Enni Amanda: Writing spicy small-town romcoms

I usually say, ‘I browse sexy guys on Pinterest’, then watch their face as they try figure out how much I’m lying. As a book cover designer who focuses on illustrating characters for romantic comedy and romance books, I am often looking for visual references, like sexy hockey players, lumberjacks, billionaires, firefighters … But of course, I also spend time on drawing and designing, so it’s unfortunately not the whole truth. A slice of my ‘living’ is also made through publishing romantic comedy, so I guess I can say I write for a bit of living. Or, I live to write. I’m not entirely sure.

My own manuscript, which I need to get to the editor in three short weeks. I’m currently collaborating with five other authors on a shared world series, which means I’m also reading their manuscripts. I wish I could name-drop some authors and titles, but it’s all very hush hush until later this year. I can tell you they’re all spicy, small-town romantic comedies.

I loved Enid Blyton’s Adventure series. I read it all in Finnish, so I’m not sure about the English titles, but there was one where the kids found a cave behind a waterfall, and I still have a vivid image of that in my mind.

I wanted to be an author. So much so, that I wrote my first ‘book’ when I was 11 years old, on my dad’s Amstrad 64. It was 70 pages long and featured our dolls having adventures in a small coastal town in Norway.

I think she’d be very excited that I’m living across the world in New Zealand and having all the adventures she read and dreamed about.

I think I’d like to freak myself out by gifting myself a copy of a book I’ve written. But, I’m pretty sure the 21-year-old me would be too scandalized by the spicy nature of the writing to truly appreciate the gag. She might in fact decide never to take up writing if it leads down such a path, which would alter the fabric of time and make all my books disappear. Time travel is risky.

I associate my dad with Fyodor Dostoyevsky and Henning Mankell, maybe because those are the authors I’ve picked up from him and really enjoyed. And when I think about my author friends, I obviously associate them with the books they’ve written. I love how you learn about someone by reading their books. Even if it’s fiction and none of the details match their life, there are always truths at the core of it that you recognize as uniquely that person.

My memory is rather short, but lately, I’ve been recommending Brooke Shields’ memoir Brooke Shields is Not Allowed to Get Old to anyone I know who’s approaching perimenopause or menopause.

I prefer fiction. Good fiction feels more ‘true’ than non-fiction, as well as believable and more satisfying. I think the story structure is so hard-coded in us that we recognise it and respond to it, and that’s where the feeling of tapping into a deeper truth comes from. I don’t read fiction to learn — that’s a nice by-product but I’m primarily seeking an emotional experience. I do consume non-fiction to feed my own writing. I find it useful, but hardly ever as moving.

Lately, I’ve been getting more into audiobooks. I love how they give me a break from screentime.

One of the hardest things about being an author is that you read a lot less than you did before you started writing. You beta read for others. You read a few chapters from this and that for research. But you don’t read that much for pleasure anymore. It’s not quite the same. That being said, I loved Abby Jimenez’s Just for the Summer. She always manages to weave in the hard topics without depressing you.

The Bible. It gives context to the entire Western civilization, it’s quoted all the time and yet so many people are shockingly clueless of what’s actually in it.

I find it’s the books you write that shape you far more than the books you read. So, I encourage anyone who thinks they’ll one day want to give it a go to do it now. Write the book now. You don’t have to wait until ‘you have the time’.

I’d like to shout out to wonderfully talented author friends Evie Alexander, Piper Sheldon and Jen Morris.

My latest book is called Falling Madly. It’s a wintery small-town romcom featuring a Scottish copywriter who’s in love with his colleague. On Valentine’s Day, he sees her breaking up with her boyfriend and seizes the opportunity, whisking her away to the mountains. He soon learns she grew up in the cute mountain town and isn’t all too happy to be back. And of course, they get stranded …

I have a title for my autobiography in Finnish, but it doesn’t translate very well. I’m vaguely dreaming of one day writing about why I had to move so far away from Finland and why I chose to stay away. I’m hoping, by writing I’ll discover the truth, since I’m not entirely sure what it is.