Q & A with Meredith Schorr

It’s time for another Q & A! Meredith Schorr’s debut AS SEEN ON TV will be out June 7th and I am SO EXCITED about it!! (You may remember it was one of my top most anticipated reads for the 1st half of 2022!) And I’m going to be honest- Meredith is also an absolutely wonderful person!! I won an auction for her to critique the first 50 pages of my ms and she is incredible. I am just so excited for her and her book!

Here’s a little bit about her book:

Emerging journalist Adina Gellar is done with dating in New York City. If she’s learned anything from made-for-TV romance movies, it’s that she’ll find love in a small town—the kind with harvest festivals, delightful but quirky characters, and scores of delectable single dudes. So when a big-city real estate magnate targets tiny Pleasant Hollow for development, Adi knows she’s found the perfect story—one that will earn her a position at a coveted online magazine, so she can finally start adulting for real . . . and maybe even find her dream man in the process. 

Only Pleasant Hollow isn’t exactly “pleasant.” There’s no charming bakery, no quaint seasonal festivals, and the residents are more ambivalent than welcoming. The only upside is Finn Adams, who’s more mouthwatering than the homemade cherry pie Adi can’t seem to find—even if he does work for the company she’d hoped to bring down. Suddenly Adi has to wonder if maybe TV got it all wrong after all. But will following her heart mean losing her chance to break into the big time?

1. How did you come up with the idea for As Seen on TV?

The idea came to me several years before I actually wrote it. I was in California during a week at the beach with some of my author besties and we started talking about the reliable (read: predictable but beloved) Hallmark tropes and how someone should write a book featuring a Hallmark obsessed main character that turns all those tropes on their heads in a really exaggerated and humorous way. We came up with all these examples, including some that segued from romcom to thriller and had a nice long laugh. The idea stuck with me and several years later, I was getting ready to go out on submission with a different book and deciding what to write next. I sent my agent about four-five pitches including the subverted Hallmark trope one. It was her absolute favorite idea by a landslide. It turns out the someone who should write the book was me! 

2. Tell us a little bit about Adina and Finn.

Adina is what I like to call a cynical romantic. She’s both given up on love after being burned too many times by Manhattan bachelors, yet also firmly believes that perfect relationships are possible just far, far away from New York City, like in those small towns she sees in Hallmark movies. Finn is really friendly and outgoing, but he holds a lot of personal strife close to his chest. He has a lot of demons he doesn’t like to talk about. One of their biggest conflicts is that Adina, as cynical as she is, believes that once a relationship is right, it just works. Easy peasy with no complications. In falling in love with Finn, she learns that even the best relationships don’t just fall into place. They take hard work, patience, and understanding.

3. Was there a scene that was your favorite to write? 

I actually had to flip through the book to answer this one. Honestly, this entire book was a joy to write, even while digging deep during revisions. One of my favorite scenes is when Adina makes it her one-woman mission to try to turn Pleasant Hollow into a quintessential Hallmark town by suggesting the business owners organize community events like Oktoberfest and ice cream socials. Another favorite scene is the last chapter before the epilogue when Adina and Finn reconcile. I love writing grand gestures and this one made me smile so hard no matter how many times I read it. 

4. What are some of your favorite tropes? 

I’m one of those rare readers who doesn’t really read by trope. That said, I love a good second-chance romance, a friends-to-lovers with major pining, and a fresh take on enemies to lovers. I also love mini-tropes like “main character takes care of sick love interest” or vice versa. I also adore when one of the main characters sticks up for the love interest or defends them against crappy relatives/colleagues. (The latter two made it into my 2023 romcom 🙂 )

5. Are you a plotter or a pantser? 

I’m somewhere in the middle.

6. Can you tell us a little about your writing process?

I always come up with the basic/premise and hook first.Then I nail down the goals, motivations, and conflict, making sure I understand what my character wants, why she wants it, and what’s going to get in her way. Then I do character interviews. The answers to the various questions don’t typically show up on the page, but questions like “what’s your character’s favorite season?” “Who was their best friend in high school?” etc. requires me to dig deeper into their backstory and personality. I usually know the journey I want my characters to take, but figure out the specifics as I go along. I prefer not to outline a first draft except as required by my publishing contracts. Even then, I’ve been fortunate so far to have enough time before my deadline to be able to write a significant portion of the book and get to know the characters really well by the time I need to plot out the rest for the outline. 

7. Why do you love romance? 

The HEA of course! But I also really love falling in love with two characters while they fall in love with each other. Sometimes it’s fun to watch them act like doofuses. Other times, my heart hurts for them as they face seemingly insurmountable circumstances. Reading is such a great escape from the world’s troubles and from my own personal issues. Romance is particularly special because there is a guaranteed happy ending.

Thanks so much to Meredith for taking the time to answer my questions!

Make sure to pre-order your copy of AS SEEN ON TV, check out Meredith’s website and follow her on Twitter (@MeredithSchorr) and Instagram (@meredithschorr)