Alexis Hall is a prolific writer, dabbling in a mess of genres, eras, and tones all through his eclectic profession whereas delivering heartfelt LGBTQ+ tales. Having risen to a brand new sort of fame with the discharge of his rom-com, Boyfriend Materials, he’s since delivered a plethora of partaking new titles whereas concurrently opening the door to a wealthy again catalog.
A few of which, such because the Spires collection (together with the aforementioned Glitterland, For Actual, Pansies, and Ready for the Flood) have obtained new, up to date reprints. The re-releases provide up to date covers and bonus materials for each new and returning followers. Now, earlier than the discharge of his newest within the Winner Bakes All collection, Audrey Lane Stirs the Pot in December and the unique Moby Dick retelling Hell’s Coronary heart in 2026, comes the re-launch of the New Grownup novel, Trying for Group. The e book follows Drew, a “proper sort of nerd” who, whereas enjoying the most important MMORPG referred to as Heroes of Legend, finally ends up falling for one other participant.
Alexis Hall delivers introspective and considerate escapism.
His writing is so magnetic as a result of it manages to marry this beautiful, accessible but wealthy prose with deeply developed characters and dense ensembles who construct out any of his current worlds. There’s levity in his work – there are few authors who make me chuckle out loud fairly as a lot. However he doesn’t eschew depth.
A love letter to MMORPGs that validates the need of digital areas and the range of people that have interaction with them, Trying For Group is one more occasion the place Hall absolutely immerses us into each the particularities of this world and the boundless methods by which we join to 1 one other.
We spoke to Hall in regards to the inspiration behind Trying for Group, the need for digital areas, and methods to write humorous dialogue.
May you speak slightly bit about what first impressed Trying for Group?
So, to dig deep, deep into the weeds on this one, on the time, my then-writer was wanting for books to take to an LGBTQ+ gaming conference, which I believe was referred to as GaymerCon. It was additionally form of impressed by the favored-at-the-time Felicia Day internet collection The Guild.
I believe it was additionally kind of, when you like, negatively impressed by lots of the discourse round MMORPGs on the time. Just about everytime you noticed any description of gaming again within the day, it was within the context of “WHAT IS THIS SAD FREAK LOSER THING THAT THESE SAD FREAK LOSERS DO AND WHO ARE THE SAD FREAK LOSERS WHO DO IT.” So I needed to put in writing a e book about avid gamers that without delay rejected but in addition to some extent confronted that notion. There’s a purpose that Drew has “not like different avid gamers” as a core a part of his self-identification.
When writing, is it typically a personality that comes first? Or is it a selected thought or setting that evokes you?
I’m undecided it’s a lot a very first thing as it’s a…concurrent-but-iterative factor. I’m conscious that lots of authors could have these very memorable, very impactful tales the place they’re like “after which I noticed this individual in a dream,” however I’ve by no means been like that. So for me it at all times begins with one thing perilously near an elevator pitch or a submit-it-observe abstract (“write one thing set in an MMORPG”). From there it goes to who the characters may be in broad phrases (“what kind of individual could be in a love story set in an MMORPG”) after which that loops again to the idea (“what kind of MMORPG-based mostly story most accurately fits this sort of individual”) and so forth and so forth. I assume it’s kind of the ouroboros strategy to e book planning.
What was it about interactive, digital gaming that you just discovered fascinating as a setting for a romance?
Partly, it’s simply that I are likely to assume roughly something is fascinating as a setting for a romance. It’s kind of an occupational hazard of being a author that something even remotely notable will get put in your “attainable factor to put in writing a e book about” field, whether or not that’s an individual with a mildly uncommon job, a selected sphere that individuals work together in, or a online game. I’m additionally only a whole nerd who loves video video games.
The e book understands the connective nature of forming relationships by on-line areas. What you in that perspective, and the way vital do you assume it’s to spotlight it?
I’m at all times a bit uncomfortable with questions like “how vital do you assume X is” as a result of my inside Brit is afraid of sounding like I remotely assume I or my work are in any means vital. However I do assume that digital areas have develop into increasingly part of how we reside our lives over the oh-my-god-is-it-an-precise-decade since LFG first got here out, and I do assume we’re typically fairly unhealthy at interrogating them.
I’ll say that in some methods it’s been actually fascinating to return and take a look at what options of on-line interactions have modified radically because the early 2010s and which have stayed oddly the identical. On the time I wrote the e book, the entire thought of relationship any person you met (dun dun dunnn!) on the web was this big, bizarre, scary factor. Whereas now, we reside in a world the place everyone needed to spend two years interacting completely through Zoom, and relationship apps are usually the default means for folks to satisfy folks.
