The Nerd Daily contributor Mimi recently had the pleasure of talking to Ciara Smyth, author of the sapphic YA novel The Falling in Love Montage and the upcoming Not My Problem, in which the protagonist Aideen can fix everyone’s life but her own. We asked Ciara all our burning questions on her writing process, book recommendations, and lifesavers!
Hi, Ciara! Thanks for taking the time to chat with us! Why don’t you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
Hi Mimi! So good to talk to you again, thanks for having me. So, I’m the author of The Falling in Love Montage, which came out last year and Not My Problem which is out in North America on the 25th of May. I like to say I’m a mental health social worker by day, writer by night and a cat enthusiast 24/7.
It’s been a turbulent time with the pandemic. What has kept you sane during these tough months? Any lifesavers that make your day a bit brighter?
I work in healthcare so I’ve been working this whole time, partly in the office and partly from home. Because of that I think the pandemic has felt a lot more ‘normal’ to me than it has for some people who haven’t been able to leave their houses. But I’ve definitely needed to destress, so I really got into building lego sets. Which feels weird but I pop on a podcast, usually Double Love (a Sweet Valley Podcast) or The Babysitters Club Club (you can guess) and bust out the lego. It helps me switch off completely.
Now onto Not My Problem! What can readers expect?
Well first off I’m thrilled to say that the Junior Library Guild has officially selected it as one of their titles for this summer, which I’m really honoured by! I think if you read and enjoyed The Falling in Love Montage, you’ll hopefully love this one too. It’s about Aideen, a girl who is good at solving other people’s problems, and she kind of inadvertently sets up a ‘social enterprise’ trading favours for an IOU that she can collect on at any time. It’s got lesbians (naturally), a boy with er, the gift of the gab let’s say, a girl who would put Paris Gellar to shame with her hectic dedication to achievement, and a PE teacher at her wit’s end. Like TFiLM it’s (hopefully) funny and sometimes heartbreaking. It does have a romantic storyline but it’s not the main focus of the story.
Not My Problem is your sophomore novel. How did your writing experience change with this new story? Was it easier/more difficult to put pen to paper for Aideen and her friends?
This was completely different. I was writing under contract for the first time which was great in some ways because I knew the book would get out there, but it was also the first time I’ve had someone waiting on me producing something from scratch. I had a lot more going on in my ‘real life’ at the time I was drafting and revising than I did when I wrote Montage, too. I was really worried I wouldn’t be able to write what I’d pitched but luckily when I got started it all came together.
Aideen is quite obsessed with ending up with Kristen Stewart (aren’t we all). Any chance that was inspired by your love for the actress? If so, how would you imagine your meet cute?
Er…so I’m not a very ‘positive thinking’ type person but in all my manuscripts (including unpublished ones) I’ve mention Kristen Stewart at least once. It’s my way of manifesting her into my life. And actually, I have some evidence that it works! In Montage I wrote that I wanted there to be a big Hollywood rom-com with Kristen Stewart in it and lo and behold The Happiest Season came about. That film was announced before Montage even came out, but I’d written that line way before that. So basically, what I’m saying is I’m an all powerful being.
You balance out Aideen’s sass and humor with a lot of tough topics Aideen deals with in her life – her mother’s alcoholism, toxic friendships, not knowing who to trust and the like. What was the toughest part of the story to get right for you?
I think I’m equally drawn to writing humour and pathos but finding the balance in the text is the tricky part. I don’t like to create villains or saints so when I write about toxic friends or parents who disappoint you, I want there to be nuance. That usually means getting feedback on whether those characters are coming across the way I intend or if they’ve veered into being two dimensional. Getting a balance of the fun, funny parts of the story and the dark parts sometimes means mixing things up too. My editor’s assistant Louisa pointed out that in the early draft of Not My Problem the humour dropped off a bit early so I was able to look at where I could make changes and shift scenes to get that balance right.
Kavi is such a show stealer in Not My Problem. Every time he showed up, I knew I was in for a good time. What inspired Kavi’s character and what were your favorite ramblings of his to write?
Kavi is a character that has been knocking around my head for years. I adore him and I’m so glad you love him too! He was in an abandoned manuscript from several years ago, and I tried to put him the early drafts of Montage but he just didn’t work there (so you got Oliver instead). I was so glad that he finally made sense for this book and I loved writing his long weird stories, though sometimes I had to rein them in a bit. I really enjoyed writing the bits about him and his brother’s ridiculous antics because you get to see why Kavi is never phased by Aideen’s shenanigans and I like getting a glimpse of his home life. It feels really warm and fuzzy.
Not My Problem has amazing pacing that would work well on the big screen. If Aideen’s story were ever to be turned into a movie, what songs would you need to be on the soundtrack?
Thank you so much! I would love to see Aideen in a film, or TV show. This is not always a popular opinion but I’d love to see what they actually change about the story. Different things work well in different mediums so it’d be so interesting to see someone else’s spin on my characters. However, my terribly shameful secret is that I know absolutely diddly squat about music so I’d have to defer to the better judgement of people like Aideen who create thematic playlists
With Not My Problem releasing soon, are you already working on another project? If so, can you share a bit about it with us?
At the minute you might say I’m refilling the well and taking a little break. I have a couple of ideas that are brewing but with everything going on I wanted to take some of the pressure off. I know some people have been super productive during the pandemic and I’m in awe of them but I’m exhausted!! I won’t wait too long though, book three will be on the horizon before you know it.
Last but not least, do you have any bookish recommendations for our readers?
Well I’m a big fan of The Loop by Ben Oliver and the sequel The Block is out now so I’m excited to get stuck into that. I love everything Misa Sugiura does and her new book Love and Other Natural Disasters is sure to be fantastic. I also have She Drives Me Crazy by Kelly Quindlen on my to-read urgently list and my copy of Ciannon Smart’s Witches Steeped in Gold literally arrived as I was writing up these responses. I would say check out Amy Beashel’s The Sky is Mine, Kat Dunn’s Dangerous Remedy and Monstrous Design and Helen Corcoran’s Queen of Coin and Whispers.
