A Seat with the Author ~Lauren Okie
That’s really awesome that you took inspiration from such a prominent historical female author.
Yeah. Nicole, the protagonist in this book, is a big big reader, and that’s a through-line in the story. I studied English and American literature in college, so those were the books I really really dug into before I found my own adult taste in novels. I think that shows up in the book.
Awesome. What is one thing that surprised you while writing this book?
I think there’s this idea that writing romance is easy because we know how the book is going to end. Whether you read devastating love stories, or historicals, or contemporary romance, it’s just not true. Just because something looks easy or you know how it’s going to end on the page, it is incredibly hard work to make someone care about characters. I think I knew that going in, but it’s a big misunderstanding about romance — that it’s not hard work because there’s a template for the ending. The work is really in the characters. It’s a big lift to make you care about a story when you already know the ending.
Especially when people think, “Oh, romance — we’re just going to get to the happily ever after.”
Yeah, but it’s like 400 pages.
Yeah, it's fun. This is a fun series.
I haven't done anything all day because I was like, I've got this thing at three. So I've just been sitting around staring at a wall.
All right, so we're ready when you are.
For anyone meeting you for the first time, give us a quick intro — who you are. What is The Best Words Thing about? No spoilers, but just a fun fact.
I'm Lauren Okie. I'm a romance novelist. I live here in Hermosa Beach, California. The Best Words Thing is my debut novel. It’s about a woman in her 30s who finds out her husband is having an affair and immediately goes to the doorstep of her former colleague, who is sort of this sort of like Jim Halpert misconnection. This is their very messy love story.
Is there a line from the book that hits you, gives you chills, or really sticks with you?
My big line that sort of caught me by surprise is connected to Jane Austen. If you're a big Jane Austen person, and if you're not, you should become one. The epigraph from this book is from Jane Austen’s Persuasion. In that book, she talks a lot about the concept of strangers. There are a couple times in this book where the refrain “they were strangers” comes up. When I first wrote it, I usually do not toot my own horn while writing, but when it first came out, I was like, “Oh.” It kind of plays with this idea over and over again. It’s sort of a modern take on being in a really intimate relationship with somebody who hasn’t been there your whole life and doesn’t really know you. It’s a line I’m very proud of and attached to.
Stephanie Pao holding “best worst thing” & author Lauren Okie with her new book “tropesick”
An off the cuff question based off that, did you take inspiration for the characters from your own life or elsewhere to develop them and make us care?
The short answer is there is a piece of me in all of them because I made them. The long answer is that I have a lot in common with the protagonist, Nicole. This book has a big infertility journey. I had a big infertility journey, and Nicole shares a lot of that with me. She is sort of at her lowest when her marriage falls apart during that.
It’s not something you see or hear too much about in romance novels. When I wrote this story, I thought, “Women don’t stop craving love or adventure or sex or any of those things simply because they also desire motherhood.” I wanted to create a character unraveling trauma from desperately wanting to be a mom, while at the same time wanting to fall in love again and have some fun. I think those desires really do coexist.
For anyone interested in reading your book — what kind of reader do you think would enjoy it?
I think this book is a good choice for a lot of people. If you are a romance reader, this book has all the things you want: a very pining golden retriever hero who is obsessed with Nicole and has basically been waiting for her. There’s banter, flirting — all that fun stuff.
If you don’t typically read romance, the women’s fiction elements are really strong. She’s putting her life back together after a marriage where she became really small. We also see her making peace with a body that has betrayed her. These are book club themes that would speak to a lot of readers. I’ve always pitched it as a beach read for your book club — something you could read by the pool.
Amazing. Lauren, thank you so much. This is so awesome. We’re happy to have you.
Yeah. Thank you.