Please help me welcome Emma Barry to the blog today! She’s written up a post with questions she wishes she’d get asked. I just adore her books and characters, and I am so excited she’s joining us today…
Five Offbeat Questions I Wish I’d Get (and the Answers) by Emma Barry
I am grateful for each and every interview I’m asked to do and for each and every blogger and influencer who covers my books. (So. Darn. Grateful.) I am not gifted at promotion—in fact, quite the opposite. It makes me feel like a total weirdo who ought to stay in my fictional worlds.
So leaning into that, I’m going to ask myself five offbeat questions and then answer them.
Have you ever sent a fan letter?
Oh yes. When I was a kid, my parents were iffy on the morality of new media. I’m an elder Millennial, and there are so many classic cultural touchstone movies and TV shows from the 80s and 90s I’ve never seen. (I don’t have a favorite New Kid on the Block, y’all!) But thankfully, they never censored my reading and they let me watch any movie I wanted, as long as it was old. In retrospect, this cracks me up because some pre-1970 stuff is really saucy and innuendo-laden.
Anyhow, as a result of this prohibition, I became an old movie buff, and for a while, I was a massive fan of Bob Hope. I loved his self-deprecating humor and how he never got the girl. I’ve always had a thing for gentle beta heroes, I guess. So many of my favorite actors from the Hollywood Golden Age had already died but not Hope. So my first fan letter was to him—and he sent me an autograph.
What font do you draft in?
Times New Roman, because I’m basic. Word wants to default to Calibri, but it feels wrong for my voice. No, really, I know that sounds odd, but reading something composed in Calibri “sounds” different to me. Ditto for Arial.
I’ve tried Comic Sans (which is rumored to improve word count), but it didn’t help me write more and I hate how it looks. I briefly dated Garamond, but while it’s more stylish than Times, I find it to be harder to read unless I zoom way in. Georgia made me feel like I was reading a blog. And all those experiments sent me back, tail between my legs, to Times New Roman. We’re like a second chance love story.
Do you believe in “killing your darlings”? What do you do with those cut bits?
I do—within reason. For many years, I was an under-writer. I would finish a first draft, and during edits, I would discover scenes that I wanted to be in the narrative but that I hadn’t written. Editing in those years was about adding stuff. “She has to meet his mom on the page”: that kind of thing.
But in the last few years, that’s shifted, and my first drafts have grown. Editing for me now is a process of making surgical cuts. I normally end up deleting blocks of introspection, connective bits at the beginnings of chapters, and pages of useless dialogue. I make a “cut bits” document for every book, which makes it easier for me emotionally to hit delete. For Bad Reputation, there are 2500 words in the cuts document. (The cuts file for the book I’m currently working on—which I haven’t even finished drafting!—has 6500 words in it. Good goodness.)
The thing that slays me and that I do struggle with is when I have to cut a joke or a witty line or observation. I have tangled myself into knots trying to keep a single line that makes me smile. And I can admit that these are not even good jokes.
Do you reread books? If so, have the books you reread changed over time?
Yes. I’ve always been a dedicated re-reader. I read quickly, and I often feel as if the first time I read a book, it’s auditioning to be something I’ll read more than once. The series I reread the most in childhood was Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery. I ate up the specific details about life in rural, late 19th century Canada. I admired the way that small-town life in the series feels both idyllic and stifling. I loved Anne’s sunny optimism—and the trauma and darkness that it clearly papers over. And of course, I adored Anne’s romance with Gilbert. Barry (in my pen name) is actually an Anne reference.
As an adult, the book I’ve reread the most is probably The Shadowy Horses by Susanna Kearsley. (It isn’t lost on me that they’re both Canadian.) While I don’t think it’s Kearsley’s best book, it’s a total comfort read for me. I love the detailed archeological dig setting and how the big manor house + ghosts play on gothic conventions. The romance is great, and I’m so impressed that both characters have a complete arc given that we only get Verity’s POV. Oh, and David Fortune is a terrific hero. Honestly, just thinking about that book makes me want to reread it.
What’s for dinner tonight?
Eggplant pizza and spinach salad. I’m a massive fan of this pizza dough recipe from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. There’s pretty much always a tub of it sitting in my fridge, and it’s endlessly adaptable (it also makes great focaccia). My garden is producing loads of eggplants, tomatoes, and jalapenos, so everything I’m cooking right now hinges on those ingredients. Now if it just weren’t so hot that I don’t want to turn on the oven…
Thanks for stopping by, Emma! Now let’s learn more about her latest release, Bad Reputation:
Bad Reputation by Emma Barry
Publisher: Montlake
Publication date: October 1, 2024
Series: Standalone
Genre: Contemporary Romance
In this whip-smart workplace romance from the author of Chick Magnet, a former teen star and an accidental intimacy coordinator have a plan to fix their images—and falling in love would ruin everything.
Cole James’s reputation as Hollywood’s favorite himbo no longer suits him. His fans can’t separate the real man from the character he played on a soapy teen drama decades ago. But that’s going to change with Waverley, the hit streaming historical romance series.
Maggie Niven hates her own notoriety. Fired for directing a divisive play, Maggie takes her fight against censorship public. When Hollywood comes calling, she becomes the new intimacy coordinator for Waverley. But it’s harder than she imagined to focus on the job.
Cole isn’t what she expected—and Maggie is more than he dreamed of. As filming gets underway, the cast’s old traumas lead to real intimacy, and Cole and Maggie struggle with feelings they shouldn’t have. Having an affair on set could destroy his comeback and her new career.
The show must go on. But if Cole and Maggie want a happy ending, they’ll have to start doing things their own way.
Purchase links: Kindle/KU / Audible
Author info:
Emma Barry is a teacher, novelist, recovering academic, and former political staffer. She lives with her high school sweetheart and a menagerie of pets and children in Virginia, and she occasionally finds time to read and write. You can visit her on the web at authoremmabarry.com.