Fall Arrives Way Too Early

Ellie Alexander 0:05

Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to another episode of Reality Writes. I am author Ellie Alexander, and this is the podcast where we talk about all things bookish, writer-ish, and we try to go behind the scenes to give you a taste of what it means to be an author in 2026 and beyond. And um, as always, I'm here with the Tech Guy.

Tech Guy 0:27

Hello, hello. Uh, today we're gonna be talking fall, all things fall.

Ellie Alexander 0:33

Fall. It's fall, y'all. I mean, it kind of almost is fall. I literally just got back from the grocery store, and there is an entire wall of fall candy. We're talking candy corn, pumpkins, everything. I can't believe it. It's August. What's happening?

Tech Guy 0:49

Well, we were just out for a walk the other day, and you commented on the fact that the trees are just starting to turn here. It seems like summer just started, and we're already we're already into fall. Of course, here in the Bay Area, uh, the kids are starting back to school in just a few weeks, right?

Ellie Alexander 1:09

Yeah, probably now-ish. Yeah. Yeah.

Tech Guy 1:12

That's that's true. Yeah, yeah. Um having grown up in the Pacific Northwest, where school starts a little bit later in actual fall, um, this is uh this is kind of wild to see.

Ellie Alexander 1:24

But fall is my favorite season, so I am not sad about this at all.

Tech Guy 1:29

I was gonna say, um, I know that fall is something that's near and dear to your heart. So today we're gonna be talking about a fall to remember, your upcoming rom-com.

Ellie Alexander 1:42

A fall to remember. I know. I still can't believe it's already here almost.

Tech Guy 1:47

Yeah. But this one, we've teased a little bit on this uh podcast before. Uh, but since we're so close to the release date, I thought we would do a deep dive. Again, for the darlings out there, spoiler-free, not going to be talking about anything that will ruin the read for you, but uh, we're talking about A Fall to Remember, which releases September 1st.

Why This Rom-Com Feels Different

Ellie Alexander 2:10

September 1st. It's coming at you.

Tech Guy 2:13

So, why does this one feel different from your other rom-coms that you've written so far?

Ellie Alexander 2:21

Yeah, that's such a good question. I mean, so first of all, the two holiday rom-coms that I've written thus far are set in bend during the winter holiday season. And the first one brought back a mystery character, Meg Reid, my first OG sleuth, and gave her a love arc and had these intertwining stories. This is a totally brand new setting in Half Moon Bay, California, which is like 30 minutes away from us.

Tech Guy 2:49

A real place.

Ellie Alexander 2:50

It's a real place. And once I've been living somewhere, and when we take road trips to go explore places near us, I of course, like that writer part of my brain can't shut up. And I'm like, oh, this could be a great setting for a book. Oh, this could be a great setting for a book. Um, but this book is very of the moment, I feel like. Miranda, the main character, is in her late 40s. She's like trying to figure out what her next chapter is. I was in that head same headspace, you know, like there's this transition that starts to happen once your kids have flown the nest a little bit and you're deciding, like, okay, now I have this opportunity, not necessarily to reinvent myself, but to think about like, wow, I spent a lot of time raising kids, and now what do I want? Um, and I really love exploring that as a main character and that kind of energy. So that feels very different to me. And then, of course, this one is set at my favorite season, which I just alluded to. No, no spoilers here. Fall. I love everything about fall. I love the smells, I love the scents, I love the food, I love all of it. Um, and to get to just immerse myself in fall and love was brilliant.

Tech Guy 4:08

Definitely. And and I know how much you like uh writing about fall. It has been a little weird to have, you know, uh us be not in fall, but have the house smell like fall and have fallish playlists and fallish bakes going on in the house, uh, all to get you in the space to write this. But you've obviously written a lot of cozy mysteries over the years, and you prior to writing cozy mysteries were a prolific reader of cozy mysteries and cozy mystery TV shows, uh, all of the above. And something that darlings out there might not know about you is that rom-coms are also a favorite of yours. You're a big reader of rom-coms. Do were there any in particular that kind

Rom-Com Influences And No Spice

Tech Guy 5:00

of put you in the headspace for writing this one?

