Q&A: Alexis Hall, Author of ‘Boyfriend Material’

The Nerd Daily had the pleasure of sitting down with Alexis Hall, author of Glitterland, The Affair of the Mysterious Letter and his upcoming release Boyfriend Material that has gotten excellent reviews across the board! We asked Alexis all our burning questions about his dream cast, upcoming projects and his biggest influences!

Hi, Alexis! Thanks for chatting with us! Would you tell our readers a bit about yourself to start things off?

Hello hello! Thank you so much for having me.

And, oh gosh, I’m always bad at this question. Nerdy British guy. Writes books. Has terrible taste in TV.

Now tell us about Boyfriend Material!

Oh gosh, I’m also bad at this one. It’s, um, a book? It’s a queer fake-dating romcom about the messed-up son of a pair of has-been rockstars and an uptight barrister.

It’s coming out in July. I hope people like it?

I was blown away by the humor in this book! I kept laughing out loud. What are some of your influences that shaped your sense of humor, do you think?

Okay, this one I can actually answer! I grew up in the 90s so the short answer is “stuff that was on British TV in the 90s.” So we’re kind of talking about Blackadder, Red Dwarf, Whose Line Is it Anyway, Have I Got News For You (which, terrifyingly, is still going), Drop the Dead Donkey or, at the less satirical end of the spectrum, cosy BBC sitcoms like The Vicar of Dibley and the much-underrated Dinnerladies.

But because Boyfriend Material is specifically a romcom, it’s primary inspiration was British romantic comedies – which still, to this day, are largely dominated by Hugh Grant and Richard Curtis.

Speaking of influences, what made you want to be a writer?

Um, stay with me here. I’ve always been a big fan of Sondheim and I think the most accurate thing anyone has ever said about wanting to be stuff is Cinderella in Into the Woods. The line specifically being, “how can you know what you want til you get what you want and you see if you like it.”

So I’ve tried quite steadfastly to avoid “wanting to be a writer”. I’m currently trying out “being a writer” and I’m currently quite enjoying it.

Opposites attract is such a well-loved trope and I loved the spin you put on that with Oliver and Luc! What are some of your favorite tropes to read and write about?

Oh, thank you. To be honest, I don’t think I’ve ever met a trope I didn’t at least want to play with. I will confess to an enduring fondness for opposites attracting, simply because there’s so much scope for variety in it and it’s kind of specifically designed to let you look at both sides of the thing you’re writing about.

And although it’s really hard to do well I’m also a sucker for enemies-to-lovers. It’s super easy for that to devolve into “two arsehole are arseholes to each other and then they have sex” but when it works the journey is incredibly satisfying.

Honestly, I could talk about tropes all day … but I probably shouldn’t.

If Boyfriend Material were to be adapted for television or cinema, who would be your dream cast for Luc and Oliver?

I’m sorry I keep starting all your questions with “oh no I’m terrible at this” but … oh no I’m terrible at this. Also because I’m a huge death-of-the-author person, I get nervous about anything that could be construed as canon.

I guess, I could see Robert Sheehan as Luc: he’s got that hot, debauched air.

Oliver I think I’d cast a young Colin Firth even though I don’t imagine him as looking anything like Colin Firth. I just think he’s got an air of Colin Firthness about him.

Luc’s mom was such a show stealer in the book! Can you tell us a bit more about her and her past with Luc’s father and what you envision for her after the book ends?

I think most of the details are in the book really, but she was a rising singer-songwriter in the 80s, had an intensely passionate relationship with Luc’s Dad, Jon Fleming, until he walked out on both of them. She has a string of successful albums—including a collaboration with Jon Fleming—and one mega hit behind her, and has since retired to a little village near Epsom.

Something I wanted to explore with Odile is the idea that you can walk away from things, even if they’re things other people aspire to, and it’s … fine? Like ‘being fine’ is kind of Odile’s whole bag. And because Jon Fleming is terrified of not being famous, I really wanted to show someone who didn’t give a fuck.

After the end of the book—again Death of the Author so my opinion here is no more important than anybody’s—I assume she’s basically telling the truth when she says that she’s going to carry on doing what she’s doing because she’s, y’know, genuinely happy.

I assume she and Judy, at the point I am writing this interview in June 2020, are watching Drag Race All Stars Season 5. They’re probably rooting for Jujubee.

I loved the different friend groups Oliver and Luc have – what do you think would happen if they were all locked up in the same house during a social distancing period?

I mean, it would have to be a bloody big house because there’s quite a lot of them. I think they’d initially bond over how annoying Brian can be and, eventually, definitely all want to murder each other – although that says more about the specific group dynamics, and more about the unavoidable stresses of quarantine.

Now, without spoiling too much, what was your favorite scene to write from Boyfriend Material? What was the hardest to finish?

Hardest to finish is a funny one to answer because, spoiler, the way editing works means there are some scenes that weren’t in the original draft at all so I suppose they were hardest to finish by default? But without getting too specific, the second bathroom door scene was … um … quite emotional for me.

In terms of favourites, I enjoyed any scene with Alex. There’s something very comforting about writing an upper class twit.

With Boyfriend Material releasing soon, are you working on other projects already? If so, can you share a tidbit with us?

So my next book is another British romcom, this time set on a baking-themed reality TV show which may or may not remind you of certain other popular British baking shows.

I’m pretty excited, to tell you the truth, because it involves a lot of my favourite things – those things being cakes, reality TV, and kissing.

Last but not least, do you have any bookish recommendations for our readers?

Continuing the “I’m bad at everything” theme of this interview, I get really scared picking favourites so here’s some cool stuff I’ve been reading recently.

• Recipe for Persuasion by Sonali Dev is a re-telling of Persuasion (clue is in the name) but set in modern-day California and about a restaurant owner whose family are Indian aristocracy, and a professional footballer. It’s got an amazing cast, does a really good job of having the plot of Persuasion without it feeling jarring, weird or forced, and seriously epic food.
• Slippery Creatures by KJ Charles: this is a queer 1920s-set pulp adventure about a war-veteran turned bookseller and, um, A Mysterious Gentleman. It’s twisty, it’s turny, and it’s a whole lot of fun.
• Luck of the Draw by Kate Clayborn: this is such an intriguing dark-light romance between an ex-lawyer lottery winner and the son of a couple she previously, um, totally screwed over? It’s really interesting to see a heroine who has done some genuinely bad stuff working to redeem herself—and I love romances where you start off sincerely unable to see how these two people could possibly wind up together, only to end up believing in them utterly as the story unfolds.

Will you be picking up Boyfriend Material? Tell us in the comments below!