Schwab TV show, The Sapphic Vampire, Vampire Hunter.
00:18:27
Speaker
um or lesbian vampire vampire hunter that was the short story came from this anthology so i finally read that and it was just as delightful as v schwab's other vampire magnum opus the one and only barrier bones in the midnight soil which addy knows i finally finished and just holy shit
00:18:47
Speaker
I think about it like daily. Same. it It lingers. And not in like an aww, but in like a whoa, that choice and that means that this and the the character did this and that's because then, oh god.
00:19:00
Speaker
It's like I could write ah trillion academic papers about it and it would be so fun.
00:19:07
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Indeed. But um it looks like it's about time to turn to the meat of our episode for today, which you'll know from the title, we're discussing ah central love story.
00:19:21
Speaker
We, um this is the second sort of pillar or like definite defining genre must have for romance and I sat down and I talked with Nisha Sharma about this and it was such a great time so I'll go ahead and read Nisha's bio and then we'll just hop on into the conversation with her So, Nisha Sharma is a South Asian YA and adult contemporary romance writer living in the Philly suburbs with her Alaskan husband, daughter, and a plethora of animals named after characters in literature.
00:19:57
Speaker
Her books have been included in best-of lists by the New York Times, NPR, Entertainment Weekly, Cosmopolitan, The Washington Post, Time Magazine, and more.
00:20:09
Speaker
She is an advocate for marginalized authors and publishing, PhD student in literature and social justice, and a corporate executive leading global cultural efforts in tech and pharma.
00:20:20
Speaker
When she's not championing narratives about radical joy or teaching inclusivity, Nisha can be found napping because she's always tired. And if that's not relatable, AF.
00:20:33
Speaker
All right. Hello, everyone. And hello, Nisha. How are you? I am great. Thanks for having me. Of course. We're, well, I say we as though I'm multiple people. I am so excited to have you here today. We're talking about the central love story, which is one of the two sort of
00:20:54
Speaker
pillars of the romance genre, right? Like one of the two things that you need in order for it to be considered a romance. And before we dive in, though, I am wondering if you could just let us know about you and your romance books that are out and forthcoming.
00:21:10
Speaker
Yeah, sure. um So um I write young adult and adult contemporary romance. um I started in the young adult genre back in 2018 with um My So-Called Bollywood Life, which won a Rita Award for Best buy Romance.
00:21:30
Speaker
um And it's um kind of the the one book that a lot of South Asian readers have often um found me through that novel. um I then transitioned into writing um contemporary romance with Avon. And um my first trade novel was Dating Dr. Dill, which came out in 2022.
00:21:56
Speaker
And that was Shakespeare novel. and that was a shakespeare ah adaptation of Taming of the Shrew. it was the first in a trilogy and the last book in that trilogy just finished up last year. So um this, ah my my most recent release is a young adult novel again. It's called Illusions of Fire and it's actually my first fantasy.
00:22:19
Speaker
um It's inspired by Buffy. I always, I tell people it's like Percy Jackson with romance. Ooh.
00:22:28
Speaker
That's a great selling point. Yeah. yeah Yeah, um i it's wild. I feel like I've been seeing Dating Dr. Dill around since like, for like seven years, but it's only been three years since 2022. That's wild.
00:22:44
Speaker
Time is weird.
00:22:47
Speaker
Yeah. All right. so I would love if you could just start us out, get us all on like a baseline understanding what is the central love story like as it pertains to romance novels?
00:23:00
Speaker
Why is it important? Yeah, so um there are two types of romances. There there are stories that have a romance plot line just a regular just a love story plot.
00:23:16
Speaker
And then there our romance not with like the are R. Yeah. The genre romance novel has two categories two specific characteristics.
00:23:29
Speaker
It's the central love story and ah happily ever after or happy for now. um The central love story is often between ah two or more protagonists um that are um both on a journey to um find each other And in order to find each other, they have to um develop themselves.
00:23:56
Speaker
So um oftentimes romance is ah like stereotyped as, oh, it's just like person A falling in love with person B or C or D or whatever.
00:24:08
Speaker
um and that's it. But the truth is a lot of these romances um in order for themselves ah for readers to really truly believe that these characters belong together, they have to go through quite a bit of a a journey um and and to understand either their own identity, overcome an internal conflict, trauma,
00:24:36
Speaker
um overcome um baggage that has been holding them back. um And that's the only way they can really succeed um in this relationship and find their happily ever after.
00:24:50
Speaker
Yeah. So yeah, because without the obstacles they have to overcome, it's not really ah novel so much as a sentence.
00:25:01
Speaker
Like, yeah. Yeah. It would be boring if two people like met, they were like, oh, I like you, you like me, and oh, you know what? We work out.