Ellie Alexander 5:02

Yeah, I have always been a lover of rom-coms. Um, and I I tend to like I go in cycles, you know. I I love a rom-com during the fall and during the holiday season. You've always, for Christmas, purchased me a stack of anything that's like bookish, romance, Christmas, check, check, check. Um, and I have a lot of favorite authors in the rom-com space. I really love Emily Henry. So I think sort of that kind of tone. I love anything that Jenny Colgan writes. Um, she's like my auto buy in this category. I love Christina Lauren. I will say all of the rom-coms that I have written and are likely to write um are nobody, no spice. Um, so some of those authors, Lori Gilmore um writes a lot of great fall cozies. And I I had a darling ask, like, oh, I really like the fall part and I like the rom-com part, but I'm not a spice girl. And that's also true for me. Like, I love that it exists, but that wouldn't be my slant, myself for writing. I think, especially coming from the cozy space, you know, where the most that ever happens is maybe a kiss is alluded to. There's there's a touch more uh of that in chemistry, I would say, in these books, but uh, these are more like your classic rom-coms versus spicy romance.

Tech Guy 6:24

And I know that is a frequent question that you're asked about the rom-coms you've already written. So it's not a surprise that is already coming up for a fall to remember as well. What is

Switching From Mystery To Romance

Tech Guy 6:35

the hardest shift that you have to make from writing a mystery to moving over to write a rom com?

Ellie Alexander 6:42

Yeah, well, you know this because I was lamenting so much. Initially, I really felt like, oh, writing a rom-com is going to be easy because you don't have to follow the same structure. There are kind of these three arcs, right? They meet, something happens to tear them apart, and then they come back together at the end. Whereas a mystery is so driven in terms of suspects and red herrings and plot twists and reveals, and then you do it all over again with the next suspect, and you're building all the way until you close the case. So I think really having to like take everything that I know and I've done really like almost in my sleep when it comes to writing a cozy anymore, because I've written so many and throw it all out the window and start fresh. And for me, such a big part of my process is all the work that I do ahead of writing. You know, I spend a good few days like sketching out a 10, 15-page outline. So I really know where my mysteries are going before I start writing. I have a good, clear blueprint that I'm working off of. Obviously, I give myself permission that if something really great happens along the way, I'm gonna follow that. But with the wrong comment is more about sinking into like, okay, we're talking about really character-driven stories and those emotional growth arcs. And then how do you weave some level of plot into that? And what I know about myself, not only as a writer, but also as a reader, like I really love plot-driven stories. I've decided, like, and I'm okay with that, right? Um, but I do, I struggled, I would say, a lot more with figuring out that balance point between needing to focus in on the emotional growth arcs, but then wanting to go back to like, okay, plot, but then what happens? Like, what's the twist?

Tech Guy 8:34

What's the right, right? What what about what about developing Miranda as a as a character? So you you have Juliet in uh in the Bake Shop Mysteries, you have Sloan in the Sloan Krause mysteries, you have Annie in the secret bookcase mysteries, and then subsequent novel detective series. They're all living their lives but solving crimes, uh, you know, uh along the way. Yeah. But this is different. Miranda, there's no, like you said, no, no body, no crime, no spice.

Ellie Alexander 9:09

No body, no crime, no spice. Yeah.

Tech Guy 9:12

What what it what is it like? What's the difference in developing a character like that where you have this one major component that is normally present for uh a protagonist in in a book or a series, and that's just not there.

