Blue Willow – 10 Things That Never Happened Followup

As ever, thank you to everyone who attended the event with me at Blue Willow Bookshop and of course to Blue Willow and the wonderful Cathy Berner for hosting me. As ever, there were more questions than I could answer so I’ve tried to address them here.

Some housekeeping:

• One of the questions on the day was about, err, spiciness in my books. Here’s a link to an entire blog post on the subject.
• The stickers Cathy showed & the T-shirt she spoke about are available from the merch section of the Blue Willow website (you have to scroll a bit). Please note, that a portion of each sale is donated to The Montrose Center, an organisation that empowers Houston’s LQBTQ community—primarily lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) individuals and their families—to live healthier, more fulfilling lives.
• Here’s a link to my Spotify account and all my terrible playlists
• Link to the live event on YouTube

Anyway, to the thing:

Timestamps for questions answered (thank you to Mary for doing these for me)

00:00: (intro)

01:06: I loved the Pulp reference , especially how you referenced the lyrics of the song, in Sheffield no less. As a Pulp fan, I really appreciated this little surprise. So I was wondering how important music is in your writing process. Did you listen any specific songs/artists while writing this book? (Please say Pulp!)

03:04: A collection of questions about developing developing side characters

06:37: Your books, including 10TTNH and Jonathan’s disastrous chicken stuffing, often have a heavy focus on food and cooking when portraying the intimacy of characters relationships – what is it about writing about food that appeals to you? And what’s the best thing you’ve ever eaten?

09:06: You write many tropes/genres/moods. How do you clear your head to move from one to the next?

09: 56: What is the meaning of your social media handle “quicunquevult”?

11:18: A collection of questions about how I do research (e.g. into dialect or mental health)

19:07: A collection of writing process questions

22:04: What do your favorite romance novels have in common?

22:16: A question about writing characters of different gender identities

32:29: LOVED the book! The way you write dialogue is so engaging and relatable. The banter and the pacing, particularly, in this book, were impeccable. Any insider tips you would be willing to share on how to write dialogue that is natural and flows? Thanks again for sharing your words.

34:56: What challenge would you be eliminated on as a contestant on Bake Expectations?

35:42: When I was reading “10 Things That Never Happened” I kept thinking back to “Pansies”. I know you’re a big fan of death of the author, but are there any themes/concepts that you notice you keep coming back to?

39:36: How do you power through and keep writing when you have days you don’t feel like writing?

43:59: can you do a scouse accent?

44:11:  Hello from Costa Rica! 🙂 Alexis, where do you get your inspiration for your books?

44:42: Would you talk a bit about how the stories come about? Do you plan everything up front?

46:15: You mentioned a “Father Material” in the works as the final book of the boyfriend-husband trilogy, when can we be expecting it? ＜３

46:54: your characters each have such a distinctive voice. Do they introduce themselves as such right away? Or do you take time to get them fully formed?

48:57: Intention/inspiration for Sam’s Liverpool origins?

50:31:  love the way you sometimes start with tropes and work backwards from there to create your concepts. Do you have plans to write books with other tropes?

51:07: Would you ever consider in the future writing books on characters within your already made book universes?

52:17: I loved Jonathan’s grandmother. Can we see her in future books? Also I think his family needs their own Instagram page.

53:10: How does Alexis feel about his characters/stories being used in fanfic?

54:34: Which of your couples do you think won’t make it long term?