We chat with author Ash Perez about Speak Now, which follows a wunderkind chef of an acclaimed restaurant who is reunited with “the one that got away” when she’s hired to cater her wedding in this charming, full-cast queer rom-com audiobook, perfect for fans of Alison Cochrun and Casey McQuiston. PLUS you can listen to an excerpt at the end of the interview!
Hi, Ash! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
Sure! My name is Ash Perez. I’m an LA based author, TV writer, producer, best known for my work with BuzzFeed and the Try Guys.
When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?
Like most writers, I discovered my love for storytelling by reading books and watching movies. Luckily, it seems that my love of reading spared my brain cells from full rot, because the amount of TV I watched per day (8+hours) is shocking to most.
Quick lightning round! Tell us:
- The first book you ever remember reading: “A Friend for Dragon.” A picture book that I loved and still have on my shelf to this day.
- The one that made you want to become an author: Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbit
- The one that you can’t stop thinking about: Tuck Everlasting.
Your debut novel, Speak Now, is out March 31st! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Dreamy, romantic, funny, maximum yearning
What can readers expect?
A fully-produced romcom for your ears: full sound effects, cast, and drama written especially for audio. It’s all the joy of watching a movie, except you can do your laundry at the same time haha!
Where did the inspiration for Speak Now come from?
Mostly my time as a yearning lesbian with a quarter of a century of experience with unrequited love. But structurally the romcom classic, “My Best Friend’s Wedding.”
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
Alex, our main character, is a chef and in order to “journal” she records voice memos while she cooks, drives, or hikes. Those were really fun to write because it felt more like writing a traditional rom-com character from a novel where you get to hear what’s going on inside their heads.
Speak Now is a full cast audiobook led by Jena Malone (The Hunger Games, Pride & Prejudice) and Arienne Mandi (The L Word: Generation Q, Chicago PD)! What was it like hearing your words be brought to life?
There was really nothing like it! Unlike my work in television, when you’re writing a book you actually have the final say of what makes the page. There’s no network, producers, or studio notes to handle. So it was even more magical hearing Jena, Arienne, and the rest of the cast bring my story to life. Especially because the story is so much based on my real life story!
Did you face any challenges whilst writing? How did you overcome them?
The biggest challenge was adapting the story to take advantage of the unique elements of an audio original (full cast, sound effects). Speak Now was originally conceived as a film, which meant many of the conventions of a romcom that work in film, like montages, voice over, and longing looks, had to be adapted to work for a medium where you can neither see the characters, nor traditionally narrate the story.
This is your debut novel! What was the road to becoming a published author like for you?
It was quite a surprise! My editor Lara Blackman (Simon & Schuster) cold emailed me during the Hollywood writer’s strike asking if I had any ideas that might work for this format— and I did! I have another book “Read This For Inspiration” that I published with Clarkson Potter in 2020. But that is non-fiction and a completely different ball game. This feels like a dream come true, to get to be a published author of a novel.
What’s next for you?
Hopefully many more novels and romcoms! But for now I’m actually adapting Speak Now for the screen! So listeners may get those long looks and montages after all.
Lastly, what books are you looking forward to picking up this year?
My best friend Kirsten King’s debut novel, “A Good Person,” comes out the same day as Speak Now! Which is so fun and special for us both. Her book is an incredible thriller with an unreliable narrator that I quite literally could not put down until I finished it!
