The Love Dare by Abiola Bello
Author, Abiola Bello shares her inspirations for her books with us in today’s blog. She is surrounded by creativity and we look forward to reading more of her books!
The question I get asked the most from readers is how do I seek inspiration for my YA books. A lot of it comes from my own experiences. I remember vividly what it was like to be a teenager, all the angst I felt with my then boyfriend, that feeling of having a crush and the giddiness, the will we- won’t-we and unfortunately a few love triangles!
I set my book in places that I don’t see enough Black characters in such as a bookshop, a country manor house, a comic book shop. But also as someone who has an indie publishing house I like to celebrate independent businesses and show how important they are to their community.
Love in Winter Wonderland was my first YA book. It was inspired by the art and creativity in Hackney and North London where I grew up that doesn’t get enough appreciation. When I wrote the book I was grieving my dad who had passed suddenly but I had already set up in the book that Ariel was grieving her dad. I didn’t think about changing it but at the same time I didn’t really want to write my grief as I felt like it would explode all over the page. It touches me when readers tell me that Ariel’s grief made them cry because that shows I was able to translate my grief into words. Trey being a singer stemmed from me forever thinking that dating a guy who can sing is so hot. I still haven’t dated a guy who can sing so I have no idea if that’s true! Funnily enough I never thought of a trope when writing the book.
But with Only for the Holidays I began with picking my favourite trope which was fake dating. The book was inspired by the things I don’t really like – horses, the countryside, guys who are bad communicators! I thought it would be a humorous story to write. I am in and out a London girl so I spent the whole day in the countryside with my best friend and spoke to the local business owners for research. I was also inspired by Bridgerton on Netflix – the balls, the gowns, the Duke, the extravagancy of it all and I wanted my own modern day version with a South London girl and a country boy.
I knew immediately with The Love Dare I wanted to focus on the bet trope as I grew up on 90’s rom-coms specifically the bet ones. I haven’t read that many books with that trope. It’s a summer book and an iconic piece of London summer is of course Notting Hill Carnival so it was the best way to start the book. I know a lot of teenagers going off to uni or they’re at uni and having second thoughts so that inspired the idea of the last summer with your friends and doubting your choices which I can definitely relate too.
I’m lucky to be surrounded by creativity that I don’t think I’ll ever struggle for inspiration.