00:25:13
Speaker
Great. and we like Let's just move in together. like yeah Even Hallmark Christmas movies have more conflict than Yeah, I'm thinking those stories are just, there can be pleasure in reading a piece of work that is just like these two characters get together, but I don't think that works in like publishing. wow So yeah. How do you write a compelling love story, both in terms of like, um,
00:25:45
Speaker
broad broadly like craft like broad picture but also like um what are some maybe more specific things that like you do to craft your love stories?
00:25:58
Speaker
No that's a great question and honestly I think as a writer I'm constantly learning myself like how do I write a better love story for my readers so um i I feel like there's not one answer or one solution to this because then we'd all be writing amazing love stories and figure it out um but The way that I like to look at love stories or writing romances specifically are um both characters have to be two very um ah unique individuals. They have to be fully fleshed out individuals and they have to be flawed in some way. Like if you have the perfect character,
00:26:39
Speaker
then you are setting yourself up for failure because like, what is that person supposed to be able to overcome in order to follow up? Right. yeah um So, so you have to have two flawed characters.
00:26:53
Speaker
um In addition to that, um they have to have some sort of a conflict within themselves or that is created by ah partnering with their one or more partners that could potentially um like cause ah friction or create a circumstance that they aren't able to get together.
00:27:18
Speaker
So for example, um ah you know in ah Dating Dr. Dill, the hero didn't believe in love. like He fundamentally thought that like love was, ah the idea of love was a hoax.
00:27:36
Speaker
And heroine has always believed in happily ever after. And so in order for him, ah for for their relationship to become anything more, um he had to come to terms with his belief system and give make sure that he was able to give the heroine what she really, truly wanted out of a partner, which was...
00:28:02
Speaker
which which was love with a capital L. Um, and so, you know, that's, that's one example. And another could be like this, the circumstances that they're in, like in illusions of fire, the hero and the heroine in that that story, particularly, um they are not supposed to be together. Like they, like, uh, if they, um, if the minute they touched, they basically created like, uh,
00:28:32
Speaker
Like they thinned the veil between worlds and because they were just their destinies were never supposed to intersect. um And for him to love her means that they potentially put at risk the people they love the most.
00:28:48
Speaker
um So, so that is like a circumstance that is an external conflict that's impacting both of their, um like but their relationship.
00:29:00
Speaker
But also it's not just external, right? it's not things happening to them. Like he has to decide whether or not he's strong enough to be able to come up with a solution to love her the way that um she needs for them to both believe they can make it through.
00:29:17
Speaker
hmm. So um it's that internal and external conflict that exists with the love story within themselves, within the world that they're placed in.
00:29:29
Speaker
And it all kind of comes together. And their flaws, like you mentioned, can work against or for the... like with the in In concert with the obstacles they're facing. right like That's a decision the author can make. his to you know If you have a character who's wound or flaw or misbelief, however authors think of it, like if you have a character whose wound is they believe they're not special, then you give them an obstacle that's like...
00:29:59
Speaker
ah why am i having such a hard time coming up with a plot on the fly? But, you know, like you you you work with it so that it makes it as um painful as possible. Yeah. And how do you, for single POV books, how you like,
00:30:13
Speaker
and how do you so for um single p ov books how do you sort of like juggle giving the love interest the flaw without, because you're not telling their story as themselves.
00:30:32
Speaker
So this, is I'm asking this personally for me, because it's what I'm struggling with in my current project. Yeah, no, it's hard. um I wrote my first single POV book called The Lotus and it comes out next year.
00:30:47
Speaker
and it was a struggle because I normally write dual POV and I was able to really like develop the conflict with both of the characters individually.
00:30:58
Speaker
um But with single POV, the one thing that I keep having to tell myself and that other writers have told me over the years that, you know, is, has been the best advice is to trust your reader.
00:31:13
Speaker
The way that your character acts is going to be like, identified, like, your reader's going to pick up on it. So this is what authors like Allie Hazelwood do so well. So Allie Hazelwood would only writes single POV, right? She had, ah like, third-person chapters from the hero's perspective in Bride, and then she had an epilogue in Deep End, I think, from the hero's perspective.
00:31:42
Speaker
But by then, you know, it's, like, you you already know, you already know that they're endgames. um So it's dialogue, ah like what is not being said in the dialogue, how they're described um as they navigate a scene, like ah where are their hand placements, where what is their body language, um what are some of the things that they do for the other protagonists that could potentially be interpreted as affection or as desire or as anger.
00:32:17
Speaker
um yeah So all of those things can um kind of give an indication about their feelings. And ah dialogue specifically can really kind of um demonstrate ah like the conflict that they may be going through. So for example, um i don't remember what book it was that I read, but it was single POV,
00:32:46
Speaker
And the hero would drop everything because they were raised by a single mom and their mom would call constantly looking for assurances that was okay.
