Georgia Stone
I've been looking forward to sharing this Behind the Manuscript for a while! Georgia Stone is the kind of author who makes romance writing look easy (we know it’s not!) because she writes “oh I feel like I’ve met them” type characters that you can relate to, especially as a woman. Her books are fun and full of banter, but underneath there is thoughtful character work. Because of these things, I fell in love with The Friendship Fling and The Roommate Rule as a reader. As a developmental editor, I’m interested in the way Georgia, as a writer, builds those characters and their relationships.
In our conversation, Georgia discusses her approach to character development: from turning side characters into leads and writing intimacy scenes that inform a character's arc, to sensing which characters deserve their own book and teasing her next novel.
Georgia was generous in sharing her process here. I came away inspired as an editor and even more excited to be her reader. Enjoy! And go read Georgia’s books ASAP!
Please note: US/UK spellings are used throughout. The Friendship Fling (TFF) and The Roommate Rule (TRR) are abbreviated throughout the interview.
I loved meeting Dylan and Max as side characters in The Friendship Fling (Dylan bringing lightness to the coffee shop, Max still finding his footing after everything he'd been through) and then getting to watch them both become the leads of their own love story in The Roommate Rule. How do you approach building out characters like that, who start supporting someone else's story, into people who can carry their own?
With Max, the moment I came up with him as Ava’s brother in The Friendship Fling, he had main character energy written all over him. He walked onto the page almost fully formed, with a complete backstory we learn via Ava, so in The Roommate Rule all I really had to do was deepen that and provide his perspective.
It worked a little differently for Dylan, though. While writing TFF, I knew what kind of person Max would end up with, and that it would ultimately be Dylan, but at that point, I didn’t fully know who she actually was. It took me writing TRR to discover her, and to give her enough depth to be able to hold her own story. I intentionally kept her a little more in the background in TFF than some of the other side characters (which works for her personality anyway, since she’s quieter) so that I wouldn’t have to commit to bigger pieces of characterisation that I’d then be forced to stick to in TRR.
Luckily, though, I wrote TRR before I even published TFF, which meant that I could go back into TFF and make tweaks to Max and Dylan to keep their characters consistent across both books.
I'm such a sucker for a grumpy FMC paired with a sunshine MMC, and Ava in The Friendship Fling was such a well-drawn version of that: introverted, guarded, and relatable in an almost shocking way (Georgia, have we met? Because it felt like it!). Where do you find the inspiration to get deep inside a character's head, and how do you build someone who feels that true to life on the page?
For Ava, I definitely cheated a little, because, like you, I relate to her a lot. It sounds vaguely egotistical but I think writing a character who shares a lot of your characteristics (not all, of course – a full self-insert is a recipe for disaster!) is a common thing authors do with their debut, because it’s the path of least resistance. I found Ava so easy to write simply because she felt like an extension of me in many ways, and I felt like I knew her straight away, and that made the whole process of drafting a lot easier overall.
Generally, though, I think making my characters feel real comes down to a few things.
1. I usually start with the stuff they struggle with, whether that’s insecurity, or loneliness, etc., and then build their personalities over time by adding smaller things like what they’re good at, the things and people they love, their hobbies, how they speak, etc. These smaller details make the character feel more well rounded.
2. Giving them both good and bad qualities. An imperfect character is a more realistic character.
3. How they interact with others. Whether that’s with a love interest, boss, friends, family, or a random person on the street, planting the main character amidst a whole network of other people makes the world feel more lived-in – like the character could feasibly exist outside of the confines of the book and we as readers just happen to have dropped into their life at a specific moment.
Both The Friendship Fling and The Roommate Rule feature characters who are, in different ways, being pushed outside the lives they thought they'd have. How much of your character work begins with the romance itself, and how much begins with asking who these characters need to become outside of the relationship?
I’d say more of it focuses on who they need to become outside of the relationship. With romance novels, love has to change a character in some capacity, but at least the way I write it, that change is so inevitable that it almost happens without my say-so while I’m figuring out every other part of their arc. Figuring out who the characters are and what they need to change in order to accept love or be loved, while also becoming the best (or at least, an improved) version of themselves is the more active element for me. Who they are as people, now and who they become later, informs every facet of the plot.
“Who they are as people, now and who they become later, informs every facet of the plot.”
There’s a ton of fun, sharp banter in your books, but one of the moments that affected me most was a quieter one. There's an intimate scene in The Roommate Rule where Dylan shares an insecurity, and Max's response helps her release it. It unexpectedly made me so emotional. When you're writing a romantic or spicy scene, how do you decide what that scene needs to reveal about the characters beyond physical attraction?
I’m glad you mentioned this! I knew from the start that the intimate scenes in TRR would probably play a bigger part in Dylan’s journey than Max’s, by nature of the fact that her relationship to sex and her own body was something she would be working on throughout the book. As a result, you can perfectly map out Dylan’s character arc over each of the intimate scenes. It wasn’t exactly intentional, but I like that you can see exactly where Dylan is in her journey simply through those scenes alone.
I never want intimate scenes to feel gratuitous, and as a result, in terms of deciding what they should reveal, it’s all character and timing dependent. Who are these characters at this moment, and what would such a scene mean for them?
And following on from that, I always need to settle on what they’re like in thesescenes. I never want who they are in the bedroom to be super far removed from who they are outside of it unless it’s for a good reason, and as a result, I try to ensure each couple has their own sexual dynamic specific to them. For instance, Ava and Finn continue to bicker/banter with each other during their intimate scenes, which feels right for those two.
How early do you know whose story you want to tell next in a connected world like this? Is it something you sense while writing the first book, or does it surface later?
I can usually tell while writing the book. A character won’t leave me alone, or they try really hard to be on page more often than they need to be, and I just know I need to write about them.
But even when I don’t have explicit plans to write a book about a side character, I like the idea of leaving doors open, so I often sprinkle seeds in my novels that might later bloom into a full book of their own, just in case.
I also have a specific tell in my books that no one’s figured out yet (I don’t think?) that means I want to write a whole book about a particular side character, and if you know it, you won’t be able to unsee it.
“I often sprinkle seeds in my novels that might later bloom into a full book of their own, just in case.”
You've recently announced that there's another book coming (yay!), which is very exciting for readers who aren't ready to leave these characters yet. Without giving away anything you're not ready to share, what can you tease about the next story?
I can’t share much, in part because there’s a lot that’s still up in the air, but I will say that after a detour to Pembrokeshire in TRR, we’re back in London for this one! The dynamic was really fun to write, and both characters are so special to me – and, I think, to the handful of people who’ve already read it.
I truly do love this one, and I hope that if/when it gets in the hands of more readers, they love it too.
About Georgia Stone
Georgia Stone is a London-based author of contemporary romance. She writes love stories that she hopes make people laugh out loud and clutch at their hearts in equal measure.
After dabbling in fan fiction as a teen growing up in rural Switzerland, she didn't write her own stories for years, until one fateful day, she had the idea that sparked her debut novel. She fell back in love with writing and now very much appreciates that being a fiction author is essentially just a socially acceptable way of having imaginary friends.
When she's not reading or writing, you can usually find her trying out DIY projects in her ridiculously colourful flat, spending far too much time feeding The Algorithm, or acting unhinged at gigs with her friends.
georgiastonebooks.com
@georgiastonewrites
Bio courtesy of georgiastonebooks.com
Thank you for reading Behind the Manuscript. I hope these conversations help readers discover the creative decisions behind the books they love and give writers a deeper appreciation for the craft behind amazing stories. Until next time. Happy reading!
