There’s no question that every growing start-up faces its share of challenges. In contemporary romance author Evie Blum’s new book, Ship It, an office romance set against the backdrop of California’s Silicon Valley only contemplates the equation.

Interviewer: Christina Hamlett

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Q: Let’s start with a delightful quote you have on your website: “Music is life.” Music—primarily contemporary—plays a big part in shaping the mood and scenes in your novel, Ship It. Tell us more about that.

A: One of the ways I get into and stay in the right frame of mind to write a specific story or its characters is to play music that fits the scene. I’ve always had a strong ability to vividly visualize stories I’m reading or different scenarios I make up in my head, and now that I’m Writing, I try to do the same, to put myself into a scene or the characters’ minds. Listening to music helps me with this a lot, either to get into the scene originally, or if I’m interrupted during the writing process, to get back into it. For me, a great song—but especially a great song for writing—needs to have the right combination of meaningful lyrics and the great beat, instruments, and feel.

So, when I was writing Ship It, I sometimes hesitated to mention specific songs or artists. I was worried that readers might not know the songs I mentioned, or worse, they’d have very different associations for them than I do. But Ship It is very much a contemporary (that is, 2020s) story, going so far as to address the pandemic and other timely issues (like homelessness in the San Francisco Bay Area), so I went out on a limb and included the songs I love and believe help set the scene for my characters. I’ve included suggested playlists on my website for Ship It, and the other works-in-progress, and I hope at least some readers will check those songs out, because in the (imaginary) movie version of my stories, I think the music fits the stories really well.

Q: What’s currently on your playlist?

A: First and foremost, Vance Joy. This musician and his songs were simply made for love, the depth of feeling one feels when being swept away for the first time by someone, the pain of separation, and longing for another time with someone with whom you have a connection.

lovelytheband is also on heavy rotation. They capture both in sound and lyrics the deep human need for connection with others.

Stephen Puth is always only a tap away for me. His ability to describe a steamy connection between people (“Sexual Vibe”), or the beginning of doubt in a relationship (“Look Away”) is on point.

Other than that, it’s a great mix of slow-and-sexy and angsty-and-longing, what you might expect from a romance writer: OneRepublic, The Lumineers, Isabel LaRosa, Julia Michaels, The Chainsmokers, Post Malone, and Tate McRae, and Surfaces.

Q: In your romance set in the Silicon Valley, a software executive and a project manager engage in a steamy one-night stand but then discover they’ll be working together in the same start-up company. What inspired you to take this saucy premise and develop it into a full-length novel?

A: Over the last decade or so, I’ve experienced a lot of professional and personal development myself, and I’ve always questioned how all the different aspects of my own life have come together to make me who I am. In essence, what shapes us into who we are? From the perspective of a twenties-something professional, faced with the challenges of building their career but also, hopefully, finding love, the question might be, “How do you balance all these things?” So, it’s on this background that I began to build the story of Sarah and Nathan. It’s hard enough to balance those different parts of our lives sometimes, but what happens when the stakes are raised, and everything is happening in the same environment—in the case of my characters, Sarah and Nathan, in their workplace.

I loved the slightly taboo aspect of the workplace romance, but wanted to avoid any true conflict of interest (for example, had Nathan ended up being Sarah’s manager). I preferred to explore this tension in a more nuanced way, namely, the desire for them both to try to save face (for example, what if Sarah succeeds at work, and her colleagues say it’s because Nathan, as an executive, showed her favoritism?) while trying not to succumb to their very strong emotions for one another. There’s another major theme of the book: the fear of losing one’s parent, or in Sarah’s case, coping with the grief of actually losing a parent. And this theme/storyline ended up sneaking its way into the manuscript without me intending it. My family experienced something similar over the past year, and I think writing this into the book helped me begin to understand my own feelings about it.

Q: In real life you’re a technical program manager and have worked in the high-tech industry for a decade. Aside from “writing what you know,” what governed your choice to use a high-tech start-up as the setting for Ship It?

