NORA GOES OFF SCRIPT BCK

A CONVERSATION WITH

ANNABEL MONAGHAN What inspired you to write this novel?

I was recovering from surgery when I got hooked on the Hallmark Channel. In twohour increments, I dwelled in the hardware stores and bakeries of adorable small towns, watching romances unfold with subtly different storylines. The idea for Nora Goes Off

Script started to bubble as I found myself unable to look away from the very specific female fantasy that these movies were selling. Every one of these women turns her fun hobby into a lucrative career—Cupcake Magnate! Party Planner to the Stars! Custom Wreath Designer! She has easy, lifelong friendships, and she’s widely adored in her community for all the ways she gives back. A slightly-too-handsome man falls in love with her because of, not in spite of, her most off-putting quirk. Her parents are usually healthy, self-supporting, and nonjudgmental. Otherwise, they’re dead.

After about a week, I became preoccupied by the people who wrote these movies.

I wondered if they were wild romantics, with their offices decorated with dried prom corsages and posters of Peaches & Herb. Or if they were bots just plotting out the same recycled love story, reverse-engineered to climax at minute 108. This is where Nora Hamilton came from, my imagined writer for my imagined Romance Channel, who has spent a decade supporting her horrible husband by writing these movies.

I clearly remember what it was like to see my mom

MANAGE WORK AND HOME ALL ON HER OWN.

Nora is such a courageous, funny, and intelligent woman embarking on a new chapter in her life. How did you craft her character?

Nora came to me in pieces. My mom was a single mother, so she was my point of reference when it came to Nora’s self-reliance and sense of duty to her kids. I clearly remember what it was like to see my mom manage work and home all on her own. As hard as it all was, I had the sense that she liked calling all the shots and getting in bed at night alone with her crossword puzzle. I gave Nora my schedule—wake, kids, run, write, kids, dinner, Wheel of Fortune, wine,

bed—so that I could inhabit her day. And then I sort of set her free in the story to see how she’d react. I was delighted by her resilience and her sense of humor, and in the end, I was proud of how she stepped up in her own life.

Is there any significance to the tea house where Nora writes? Do you have a workspace like that?

You’d think that writing a love story about the Sexiest Man Alive would have been just the escape I was looking for during the beginnings of the 2020 quarantine.

While this is partly true, at that particular moment, I had all three of my sons and my husband home, and I wasn’t exactly fantasizing about extra male company.

What I dreamed of was a little space. In fact, I would have given up a long weekend with Paul Rudd for a place where I could write in peace. As the months went on and I stole moments in quiet corners of my house to be alone with my novel, the tea house became more and more real to me. Nora ended up with the real escape I was looking for—a one-room structure behind her home, complete with a working fireplace, a writing desk, and a daybed for naps. I think this is what Virginia Woolf wanted for all

how Leo falls for Nora in part because of her kids, not in spite of them.

Motherhood plays an important role in Nora’s life. Why did you choose to make Nora a mother?

My husband likes to say, “If you’ve got kids, you don’t have anything else.” I think he’s referring to the big dent in the front of the car and the red Gatorade stain on the living-room rug. He makes a good point. I’ve found that being a mother permeates every area of my life—my writing, my marriage, my hopes for the future. In fact, sometimes when I am daydreaming about the future, I notice I am daydreaming about my kids’ futures instead of my own. Nora’s being a mother adds this dimension to the story—it’s one thing to have a thrilling affair; it’s quite another to watch it impact your children. Nora moves through this story bearing the risk of having three hearts break, not just one.

of us.

Nora and Leo’s love story feels so relatable, transformative, and just a joy to watch unfold. What aspects of their dynamic did you feel were important to highlight?

What do you think is special about their relationship?

Sigh. In a sense, they are opposites—Leo’s

My husband likes to say,

“IF YOU’VE GOT KIDS, YOU DON’T HAVE ANYTHING ELSE.”

life is fast and glitzy and all about him, while Nora’s life is slow and routined and all about her kids. We often fall in love in another person, and I think that’s what

Who was your favorite character to write, and why?

happened here. I think they are both

It’s probably Leo, because he’s so foreign

made better by the relationship: Leo is

to me. I’ve never been famous, no one

grounded by the simpler pleasures, and

waits on me, and it’s been decades since

Nora comes to see herself as worthy of

I could luxuriate in my own schedule. It

the limelight. What I think is particularly

was fun to get inside his head and be sort

special is how Nora falls for Leo for who

of entitled and casual and then lead him

he is, not because of his celebrity, and

down a different path and show him the

because we see something that we want

things that mean a lot to me. I liked taking the Sexiest Man Alive to the Stop n’ Save just to see what would happen.

