We chat with author Erica Peplin about Work Nights, which follows a young queer woman who finds herself in a love triangle with an unobtainable intern and a quick-tempered musician in this charming debut that combines Big Swiss with The Devil Wears Prada.
Hi, Erica! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
I’m a queer fiction writer living in Brooklyn who loves to wear baggy T-shirts, ride her bike, and go to the free public swimming pool near her apartment just to flop around and read.
When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?
When I was very young, I didn’t understand the difference between stories and real life. I thought the Little Red Riding Hood was someone my grandma knew. I thought Adam and Eve rode the Mayflower after they put on clothes. I thought Julius Caesar invented salad dressing. What a fun time! My brain was mush. I started writing my own stories when I was seven, and I became obsessed with my friend’s yellow Labrador named Biscuit. I made little books about his adventures using scissors, tape, and construction paper. There was also a dog named Gravy in the books, but he didn’t actually exist. He was a made-up dog that I wanted my parents to buy me.
Quick lightning round! Tell us:
- The first book you ever remember reading: Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark
- The one that made you want to become an author: How Should a Person Be by Sheila Heti
- The one that you can’t stop thinking about: My book! It’s really good, and I can’t believe I wrote it. I wasn’t that smart growing up. But it turns out B- students can write books.
Your debut novel, Work Nights, is out June 17th! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Queer love triangle New York!
What can readers expect?
Readers can expect to laugh at my protagonist Jane because she is in love with an intern at her job who doesn’t text her back. And when they do finally go out on a date, Jane is too shy to say how she really feels. Her roommate is a cool visual artist who makes fun of her, and they often go out for deli sandwiches late at night just to eat in the park and talk about sex and art.
Where did the inspiration for Work Nights come from?
I worked in the Sales department of The New York Times in my mid-twenties, and Jane, the protagonist of Work Nights, also works at a famous newspaper. She’s already pretty bad at her job when she gets transferred to the Fashion team, meaning she has to work with brands like Chanel and Louis Vuitton, and, suddenly, she’s in way over her head because she’s a tomboy who wears chunky Doc Marten’s and doesn’t brush her hair.
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
I loved writing the scenes that show Jane with her loud and gossipy friend group. They’re always yelling at her for chasing after a straight girl. Writing Jane’s coworkers was fun, too. One is a perfectionist who eats oatmeal every day. The other is a middle-aged chain-smoker. Mixing all these different types of people together in an office setting made me laugh.
Did you face any challenges whilst writing? How did you overcome them?
I faced infinite challenges. Where to even begin? I didn’t think I could write a book. I thought it would be bad. I thought I’d waste five years of my life writing a book that nobody wanted. Then, I did spend five years writing this book, and whenever it wasn’t going well, I genuinely thought I’d ruined my life. Some of my friends had real jobs and were making good money. They went out to dinner and took cars. I was working part-time in a shipping warehouse, so I could write in the morning, and, sometimes, that felt pathetic. I was sacrificing so-called valuable years of my life to write a book that might always just be a Word document in my computer. I’m a stubborn person though, so I kept it. I wanted to see what would happen. And even if I failed, I told myself it would be worth it. It would be like another story I could tell called My Huge Failure or something like that.
This is your debut novel! What was the road to becoming a published author like for you?
I cried a lot. I often wanted to give up because the chances of getting published felt so slim. Luckily, I had a girlfriend at the time who often comforted me and told me to keep going. I will always be grateful to her for that.
What’s next for you?
I’m editing a follow-up to Work Nights. It takes place five years later, and I think it’s good. It has some of the same characters, but they’re all in different and new situations.
Lastly, what books have you enjoyed reading this year? Are there any you’re looking forward to picking up?
I loved Information Age by Cora Lewis, Optional Practical Training by Shubha Sunder, Sky Daddy by Kate Folk, and Trust and Safety by Eve Gleichman and Laura Blackett.
Books I’m looking forward to picking up include Emma Copley Eisenberg’s Housemates, Rob Franklin’s Great Black Hope, and Audition by Katie Kitamura.