A: Honestly, I was tired of seemingly every romcom I read being set in an advertising agency or publishing house. I wanted something different. I do not actually think that high tech startups are a natural environment for romance! But as one of my reviewers wrote “nerds deserve love, too!” On a serious note, though, startup life can be intense and sometimes there are very high stakes: the need for quick development to beat any competitors, the risk of getting it wrong and ending up failing, the potential for the company to go through an exit (get acquired by a larger company) or IPO (get listed on a stock exchange and be publicly traded). I felt like that kind of setting and having the characters deal with similar experiences could turn up the heat under the little cooking pot into which I threw Sarah and Nathan. It’s easy—or at least easier—to do the right thing concerning your feelings and your treatment of others when the pressure is low, but what happens when there’s pressure from work, there’s a meddling ex in the picture, and you’re trying to take care of your family (in Nathan’s case)? The answer is: Things get very interesting and it’s in that space of tension that I wanted to write.

Q: That said, how realistic (or not) are the events you describe in the storyline?

A: Many of the business-related conversations and experiences described I experienced directly or indirectly. I think I did a pretty good job of writing within the realm of reality in that respect. I’ve helped found and build a startup, I’ve been part of a mergers and acquisitions team during a startup exit and I’ve also been at a startup that had an IPO, so the business processes (including the software development and release processes) described are broadly accurate. Now, for the spicier side of things: Full disclosure—I’ve never seen a romantic relationship blossom in any of the startups I’ve worked at!

Q: You’ve written this novel in a dual POV format (one main character in first person; the other in third person). Some readers have loved it, but a few have found it confusing. Defend your choice!

A: Dual POV novels are not uncommon, and many readers enjoy being exposed to both characters’ internal thoughts. I chose to implement dual POV a bit differently than many authors, though, so I think a few readers were surprised by it. The novel starts from Sarah’s POV and then switches to Nathan’s—all very industry-standard. However, as the story progresses, their POVs become increasingly interwoven. Deep down, I ultimately felt Ship It is the telling of Sarah’s experience, with necessary insights into Nathan’s thoughts and experiences, which is why I chose (perhaps surprisingly or confusingly to some) to write Sarah’s POV in first person and Nathan’s in third person. This was also a practical choice. In order to keep their viewpoints distinct in the more interwoven sections, my own brain understood it better written from different “persons”. Often authors will devote an entire chapter to each viewpoint, but in the more dramatic scenes, I personally loved the back and forth. I feel it’s almost not entirely necessary to understand whose POV you’re reading during those sections, and hope that many readers—like me, when I was writing —will be able to simply to immerse themselves in the scenes and get swept up in the drama and emotion.

Q: Romance novels written in STEM environments are a relatively new trend in contemporary romance. How is your novel similar to or different from others in this space?

A: When I’m asked what some comparable novels are to Ship It, three come to mind:

The Kiss Quotient, The Love Hypothesis, and The Hating Game.

The Kiss Quotient, like Ship It, is set in Silicon Valley and the main character, Stella, works in high tech. Her job is a big focus for her, but due to the way the story is written, the reader is not exposed much to the business side of things. Due to the book’s focus on her own personal development and her relationship with the main male character, this works. In Ship It, I chose to take more of a macro-approach when writing and included some of the (I hope) more interesting, likely unknown sides of software development and startup businesses in my story. I have never read a romance novel set in a high tech startup, and I thought it would be a unique approach as well as an opportunity to shine some light on this fascinating industry.

While I enjoyed both The Love Hypothesis (like Ship It, set in Silicon Valley, though in a more academic setting) and The Hating Game (a workplace romance like Ship It), my book differs from these novels in very distinct ways:

My first take of The Love Hypothesis? It was fun and interesting. Due to the author’s background, I assume that this book portrayed the world of scientific research/academia quite realistically, but coupling with it the fake dating trope felt wrong to me as a reader. You’ve got one aspect of the story which is serious, interesting, and realistic, and the other—the main characters’ fake relationship and the comical situations they find themselves in—completely at odds with the setting. This was actually in the back of my mind as I wrote the manuscript for Ship It: Could these situations or these conversations actually happen, not only in a high tech startup but also in a real adult relationship? I also found some fault both with The Love Hypothesis and The Hating Game—again, both books I enjoyed—due to the toxicity and antagonistic communication of the main male characters. Can and should characters grow and develop as people throughout a story? Absolutely yes. But I’ve thankfully experienced a long-lasting, loving relationship as an adult, and it’s very difficult for me to imagine such a relationship starting in such a hostile or inauthentic manner. Suffice it to say, the fake dating and enemies-to-lovers tropes are just not my thing. I can read these types of stories, but definitely not write them. And that’s likely why I took a very different approach (more on that later) in writing my own story.