Ellie Alexander 9:26

Yeah, I think I think that's what I struggled with initially, is like, okay, usually I have all these other layers or things that they need to be doing. Uh it's great because Miranda is a character. So any darlings out there who um aren't familiar with the little blurb or the pitch for a fall to remember is that Miranda Brown has become this accidental influencer. She goes on this vacation to Catalina Island and she takes all these terrible pictures of her toes and the beautiful scenery with, like, you know, a bus going by or whatever it is. Um, and she comes home and her son Pete is like, oh mom, this is so great. And kind of on a whim, he posts those online and she goes absolutely viral for all the right reasons, of course, because people really resonate with her. And she's just like so in the moment and caught up in the beauty and the joy of being on this solo trek by herself that she doesn't even care that she's taking bad pictures. Um, and so that was kind of my entry into who she was. And then it took me, I would say, longer to find her as a character. I don't think I fully knew her until maybe the second or third draft of this book. And I'm really going back and forth a lot with my editor and thinking about like, okay, how do we make sure that she, as this new accidental influencer, she gets invited to um, you know, do something for a company kind of like Expedia, where she's actually taking people on a tour of her beloved Half Moon Bay during this fall pumpkin harvest festival. How do we make sure that the joke's not on her? Like she's in on it too. She's comfortable in her own skin. She's able to laugh at herself and have that sense of self-deprecation, but without her being like the butt of the joke. And so, like, I think in the first pass or two, that was really my focus for her is making sure, like, okay, we don't, I don't want her to be, she's not like, she's not a Meg, right? Where Meg is just kind of clueless. Like, she's in midlife now. She's going through perimenopause, she's got all, she's got all of her things. Her son has grown. She hasn't really had love herself because she's put that aside to raise her son and her niece and run the green growth show. So so there were there were a lot of layers, but it took a while to unpack and find those because the writing process was so vastly different than writing a mystery.

Tech Guy 11:55

Yeah, Meg, uh, that reminds me, I forgot Meg that Meg Reed investigates mysteries. And then exactly. It's uh Meg started it all. Um, and and then of course Britta, who is uh a lesser-known but but also uh a protagonist in one of your series. So that is a lot of mystery heroines uh that uh Miranda is not like. So tell me, was there a lot of planning that had to go into it, a lot of trial and error and finding Miranda's voice, or did you sit down and at one point during your writing go, okay, now I know who Miranda is. Now I it I know exactly what her voice is, who who she is as a person, and and kind of went from there.

Ellie Alexander 12:42

Yeah, I mean, I I don't think there was one like defining point. I think it was more of a slow evolution, but I feel like I was able to tap into my own experiences of, you know, being in this midpoint in my life and thinking about like, oh, what is next for me and what do I want and how do I feel differently? And it's fun to write a character that's um, you know, that had more life experience and is able to really sink into who she is and know that, especially I think going into love and romance and this arc of her finding love. So that part was interesting for me. I think the challenge really came in that balance, yet again to go back to it, um, plot, just because I am so driven to like, we need a body, we've got so much blood, we need a victim, we need these suspects. Um, so really, I think to any darlings out there who were writing and thinking about writing in multiple genres, I think it's a great thing because it was a brand new challenge for me. I love pushing myself out of my comfort zone. I finished the first draft of this MOOC and was like, oh God, this needs a ton of work. Like at a level that I'm not used to experiencing right now with my cozies because that is so second nature to me. Not that a first draft, like they are all still a first draft, but anymore, like if you read my first draft, you would go, oh, okay, she's gonna layer some stuff in, but the plot and the through lines are all there. Whereas with this, it's like, okay, now we have this scene and this scene, and how am I gonna weave it all together? Yeah.

Building Miranda The Accidental Influencer

Tech Guy 14:17

All right, let's switch gears and move from the characters to, well, in a way, another character, but the setting, which, as you said, is Half Moon Bay, California, which, like the Bake Shop Mysteries in Ashland, Oregon, is a real place. And the Sloan Krauss mysteries in Leavenworth, Washington, which is a real place, Half Moon Bay is a lovely little town on the California coast. And I know from uh being married to you for so many years that this is one of your absolute favorite parts of writing is the research trips. So tell the darlings out there a little bit about Half Moon Bay and your experiences discovering it. Before you get started, though, I will tell the darlings out there if it is always a pleasure going with Ellie on these research trips because I get to stand there and watch as she takes photo after photo after photo of the most random things. But it it's like seeing a location through her eyes because there are things that you will see that a normal person would just walk by, but you're like, that's gonna be in a book. That that that is gonna be in a scene in the book that I'm writing. I need to take a picture of this, make some notes about it, et cetera, et cetera.

