Exclusive Emma Hart Interview - HEA Novel Thoughts

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I am so excited to have Emma Hart stop by for an interview, she is releasing the final book in the Kissing Trilogy October 22nd!

Hi, Joy! Thanks so much for having me on HEA Novel Thoughts – I’m excited to chat with you today!

Emma Hart stops by HEA Novel Thoughts to chat about her writing and how she comes up with stories in an exclusive interview.

HEA: You’re known for romantic comedies and quirky heroines, how do you constantly keep your writing up beat and fresh?

Emma Hart: Every time I plot a book, the trope is the first thing I think of when I get to know the characters. (Friends to lovers, enemies to lovers, sibling’s best friend, etc.) I’m super conscious of the similarities that can happen when you write tropes too close together, so I try to work my schedule so that I’m not writing the tropes too close together.

The “exception” to this are my 2020 releases, where the first four books are centered around the characters being neighbors in some way. That said, each book’s “main trope” are different, starting with a single dad/second chance romance in Frenemies.

HEA: Are any characters based off of you, friends, family, or anybody in your life?

EH: I wouldn’t say that there’s anything specific, but there are traits and quirks I take from real life for sure. I’m quite sarcastic and an animal lover, so there are big flashes of me in every book with the sarcasm, and in the Kiss Me books where animals are concerned. People who have followed me for a few years will have seen the cameo I gave myself in Kiss Me Not with Halley’s UK friend who rehabs baby hedgehogs!

I’ve put in actual conversations with my best friends and my husband, actual stories that I’ve been told and been given permission to use – some are from Facebook posts where I ask the worst dates or things. I also drew on experience in Dirty Lies where my heroine was called Jessie and that was her given name – one of my closest high school friends’ names is Jessie and she would lose her shit if you called her Jessica.

I like those little things that pay tribute to people who have been/are important in my life.

HEA: Is there a certain place where you get more inspired to write than others?

EH: Yes. All the places I can’t write. LOL. I work through my plot holes/writer’s block when I clean/organize (hello, inner Virgo!) and I’m constantly jotting things down on my phone when I do that. I definitely focus best when I’m sitting at my desk in total silence—I’m not someone who can write in coffee shops or the like. I get too distracted by just staring at people like a total weirdo creeper.

HEA: What made you start writing?

EH: Oh my God. This is my favorite story and I will never get tired of telling it! LOL.

I was 18 and at home with my daughter while my husband worked. We didn’t have a lot of money then, and he was the only one of us with a smartphone. I suffered from severe postpartum depression, so I got into a habit that I’d steal his phone the second he got home from work and read for hours, devouring free books and eating myself alive if I actually paid for one. (This was wayyyy before KU existed.) He eventually got fed up with it and one day said to me the best thing he’s ever said:

“Why don’t you just write a book instead?”

Long story short, I did. The next day. And I’ve never looked back.

HEA: How do you balance writing with real life?

EH: I don’t. At all. LOL. Kidding. That’s how it feels sometimes, though. The struggle to balance it is a very real thing. At the end of the day, I’m a self-employed young woman running a business, and if I don’t do it, nobody makes any money. Not me, not my husband, and the wonderful women who are my core team don’t get paid, either. I’m not always the best at doing things on deadline, but it does always get done. Sometimes it means missing out on things with my kids and my husband and lacking in self-care. That said, I am so very lucky that the general flexibility means I am able to blow off things to be there to see school shows and read books and watch movies, as long as I hold myself accountable when everyone is asleep. 😉

‘Kiss Me Again’ by Emma Hart

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HEA: Are your book settings based on a real place? Your favorite place?

EH: Actually, they’re all based entirely on places I’d love to live. I like to make up the small towns my characters live in. It means I don’t have to be accurate with locations outside of the general geographical location. For example, Tequila Tequila was set in a fictional coastal Texas town, so I did a lot of research into those towns and pulled elements like a pier/boardwalk/beach for the general feel, but the town itself was fictional.

With the Kiss Me books, they’re all set in Creek Falls which is a small town in South Carolina, around 10-ish minutes from the coast. Don’t ask me where in South Carolina. I don’t know. It’s just 10 minutes from a beach only the locals know about. At least in my world!

HEA: What makes a great romance hero?

EH: Oh man, this is hard. I have an admission to make here, actually.

I focus so much more on my female characters than my male ones. And I’m going to tell you what makes a great romance heroine, too, because I think it’s important that we discuss that. For an industry that focuses so much on female empowerment and girl power, we’re the first people to criticize a heroine for her actions.

With the heroes: This might be where I take a lot from my husband in general. I think a great romance hero has to be real. He’s the guy who understands that everything isn’t sunshine and roses and that sometimes the heroine is having a bad day. He’s real and understanding and knows when enough is enough. I think he has to be strong-willed but able to understand when he’s crossed the line. It’s hot when a hero is able to admit he was wrong. I love a guy who’s able to appreciate that the heroine is a strong, independent woman and doesn’t want to change that. Accepting the heroine for who she is, flaws and all, is the sexiest thing a guy can do.

As for heroines, they get SUCH a bad rap. Our heroes can be moody bastards and brood for the first eight to twelve chapters, but if our girl does that? She’s a raging bitch and unlikable, and I really take issue with that. Like, what? She can’t be a moody bitch because she’s on her period or because she’s just, I don’t know, had three hours sleep and can’t be bothered with your shit today?

I like to make my heroines one thing: REAL. It’s so important to me to address everyday shit that nobody really wants to write about. I’m going to write about how you don’t want to cook so fuck that diet, it’s chicken chow mein time! The treadmill? Screw that today, the margaritas are on me. Oh, you’re on your period and want to stab everyone? Same, girl, same. That laundry pile is a little out of control, but that shirt on your floor looks clean: SNIFF TEST.

For the record: my shirt today totally passed the sniff test.

HEA: If a reader discovers your books today, where would you recommend they start reading?

EH: I always say this depends: What trope do you like? My romcoms are primarily standalones, so here’s a quick-fire guide to some: