Very Serious About Fun Reads Ep 333 with Emily Henry

THIS EPISODE. “Overnight success” Emily Henry reminds us that she’s not—she published three sad-and-serious YA novels before she embraced her real calling and wrote the book she craved—Beach Read, which she says “I never expected to send to anyone.”This discussion was so true to our hearts (KJ writing, Sarina co-signing). It’s hard to for some of us to give ourselves permission to write fun books in a world where “things we like” and especially “things women like” are often dismissed as less worthy. Sarina reminded us of this George Michael quote—when asked when he was going to “write serious music” his response was “You don’t understand. I’m very serious about pop music.” And KJ immediately demanded that everyone read This Is Not a Book About Benedict Cumberbatch which is, instead, a book about exactly what we just said. That you should read. Immediately. We’ll wait.So how do your get very serious about writing fun reads? Emily’s insight on how to turn the seemingly small internal battles that our kind of fiction often hinges on is perfection: “you have to make things realer than real life”. For more, hit play.Links in the Pod#AmWriting Episode 302 with Katherine Center#AmReadingEmily: Miss Aldridge Regrets, Louise HareThe Bodyguard, Katherine CenterThe Change, Kirsten Miller Sarina: The Bodyguard, Katherine CenterUpgrade, Blake Couch (Emily then shouted out Dark Matter and The Letty Dobesh Chronicles with its Good Behavior TV adaptation)KJ: This Is Not a Book About Benedict Cumberbatch, Tabitha CarvanThank You for Listening, Julia Whelan Emily Henry on Insta: @emilyhenrywritesJoin Emily’s newsletter: Get My Grocery List This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amwriting.substack.com/subscribe