The following is an interview with author Violet Lumani regarding the recent release of the romantic comedy novel, Not Good Neighbors, with Entangled Publishing’s Amara imprint. In this interview, Fanbase Press Editor-in-Chief Barbra Dillon chats with Lumani about her creative process in bringing the story and characters to life on the page, what readers may take away from the story’s themes, and more!
Barbra Dillon, Fanbase Press Editor-in-Chief: Congratulations on the recent release of Not Good Neighbors! What can you share with us about the genesis behind this project and its overall premise?
Violet Lumani: Thank you so much! The idea behind Not Good Neighbors actually started with a conversation with my sister. She recommended The Hating Game to me, and after I finished it, I was so hungry for another enemies-to-lovers rom-com (my favorite trope) I decided to take a stab at writing the kind of one I wanted to read.
BD: Readers love a great enemies-to-lovers story, and it’s always most satisfying when the characters couldn’t be more diametrically opposed! How would you describe your creative approach in crafting Penny and Jack’s characters, and why are they more compatible with one another than it might appear on the surface?
VL: I love this question! I really enjoy a good story circle approach to crafting character arcs. Both characters may end up exactly where they started physically, but they’re completely transformed by the journey. With Penny and Jack, I knew they needed to give some oxygen to the parts of each other that weren’t being given much room to exist outside of that apartment building.
Penny has spent so much of her life being managed by her mom and trying to keep everyone around her happy. But with Jack, she pushes back. She is messy, impulsive, stubborn, occasionally juvenile, but she is also becoming her own person. Ironically, outside of her best friends, the only person she can be completely herself with is the person she supposedly can’t stand. And because Jack can hear her through the wall, he gets glimpses of that dynamic with her mom before Penny even realizes how much he understands about her. So, even when he isn’t the biggest Penny fan on the planet, I like to think there was some curiosity about her there.
Jack on the other hand is so steady and responsible, and accustomed to white knighting situations, including at work as a lawyer. Penny gives him permission to be ridiculous and break the rules, or to “be bad” as he puts it.
So, while they may seem incompatible on the face of it, they actually give each other something the other needs! Penny gets to have the space to become her own person, and Jack gets the freedom to be something other than the person who always does the exact right thing.
BD: At Fanbase Press, our #StoriesMatter initiative endeavors to highlight the impact that stories can have on audiences of various mediums. How do you feel that Penny and Jack’s story may connect with and impact today’s readers?
VL: I really hope first and foremost that it makes readers laugh. There’s so much heaviness in the world that being able to escape into a book for a few hours and have some fun with a story feels especially precious. Underneath the comedy though, I also really wanted to normalize therapy as part of Penny’s story. She isn’t magically healed by the power of love, and she isn’t “fixed” by Jack and suddenly able to undo all the patterns she’s spent a lifetime developing. Penny has a lot of work to do on herself, and she recognizes she needs help doing it. I loved being able to show therapy as something normal, powerful, and even really funny at times. It isn’t a sign that something is wrong with you, or a weakness, or a failing. If a reader sees a bit of themselves in Penny and feels less self-conscious about asking for help, or even if they just give themselves the grace to be a work in progress who is still worthy of being loved, I’d be so incredibly happy with that.
BD: What makes Amara the perfect publishing partner for this story?
VL: I’m obsessed with Amara and my editor Rebecca Heyman, so you’ll have to excuse my gushing for a second. They not only embraced all the big, absolutely ridiculous comedy beats within the story, they also immediately clocked there was a very real emotional story underneath it all. I never felt like I had to choose between making the book funny (hello “Jake Gyllenhaal” IYKYK) and letting Penny be a complicated heroine. Rebecca also has the most incredible knack for upleveling stories without losing the things that make them feel like yours in the first place. She and Liz Pelletier and Justine Bylo, along with so many others at Entangled Amara, pushed me and the story in all the right ways, and I’m eternally grateful. Entangled and Amara are known for putting amazing stories out in the world, and I’m still so humbled they chose to make mine one of them.
BD: Are there any other projects – past or current – that you would like to highlight for our readers?
VL: I’m not sure how much I can say, but I’m terrible with secrets so… I’m working on another book right now set in the same Not Good Neighbors universe! I can’t wait to share it with everyone. It has been so much fun spending more time with all these characters.
BD: Lastly, what is the best way for our readers to find more information about Not Good Neighbors and your other work?
VL: The best place to find me is on Instagram at @violet_lumani where I am super active, though you’ll have to deal with excessive Coconut and Cucumber photos (my chihuahuas). You can also visit violetlumani.com for more information about Not Good Neighbors, upcoming projects and events, and sign up for my newsletter. And Not Good Neighbors is available wherever books are sold!