Ellie Alexander 15:42

Well, yeah. And the first thing that comes to mind with that is the second time we were there. And I had already written the first draft, the second time we were there for a research trip. I'd already writ written the first draft of A Fall to Remember. And one of the first things that I clued onto was this old rustic gate that was like part of kind of a courtyard and the lock was all weird and rusty. And I was like, oh my gosh, this would be such a great place for a body. No, stop. Like, no, because again, I think my slant is so much the juxtaposition of going to these sweet, charming towns and then imagining the fact that like something so horrific, like a murder would happen, and then how the town's gonna come together and everybody's gonna rally and we're gonna have justice at the end. Or this, I was like, no, where are they gonna go on a date night? Like, how are they gonna walk from town to the beach? Where could they bump into each other? Like, where could the holiday parade take place? Uh, so it really was a mindset shift for me, even in terms of fleshing out the setting and making Half Moon Bay my own too. Like all the other places that you've talked about, I do sometimes feel like it's cheating because I'm not needing to stretch my imagination much because it is so charming and so different than the other locations where I've sent my books to, which for me I think is important because I want to make sure that they stay fresh and that they reflect, you know, my writing up until now, but also maybe some new writing and um feeling that sense of like, oh, this is slightly different. It's it's Ellie, it's Ellie's voice, it's all those things, but it's it's not exactly the same as maybe what you've read before.

Tech Guy 17:29

Yeah, and you talked about Half Moon Bay being very charming and walkable. And that that brings me to my next point, which is you do take some creative license because in your book series, um, you tend to move places around or repurpose existing locations to be something else. Were there any major changes you need to make to Half Moon Bay for a fall to remember?

Ellie Alexander 17:56

Yeah, I mean, like, so the the bulk of the story takes place at the Green Grocer, which is this specialty gourmet uh market grocery store deli counter that Miranda and her family have owned since the 1950s. And there is a really fabulous grocery store in downtown Half Moon Bay, but um, I moved the location. And this actual store is kind of a mashup of a lot of other places that I've been before. Like there's this wonderful German deli in Portland, Oregon that we used to go to. There's a fantastic specialty um grocery store in Pike's Market in Seattle. So like I just will take little nuggets of other places and start to build out something that feels like my own. And then there were logistical things, and you know this from our trips where it's like, okay, I know we're downtown, but now I need to figure out like, yeah, I know we can drive this way to the beach, but how could we walk? And what's that like? So there's this beautiful like row of eucalyptus um and ew trees, this whole grove

Half Moon Bay Research And Tweaks

Ellie Alexander 19:00

that you can walk through to get there. Um, but I didn't want that to be like in reality, you have to cross a highway to take a walk. But like that's not quite as uh charming, right? So like I'm just gonna cut that out of the book and they're gonna have this sweet little path from downtown that takes you down to the beach, like small details like that. But the bulk of the vibes of Half Moon Bay, I feel like are there.

Tech Guy 19:26

Yeah. So for the darlings out there who get a fall to remember and read it, and then subsequently visit Half Moon Bay, California. If you if you try to walk from the grocery store to the beach, just FYI, there will be the coastal highway between you and the and the sand.

Ellie Alexander 19:42

So yeah, that's right. I mean, which you can do. There's a crosswalk, there's a light, like it can definitely be done, but it might not be quite as charming as what you're gonna see in the book.

Tech Guy 19:53

Yeah, yeah. Is it safe to say that this is the one part of writing both cozy mysteries and rom-coms that is very similar, that whole sensory world building?

Ellie Alexander 20:04

Yeah, for sure. And, you know, I don't know why I decided that she was gonna own a grocery store. And the green grocer is one of the first things that came to me when I was sketching out the concept for this and then pitching it and having a chat with my editor about it. Um, but I guess probably like in the back of my head, that was a not so subtle way to be able to work some food writing into this book, too. We just talked about this on a previous podcast, but that is just who I am at my core. Like, there's so much food writing that has already happened, clearly because of the bake shop. But the same is true with Sloan, even Meg, and to go way back when I was first out on submission with Meg and trying to find an agent and querying. One of the first agents who I got an offer from, I did not end up going with this agent, um, but they were lovely and they were excited and eager to work with me. But they wanted me to cut out like all mentions of coffee or food or beer, even back then in Meg. And she's she's a journalist. Like there's she's not in the kitchen at all, but food was already central. So I think the green grocer has been a way for me to be able to like take those pieces of my mysteries too and like add just like a little touch because maybe she's preparing a lovely sandwich as she's flirting over the deli counter with this handsome travel uh person who's come to town.