00:33:03
Speaker
and would always put the mom before themselves, before their own career, before their own job, before the heroine. And so um it wasn't that like it was laid out for us that this is what the character was doing, but you know, the minute that phone rang, he looked like he was itching to pick it up.
00:33:24
Speaker
And you know, that itself was pretty telling about what their flaw was. And also like what they had to wrestle with in order to have a successful relationship with the other protagonist.
00:33:40
Speaker
Okay, that makes sense. And do you kind of, in terms of like the scope of the character journey, do you see either love interest without a POV or like side characters? Like, do you think of the the scope of what they're going through is at the same sort of level as the main character or like,
00:34:00
Speaker
even if it's off page, I guess. Yeah. Yeah. They, I mean, they should be the, they should be the star of their own narrative. Right. So, yeah um, as, and that's, that's also something that i learned with my first book and it was so helpful to be able to kind of like,
00:34:19
Speaker
remember that whenever I wrote them on the page, they weren't a vehicle for the protagonist to experience their own, like, love story. They had ah fully fleshed out story of their own that was just intersecting at key moments for the protagonist.
00:34:39
Speaker
I love that. And I love how perfectly that, like, works in romances where you have a series of, like, interconnected, you know, like, main character for book two comes up in book one. they're dealing with their own thing. And then in book two, they get to be the star. Like, I think, i don't know. I just, I love, I didn't know people could do that until I started reading adult romance, which was like, after I was deep in and was like, what? Like all the, all the best friends get books too.
00:35:04
Speaker
That's amazing. Yeah. It's so fun. um Okay. So one thing that is really important to a lot of people, probably all romance readers and authors is the chemistry between the characters, right? Like,
00:35:19
Speaker
you You want to feel like there's something there, whether that's emotional or physical or just spirit. Yeah, any kind of chemistry. But what I always wonder is, like, how do I how do i make them have chemistry?
00:35:33
Speaker
Like, three it's an because I think the trap I would fall into is like, oh, she's really hot. I'm really hot. We're both really hot together. And so that's chemistry. And it's like, well, that's not really how that works.
00:35:46
Speaker
Yeah, it's... I feel like there are like, um like Kennedy Ryan does chemistry really, really well. Right. um I keep thinking of the book before I let go as a really good example, because um i think Kennedy Ryan does this really well um in her book before I let go.
00:36:11
Speaker
the hero is like the heroine's worst nightmare because um he's the reason why her husband ended up going to jail.
00:36:23
Speaker
Oh, wow. um And, but the chemistry like kind of is so, tangible that like you can like reach into the page and touch it. That's like how thick it is. And I think a lot of it is the way that the hero is described looking at the heroine, the way that the hero navigates in the same space as the heroine, the way that that makes one or both of the protagonists nervous or alive or whatever, you know, descriptor is is chosen in that moment.
00:37:01
Speaker
um banter is where I think people can really excel in showing where there's chemistry um but it's always overdone like i've I've seen like I don't want to say always but like it in many many many many books I've seen banter as being like um almost like ah like too much of of um like too much banter is can't make up for a lack of chemistry you know what i mean So um banter is an aid. It is not like it should not be like the source of chemistry.
00:37:38
Speaker
Right. Because like good banter could also mean like great friends. So. um Romantic in chemistry has to be multifaceted. It has to include the physical element, has to include the verbal element, and it has to also um include like what does the character need and how does the other protagonist provide it to them, even if they are still at a point where they haven't overcome the conflict that is keeping them apart.
00:38:12
Speaker
Okay. And I think, I wonder if that's so often enemies to lovers or like hate to love does, it's so popular because there's just like one, there's just tension built in and like tension can lead to chemistry in one way. Like you, you feel literally like the sparks between the characters, even if it's negative.
00:38:33
Speaker
I mean, I feel to, I mean, to be completely honest, I don't think a lot of books are enemies to lovers that claim enemies to lovers because, like, uh, people have often called dating Dr. Bill and tastes like Chukka, which is the second book in the Shakespeare adaptation series, um, enemies to lovers. And I shy away from saying that like dating Dr. Bill, I can see enemies to lovers cause they're like solidly fighting through most of that book.
00:39:00
Speaker
But, um, tastes like Chukka, I've never really referred to it as enemies to lovers because, um For it to be truly enemies to lovers, I feel like you have to be in opposite positions of some sort of argument, situation, conflict that exists.
00:39:21
Speaker
Like enemies to lovers works really well in like fantasy or dark romance. Oh, yeah. You know what I mean? Like, I think like that, those two, like the setup is great for enemies to up in that situation. Right.