Q: Many of your readers have stated they loved the respectful, egalitarian nature of the relationship portrayed between Ship It’s main characters. Why did you craft their dialogue and relationship in this way?

A: First and foremost, it’s 2023. Women and men should be treated as equals, whether it’s in schools, the workplace, or the bedroom. For me, romance and a loving relationship must be based on mutual respect and, if at all possible, clear communication, and this was the type of relationship—first a one-night stand, then a friendship, and later more—that I wanted to portray between Ship It’s main characters. Both women and men can be portrayed as “strong” or “driven”, while also practicing respectful, non-manipulative communication, and I tried to write my characters and their conversations this way, whether it was dialogue between the two main characters (woman/man), or dialogue between other characters (woman-to-woman or man-to-man). I also strived to portray life in a startup and relationships between the characters—whether it was romantic or professional relationships or simply friendships—in the most realistic way I knew how. Writing the characters without gender stereotypes—professional or personal—was a main goal for me while crafting this story, and it was a good exercise in self-reflection.

Q: Did your characters ever surprise you over the course of writing their story?

A: Some of Sarah’s actions surprised me towards the end of the book. I’m what the writing world calls a “pantser” (at least I was when writing Ship It), and I really didn’t know how things were going to play out. I began writing and just saw where they characters took me. I grew with them. Now, with the sequel to Ship It (Pitch It), that I’m currently writing, these characters are surprising the hell out of me! They’ll likely surprise readers, too, and I hope they’re ready for a fun and wild ride.

Q: You’ve only been writing fiction since 2022. What was significant about that year for you in terms of writing, editing and publishing?

A: I turned 40 last year, and without even realizing it, I think something in my head clicked, like, “Hey, half of your life (if you’re lucky) is done. You know that dream you always had of writing a book? Now might be a good time to do it.” It was also post-pandemic, and I had read a ton of books, many of which were romance. I love the way romance can provide an escape from the stresses of the world, a bit of hope and optimism in hard times, and I wanted to do just that—write a fun, heartwarming story about people who could be you or your friends. I think I was dealing with a lot of my own questions and doubts about life during and post-pandemic, as well as my varied experiences working in Silicon Valley, and it all just kind of came together for me in a way that it never had before when I had attempted to be serious about writing fiction.

Q: Like many authors, you’ve gone the route of self-publishing. What do you know now about the process that you didn’t know when you started?

A: Ha! Um, literally everything. Anything I know about publishing (and there’s a lot I don’t), I learned in the past year. How your manuscript can (likely will) change completely by the time your book is published. How to work with an editor. The different steps to publishing (editing, proofreading, formatting, proofs, different self-pub platforms, how to begin to market and build your online presence, how to promote, etc.). This last year has been a huge journey, but I feel better prepared for my next book, and look forward to using what I’ve learned to continue to build my reader base.

Q: If Hollywood came calling, who would comprise your dream cast for this book?

A: I’m about ten years too old and too busy to watch enough TV to know actors and actresses young enough to accurately portray the characters of Ship It, but here’s my best shot:

• Molly Gordon, as Sarah
• Cody Kearsley, as Nathan
• Simu Liu, as Kevin
• Ariela Barer, as Camila
• Katherine McNamara, as Danica

Q: What’s next on your plate?

A: I’m currently working on the sequel to Ship It (for now, I’m calling it Pitch It), and another writing project, a Hanukkah-inspired spicy romcom (working title: Eight Nights). The main characters in Ship It and Pitch It are Jewish, but it doesn’t play a big part in the story, but I wanted to write a story where the characters’ Jewish identity is a bit more obvious.

Q: Anything else you’d like to add?

A: Last year at this time, I hadn’t even begun to think about writing a manuscript, and now I have written, edited, and self-published a book. I’d encourage all aspiring authors out there to just start writing and see what happens. Sometimes you don’t even realize you have a story that you want to tell, but working on it shapes you as an individual and can help you learn about yourself and others. The other thing I’d love to mention for all the indie authors out there is that you should try not to be scared of rejection. I was (or am) as scared as the rest of us, but I forced myself to take a lot of risks the past year, going way outside of my comfort zone, and I’ve been so pleasantly surprised by how many wonderful, supportive fellow writers and readers there are out there on social media. There are so many different platforms and ways to get started and get your work out in the world for review, feedback, and ultimately publishing.