Dance Around It (Strip in the City, Book 1)

Writer Reveal | writing a romcom

Hi everyone 👋

Welcome back! Thanks for joining me for another edition of AJ trying fruitlessly to make her readers laugh, er, I mean, my writer reveal. It's time once again for me to lift the curtain for some more insight into my creative process behind Dance Around It!

Writing a RomCom

The romcom is a cornerstone of entertainment. Balancing humor, romance, and emotional development, all while keeping the tone hopeful and positive, is a bigger task than one would assume. ✨This is me side eyeing anyone who thinks writing romance is easy 👀.✨

Because romantic comedies are so important to film and literature, I have always been slightly terrified to write one. I would tell myself, "I can't write a rom com! I'm not even funny."

And to be fair, I'm really not that funny of a person. I'm not witty enough to have jokes on the fly, and even on the rare chance that I did have a joke, I'm terrible at telling them. My delivery is a muddled and I'm usually laughing about the punch line while I'm telling it.

But, I wanted to write a funny story after writing some pretty dark shit for a year and a half, so I was willing to try.

Research

Reading romcoms seemed like a good place to start! I wanted to see what the formula for success was, and what made me laugh out loud in romcoms. Turns out I'm a sucker for Instagram humor. Nothing made me laugh harder in It Happened One Summer by Tessa Bailey than when the grumpy fisherman captain created an Instagram profile so he could social media stalk his crush. Or in In A New York Minute by Kate Spencer when two strangers are put on Instagram together and dubbed #SubwayQTs.

Epic.

So I knew I wanted to add a social media aspect to this story. Which is why you have Maren and West going viral on the Gram. It adds another layer of pressure to their relationship and to their careers.

Slow Burn in Romcoms

Another thing I realized I really like in romcoms is slow burning romance. I just love when the tension between the two main characters is so off the charts you think you're going to explode before they ever kiss. I knew I wanted to craft a slow burn that gave off all the will-they-or-won't-they vibes that I love.

As much as I love slow burns, I also kinda hate them. The thing I hate the most in romcoms is when the slow burn feels forced or unearned. If the reason why the couple isn't together is flimsy and not well articulated by the author, it annoys me. It's one of the reasons the fake dating trope is a hard sell for me. I really have to believe the fake dating scenario could actually happen and is mutually beneficial to both parties.

*takes a deep breath* rant over

Writing Funny Scenes

So, how does someone who used to write angsty vampire romance learn how to write contemporary romantic comedy? Well, I've been leaning into my strengths. There has been some funny shit that has happened to me over the years, especially since I'm almost as clumsy as Maren.

For example, when I was constructing West's audition scene, I wanted it to be a worse case scenario for both Maren and West. West gets pepper sprayed and Maren drops her purse and her tampons and gas pills come rolling out. I tried to play up the things these characters are self conscious about while adding humor.

I almost didn't let Maren pepper spray West. I thought it might be too ridiculous, but I feel like it works.

Well, thank you so much for listening to me talk about writing a romcom! I've truly enjoyed writing a funny book, and getting the opportunity to balance the feels with humor.

What's your favorite romance trope?

Do you like slow burns?

xx
AJ