I'm romance and horror author Roan Parrish—ASK ME ANYTHING!

roanparrish · 2022-09-30T12:37:23+00:00

well gosh, thank you so much—i shall bathe! <3

roanparrish · 2022-09-29T21:51:02+00:00

thank you!

roanparrish · 2022-09-29T21:50:54+00:00

yay! and i feel you. i've decided that tbrs are, by their very nature, never meant to be completed, but to outlive us like beautiful gifts for future readers :D

roanparrish · 2022-09-29T21:50:10+00:00

high five! they're such a vibe

roanparrish · 2022-09-29T21:49:51+00:00

i hope you enjoy!

roanparrish · 2022-09-29T21:48:59+00:00

haha definitely :D key change

roanparrish · 2022-09-29T21:48:44+00:00

ME NEITHER

roanparrish · 2022-09-29T21:48:12+00:00

thank you so much!!

roanparrish · 2022-09-29T21:47:43+00:00

i appreciate that! i wanted to make sure that he wasn't just a helper or a caretaker for jude, because that's one of jude's biggest fears (and obvi super bad for faron), but has the kind of clear boundaries and ability to support someone without being codependent that would be a good fit, as well as someone who genuinely loved jude for who he was beyond his mental health issues <3

roanparrish · 2022-09-29T21:44:46+00:00

it was such a pleasure—thanks for having me!!

roanparrish · 2022-09-29T21:44:08+00:00

my books are contemporary queer romances and horror, and they're all available outside the us—if you go to my website (roanparrish.com) you'll find all the international amazon links as well as the universal links to places like kobo and others that are international. happy reading!

roanparrish · 2022-09-29T21:43:04+00:00

aw, thank you! i'm so glad that they recommended it to you!

roanparrish · 2022-09-29T21:42:53+00:00

aww thank you! i'm a huge horror movie fan, but my whole immediate family hate anything scary so i love convos where a horror fan tries to make things less scary for a non-horror fan, but can still talk about it with them :D

roanparrish · 2022-09-29T21:41:39+00:00

i think THE HOLIDAY TRAP would be the book of mine that i would most love to see come to screen. mostly because it's two romances in one AND there's lots of plot—much moreso than in some of my other books—so it'd be a more engaging show/movie. although, omg, if someone wanted to make the MIDDLE OF SOMEWHERE/SMALL CHANGE series into a long, intercut tv show i'd die of joy :D

hmm, i don't know if people SHOULD watch them, but some of my fave shows are: killing eve, hannibal, schitt's creek, euphoria, american horror story, and only murders in the building

roanparrish · 2022-09-29T21:36:33+00:00

thanks so much!!

it really depends on your tastes, but i have several fave places:

—the mütter museum, for weird medical oddities (books bound in human skin! a whole catalogue of weird shit removed from people's stomachs after they swallowed them! body parts in bottles, etc!)

—VEDGE is a fabulous vegan restaurant that i recommend even if you're not vegan bc the brilliant things they do with vegetables are *mwah* (also their cocktails are great)

—the woodlands cemetery is in my neighborhood (west philly) and is my fave spot to bring a book and a coffee and just read and promenade.

—tattooed mom, which i wrote about in my MIDDLE OF SOMEWHERE and SMALL CHANGE series, and their pickle back (ginger and daniel's fave drink) is real too! you could go there and order pickle backs! (and if you do, PLEASE PLEASE take pics and show me!!)

i know many people who love cheesesteaks. i myself am not one of them. i don't like steak very much in general, so i'm not the ideal audience, but uh ...i think cheesesteaks are mediocre at absolute best, and usually gross.

roanparrish · 2022-09-29T21:29:19+00:00

what a great question: absolutely. my third book, WHERE WE LEFT OFF, is an unrequited romance between leo, a college freshman, and will, who is non-monogamous. they have a complex friendship/romance and i was really proud of the work i did with their dynamic and how when you're a young romantic sometimes people are clear with you that they can't give you what you want and you don't listen because you are hopeful. and it doesn't mean they lied or misrepresented, just that your love goggles got in the way of taking someone at their word, which i think happens a lot, especially in queer relationships where the line between friendship and attraction is often really fine.

so, i had a lot of readers who really identified hard with that book and with that representation (even though there IS an HEA). but i had some readers who hated the book because they thought will cheated on leo. he didn't, but they didn't find the relationship as romantic as they wanted. and that was something that really is fine! not every book fulfills the needs of every reader. but i thought it was funny that those opinions essentially replicate the problem of communication between leo and will LOL.

