Novelist Jem Calder reads from I Want You to Be Happy in this passage episode of Character Study, a scene about a hundred pages in, as his two characters go on early dates and feel each other out across a pub table by the river.
Jem and Freya talk about writing romance that feels real without being neat, the transactional and inexplicable pulls that draw two mismatched people together, and why a \"situationship\" can carry the weight of a love story even when you know it won't last. They get into the small, specific power of complimenting a stranger who's dressed a little braver than usual, and then into the harder subject underneath the whole book: attention. Jem and Freya make the case for stepping back from social media to protect your writing: the compounding minutes, the shrinking attention span, the excuse that posting is somehow part of the work.
📚 Further reading mentioned in this episode:
– Liadan Ní Chuinn, Every One Still Here (short story collection)
– Zadie Smith on living without a phone
🎥 WATCH the full episode here
📘 Buy Jem Calder's I Want You to Be Happy and Reward System, plus Freya's novel: A Real Piece of Work
💛 Follow @freybromley on Instagram for updates and to ask your questions
📚 Join Freya's newsletter at freyabromley.substack.com for behind the scenes thoughts
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00:00:00 Introduction — and last night's karaoke reading
00:00:56 Jem reads from I Want You to Be Happy
00:02:12 The power of complimenting a stranger
00:02:53 Writing an unironic love story
00:05:02 Being reverent about the relationships that don't last
00:06:33 The intimacy of two people who really listen
00:08:19 Sharing your writing with a partner
00:09:50 Sensitivity as a superpower
00:11:28 Why he gave himself a pass to write about writers
00:12:43 Bring back emailing someone a poem
00:13:34 The decision to quit social media
00:15:14 \"You'll get your attention back\" — advice for writers
00:16:20 Liadan Ní Chuinn and the myth that you need a platform
00:18:54 Zadie Smith on living without a phone
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