00:39:38
Speaker
um And oftentimes, like I, I find it hard to call a book enemies to lovers if it's a heterosexual relationship and the FMC is in ah like a weaker position.
00:39:54
Speaker
Like how can you really be enemies to lovers if there's a power imbalance You know what I mean? Like I, I find that real, like to me, this is personal. A lot of people believe that enemies to lovers can exist with this power dynamic.
00:40:08
Speaker
I personally struggle with the power dynamic that is imbalanced to that extent. So, you know, um ah there are ah like JJ McAvoy has a mafia romance um and the ah FMC is a female mafia boss.
00:40:28
Speaker
And I'm like, okay. And it was like, yes. i And Naima Simone has a book coming out called The Huntsman. um and ah yeah, enemies to lovers.
00:40:43
Speaker
Like, you know what I mean? So, so, so not to go on a tangent there, but like, yes, I do believe enemies to lover is a great setup for great chemistry because what's the opposite of hate, you know?
00:41:01
Speaker
Well, people say, okay, now I'm going on another tangent. People now say it's assathy or whatever. Yeah. It's like, it's indifference, but, um but like, hate and love are are two sides of of the same coin in a lot of situations.
00:41:18
Speaker
It's very easy to shift over from one to the other. They're both fueled by passion. so um I think that like that's why people really gravitate towards like enemies to lovers when they think chemistry.
00:41:33
Speaker
Yeah. I think it's so interesting, um your point about the the power imbalance. And i do think that's like a really good point that, um well, now I'm just going to start talking about like other things, but I think that's a great point. And I hadn't necessarily thought of it in those terms before of like, they need to be on equal footing or else, I mean,
00:41:59
Speaker
I mean, I think if you're like a boss and you think of your employee as your enemy or your nemesis, that's a little... It's hard. i would say like How are they your enemy? like you Like, how can they be your enemy? You are literally going to win...
00:42:14
Speaker
All of those situations. You know what I mean? Like all those sites. and Yeah. um There was something else. Okay. Yeah. And I i think that the things that I had written down and my document as like points for building chemistry were like voice, um which I don't know if that actually works if it's single POV.
00:42:37
Speaker
um and characterization yeah but i think voice is really important regardless of what you're talking about like well to me i think like books can break if there's not a voice that's compelling yeah and um and i put characterization too as in like The sort of the idea of like, I have like, if I'm the main character and my love interest, they have something that I need.
00:43:05
Speaker
I have something that they need. And there's like a push and pull kind of dynamic there. I think that can also be interesting. But Yeah, I think this goes back to characters have to be fully fleshed out individuals in order for us to believe that they're capable of having a robust love story.
00:43:28
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, the more I like do this podcast and talk to people, the more I'm like, first, every single element of craft, like there's none that's more important than the other. I'll be like, yeah, character is the most important. And then the next time I'm like, no, it's it's definitely setting.
00:43:42
Speaker
um But definitely character runs through all of it. um And so much of writing is like, I think it like can be really easily analogized. I think I said that in another recording and I don't know if that's actually a word.
00:43:56
Speaker
um But it can so easily make an analogy to like tapestries or like weaving where you're there's so many different threads. And the the job of the writer is to sort of like twist it all, braid it together into something cohesive.
00:44:12
Speaker
um Okay, so a lot of times, and you mentioned um external sort of forces. So I wanted to talk about like B plots or external plots, as in there are romances where it's like the main thing happening here is these two people are falling in love.
00:44:31
Speaker
And they have an obstacle, but that's tied directly into the central love story. And then there are some, there are romances where it's like these two people are falling in love and also they are trying to get a new development stopped in their neighborhood.
00:44:51
Speaker
um And so I guess the question there is like, how do you how do you balance a good external plot with a central love story? Like if you have two similar sort of plot threads, how do you make sure that they're in the right measure?
00:45:08
Speaker
and Honestly, if I knew, like like, if I had like a pat answer on how to balance a central love story with an external plot line, I feel like I would be like number one on the New York Times list every book.
00:45:25
Speaker
Hands down. I really do think, and this is such a lawyer answer to give, but I really do think it depends. Like it really depends on the story. It depends on what the story is asking for. It depends on the characters.
00:45:41
Speaker
um ah Like sometimes you have characters whose entire identity is tied up in the work that they do. And so there's going to be more of the work because that is a reflection of the character themselves.
00:45:56
Speaker
And then sometimes the work is not that important. It's really the person themselves who feels lost and is doing something in the community to try to find themselves. um But that is really not what they need to focus on. And you end up getting more of the two characters together.
00:46:14
Speaker
Gotcha. Yeah. And arm I think it's interesting to see how people sort of balance the two, like readers, especially like reader expectations are so interesting to think about.
