Recently, we had the chance to speak to Rachel Roasek, whose fun debut novel Love Somebody, a modern YA retelling of Cyrano de Bergerac, is out now! We got to ask Roasek our burning questions about her writing process, thoughts on love triangles and so much more!
Hi, Rachel! Thank you so much for joining us! Why don’t you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
Happy to be here! I’m a big gay weirdo who loves all kinds of good narratives, no matter where they come from — books, movies, TV, games, you name it! I live in New Jersey with my lovely partner and our pets, Lupe and Lily.
What do you do when you’re not writing? What would readers be stunned to learn about you?
I also do work as a voice actor and audiobook narrator, so I’m working on that a lot of the time. Either that or watching YouTube/playing video games, or walking in the woods nearby. I don’t know if this counts as surprising knowledge about me, but I also have a borderline unhealthy knowledge of both Lord of the Rings trivia and D&D rules, so, you know. There’s that.
And speaking of writing, what has your experience been like querying/publishing a book during a pandemic? Any tips for fellow writers who are in the same situation?
Writing in a pandemic was weird. I’m used to fitting writing in on evenings and days off, but right as I was supposed to start writing Love Somebody, the whole world shut down. My job vanished. Suddenly, writing was the only thing I had to do. It kind of kept me sane but drove me crazy at the same time — how do you step away from a project when you can’t actually go anywhere? But I will say, all that free time is probably the only reason the book got done as quickly as it did. For fellow writers dealing with this, my biggest advice would be not to let writing drain you. It’s supposed to be fun. If it’s hurting you to push yourself, maybe take a step back for a while, if you can.
Now tell us about Love Somebody! What can readers expect?
It’s easy to just expect a rom com, based on the premise, but there’s a little bit more to it than that. At the core, it’s mainly about the three protagonists figuring out what they want — from a relationship, their lives, and themselves. Of course it gets messy (hard not to, when the plot is just some really elaborate catfishing scheme), but that’s all part of the fun!
What inspired you to write this fun and queer spin on a love triangle?
I love anything that lets me include my ridiculous amounts of knowledge about classic and renaissance theater. Since this book was based on Cyrano de Bergerac, it was a match made in heaven. Also, honestly, a lot of love triangles frustrate me. Someone’s always getting hurt, or there’s one clear right choice, and the person who doesn’t get picked in the end is always heartbroken. The original story in Cyrano is certainly like that. I don’t think it always has to be that way, though. There are ways that everyone involved can be happy, or at least content. That’s the kind of story I wanted to put out there.
Speaking of love triangles, there are so many beloved romance tropes out there – which ones are your favorites to read and write about?
I’m such a sucker for a good enemies-to-lovers story — the drama! The angst! The yelling confessions at each other mid-fight! But I’m not picky. I love any romance trope that lets the characters do lots of pining. Just buckets and buckets of the stuff.
I love how much teen anxiety, angst and self-discovery is packed into this novel. There are mistakes made, trust broken and tons of regret which made the story feel so authentic! Without spoiling too much, was there a favorite scene for you while writing Sam, Christian and Ros’ story?
I won’t say they were my favorites to write, but the scenes with Christian and his parents are some of my favorite parts of the book when I look back on it now. The writing of them was really stressful, but the words came so easily. On a lighter note, I looked forward to writing Sam’s realization about her feelings for Ros for WEEKS, and getting to finally do it was a blast. I love a good “uh oh” moment in romance.
If Love Somebody were to be adapted into a movie, which three songs would have to be on the soundtrack?
GREAT question. There’s two songs by Orla Gartland that would definitely have to be on there — “More Like You” and “Pretending.” “More Like You” has the same vibes as Sam and Ros quietly falling for each other without realizing it, and “Pretending” is just Sam’s theme song. For Christian, I can imagine some kind of introspective montage to “Don’t Let Me Fall Behind” by Jukebox the Ghost.
With Love Somebody releasing soon, are you already working on another project? If so, can you share a tidbit about it with us?
As a matter of fact, yes! I’ve got a few ideas floating around. One is a second-world fantasy, the other is modern day fantasy based around Celtic/Cornish folklore. Both YA, but I’ve got some adult and middle grade in the pipeline, too.
Last but not least, do you have any book recommendations for our readers?
In the YA contemporary world, I have to recommend Who I Was With Her by my very good friend Nita Tyndall. It’s voice-y, it’s super well written, and I LOVE a good angry protagonist. On the more fantastical side of things, I’m a huge fan of the Seraphina duology by Rachel Hartman. The worldbuilding and characterization is incredible, and the other novels set in that universe (Tess of the Road, the upcoming In the Serpent’s Wake) are fantastic as well.
