Jem Calder: Passage Reading – I Want You To Be Happy

Novelist Jem Calder reads from I Want You to Be Happy in this passage episode of Character Study, a scene about a hundred pages in, as his two characters go on early dates and feel each other out across a pub table by the river.Jem and Freya talk about writing romance that feels real without being neat, the transactional and inexplicable pulls that draw two mismatched people together, and why a "situationship" can carry the weight of a love story even when you know it won't last. They get into the small, specific power of complimenting a stranger who's dressed a little braver than usual, and then into the harder subject underneath the whole book: attention. Jem and Freya make the case for stepping back from social media to protect your writing: the compounding minutes, the shrinking attention span, the excuse that posting is somehow part of the work.📚 Further reading mentioned in this episode: – Liadan Ní Chuinn, Every One Still Here (short story collection) – Zadie Smith on living without a phone🎥 WATCH the full episode here 📘 Buy Jem Calder's I Want You to Be Happy and Reward System, plus Freya's novel: A Real Piece of Work 💛 Follow @freybromley on Instagram for updates and to ask your questions 📚 Join Freya's newsletter at freyabromley.substack.com for behind the scenes thoughts 🎙️ And hit subscribe wherever you get your podcasts00:00:00 Introduction — and last night's karaoke reading00:00:56 Jem reads from I Want You to Be Happy00:02:12 The power of complimenting a stranger00:02:53 Writing an unironic love story00:05:02 Being reverent about the relationships that don't last00:06:33 The intimacy of two people who really listen00:08:19 Sharing your writing with a partner00:09:50 Sensitivity as a superpower00:11:28 Why he gave himself a pass to write about writers00:12:43 Bring back emailing someone a poem00:13:34 The decision to quit social media00:15:14 "You'll get your attention back" — advice for writers00:16:20 Liadan Ní Chuinn and the myth that you need a platform00:18:54 Zadie Smith on living without a phone Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.