00:46:29
Speaker
That's not as something a writer can control. um Yeah. i I think I'm thinking about this because I'm, I'm revising my ah romance right now and I am trying to make sure that it's like,
00:46:45
Speaker
ready to go on sub. um So I'm trying to be like, make sure that like the love interest has a personality and like flaws in the thing and also like make sure that the stories are balanced. So yeah. Yeah.
00:46:57
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, it's, it's never easy. And if I'm completely honest with you, it's every time you sit down in front of in front of a new book, it's going to be the same questions you ask yourself. And it's like you're starting from ground, you know, like from from like,
00:47:12
Speaker
and love their group but Yeah. underground Like one. like yeah okay i've got some like talking about actual romance books questions now, which one they're all in positive terms, but one is like, do you have any like romance heroes or heroines from books you've read and loved that just like stick out to you as like really crafted or like so swoony?
00:47:40
Speaker
Yeah. um I just read, and this character has been like, there are two books that I've read recently and I wish I could give you like ah marginalized authors, but like um I've been reading like a lot of sad white girl summer romances um because I feel like that is like what I read in the summer. A lot of the times, like but I read sad white girl summer romances. um So um ah one of the books that I read recently is One Golden Summer by Carly Fortune.
00:48:12
Speaker
hmm. And the hero is such a swoony golden retriever flirt, like such a flirt. Like, um,
00:48:26
Speaker
he's supposed to help like set up this cabin that she's staying at with her grandmother. uh, she calls him and she's like, I can't find the keys. And he's like, say hello.
00:48:38
Speaker
i like just really flirty and it's adorable. And I'm really excited about the TV show that they're filming right now. Um, which is great.
00:48:50
Speaker
Uh, another one that I really enjoyed, um is, uh, um Actually, um i reread it recently, but i it came out the week that I had my baby girl in February.
00:49:03
Speaker
So I feel like a lot of my like love for this book is because of my like attachment to it, because it came out of the you know at a certain time.
00:49:16
Speaker
I love... i love Lucas Bloomquist in deep end. like Lucas is like the type of hero that I constantly aspire to write.
00:49:32
Speaker
um He is self-contained and mature and knows what he wants. And his only flaw is that he just doesn't tell the heroine what she wants to hear She has to come to the conclusion herself.
00:49:49
Speaker
Um, so it's both frustrating and also like very well done. um and so Gislewood is like a friend of mine and she's also like wonderful, um, wonderfully talented.
00:50:02
Speaker
um a book that's coming out that has the most badass heroine is Naima Simone's Huntsman.
00:50:15
Speaker
So highly recommend Huntsman. um Oh, you know what? Who also wrote a really fantastic hero um is um oh my goodness.
00:50:31
Speaker
Alexis Daria. um Along came Amor. That's the third in the series. I just want to double to check.
00:50:46
Speaker
Yeah. So the book is called Along Came Amore by Alexis Daria. It's the third book in her Primas of Power trilogy. um And what a hero. like goats Goes to get pedicures with his mama and makes sure the heroine is well fed.
00:51:07
Speaker
and is like willing to wait so that she feels like she can come to him on her own terms. Like that is, that is what we're talking about. Like a mature, like well, well developed hero, like totally obsessed.
00:51:26
Speaker
um Yeah. I think like, I mean, I can go on. I feel like I can. You can always go on. Um, Nalini Singh writes the best paranormal romance heroes ever. Um, but she wrote, ah this series. i think it just ended, um about vampires, vampire slayers, and then angels.
00:51:54
Speaker
And, uh, so there's like these archangels who kind, there's 10 of them who um who basically rule the world. And then under them are like angels. And they're, they are, ah they live forever. They are super powerful. They fly around.
00:52:18
Speaker
um And ah there's also a race of vampires who basically work for the angels and humans convert into these vampires and um And angels can convert humans to vampires, but you have to have like a certain blood type. And you also have to sign yourself up for 100 years of servitude to the angel in order to exchange or like to to get like, you know, to live the chance to live forever.
00:52:49
Speaker
And so in the first book, Angel's Blood, you meet Raphael, who is one of the most powerful angels ever And he falls for a Vampire Slayer.
00:53:03
Speaker
And it is so delicious. Like, it is so good. It's
00:53:12
Speaker
so, so good. So, um also amazing. um I also, if we're reading, like, MM romances,
00:53:23
Speaker
um obsessed with Adib Karam's books, um A Deep Karam, though, warning, if you read A Deep Karam's books, you will be hungry. Because A Deep Karam writes about books in, like, the best way um ah If you want disability rep, Evie Mitchell has some incredible protagonists.