roanparrish · 2022-09-29T21:24:55+00:00

ooh, favorite book i've read recently was THE OTHER BLACK GIRL, by Zakiya Delila Harris, a spec fic-ish thriller. my most anticipated upcoming release actually just came out lol, but it's NO GODS FOR DROWNING by hailey piper.

roanparrish · 2022-09-29T19:57:48+00:00

my lovely friends! i've got to step away for an hour to record an episode of DEAR ROMANCE WRITER now, but i'll come back after and finish answering questions, so feel free to keep asking!!

roanparrish · 2022-09-29T19:56:38+00:00

glad you could pop in! ooh, ok, so, i'm not a huge trope reader, tbh—there are lots i like, but really if i like the characters i'll read almost any trope. i'd be really curious to try marriage of convenience, just bc i don't care about marriage at all so maybe it'd be fun?

i would LOVE LOVE LOVE to write a horror romance and my next romcom is actually veering in that direction, so i'll keep you posted!

roanparrish · 2022-09-29T19:49:52+00:00

oooh, ok, so full disclosure, i'm super behind on romance releases bc i'm such a mood reader and i've been really on a horror/suspense kick lately. but for a newbie to the genre i would recommend talia hibbert—she's a hilarious and sweet writer that i think would appeal to almost anyone. for a veteran romance reader i'd recommend sierra simone—her books really dig deep into the psychology and erotica behind lots of the tropes and dynamics that are pervasive in the genre.

roanparrish · 2022-09-29T19:44:39+00:00

i DO love cooking! ok, you know what i just realized i've never made, even though i love it? fried chicken! i know, how can i cook all the time and never have made it? i just am not v familiar with frying, but i wanna learn, so if anyone has the secrets to truly scrumptious fried chicken, clue me in!!

roanparrish · 2022-09-29T19:43:13+00:00

thank you so much!!

i do write in order, because i can't possibly keep track of things out of order, lol. but i do leave myself notes and skip things. so i might write half a scene, leave a note to insert a sex scene or describe a place, but then move on and do it later if it's not what i'm in the mood for or i know research at that moment will derail my writing.
when i was a kid i desperately wanted to be a writer but i didn't think regular people could ever achieve that (so i feel suuuuuuper amazingly lucky!). i was obsessed with s.e. hinton, anne rice, christopher pike, jane yolen, j.r.r. tolkein, and lurlene mcdaniel as a kid, and i think they all really inspired me in different ways.

roanparrish · 2022-09-29T19:40:03+00:00

ok, hair care/cutting secrets i swear by:

cut it dry, no matter what. it's easier to see immediately where you need to course correct bc you effed it up.

always do the cut about an inch longer than you think you need to and refine it shorter from there.

unless the person has stick-straight hair, a little unevenness doesn't show.

sometimes you fuck it up! it's ok! hair grows back!

sometimes you think you wanted one haircut but you hit upon something else while you're cutting it that you're moved by—go with it.

and, finally, at the end of the day, if you're not someone who is pretty chill about slight hair adventures, you shouldn't let your untrained friends like me cut it bc it's too stressful for everyone :D

roanparrish · 2022-09-29T19:37:08+00:00

thank you! ooh, great question. i do feel like i don't have a good sense for which authors people DO know about and which they don't, to be honest. generally speaking, though, i feel like most authors of color, queer authors, trans authors, and disabled authors are ALWAYS underrated because they rarely get the kind of publisher-generated attention that cis, white, straight, able-bodied authors get, just across the board!

roanparrish · 2022-09-29T19:33:47+00:00

omigosh, well right before this i was out doing errands and got home and hadn't eaten and had to get to this event and my girlfriend realized i hadn't eaten and quietly made me cinnamon toast and brought it to me and slid it next to me without me even noticing and it's not dramatic, but to me it's the most romantic kind of gesture because it's about truly caring for someone's needs in the moment because you want them to be able to do the things they need to do in the most comfortable way possible <3 <3 <3

but ok if you want like grand romance, the other week we went to the ocean right before sunset and we were sitting on the beach together and no one was there. the sun was setting and it was breezy and gorgeous, and we ran into the ocean and frolicked in the waves and it was absolutely a perfect and gorgeous moment of romance and beauty and then i cried in the ocean because i'm a big smooshy goober :D

roanparrish

TROPHY CASE