Suzanne Rindell: On the Spark Reading Can Give Writers

Suzanne Rindell is the author of two previous novels, The Other Typist and Three-Martini Lunch. She earned her Ph.D. in literature from Rice University, and divides her time between New York and California. Follow her on Facebook and Instagram.

Suzanne Rindell

Photo by Emily Kate Roemer

In this interview, Suzanne discusses the emotional reunion she witnessed that led to her new contemporary romance novel, Summer Fridays, the thing that drives her to want to write, and more!

Name: Suzanne Rindell
Literary agent: Liz Parker, Verve Talent & Literary
Book title: Summer Fridays
Publisher: Dutton
Release date: May 28, 2024
Genre/category: Fiction, Women, Romance Contemporary
Previous titles: The Other Typist, Three-Martini Lunch, Eagle & Crane, and The Two Mrs. Carlyles
Elevator pitch: Set in 1999, Summer Fridays is the tale of two young people just starting out in their careers, fatefully crossing paths, and playing “tourist” in New York as they find they’re both stuck in the city for the summer. While Nick and Sawyer are an unlikely pairing – with plenty of reasons why they can’t be together – they are surprised to discover that their “stolen afternoons” together are, in fact, deeply meaningful, and have left them both changed.

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What prompted you to write this book?

It was actually sparked by a real memory. In October 2001, I was riding the subway in Manhattan. Less than a month earlier, the city had been rocked by the terrorist attacks of 9/11, and New York was very much reeling with a devastating mixture of shock and grief. I remember I was staring at a missing poster that was taped up to the window of the subway train I was riding, when two passengers—a man and a woman—saw each other from across the car, came together, cried, and embraced. Everyone in the train car stopped to watch them. It seemed they were having an emotional reunion, desperately relieved to see each other.

I wondered what their story might be—if they had been friends or lovers who had fallen out of touch somehow but had thought about each other in the aftermath of the attacks. (It was infinitely more possible in those pre-social media days to fall out of touch and not have any clues as to how an old friend or lover might be doing.) In any case, I’ve often wondered what their backstory could have been.

Years later, when the pandemic hit, I noticed a lot of my friends were getting back in touch with people from their past. My mind returned to that mystery couple on the train after 9/11, and a love story began to unfurl.

How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?

Once I sat down to write, the story came very quickly. Of course, the argument could be made that the idea had been percolating ever since I saw that couple back in 2001! But if you go by when I actually started putting words down on the page, it was only a few months. My agent took it out on submission, and that part went pretty quickly, too; I think it helped that she had more than one imprint interested.

Editing took longer, however. We went with an editor (the wonderful Maya Ziv) who wanted some fairly major changes to the end, and while the idea was a little daunting at first, all of her notes sounded exactly right. My gut was saying, “This will make your book better.” So, I understood there was still some distance to go.

But, yeah. For this one, drafting=fast, editing=slow.

Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title?

This book represents a bit of a “pivot” for me. My previous books were all works of historical fiction. Rom-coms sit on a slightly different shelf than historical fiction in the bookstore and has its own set of aesthetics and trends. So in a way, I am learning the contours of a new publishing landscape now, and where my book might potentially fit in.

As for surprises, I suppose I am (happily) surprised that there has been support within the publishing world for me to try something different. I think a lot of writers can relate to how hard it is to break in with a first book! Trying to sell a book in a different genre can be like running that gauntlet all over again. You’re an unknown entity. You represent a gamble to the publisher. There are more reasons for them to say “no” to you than to say “yes.” I feel so lucky that there was support for this book.

Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?

I set this book in 1999. I was alive in 1999, so there I was, thinking, Finally! I’m writing a book where I don’t need to spend a gazillion hours researching the time period! When you write something set in the 1920s, you spend a lot of time chasing down all kinds of details. You hunt down city records, vintage maps, photos, etc. World events and legislature. Pop culture of the day. Era-appropriate slang. Not to mention, you find yourself Googling random questions like “When were zippers invented?”

So, 1999 seemed totally “contemporary,” by comparison. But the surprise came in realizing that there were still PLENTY of details to pay attention to! It’s actually mind-boggling, all the ways in which life has changed in the past 25 years. Even having lived it, I’d forgotten what I’d forgot … but it was a weirdly nostalgic pleasure remembering! A lot of early readers have already talked about this, but that sound of dial-up Internet connecting … the AOL chimes … some of that evokes a downright Pavlovian response. There were logistical things to keep in mind, too. Using that same example: Dial-up internet in 1999 meant that if you were on the internet, your phone line was busy, and you couldn’t receive a call—that sort of thing. So, it was a surprise to acknowledge all the things that have changed, but also kind of fun. And I’m finding that readers are really delighting in this late-90s time period! There’s something about it.

What do you hope readers will get out of your book?

I hope they will feel something. Whatever the real-life story is behind that couple I glimpsed on the train, I wanted to write a novel that offers a glimpse into something that is universally relatable: The deep and sometimes haunting impressions that certain people leave on us, especially during those early adult years. And how, when major events rattle the world around us, our hearts can sometimes surprise us by making us realize we never truly let go of the one that got away.

If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?

More than advice, I’d probably simply want to share the inside scoop on all the rejections I’ve gotten over the years, so if anyone out there is in doubt, they can rest assured just how normal that is. Sure, right now I’m talking about a lucky break and about a soon-to-be-published book that I hope is going to do well … but I’ve also suffered so much rejection over the years! Flat out “no thank you”s to manuscripts that I’d poured my heart into, and plenty of other ups and downs; projects where the timing was crushingly just off, publishing personnel unexpectedly changed, or circumstances out of your control. Stuff happens.

I’d ask my fellow aspiring writers what it was that made them want to write in the first place (and keep writing). For me, that has always been READING. Whenever I forget how much I love writing, I go back to reading … I allow myself to get lost in reading, and suddenly something sparks again. It never fails, and I hope it never will. So, I would say: When in doubt, go back to that thing. Find that spark. Always. That’ll keep you writing long enough to eventually produce that one lucky manuscript that happens to be in the right place at the right time. 

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