Tech Guy 21:33

Speaking of lovely, this is a love story. Uh like you said, no spice. Uh so this is this is definitely a romance.

Ellie Alexander 21:43

Uh yes.

Tech Guy 21:45

So in your mysteries, you usually have multiple storylines. There's there's, you know, the overarching mystery and then er but but everything seems to kind of converge in that mystery uh it or converge at the crime, the Uh, the murder, as it were. Um, with a fall to remember, is there a convergence point like that? Or is it uh is it totally different than than Cozy's in that regard?

Ellie Alexander 22:12

No, you know, for me, I love stories about female friendship, like strong, central female characters. And I also love that idea of like weaving multiple love stories into a book. So I did that with the first two rom-coms that I wrote, and I've done that again. So I feel like maybe this is kind of my lane for that. So we have Jim and Miranda, which is the central love story for this one. Jim's coming to town with Voyager Travel, think Expedia. And, you know, he is instantly smitten with Miranda and her authenticity and just like how comfortable she is in

Love Stories Series Plans And POV

Ellie Alexander 22:50

her skin and kind of laughing at herself. And then his younger partner and colleague, Shelby, has also come into town. And she has a very different vision for how Miranda should be treated as an influencer. She wants to level Miranda up. She wants Miranda filtered and in makeup, and she doesn't want any of this kind of kitschy, like stumbling upon um, you know, a proposal or like whatever funny thing Miranda's gonna accidentally do. Um, and so there's already then some instant tension between Shelby's goal and Jim's goal, just as far as Miranda goes. But Shelby and Miranda's son Pete have kind of some instant chemistry. Um and so there's kind of a subplot of what's happening with them, which no spoilers, but that might continue in book two of this series, which will come out next fall.

Tech Guy 23:46

Oh, so that may have been a spoiler in and of itself. Uh Fall to Remember will be part of a series.

Ellie Alexander 23:54

Yes. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And the way that series work in the rom-com space is slightly different because you have a satisfying love story for the main arc, of course, because otherwise, darling would feel cheated. Like, wait a minute, I'm left hanging. And then usually a second or third book in this same world picks up with different characters, characters who maybe we've met in the first book, perhaps some new characters. For book two, it will be again similar things where there will be multiple POVs that I'm writing from, which is also to go back to your point, very different than my mystery writing. In all of my mysteries, I am writing from first person POV from Jules' point of view, from Sloan, from Annie. So we are in their head. There's so much that you can do as a writer. I mean, there are pros and cons, right? But there's so much you can do because you're fully in this one character's point of view. So everything that's happening to Jules is happening to us as the readers on the page. In this book, there are four different points of view. So we have Miranda, Shelby, Jim, and Pete. And so I'm switching back and forth between all their POVs. So we get to see different things that are happening from different characters' lens, which again, as a writer, is great, super challenging. And I had to go back quite a few times and make sure, like, oh, okay, well, wait, does that scene make sense to be in Pete's point of view? Or would we learn something different if we're in Jim's point of view? So there are a lot of other decisions that I'm having to make when I'm working on this style of rom-com than I have to make in mystery writing at all.

Tech Guy 25:32

Oh, that's interesting. Okay, so Miranda and Jim, Shelby and Pete. Was writing the interactions between one couple versus the other more interesting or more fun? Or did they each uh have their own interests and and you know excitement for you?

Ellie Alexander 25:51

Well, what I learned early on is I'm too quick to want to rush the romance for both of these right out of the gate. I initially was like, oh my gosh, they they have this instant meat cute because I love like old school 80s and 90s rom-coms. Like they don't make them so much. Like we need, we need a resurgence of like great rom-coms or even like, you know, how to lose a guy in 10 days, when Harry Met Sally, my best friend's wedding. Like I could go on and on. I love that. I love the meat cute, I love this then tension, blah, blah, blah. What I learned about myself as a writer is I was like, okay, they've met, they have, they've had this moment, they have this thing that tears them apart, but it wasn't until draft two or three, and then working with my editor who was extremely helpful in helping me like figure out the pacing then too. Because, you know, she initially had some of the pages, was like, okay, this is great, but like, you know, they can't be in love on page one. I'm like, oh, okay, right. Yeah. Shoot. Okay, I gotta go back and and fix that. So I don't even know what you asked, but no, that that's perfect.

