Guest post written by Love and Other Paradoxes author Catriona Silvey
Catriona Silvey was born in Glasgow and grew up in Scotland and England. After collecting an unreasonable number of degrees from various universities in the UK and the US, she moved to Edinburgh where she lives with her husband and children. She is the author of Meet Me in Another Life (2021) and the upcoming time-travel romantic comedy Love and Other Paradoxes (2025).
About Love and Other Paradoxes: One of the greatest love stories in history gets derailed when a struggling poet at Cambridge runs into a time-traveler who agrees to help him find his muse—a thoughtful and uplifting romantic comedy for fans of About Time and The Midnight Library.
A truly satisfying romance is not just about two people finding their perfect match: it’s about each of them finding themselves. For some characters, a crucial part of that process is expressing themselves creatively.
Romances about creatives appeal for a lot of reasons. When so many of us aspire to be writers, artists, or musicians, there’s joy in seeing characters gain recognition for their art. There’s also a lot of self-aware enjoyment to be had when novelists poke fun at the foibles of their creative protagonists. Finally, creative people tend to be a bit of a mess, and messy characters make for a fun romcom!
Here are six romances where both partners are creatively inclined, and where the romantic resolution is tied up with each of the characters finding creative fulfilment.
Honey and Spice by Bolu Babalola
Kiki is a student radio host with big ambitions and a no-dating rule. Malakai is the new boy on campus, an aspiring filmmaker Kiki initially writes off as a womaniser. When an impulsive kiss between them leads to drama, Kiki and Malakai embark on a staged relationship to salvage her reputation with the university’s close-knit Black community.
Employing romance tropes (fake dating, anyone?) with knowing panache, Babalola’s funny, charming debut novel excels at showing its loveable characters finding their creative voices as they find each other. And if you haven’t read it yet, now’s the perfect time — the followup, a second-chance romance titled Sweet Heat, is coming this summer!
The Friend Zone Experiment by Zen Cho
Renee and Ket Siong meet at art school in London. But the tangled history between their families brings a premature end to both their budding romance and Ket Siong’s dreams of being a concert pianist. Ten years later, with Renee now a successful fashion designer, their lives intersect again, but the issues that came between them have only intensified: will the spark between them survive?
While Cho’s focus is on the family drama and political corruption that drive a wedge between the lovers, Ket Siong and Renee’s respect and support for each other’s art is a consistent balancing force. The novel also doesn’t shy away from depicting the economic realities that determine who gets to pursue their creative passions and who is forced to put them on the backburner.
When I Think of You by Myah Ariel
Another second-chance romance, When I Think of You finds its film-school sweethearts now at opposite ends of the Hollywood food chain: Danny, wunderkind director with a famous father, and Kaliya, stuck behind the reception desk at a film studio. When Danny offers Kaliya a job working on his new movie, their reconnection is threatened by studio politics and scandal.
Ariel’s insider knowledge of the movie business brings depth to her portrayal of Kaliya, worn-out without being jaded, and her depiction of nepo babies using their privilege to lift others up is refreshingly hopeful. This warm, wise novel makes it a joy to watch Kaliya and Danny find each other again, refilling each other’s creative wells in the process.
The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston
When Clementine finds a strange man in her apartment, her confusion only deepens when she discovers he’s from seven years in the past. Turns out the apartment is a time portal, allowing present-day Clementine to cohabit with the past version of Iwan, a chef with dreams of opening his own restaurant.
Clementine’s whirlwind romance with past-Iwan gets complicated when she runs into present-Iwan in the world outside. Initially repelled by the closed-off, hardened person he’s become, she’s eventually able to help him reconnect with the dream he’s lost sight of. And in return, past-Iwan’s passion for his art enables watercolourist Clementine to rediscover her own creative side, long sidelined by a day job that’s worn her down. Poston’s novel is a fun, moving examination of how success can warp our purpose and how grief can disconnect us from ourselves.
Love and Other Paradoxes by Catriona Silvey
Like The Seven Year Slip, my own book Love and Other Paradoxes uses time travel to play with the idea of past and future selves. When student Joe finds out, courtesy of rogue time traveller Esi, that his dreams of becoming a famous poet are going to come true, he tries to pursue his future muse Diana in the present. But as he helps Esi to achieve her own dream of changing the past, he begins to realise she’s a much better match for his present self. Esi is also an artist, and her laid-back, joyful relationship with her art helps to point Joe in the direction of a healthier attitude to his own creative work.
Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld
Sally is a comedy writer on an SNL-like late night sketch show. Noah is a gorgeous, successful singer-songwriter who Sally thinks is way out of her league. When Noah appears as a celebrity guest on Sally’s show and asks for help workshopping his sketch, their connection is immediate. But Sally is held back by her own internalised expectation that attractive men aren’t interested in average-looking, funny women.
As their connection deepens over email during the pandemic, so does their appreciation of each other’s creative work. As Sally comes to know Noah better through his back catalogue, she moves from mocking his “cheesy” output to understanding and respecting it. As the two of them navigate the complexities of dating as public figures, they come to a conclusion that resonates for any creative person: ‘The point of life is to find the thing you’re good at and enjoy doing, and to do it for other people.’
