Romance tropes and quitting TV production to become an author with Amy Hutton

Amy Hutton writes contemporary romantic comedies from her home on Sydney’s Northern Beaches. An award-winning Television Producer by trade, she walked away from a successful career in network television, to follow her dream of becoming an author.

Amy is a Romance Writers of America and Romance Writers of NZ Award Winner and the 2023 runner-up in the Romance Writers of Australia Emerald Award. Amy's debut rom-com Sit, Stay, Love was released in August 2023. Love from Scratch was released in June, 2024.

Our interview begins at  17.00

We've got a Substack publication now! On the last day of the month, we share recommendations for two things we reckon you should read/watch/listen to. The beauty of Substack is you can revisit all our old editions and comment on our episode updates to share your thoughts. Come say hi!

Caitlin & Michelle recommend: Who's That Girl? and You Belong With Me by Mhairi McFarlane

In Who's That Girl? Edie's life explodes when a colleague kisses her on his wedding day. She's labelled a homewrecker and bullied by other colleagues so her boss sends her back home to Nottingham to ghostwrite the memoir of up-and-coming actor Elliot.

(Small spoiler alert!)

You Belong With Me picks up after a knock at Edie's door on Christmas Day where Elliot is waiting to confess his love. But how will the couple cope with Elliot's soaring fame and celeb gossip pages?

We had the pleasure of chatting with Mhairi a few years ago, you can listen to that here!

In this interview, we chat about:

• The connection between Amy's books (but why you can still read them as a standalone) and why she wanted to continue Ethan's story
• Why Amy chose to set the book on Queensland's Sunshine Coast
• How Amy feels about the way tropes have become a major discussion point among readers
• Quitting TV production to write full time and Amy's path to publication (including a brilliant way to look at pitching)

Books and other things mentioned:

• A Family Affair (film)
• Jodi McAlister's reality TV romance series (listen to our interview here)
• The Wake-Up Call by Beth O'Leary
• Pets in Rom Coms with That Rom Com Pod
• Puppy Love (film)

Follow @amyhuttonauthor on Instagram

Thank you to Simon & Schuster Australia for providing copies of the book in preparation for the interview.

Connect with us on Instagram: @betterwordspod