00:53:51
Speaker
Incredible protagonists. Hannah Bonham Young is like one of my favorite people. um Also great with disability rep.
00:54:01
Speaker
ah Has the best like FMCs like in romance. Love Hannah Bonham Young. Like the banter in Hannah Bonham Young's books is unmatched.
00:54:14
Speaker
Unmatched. um Yeah, getting like a syllabus for school. it's Oh, yeah. Sorry. I read these books, learn how they develop their characters, learn how they like do the banter, all that good stuff.
00:54:26
Speaker
A hundred percent. um So, yeah, there's like there's quite a few. um If you want like a classic romance plot line, there's a YA that came out recently called Romance Rivalry by Susan Lee.
00:54:42
Speaker
And I think it is such a wonderful like homage to the romance genre. So highly recommend that if you're looking for a beautiful classic romance plot line.
00:54:57
Speaker
Okay. Nice. And then sort of the same, but slightly different. We're still recommending books, but just like more broadly, like what are some of your maybe all time favorite romances?
00:55:11
Speaker
Like the classics to you. know The classics, huh? The ones that you're like, this is like my canon. My canon. Okay. Well, so I grew up in the 90s, so there wasn't a lot of diversity in romance back then. and So a lot of what I'm going to recommend, sadly, does not have a lot of diversity in it.
00:55:30
Speaker
There were, of course, books that were published by authors of color, but um I also grew up in Northeast Pennsylvania, and I couldn't get my hands on a lot of them. um So, ah Nora Roberts was my go-to. Okay.
00:55:44
Speaker
June. hundred percent 100% go-to, love Nora, Queen Nora. To this day, I'm obsessed with Nora Roberts. um She wrote this trilogy. it was the first romance I ever picked up. It was the Chesapeake Bay saga.
00:55:57
Speaker
So the first three books came out um in succession, and I was obsessed. I was hooked. like I could not stop thinking about these books. Three brothers who were adopted by two older brothers,
00:56:09
Speaker
parents who both died, um they come back to their home in the Chesapeake Bay because before their father died, he had adopted one last child who's 10 years old.
00:56:21
Speaker
um And when they show up the hospital because their father died in a car accident and they see this 10-year-old boy, they realize that this 10-year-old boy looks a lot like their dad.
00:56:35
Speaker
And so there's like question on whether he cheated because, you know, whether or not he cheated on the woman that he claimed was the love of his life. So there's like a mystery element, like who is this kid's mom?
00:56:49
Speaker
Like what's going on with like, like the dad dying in this car accident. Like, was it an accident? Was it not? And then three boys who grew up, who but all came from foster care, who grew up together as this found family, like reconnecting.
00:57:10
Speaker
So it's like wonderful. um 10 years after the last book in that trilogy published, she publishes a book called Chesapeake Blue. And it is the book of the boy who has grown up and the dedication. I like remember crying. I'm like ass woman.
00:57:30
Speaker
but but at this point. And I was like crying when I like bought this book. And it's like for everyone who asked when, where's Seth's story?
00:57:41
Speaker
And I was like, I'm going to cry. I haven't even read the books. It's so good. It's so good. So, so that was, that, that series of course was like transformative to me.
00:57:55
Speaker
um I didn't read a lot of historical because I didn't like historical um i felt like it was like this utopia right because of course colonization um but uh um oh my gosh what is her name she's like my favorite person too and of course i forgot her name um i will tell you hold on one second um
00:58:31
Speaker
Oh my goodness. What is it called? Julie Garwood. There you go. So I don't read a lot of historical romance ah and I never did. And I did, of course, like read the canon that exists in romance, right? Judith McNaught, you know, Lavalier Spencer, all of those.
00:58:50
Speaker
um But Julie Garwood was one that I trusted Julie. trusted Julie. um And there's a book that she wrote called Ransom.
00:59:03
Speaker
And there's a particular scene in this book that i met to this day I remember. And the heroine caught herself pretty badly trying to save the hero's nephew.
00:59:15
Speaker
And ah the hero doesn't realize that she's injured until they're like well on their journey back to Scotland. And um they stop at this healer's home and The way she plans on healing her is like pouring this really painful like concoction into the womb.
00:59:36
Speaker
And so the healer is like, you can scream like grown men have screamed. And the hero goes, she will not make a sound. And the heroine is so mad at him that does not make a sound. She's like, i will show yeah And to this day, I remember the scene because I'm like, what an interesting dynamic, right?
01:00:01
Speaker
So like that's part of the Nisha Sharma canon, romance canon. um All of like, I mean, I remember they're problematic now, so I don't recommend them to people, but ah Black Dagger Brotherhood, ah the Crossfire series.
