"A splash of heat" -A Jewish Q&A with romance author Meredith Schorr, As Seen On TV
When I opened up the package containing Meredith Schorr’s As Seen On TV, the bright cover and fantastic pitch drew me right in. You don’t need to be a fan of Gilmore Girls, Hallmark Movies, and fun romantic comedies, to love this book. Adina Gellar is an aspiring lifestyle journalist looking to secure a job by writing a Hallmark-inspired piece about a charming small town fighting back against an evil real estate developer. Except nothing turns out like she hopes. Even the rugged local love interest turns out to be from NYC. My face hurt from smiling while I read this book.
I caught up with Meredith Schorr to ask her all the pop culture, romance, and Jewish questions about As Seen On TV.
Q: Adina Gellar loves Hallmark movies and you have a good time with all the Hallmark tropes in your book. What do you personally think of Hallmark movies, and how did you pick which tropes to include in As Seen On TV?
A: I definitely had a great time with these tropes and am happy it showed! I enjoy Hallmark movies as a lighthearted escape, but my favorite films are those that stray a bit from the formula (Nine Lives of Christmas, Surprised by Love being two of my all-time-favorites). I admit to groaning at the interrupted kisses and third act misunderstandings. I enjoy a little bit of unpredictability and I wish they weren't quite as chaste. I'd like to see more movies switch things up like As Seen On TV! (Hint, hint for any producers reading this!)
I knew that I wanted Adina's experience in Pleasant Hollow to be pretty much the opposite of what a city girl heroine in a Hallmark movie would probably face so I purposely created a less-than-warm character for the owner of the B&B, food establishments serving mediocre-at-best food and no fresh pastries, a complete absence of community festivities, and most importantly, a town where the people were ambivalent to the real estate development. And, of course, I had to throw in an interrupted kiss! There's also "only one bed" which I've only seen in a few Hallmark movies, including Dashing Through the Snow, starring my favorite leading man, Andrew Walker.
Q: Adina is Jewish and I really felt her Jewishness, especially when she's with her mother. The way they talk and their open table for Rosh Hashanah, it all had a very familiar feeling. How important to you was it that Adina be Jewish and in what ways did you infuse her (or your) identity into your story?
A: It was very important to me that Adina be Jewish because we don't see enough Jewish leading women in romantic comedies both on the screen and in books. There has been more Jewish representation of late and I am honored to be adding to it! Like Adina, I don't keep kosher or go to temple regularly, but I am very much Jewish. I wanted to see a Jewish woman like myself, albeit a younger version, living her life, searching for love, and working toward a goal just like her Christian counterparts. Although my family looks a lot different than Adina's (I have two older sisters and the attendees at our Rosh Hashanah, Hanukkah, and Passover dinners are mostly relatives as opposed to "found" family), the teasing conversation and laughter are very much the same as well as the abundance of food. Our love language as a Jewish family is food! Writing the energetic banter in that scene came very naturally from decades of experience!
Q: As a major Gilmore Girls fan, I was giddy over every reference in this book. Like Adina's best friend Kate, I also was hoping for a gazebo. Even the name of the town, Pleasant Hollow, was a fantastic homage. There were many pop culture references, from Bravo shows to actual dating apps, that made this book feel authentic. Were there any secret easter eggs readers may have missed?
A: I am a self-proclaimed television addict, so dropping pop culture references comes very easily to me and is so much fun! It might make the book dated, but I'd rather it feel relevant and authentic now than worry about what readers will understand fifty years from now if they are still reading it!
Interesting tidbit: Although I was inspired by the mother/daughter relationship between Lorelai and Rory Gilmore when writing Valerie and Adina Gellar, my choice of Gellar for Adina's last name was coincidental. It wasn't until her mom referred to them as the Gellar Girls in one scene that I realized the similarity to Gilmore Girls. Same with the town name Pleasant Hollow (believe it or not). It just sounded like the name of a town one would imagine being straight out of a Hallmark movie and then...not so much! The Gilmore Girls references (and vibe in general) were secondary to Hallmark in the first several drafts.
There are so many Easter eggs only fans of Hallmark, Gilmore Girls, Hart of Dixie etc. might catch and I hope it's fun for them without being too confusing for readers unfamiliar with these shows! I didn't purposely throw in any secret Easter eggs, but I don't expect every reader to catch every reference because I (and Adina) probably watch way more TV than most of you! I could rattle off several right here, but my publisher is considering doing a fun scavenger hunt as an interactive promo at some point and I don't want to give it all away!
Q: Let's talk craft. From the first line to the last, I felt like I was with a friend telling me a juicy personal story over a bottle of wine. That takes skill. Do you have any writing tips for creating this intimacy with the reader?
A: Thank you! For me, writing in first person POV allows me to get right into my main character's head. While writing, I become my character. I also think it's important to make sure that in addition to dialogue, you include enough internal thought. What someone says does not always match what they are thinking or how they are feeling. Internal thought or physical gestures can provide important context to what is being verbalized. My critique partner leaves many notes on early drafts of my books that say "What is she feeling here?" "How does she feel?" I tease her about it all the time, but also appreciate the nudge. Of course, it's a fine balance. You don't want to overwhelm the reader with too much internal thought but just enough so the reader gets a real sense of the character's mindset.
Q: Let's talk steam. Yes, I'm talking about the romantic moments between Adina and her love interest Finn. I've been reading romance novels since my grandmother gave me her paperbacks with shirtless men on the covers to take to college with me. What advice would you give for first-time romance readers nervous about what to expect?
A: I describe the steam level in As Seen On TV as "a splash of heat" or "mild open door." I wanted to keep sex on the page but in a way that felt natural to the general tone of the book and my voice. The sex scenes are open door but they aren't graphic. I describe more of what the characters are thinking than what body parts are going where and there's playful dialogue mixed in. The scenes are only one-to-two pages long.
I enjoy reading all types of heat levels from fade to black to super steamy, but I will leave the very hot scenes to other authors to write, at least for now. I will say that things get a little steamier in my 2023 romcom, as long as my editor doesn't cut them. The more I write (and revise) this type of scene, the more comfortable it becomes and the more I find my style.
Q: And lastly, a question I love to ask Jewish authors. What are your thoughts on Jewish representation in romance novels, and when was the first time you saw yourself represented in a book?
A: As mentioned earlier, I'm so glad we've seen an increase in Jewish representation in romance novels over the last couple of years but I look forward to the time when it becomes frequent enough such that we don't have to talk about it...if that makes sense. Not every Jewish person has the same experience with their religion and so I also like the variety of Jewish representation that we are starting to see in books. In many cases, the character's relationship with religion is very much a part of the plot, for instance Stacey Agdern's Friendships and Festivals series, The Matzah Ball by Jean Meltzer, and Rosie Danan's The Intimacy Experiment. In other cases, the characters are Jewish but the book isn't about Judaism, for example The Ex Talk and Weather Girl, by Rachel Lynn Solomon. These are all great books with a variety of Jewish representation, but As Seen On TV definitely falls in the latter category. I have another romcom coming out Summer 2023 where both the main character and her love interest are Jewish. If you could feel Adina's Jewishness, wait until you meet Molly and her family!
Jennifer Weiner has been creating Jewish characters for more than a decade in women's fiction, but there was very little Jewish rep in mainstream romance until recently. The first book I can recall is Something to Talk About by Meryl Wilsner, which was only published two years ago! I was thrilled and surprised that one of the main characters, Emma, was Jewish and her mom reminded me of my own. Most recently, the romcom I most relate to in terms of my relationship with being Jewish is Sadie on a Plate, by Amanda Elliot.
