From Iris Visser, with Love

Kobo: What comes first for you? is it the love story, the lovers, or the place?

Iris Visser: I think it’s the love story and the lovers. Despite the titles of my books, place comes second. Building a setting where the romance happens is still very important to me—but the lovers and their story is what’s important to readers. If setting was given too much importance I don’t think anyone would pick up the books.

Kobo: Do you ever get to where you have your lovers, and you have their love story, then find that the place you put them in requires some adjustment to how their story will play out?

IV: Sometimes, yes. For example, in New York, with Love I used a lot of Google Maps to find the right place for the office, which I believe is around where the TV show Friends was set. So I thought it would be a fun place to put Emma. And then I had to make sure I understood how she would get around by subway, where the nearest station was and things like that.

Building a setting where the romance happens is still very important to me—but the lovers and their story is what’s important to readers.

Kobo: What about culture? How do you account for differences in manners and how that comes into play wherever the love story is playing out—with Emma being Dutch and working in a big American city?

IV: I think American and Dutch cultures are quite similar. But working culture specifically can make things challenging. I think sometimes my Dutch characters can come across as being rude in the workplace, especially to non-Dutch readers.

Kobo: What about in the love stories—how do you handle culture clashes when you need these characters to fall in love?

IV: There was a bit of that in From Ibiza, with Love, where the Dutch temperament is calm and stable, but the Spanish can overflow with enthusiasm and passion. So that required some extra work, bridging that cultural divide.

Kobo: New York aside, how do you travel experiences inform your writing? What do you discover about a place that makes you want to write a romance set there?

IV: Sometimes it’s just a feeling. I had warm feelings about London from a school trip I took there once—it was the best week ever. So that’s a feeling I wanted to capture in that book. Ibiza was similar—it’s a place a went to with a group of friends after high school to celebrate. It’s a place and a feeling I had experienced myself.

But with New York, I was reaching more for a sensibility that the reader would recognize from movies. It was a little like a challenging writing assignment.

Kobo: How do you create a character? Do you create them from thin air, or think of yourself and start making adjustments?

IV: For me, it’s most comfortable to put something of myself into a character. There are aspects of each one that aren’t me, but that’s where I often start. I haven’t really created a character from thin air yet.

With New York, I was reaching more for a sensibility that the reader would recognize from movies.

Kobo: How is Emma like you?

IV: I think Emma is a little bit of a doormat that everybody messes with. She’s really nice. Too nice. I think I have that a little bit. But to make it a good story, I exaggerate it in Emma.

Kobo: What do you like best about writing a romance novel?

IV: I really like bickering. I like writing that dialogue.

But I also like when it all falls apart. For me that’s the climax, where I’m going to have to work now to get them back together.

Kobo: Do you write to an outline?

IV: I start that way, but then I sit down and see where it goes. I’ve got a storyline in my head. But I use a lot of post-it notes that I stick to my door with scenes scribbled on them. Then I can see how the story is coming together and switch them around if I need to. Seeing the post-its on the door also helps with deadlines! [laughs]

I think all romance readers are interested in the same themes. Everyone just wants a love story.

Kobo: Are these post-it notes on the outside of the door so you can see them on your way to sit down and write, or are they on the inside where you can see them from the keyboard?

IV: On the inside! I can see them right now.

Kobo: You mentioned earlier about wondering if English readers would see a character as being rude. With your books translated from Dutch into English and French, do you have a sense of how readers in different cultures and languages come at romances differently?

IV: I think all romance readers are interested in the same themes. Everyone just wants a love story.

Kobo: Do you worry about how some of the subtle ways you use the Dutch language will come across in translation?

IV: Yes! I use a lot of puns and I worry about how they’ll make it through translation. But in Ibiza, With Love I used English puns in the original, specifically the names of the smoothies.

Kobo: Do you have a list of locations where you want to set future “With Love” books?

IV: I really want to set one in Lapland, in the northern part of Finland. It’s very different from my other locations that are so well-known. It’s a bit more fairytale-like.

But also Hollywood—which I haven’t visited yet, but maybe this is a good excuse to go. And obviously, I’d love to set a story in Paris. ◼︎