Writing duo Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings, known under the name Christina Lauren are a contemporary romance powerhouse. They are the minds behind some of the most engaging books such as The Unhoneymooners, Roomies and The Soulmate Equation. Their books are often love stories, and they vary from tales about enemies that become lovers, to friends that realize there is more between them than they thought.
In the recently released The True Love Experiment, we follow the story of a romance writer and filmmaker from completely different walks of life, with no interest in finding love, who find out they make the perfect match. In their careers and in romance, these two just might be meant to be.
We spoke to the dynamic duo about catering to a young adult audience, navigating a writing partnership, and their upcoming audio original novel.
Q: As a surge of romance books makes it onto bookshelves, what do both of you feel are the most important elements to include in your books that grasp the readers and make your books stand out from the crowd?
A: We’re very lucky to have the support from our publisher to write whatever story is inspiring us at the moment. The True Love Experiment is as different from Something Wilder as Beautiful Bastard is from Love and Other Words.
But at start of every book, we want a reader to know immediately they’re reading a Christina Lauren book, and at the end, we want them to remember why they pick our books up in the first place. We want to make every reader feel seen in our stories, to provide an escape from the stress or humdrum of daily life. We want to write heroes who feel flawed and redemptive and strong and real. We want our books to be funny, sexy, emotional and absorbing. When a reader tells us that they were going through something and our books gave them a few hours of escape, then we feel like we’ve done our job.
Q: Your latest novel, The True Love Experiment, stars a romance novelist — who shuns romance because she’s never found the “one,” due to her busy career — and single father and documentary filmmaker, Connor. I loved these characters, their banter and the whole experience of reading this book. How did these characters come to mind? Were there any moments that surprised you?
A: Thank you! When we finished The Soulmate Equation, we thought we were done in that world. Then we went on tour, and it’s not an exaggeration to say that at every event we were asked multiple times if Fizzy’s book would be next. Fizzy was a scene stealer, but could she be the star?
Book besties are often there for comic relief, or to help support and guide the heroine/hero on their journey. By the end of The Soulmate Equation, Fizzy seemed to mostly have her life together, so we worried about how to make her feel fully realized and ready for her own journey. We had to explore what her vulnerabilities would be, what roadblocks she would meet, and what would be her path to a happily ever after. Once we realized that Fizzy had lost her joy, her story seemed to unfold.
It meant that we were surprised to find that the hard character to write was in fact Connor. Once we’d figured out who Fizzy was, who on earth could possibly deserve her? His character developed in layers. His name is Connor Prince III, he’s dimpled and British. On paper, he sounds like the perfect romance hero cliché. Fizzy thinks she knows everything about every hero and is constantly trying to label him with a specific hero archetype. Only he isn’t one type of hero, he’s all of them, and perfect for her.
Q: You’ve written Young Adult and Adult fiction. Both genres have their overlaps but also require different approaches to storytelling. How do you decide which of your ideas will be aimed toward adults, or catered toward a younger audience?
A: The big difference for us is the weight of responsibility. We put our hearts into all our books, but the YA audience is precious, and we want to make sure we’re doing it right. The real magic of YA is in capturing those sparkling, thrilling, once-in-a-lifetime coming-of-age moments. There are so many of these stories being handled beautifully by authors who are closer to the teenage experience, who have lived through a unique and compelling circumstance, who are able to provide context and content to help the YA audience expand their worldviews.
So, most of our ideas feel appropriate for the adult romance audience — questions about life transitions, about how love looks to us, about how to prioritize self in the crazy soup of adulthood — and the YA stories that we consider tackling are ones where we can look back through the lens of time and not only capture a voice that feels age-appropriate, but for which we can offer useful wisdom.
Autoboyography is an example and is the book of our hearts. Once we crystallize another story that feels authentic and imperative in the same way, we absolutely will write it.
Q: As writing partners, how do you tackle your stories and characters? Do you plan separately, brainstorm together, or do a bit of both?
A: Unless it’s impossible — like during a pandemic — we always outline together. Christina lives in Utah and Lo is in California, so we meet up and spend a few days working through the idea. We hang out, watch movies together, cook, go out to dinner, and in the midst of all of it we talk out the story. We write everything down as it crystallizes until we feel like we have a pretty good skeleton. Then we go our separate ways and start writing.
Sometimes we divide by character or chapter and write in chronological order, uploading those chapters as they’re completed and eventually combining to edit extensively. Other times one of us might be drafting while the other is doing revisions on another project. No matter how we do it, we’ve learned to be flexible about the process.
Q: Any tips for writers who want to follow this type of partner-driven writing process?
A: Some big questions to consider: Do you have the same work ethic? Can you talk about money? Do you trust this person to go out and speak for both of you? Do you enjoy each other’s writing? How about each other’s company — because you’ll be spending a lot of time together. Also, and this is very important, always assume your partner has the best intentions. It’s easy to misread texts or assume things. Always assume your coauthor is coming from a place of respect and love.
Q: What can you tell us about your upcoming audio original, The Honeymoon Crashers? Did you have to take a different writing approach, knowing the story would be for audio?
A: This was the most fun project! We’ve done screenplays before, but we’d never done anything quite like this, where it’s part script and part written word, so when we were approached to create an audio original with Simon & Schuster Audio, we were so excited. The Honeymoon Crashers is an extra slice of fun from the world of The Unhoneymooners. Ami is Olive’s twin sister, and when she finds out that Olive and Ethan want to elope to Hawaii (to spare Ami’s feelings after her disastrous wedding), Ami is not having it. She sets out to plan the wedding herself, but a gorgeous surfer named Brody just might get in her way. Shenanigans ensue.
The audio original novella is out August 1st and is a full-cast recording starring Harry Shum Jr, and Jessica Marie Garcia. It is immersive and fun and feels like listening to a radio show or a movie! We can’t wait for listeners to experience it!
Q: What is up next for you in the literary world? Anything you can share about upcoming releases, movie adaptations, or other projects?
A: Aside from The Honeymoon Crashers this summer, there will be two Christina Lauren books next year. One is a romance that will hit shelves in the spring, and the other is a secret, but we can’t wait to talk about it! Soon!
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Christina Lauren is the combined pen name of longtime writing partners and best friends Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings, the New York Times, USA TODAY and #1 Internationally bestselling authors of the Beautiful and Wild Seasons series, Dating You / Hating You, Autoboyography, Love and Other Words, Roomies, Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating, My Favorite Half-Night Stand and The Unhoneymooners.
You can find them online at ChristinaLaurenBooks.com, @ChristinaLauren on Instagram or @ChristinaLauren on Twitter.
