In a recent interview with the author of the popular romance novel, “The Idea of You,” Robinne Lee discussed the relationship between Solene and Hayes and that makes the two of them together so captivating. The film adaptation is now streaming on Prime Video.
I read the book a few years ago and I loved it. The main focus of the story is obviously the romance between Solene and Hayes. I personally found their relationship to be so intoxicating. I was immediately drawn in to them and rooting for them. What do you think is it about them that makes them so compelling?
Robinne: “I don’t because I’m actually really I’m still floored when I hear from readers about how touched they are and how moved they are. I feel like I just kind of bared my soul and there’s a lot of me in Solene and Hayes is like my perfect guy. So, there’s a lot of my husband, there’s a lot of former boyfriends, like the best of them. And then, you know a couple of celebrities or people I don’t know. Like you know other influences that not people I know not celebrities but like I want to make him posh. I have this idea of like what the perfect posh British guy is, and so I I put in layers of that. And, I think I just got his voice really well and her voice was so clear to me, and I think their interactions whether it’s like witty or just like deeper conversation feel very real and I think that’s what draws readers in because I think they come off the page because they sound like real people that makes sense. u I don’t know that there was some kind of magic trick, I just think I was trying to be as honest as I possibly could.“
“I had a relationship with a guy who was 20 when I was like 25 so he was at that point. Even my friends were like, “what are you doing he’s a baby he can’t even drink,” and I was like “come on.” But, I got a lot of blowback from my friends.I wrote every moment of that relationship in a journal. So, when I was writing this book I would just go back to the journal and be like what was he saying like what at 20 what was he good at in bed what was he not good at like what was he like how capable was he of understanding emotion and feeling and how much could he commit how much could he not, cause he was very mature to me at the time. Even going back to looking like God this guy was really mature and so I thought that’s totally believable. Hayes can be this mature. I get a lot people like oh my God you could never be that way and it’s like well I dated him so there’s a lot that I borrowed from, so I think it’s just making them real and just trying to be as honest and not like this kind of fluffy idea of what a celebrity is or what a guy in a boy band is, but making them real. Even with my time with the New Kids I knew at least a couple of them like real you know what I mean and so it’s not just this kind of guy in a poster it becomes much more than that and so I think that was the secret is just like kind of peeling back the layers and making sure you have it all in there and you know your character inside out.“
Watch Robinne Lee Interview
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