Julie Stone: On Writing

Ten years. That’s a long time between book releases. Especially when you write Rom-Com. The me who wrote my first three books was living her life solidly in the demographic for the genre, though by book three I’d edged my way a wee bit outside of it. 

But the trials and tribulations of those heroines I was writing about? They were still relatable. Ten years later, well I’d grown up. I’d raised my kids and seen them through their first dates and loves and heartbreaks. I’d seen some of my friends divorce and enter the strange vortex of dating after forty (can you say spanx and dating apps? John Hughes and Nora Ephron didn’t mention those in their cinematic masterpieces). And while I still adored the lighthearted, show me a good laugh to a happy ending of the romantic comedy. Somehow, they weren’t as relatable anymore.

At my age (insert eye roll here) it’s hard to swallow that a relationship can go off track because of a misunderstanding or a miscommunication. In fact, it’s going to frustrate the hell out of me.  It’s going to make me want to parent that heroine to be better at speaking her mind clearly and not hiding from a difficult conversation. (Another eyeroll, here). I’m not knocking these story lines or these heroines. Those women had to walk before they could fly. They earned those happily ever afters.  

But the thing is, the happily-ever-after of a woman in her forties and fifties is vastly different than that of a woman in her twenties. Twenty-year-old heroines are still figuring out who they are. What they like and don’t. They are building a future and looking for a partner that wants that future, too. Older heroines have seen some things. They’ve built a life, but to some degree the dream of that life has fallen apart. They’ve sacrificed love for career, or had their hearts broken. They’ve had kids, lost jobs, and lovers. 

But they know what they are willing to compromise on to make a relationship work. Their happily ever after isn’t about settling down, it’s about leveling up. 

Toni Morrison famously said, “If there’s a book you want to read but it hasn’t been written yet, write it.”

Now, in no way am I comparing myself to Toni Morrison, but I’ll happily take her advice. I grew up on the romantic comedy. The ridiculous teenage “coming of age ones” of the eighties. And the oh-so-endearing “your soulmate is out there ones” of the nineties. Main characters who are teenagers, twenty, or thirty-year-olds, but when it comes to romantic comedies for those of us with a bit of road under our tires, well, the pickings are slim.  

Which is why, when I set to work writing my latest release, “He’s with the Band”, I knew I wanted the heroine to have some life experience. Not all of it great, but all of it relevant to where we are joining her on her journey. 

She’s older, more complex, interesting. She’s got some lines around her eyes, and things aren’t as high and tight as they used to be. But she’s still smart and funny and desirable. The question for an older heroine isn’t will love find her, its will she find love. 

Those are some big ideals to try and put into a story that’s supposed to be mostly chock full of romance and laughter. And that was the challenge. To keep true to the bones of the romantic comedies I love but grow them up a bit too. To do justice to my contemporaries looking for love at this stage of their lives. It was a bit of a tall order. 

To do it, I decided to center the story around something that is universal to any age, music. I don’t know much about present day music. To me, anything that has been produced since 2000 is “new”. (Inert eye roll by both of my children here.) But the music of my era? I am a gold-medalist when it comes to remembering bands, lyrics, and MTV–when they actually played videos. To say I am nostalgic about the music of my teen years is akin to saying the Grand Canyon is a fairly large hole. 

And so is Campbell. But not for all the music of her youth, just one particular band. But not just the band. The songs. For her, they stir up memories of the girl she once was and the dreams she once had. They help her absolve her mistakes to that girl and heal her heart. But more importantly, they give her a place to come back to when she questions herself and this new life she’s trying to build. A shelter from the storm of her own making. 

Her story is about second chances. Writing this book, was a second chance for me as well. That gap between books, it wasn’t for lack of trying. I was still writing and submitting not just this book, but two or three others. And dealing with the rejections that come with this job. Sometimes dealing with those rejections involved turning up my favorite power ballad and singing my heartbreak out. Just like Campbell. But then came the offer, and the second chance, and I took it. Just like Campbell. 

I like to say that Rom-coms with mature heroines are important. Women of a certain age are sometimes made to feel invisible. And that isn’t right. I firmly believe that there isn’t an expiration date on happily-ever-after. It’s out there, for everyone. It starts, by falling in love with and believing in yourself. The rockstar? He comes later. 

 —

Julie Stone was born a child of the seventies, complete with rainbow shirts, roller skates and magic rocks. All that whim and whimsey ushered her into the wonderful world of being a teenager in the eighties, something she has a hard time letting go of most days. She grew up watching John Hughes movies, pegging her jeans, and avidly reading everything Judy Blume and Sweet Valley High.

Alas, she had to leave it all behind and become an adult. Graduating from the University of Iowa where, along with a degree in English, she also earned herself a husband and embarked on all of the regular, boring grown up things that come with age. Until the magical world of motherhood brought along a new chapter of joy, terror and sleepless nights.  But also, nap time. Suddenly there was occasion to go back to her creative calling and write. Through raising two kids, several moves around the Midwest, those stories and that keyboard kept her company and kept her, relatively sane. (Depending on who you ask.)

Now settled back in her home state, she writes Rom-Coms with a more mature heroine, because Happily-Ever-Afters shouldn’t have an expiration date.  Always a fan of big hair and an even bigger fan of Eighties music, she is currently working her way through a bucket list of reunion tours. Follow along on Instagram (@juliestoneauthor) Twitter (@writergirl70)  and Facebook (Author Julie Stone) or visit her website: www.booksbyjuliestone.com 

HE’S WITH THE BAND

After twenty-three years of marriage to an utter jackass and beige décor as far as the eye can see, Campbell Cavett is now divorced. Officially. But how did she lose herself for all these years? Somehow she went from being a bold, starry-eyed young groupie who followed Golden Tiger on tour to…snapping photos of snot-nosed kids for their Pinterest moms at the local Portrait Hut.

But she takes her Divorce Party one bottle of Pinot Grigio too far and wakes to discover she’s quit her boring-ass job, arranged to sell her house, and has tickets to the Golden Tiger reunion show. Which is exactly when fate and Campbell decide it’s time to pick up where she left off all those years ago.

Now Campbell’s on tour as the official photographer of her favorite band and living the life she’s always dreamed. But backstage access means that she’s about to discover a whole lot. Not just about herself, but about a blast from her past who looks way hotter than he has any right to twenty-plus years later. Plus there’s that mind-blowing secret Golden Tiger’s been hiding from everyone. They say time can heal anything. But is six weeks on the road enough to truly start fresh?

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Category: On Writing