01:00:19
Speaker
um I remember like new adult romance was just starting like, you know, back in the day when I was reading romance in college and in law school, um like Jennifer Armentrout was writing contemporaries at that time.
01:00:35
Speaker
Like she was writing contemporary new adults. I'm so glad you said that because I had this, like, I thought that I was just having a, um, whatever that thing is where you think you remember something, but it's not because I was like, I swear I'd seen Jennifer L. Armantrott on some contemporaries, but then. Yeah. Okay.
01:00:52
Speaker
I feel so glad to know that I'm not. wrote this book called Wait For You and it was great. It was so great. It was great. Um, At the time, again, i don't recommend like a lot of these books today. They don't hold up.
01:01:06
Speaker
that But but like Sandra Brown was a big one for me. And Sandra Brown was bonkers. but like around wrote bonkers romances. There's this book called Thursday's Child about twins.
01:01:21
Speaker
And one of the twins was getting a breast augmentation and asked her twin sister to pretend to be her with her fiance for a weekend. And then the fiance is like, come out to dinner with me and my best friend who's in town And the fiance's best friend falls for her and is basically like, I'm going to take you away from my best friend.
01:01:45
Speaker
And she's like, hold up. Everyone just relax. Like I am the twin sister. It
01:01:54
Speaker
ah down to me is the most like, this is Sandra Brown. She wrote like wild stuff. There's also this like, insane series that she wrote called Heaven, Texas.
01:02:08
Speaker
um And ah it reminds me of the TV show Dallas. Like it is bananas. Later on in the series, there's a moment where so like you find out that this heroine and this is like where I like was like, Sandra Brown, what are you doing?
01:02:25
Speaker
um This heroine who had her own love story early in the series Um, her husband dies and she finds out that her husband, like, and like, this is way later. Like now this woman is like in her like seventies.
01:02:39
Speaker
Right. So she had like a happily ever after love story, like in book two of this series. And then in book 14 of the series, however long it is, like, I actually don't even know if it went that long, but like, um, at the end of the series, when the kids are getting married,
01:02:56
Speaker
this woman um finds out that her husband had an affair at one point, like, which is the biggest no-no in romance.
01:03:08
Speaker
The biggest no-no. And she gets visited by her dead husband's ghost.
01:03:15
Speaker
Who's like, What is wrong with you? Get yourself together. You're a strong, capable woman. You're the woman that I fell in love with and i screwed up. I made a mistake. But you have the rest of your life to enjoy and live freely and do whatever.
01:03:30
Speaker
So like this POS, like ex-husband, and as a ghost, is giving her a pep talk. i hing i That's wow.
01:03:42
Speaker
That's amazing. So, yeah, so that was, and then like, of course, like Susan and Elizabeth Phillips, like Jennifer Kruse, those were, that's where I really learned my love for rom-coms.
01:03:58
Speaker
Susan Phillips is hands down the best rom-com writer that I have ever read. And um Jane Ann Krentz, who's her friend, is like the best romantic suspense writer i have ever read.
01:04:17
Speaker
ah Okay. It's power duo friendship. And they're friends with Christina Dodd, who writes kick-ass paranormals.
01:04:28
Speaker
i'm Wow. That's so fun. And then final question. What are some like... I guess like what are some current romances that you think are like just doing the best job? Or like not the best because we don't want to use superlatives.
01:04:49
Speaker
But like doing like a really good job and that love story is just like everything you want out of a romance novel. I think that Carly Fortune One Golden Summer is a really good example.
01:05:02
Speaker
i think Cara Bastone's Promise Me Sunshine is a great example Deep End by Allie Hazelwood, those are great examples. I think anything that Kennedy be Ryan writes is an excellent example.
01:05:16
Speaker
Anything that Sierra Simone writes, excellent example. Chip Pond wrote an MM romance recently that I had such a good time with. I was like, this is a romance. loved that book.
01:05:26
Speaker
think that... um um i loved that book um i think that um
01:05:37
Speaker
there I mean, there's like, so there's so many. um Anna Wong has kind of like created her own um formula for for like success.
01:05:49
Speaker
um not a formula for romance because I feel like her romances are really accomplishing different things but like a a formula for success for her like she knows exactly like what story to tell for her particular voice that makes her stories really successful um so I think Anne Wong is great um if you're reading to like study interesting romances for sure um i would of course pick up you know um Emily Henry i would of course pick up JL Seeger is great Kate C. Wells Sherry Thomas historicals Sherry Thomas has like her her older historicals I think are like unbelievable Nalini Singh is constantly challenging herself in paranormal like amazing amazing stuff um
01:06:46
Speaker
Meryl Wilsner, also fantastic. um I mean, yeah, I think all of them are just doing really amazing, fantastic fantastic work. ah And of course, like, my friend, like, Katie Robert is constantly challenging of themselves. like Katie is like...
