Exclusive Spotlight + Interview: November 9 by Colleen Hoover

• Synopsis

  Beloved #1 New York Times bestselling author Colleen Hoover returns with an unforgettable love story between a writer and his unexpected muse.

  Fallon meets Ben, an aspiring novelist, the day before her scheduled cross-country move. Their untimely attraction leads them to spend Fallon’s last day in L.A. together, and her eventful life becomes the creative inspiration Ben has always sought for his novel. Over time and amidst the various relationships and tribulations of their own separate lives, they continue to meet on the same date every year. Until one day Fallon becomes unsure if Ben has been telling her the truth or fabricating a perfect reality for the sake of the ultimate plot twist.

  Can Ben’s relationship with Fallon—and simultaneously his novel—be considered a love story if it ends in heartbreak?

   

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• Inteview

  Vilma: Hey…

  Colleen: Hey…

  Vilma: Do you have your Diet Pepsi? I have my glass of wine. We need to talk shop.

  Colleen: I have my Diet Pepsi in a wine glass. It’s the closest I’ll get to fancy.

  Vilma: Ok, so NOVEMBER 9. You know just how much I love this book. I think it’s your best work to date. Weeelllll… mostly, anyway. It may be a deficit that I didn’t convince you to have a Mexican-American girl named Vilma in the story, but I have hope for your next book.

  Colleen: First, thank you! I feel really proud of this book. Second, I never said she wasn’t Mexican-American, and we don’t know her middle name, so…she’s totally you. November 9 is you. Secret’s out.

  Vilma: Fallon Vilma. It has a nice ring to it. 😉
  But really, let’s go to the beginning. How did the inspiration for this story come?

  Colleen: I’ve been wanting to write this book since right after I wrote Slammed. It’s one of those ideas I had jotted down, but never got around to until now. I can honestly say I don’t remember if it was inspired by anything in particular or if I just liked the date as a title and wanted to build a story around it. But I sat on this for two years, sometimes going back to it and making notes. I knew I wanted the characters to interact on that date only. I knew I wanted them to have a great instant connection, like they’d been lifelong friends. But other than that, I wasn’t sure where the story was going to go. I usually don’t until I actually sit down to write and get to know the characters. And I was shocked where the story went. This was supposed to be my sweet, funny book. But it veered off course and I went with it. Glad I did!

  Vilma: It’s sort of a book, within a book, or perhaps more accurately, a book in the making as art imitates life. I know it wasn’t easy to work through the structure of story. Can you talk about your writing process for NOVEMBER 9?

  Colleen: This one went fairly well compared to most of my books. I think it helped that I had thought about it for so long before actually writing it. I felt like I already knew Ben and Fallon as people, so developing their characters was pretty easy. Sometimes I write chapters out of order, but this one I wrote from the first chapter to the last. Of course I always go back once I’m finished and add things that tie scenes together and fluff the story, but I knew exactly where I was going with it. That doesn’t happen a lot.

  Vilma: Tell us a little bit about Fallon.

  Colleen: Other than her middle name being Vilma? 😉 When we meet Fallon, she’s in transition. Her life, her career, her measure of self-worth. She peeked (career-wise) at an early age, so by the time she turns eighteen, she feels like the best parts of her life are over. Eighteen is when most of us are just starting to figure out the world, but Fallon is at a been-there-done-that period, so now she’s having to rework her life goals.

  Vilma: And Ben. I lovvve Ben…

  Colleen: I love Ben, too. Like…a lot. Mostly because he’s funny, but also because of how much he wants to help Fallon learn to love herself.

  Ben is a writer and we really learn a lot about him once we get into the book within a book. He’s been through a lot in his life and we don’t learn about most of it until later in the book. But we know enough about him in the beginning to see that he’s a good person and that he truly wants Fallon to be happy. Of course he makes a few stupid decisions, and so does Fallon, but we all make decisions that aren’t the best for us in our lives. It’s how you correct those mistakes that matter.

  Vilma: Do you have a favorite scene in the book? Perhaps you can reference it without being too spoilery?

  Colleen: One of my favorite scenes is the first night Fallon spends with Ben. Here’s a small peek at that:

  ——

  I walk to the lamp and switch it off and then pick his covers up off the floor. I gently sit on the bed and cover us both as I lie down next to him with my back to his chest. I try not to wake him as I adjust my pillow.

  “Shit.”

  I roll over at the sound of his voice. It’s dark in the room, so I can’t tell if he was talking in his sleep or if he’s awake. “What is it?” I whisper.

  I feel an arm go around my waist, and he pulls me closer. “I left the light on so I could see you walk out of the bathroom wearing my shirt, but you take really long showers. I think I fell asleep.”

  I smile. “I’m still wearing it. You want me to turn the lamp on?”

  “Fuck yes, please.”

  I laugh and roll over toward the lamp. I switch it on and then face him again. His eyes are unmoving, yet somehow all over me.

  “Stand up,” he says, lifting up onto his elbow. I stand up and his eyes never meet mine. They’re roaming over my thighs, my hips, my breasts. I don’t mind that he isn’t looking at my face. I don’t mind at all.

  The hem of his shirt falls several inches above my knees. It’s just long enough to where he can’t tell that I’m not wearing underwear right now. It’s also just short enough to where he’s probably praying I’m not wearing underwear right now.

  His eyes drop to my legs again and he begins to speak slowly, as if he’s reciting poetry. “The only sea I saw, Was the seesaw sea, With you riding on it. Lie down, lie easy. Let me shipwreck in your thighs.” His eyes drag up my body until they meet mine. “Dylan Thomas,” he says.

  I release a slow breath. “Wow,” I say. “Poetry porn. Who knew?”

  Ben smiles at me lazily. He lifts a finger and points at me. “I’d like to have my shirt back now.”

  “Now?”

  He nods. “Right now. Before you turn off the lamp. Take it off, it’s mine.”

  —–

  Vilma: Well, we know you’ve outlined ideas for your next book. You’ve also thrown away those outlines. Multiple times. Is there anything you can share with us?

  Colleen: Ha! I’m the worst at second-guessing myself. I think it has to do with the fact that I want my books to each be so different from the last, so I become my own worst critic. But yes, I’m 99% sure my next book (after the Never Never series, of course) will be called It Ends With Us. It’s a book from two male point of views. Both of these guys are in love with the same girl, but at different points in their lives. And before people who hate love triangles run in the other direction, let me just say that it isn’t a love triangle. It’s more of a … love perpendicular. If that makes any sense at all. I’m really passionate about it because there are some elements of this book that hit close to home for me, so I want to do it justice. And that just makes me even more critical. So we’ll see. I have a feeling this is going to be the hardest thing I’ve written so far.

  Vilma: Anything else you want to say?

  Colleen: Because cucumbers.

  Vilma: LOL. Because cucumbers. #Squad.

  Thanks! Later?

  Colleen: You say “later” like it’s a question? So…maybe? Is that because I might not survive writing this next book?

  Vilma: Nah, you totally will. Because #boss.

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