This post was originally published on Audible.co.uk.
The Isle of Ormer, population 500, sets the stage for The Name Game, where two people named Charlie Jones arrive for the same position, sparking both romance and mystery. Bestselling author Beth O'Leary talks about the challenge of looking directly at anxiety, plotting with Post-it Notes, and why she still has plenty of room to explore within her beloved genre.
Tricia Ford: The premise of two people with the same name arriving for the same job is brilliantly awkward! What inspired this particular meet-cute scenario, and have you ever experienced a similar mix-up yourself that sparked the idea?
Beth O’Leary: I have always been fascinated with the idea of people having the same name as each other—you’d be surprised how many people have crossed paths with a name twin! I’ve yet to meet another Beth O'Leary, though… The key element to this idea was realising that if I gave my lead a gender-neutral name, like Charlie, then the story could still be very much a romance as well as a mystery (which is just how I like it!).
The Isle of Ormer becomes almost a character in itself. How did you go about developing this small island community, and what research did you do to create such an intimate, authentic setting where everyone knows one another?
Thank you, that’s exactly how I wanted it to feel! I wanted the reader to step into the story and feel like they’re in Ormer with my characters. The island was inspired by Sark, which has no street lights, no cars, and only 500 people. I enjoyed visiting the island, but my Ormer is very much its own place—after writing Swept Away, with only a boat as my setting, I wanted the freedom to build a whole little world. I loved creating the island, mapping out the geography in my mind and populating it with a quirky cast of characters.
Your representation of anxiety is particularly well-handled in the book. As mental health themes appear throughout your novels, how do you approach writing these elements authentically whilst maintaining the hopeful tone your listeners love?
Oh, thank you. This was a hard element of the novel to write, if I’m honest. Charlie’s specific anxieties are very much her own, but I’m often anxious myself, and it interests me that it’s taken me seven books to write a character who struggles with anxiety. I think it probably speaks to how hard it can be to look directly at those feelings. As for keeping the novel hopeful, that’s absolutely key for me, as I want my stories to be ultimately uplifting. The key was making sure that Charlie took steps forward with managing her mental health without making it all seem easily fixed (if only!), and also about focusing on her joy and her hope between the tougher times.
You're known for unexpected twists in your storytelling. Without giving anything away, can you talk about your process for weaving surprise elements into what might seem like straightforward romance plots?
I do love surprising my readers, and now that I’ve done it a few times, I feel it has to be extra surprising, because they’re looking for the clues these days! With this book, I actually had no idea of the answer to the mystery of the two Charlie Joneses when I decided to embark on writing the story, and figuring that out was (obviously!) absolutely key to this novel. It took a terrifyingly long time, but once I hit on it, I was obsessed with the idea and couldn’t wait to write it. I mapped out the plot on the wall of my writing shed in Post-it Notes—though that was only once I’d already written a full and very messy first draft. It probably sounds strange given my books have quite complex plots, but I don’t plan in a straightforward way, and often I only discover that plot through writing a first iteration of the story.
Looking at your journey from The Flatshare selling over a million copies to now having multiple bestsellers, how has your writing process developed? Do you feel you have more freedom to take creative risks, or more pressure to deliver what listeners expect?
What a good question. I am incredibly grateful to the readers who follow me wherever I take them—because, actually, all my books are quite different from each other, though they definitely all share key elements (they’re ultimately uplifting, they’re about love, they might surprise you). I feel I have quite a lot of freedom, really, because those key elements are things I always seem to want to do, and are broad enough to give me space to stray into new spaces, like the adventure elements of Swept Away, or the twists and turns of The Name Game. I always like to challenge myself, too, and write something that really excites me—I think that’s the way to give listeners a story they don’t even know they want yet, which is what I aim to do.
Regarding the audiobook casting of Harriet Cains and Arty Froushan as your two Charlies, what drew you to these particular narrators, and how involved are you in the casting process for bringing your characters to life in the audio format?
I was delighted when Arty and Harriet said yes to narrating The Name Game. When I listen to the samples while we discuss narrators for an audiobook, I’m listening for something that’s really hard to put your finger on—a kind of quality of voice that reflects the tone and character of my story. There was a groundedness to Harriet’s voice, and a steady grown-upness to Arty’s, that just felt right to me. That’s the best way I can describe it!
With The Flatshare now adapted as a major TV series and your continued success, what's on the horizon for you? Are you considering other media adaptations, and do you have any dream projects or genres you'd fancy exploring beyond contemporary romance?
At the moment, I love writing what I write—as I’ve said, I feel I have lots of room to roam within my genre, and I’m such a romantic, I think I’ll always write love stories. Though I always say, never say never—and I do sometimes have ideas that are a bit different from what I currently write, or out of genre! As for other adaptations, that’s something that I would absolutely love to happen. Watch this space…