01:07:11
Speaker
um like an icon, but Katie's the kind of writer who um knows exactly what their reader wants from them and will deliver like will deliver.
01:07:26
Speaker
um Oh, um of course, like I'm missing all of my favorite South Asian author friends. Naima Kumar delivers a delicious romance. Namratha Patel writes fantastic women's fiction.
01:07:41
Speaker
um Alicia Rye, like i will, so Alicia's name is on a book. I'll, I'll pick it up. It is what it is. Um, Noreen Nanja wrote a book recently that was really fun. It was, it wasn't a sad white girl, but it was a sad girl summer romance, which is so good. Um, Regina Black is one of my favorite writers recently.
01:08:05
Speaker
um obsessed with Regina Black. Um, As you can see, I read a lot of contemporary, so... yeah I don't have a lot of fantasy recs because it's not really my swim lane. I did pick up A Dark Academia recently, Nightshade. I've heard of that one.
01:08:26
Speaker
um That was so good, but for everyone listening, it ends on a cliffhanger and the second book hasn't even had been announced. So...
01:08:38
Speaker
Oh no. Stressful. Amazing. Amazing book. Stop maybe two thirds of the way through. Good word of warning. And then what what can you tell us about where to find you on the internet and also like what upcoming projects we should be like buying and or looking out for. Yeah, for sure. Um, so illusions of fire is a YA, uh, romance fantasy. It comes out, um, October 7th and it is, uh, South Asian mythology. So think like Percy Jackson with romance, it takes place in the real world. Um, but of course, uh, there's like gods, demons, monsters that show up.
01:09:23
Speaker
Um, so that's October seventh um my I write a dark romance under a pen name. So if you're interested in horror romance, it is a horror.
01:09:36
Speaker
Lots of trigger warnings. um That book comes out October 1st. It's called Now You See Him. um And it's Haunted House, ah a sentient ghost. So that is October 1st. It's a very short novel.
01:09:56
Speaker
And then um on and next year is my first romantic suspense coming out. And I've been telling people it's like Yellowstone meets Get Out, but with romance.
01:10:10
Speaker
And so people kind of just look at me like a little funny when I say like that, um ah which I totally understand why they would. but it is romantic suspense, small town in Pennsylvania.
01:10:24
Speaker
You can find me on my website at Nisha dash Sharma.com or on Instagram and on Tik TOK. And that's that on the Central Love Story.
01:10:37
Speaker
I don't know about you, but I had such a great time with that conversation. And of course, re-listening to it is always such a pleasure. I really appreciated... really...
01:10:50
Speaker
appreciated that I was able to like have questions pop up mid conversation that were like really pertinent to my project that I was working on as we were talking. And I was like, listen, I need to know how to deal with this right now today.
01:11:05
Speaker
Can you help me? And she was like, absolutely. I've written like and published like a million books. I can help you. um So I just, it was ah it was a really fun conversation. yeah,
01:11:16
Speaker
I don't know. I think, come like I said, I think possibly in the outro for the HEA or sometime in one of these episodes, like when we first came up with doing an episode each for HEA and Central Love Story, I wasn't sure that there would be enough content for either. Like I was like, should they be in one episode together? But the more I...
01:11:38
Speaker
sort of sat down and started like untangling what the questions would be for each episode what the conversation would look like the more I realized like there's just so much content there's so much craft content for each concept that we could really spend like a whole season just on the AGA a whole season on a central love story um so I'm really glad that we got to talk to two different authors and get two different perspectives on it absolutely yeah I think it's fantastic that we separate that you chose to separate the two Yeah.
01:12:09
Speaker
Yeah. So got um that was really exciting. But yeah, that's our episode. um If you liked it, please do feel free to like it on Instagram. Leave us a comment. You can leave us a review on Apple Podcasts. We would love to see what you thought.
01:12:26
Speaker
If you review us, we might even, you know, take a screenshot and post it on Instagram and say, wow, people love us. Oh, my God. You can leave a comment on Spotify. Feel free to share us with your friends if you have any friends who might want a little romance craft podcast in their lives.
01:12:43
Speaker
And um let us know what you thought. We really want to hear from you and and then talk to you. I think starting this podcast, I really wasn't just looking for a a soapbox on which to preach at people. I really wanted it to be a conversation and a back and forth. And so that is why I'm always here begging you to talk to me.
01:13:03
Speaker
um Also, because of the aforementioned, I need to be social for 10 hours out of the day. So talk to me. It's for my mental health. Do it for Karis. Do it for Karis. All right.
01:13:14
Speaker
That's all we got for you today. I hope you enjoyed this. Bye. Bye.