Tech Guy 26:57

I I will say I can't believe you didn't name Notting Hill in terms of in your list of uh. Oh, we should rewatch that. Yes.

Ellie Alexander 27:07

Anything Jane Austen, I mean, all of these things, right? That's all just in my mind from years and years of being a reader and lover of these stories as well.

Tech Guy 27:17

Okay, well, I I hope we've given Darlings a a good look into the content of A Faults

Cover Reveal Sprayed Edges And Release

Tech Guy 27:24

Remember. For the sake of not giving away too much and and having any spoilers, let's move on to the physical book because there's some excitement there uh this time. And we've teased it a little bit, but talk a little bit about what this book is going to bring that is going to be a first for Ellie Alexander First.

Ellie Alexander 27:43

This is an Ellie Alexander First. I mean, first of all, can we give a shout out for these covers? I mean, Storm My Publishing House just knocks it out of the park every time with their cover design. And I am in love, no pun intended, with this cover. The cover designer just I think captured all of those fall vibes. And it's always so fun because this is the first time, like the green grocer, like we've talked about, is just in my head. So to see it then realized by somebody else on the cover, it's just like, oh my gosh, yes, that's exactly how I pictured it, which I had the same experience with tort back in the day too. So not only is it going to be in trade paperback with this gorgeous cover, but it will have sprayed edges too, which I'm so excited about. I love a sprayed edge.

Tech Guy 28:31

Yeah, and we talked about sprayed edges before on Reality Writes when we were covering our favorite book, Trends. So it was very exciting to see that a fall to remember is going to have sprayed edges. And we've seen what the sprayed edges look like, and it is going to be all the fall vibes.

Ellie Alexander 28:47

All the fall vibes. Now, the truth of the matter is I should probably not be allowed to touch them because I'm sure I will ruin said sprayed edges because I'm terrible with the way that I treat my books. But I'm excited for you, darlings, to get to add this to your shelves. And I will say, anytime I'm in a bookstore, I do love the fact that this trend is so popular. And you see like collections of fall reads, not only with those stunning covers, but with the sprayed edges. And so uh Miranda and Jim are gonna be right there in the mix.

Tech Guy 29:19

Definitely. And I am excited that sprayed edges are spanning genres too, because uh I've seen them in sci-fi and fantasy as well. And that uh it just a little bit of extra excitement for for the book. So I like it.

Ellie Alexander 29:33

It's like a little bonus. Uh-huh. Speaking of bonuses, one thing that I want to do is I want to, I know this is gonna be a shocker, darlings, but I want to make a recipe from the books because Miranda does, it's fall. So she's serving some delicious soups and sandwiches at the green grocer because there's like a little deli eating counter and um just like a few little dining spaces spaces mixed in with all of the shelves of like imported chocolate and olive oil and wines. And of course, there are not recipes in the book, but I feel like the release of this demands that I make one. So stay tuned for that.

Tech Guy 30:10

Okay, so that is some great information about a fall to remember. Is there anything else you want to share with the darlings out there before we wrap up this episode of Reality Rights?

Ellie Alexander 30:19

Well, I know sometimes getting our hands-on physical copies is not always easy these days. And I am excited that most Walmart stores are going to be carrying this book with the sprayed edges. So if you are on the hunt for one and can't find them and you've checked your local indie bookstore and what any other places, like wherever you can buy books, you can also potentially snag one there.

Tech Guy 30:46

That's very cool. All right. So that is a Fall to Remember releasing officially on September 1st. And it will be followed next year by book two. And that about does it for this episode of Reality Rice. If you have any questions about a fall to remember that we didn't cover in this episode, or you just want to know more about the book in general, please let us know in the comments or send us a message via the send us a message link in the show notes, and we would love to answer them for you. So with that, until next time.

Ellie Alexander 31:20

Yeah, and before I say until next time, I want to hear from you, darlings, in the comments. Are you a lover of spice or no spice? Do tell. All right, until next time.

Tech Guy 31:36

Until next time.