Nora Goes Off Script has such an entertaining take on Hollywood glamour throughout the read. Was there any research you needed to perform when writing scenes centered around the film industry?

I grew up in Los Angeles, where the Academy Awards is pretty much the biggest thing that happens all year. My earliest memories are of dressing up and eating fancy food in front of the TV on Oscar night. We critiqued the gowns, the actors’ dexterity for climbing the stage stairs, and the acceptance speeches. My mom would make ballots for each category so that we could vote. And we were all able to vote with confidence because each year we saw nearly every movie that came out. So yes, I did fifty years of research.

Did you always know how the story would end?

I always knew whether or not Nora and Leo would end up together. But I didn’t know how or why it would all unfold until I was pretty deep into the book. I am not the kind of writer who starts with an outline, though I think that sounds like a great idea. I sort of use The Force and feel my way through a book. The ending to this one came to me during a walk in the woods. You wouldn’t believe how many problems I’ve solved by walking in the woods.

What do you want readers to take away from Nora Goes Off Script?

The world tells us that after thirty, a woman’s value starts to fade. She’s seen some life, maybe she’s had some kids, and, yikes, men should really turn their eyes to something fresher. To me, that line of thinking is dismissive of both women and men. What if your life experiences made you a stronger partner? What if being a mother increased your capacity to be brave? What if all the things you’ve learned about forgiveness and heartbreak made you more desirable than a starlet? With my whole heart, I believe this to be true.

What’s next for you?

The world tells us that AFTER THIRTY, A WOMAN’S VALUE STARTS TO FADE.

I am working on a novel about a woman named Sam who brings her fiancé to her family beach house to plan their wedding and is surprised to find her high school boyfriend staying next door. There’s a lot of history to wade through before she can move forward. And he has a guitar.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 1. If you wrote a script about an important moment or experience in your life, what would it be about? What would the title of the movie be? What actors would you want to play the main characters?

2. Nora Goes Off Script is a story about love, new beginnings, and finding yourself again. Would you call this book a romance?

3. Nora experiences different loves throughout her life. Who do you think is the most important love of Nora’s life, and why?

4. If Leo offered you a thousand dollars a day to stay at your house for one week, would you take him up on his offer? Why or why not?

5. What was your favorite scene in the novel, and why? Was there a scene that felt the most relatable to your own life, and if so, what was it?

6. How do you feel Nora and Leo’s romance shaped who they both ultimately became? Have you ever experienced a love that changed your life, and if so, how did it?

7. How different a story do you think Nora Goes Off Script would have been if Nora was not a mother? Do you think Nora being a mother adds or detracts from the story, and why?

8. Do you think Nora’s divorce was ultimately a good or bad event in her life, and why? What do you think it taught her about life?

9. Why do you think Leo and Nora were drawn to each other?

Do you think they would have connected in the same way if they had met earlier in life? Why or why not?

10. If Nora Goes Off Script is picked up for the big

screen, which actors would you envision playing Nora and Leo?

11. Were you surprised by the ending?

NORA’S WEEKLY

Meal Plan

MONDAY

CHICKEN BREASTS

TUESDAY

TACOS

WEDNESDAY

MEATLOAF

THURSDAY

ROASTED CHICKEN

FRIDAY

PASTA NIGHT

SATURDAY

TAKEOUT

SUNDAY

POT ROAST

NORA’S WEDNESDAY MEATLOAF 1 chopped yellow onion 2 teaspoons salt ½ teaspoon pepper ½ teaspoon thyme 1 tablespoon olive oil ⅙ cup Worcestershire sauce ¼ cup chicken broth 1 teaspoon tomato paste 2 lbs. ground turkey (dark meat) ¾ cup bread crumbs 2 eggs Ketchup Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

In a pan, sauté onions with salt, pepper and thyme in olive oil over medium heat until they are clear.

Add Worcestershire sauce, chicken broth and tomato paste and mix well. Let cool.

With your hands (not gross!), mix in turkey, bread crumbs, eggs and onion mixture.

Shape the loaf however you like on a cookie sheet and cover it with ketchup like you’re frosting a cake.

Cook for 90 minutes.