And likewise, social media firms form of run the universe now, so there’s that.
Have been there any new challenges to writing Trying for Group that you just hadn’t confronted in any of your earlier writing?
On the one hand, it was a full decade in the past, so I can’t totally keep in mind. However…yeah, lots of the e book is about in a online game, and half the dialogue is chat logs. Though actually (and possibly that is simply rose-tinted hindsight or no matter), I don’t keep in mind that truly being an excessive amount of of a problem. It’s completely different, however I’m at all times firmly of the opinion that the bits of writing which are most tough are the bits which are most boring.
The instance I at all times give for the little bit of writing I discover hardest is “getting a personality go from the door to the window”, as a result of you might want to convey “X walked from the door to the window” in a means that isn’t completely prosaic but in addition isn’t completely intrusive and likewise isn’t clunky and likewise isn’t going to introduce echoes or repetitions that make different bits sound clunky.
By comparability, writing dialogues by which characters have been speaking half in textual content and half in voice, and infrequently having each public-dealing with and personal conversations unexpectedly, was fairly simple. If nothing else, it’s all dialogue (albeit nonstandard dialogue), and I typically discover dialogue lots simpler to work with anyway.
I’ve solely performed one MMO (World of Warcraft) earlier than, however I can perceive how the style could be conducive to world-constructing. Was there ever one other style or a selected sport that you just assume you’d be desirous about writing about?
A couple of truly. For some time, I kicked across the thought of doing one thing set on this planet of aggressive card gaming, both for a digital-solely sport (Completely Not Hearthstone) or a paper-first sport (Completely Not Magic The Gathering), however I ran up towards the tiny problem that I don’t truly know very a lot about these worlds.
The one I’d actually love to do, both as a gentle-sequel to LFG or simply as a down-the-line possibly-some-day venture, is one set in a tabletop RPG. Again after I wrote LFG tabletop roleplaying was if something much more of an obscure area of interest interest than MMORPGs however clearly since then there’s been Stranger Issues and Essential Position and the D&D growth (I’m not even certain if fifth version was out after I was engaged on LFG) so it’d truly make much more sense to a contemporary viewers.
What was essentially the most essential factor to you when creating Drew and Equipment as characters?
I believe, just like the what-comes-first query, there’s an extent to which this one doesn’t have a single reply. But when I needed to boil it right down to a single core factor, I believe what I’d say is that I knew I needed to put in writing a gaming romance the place the gaming wasn’t peripheral. It was as a lot on the coronary heart of the romantic dynamic as “grumpy sunshine” or “he’s a rake, she’s a governess”.
So, in a means, what was most vital to nail down was the core problem of how Drew and Equipment work together with video games, and what that suggests about them as folks, how that interprets to their exterior-the-sport life. Principally, Drew is what the Magic neighborhood would name a Spike (he views gaming as about demonstrating mastery), whereas Equipment is extra of a Timmy/Johnny (he’s about self-expression and private experiences). And their whole dynamic form of grows out of that.
You’ve had youthful, teenage characters earlier than, however Trying for Group exists within the New Grownup style. You write such an array of characters and genres, was there a selected purpose why you needed to inform this story by this age group?
Embarrassingly, I’m not completely certain I keep in mind. I believe an enormous a part of it’s simply that it was the early 2010s, and I’m undecided the world was prepared at the moment for a gamer character who was over 22. The overwhelming picture of avid gamers again then was summed up by that one bit from this 2000s procedural present Life the place a drug supplier has hidden their drug recordsdata (I don’t know both) inside a replica of Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones they usually must enlist any person’s teenage child to get to “stage 10” in an effort to unlock them.
On condition that the e book was already asking the non-gaming facet of its viewers to simply accept a ton of latest ideas and vocabulary (the glossary was a late addition requested by the writer), asking them additionally to simply accept that no, truly, some avid gamers actually are adults with jobs might need simply been an excessive amount of of a leap on the time.
On high of that, there have been additionally some sensible concerns; the protagonists needed to be individuals who had sufficient free time to be closely concerned in MMO raiding, and needed to be at a stage in life the place they’d be cool with assembly up with any person they met enjoying a online game on the web. On the time, all that skewed youthful to me.
Plus, there’s the truth that, on a meta stage, the entire RPG arc is form of about exploration, private progress, and discovery, which form of makes it a superb thematic match for a narrative about that stage of life particularly.
Or one thing. As I say, it was a very long time in the past.
Just like the re-releases of the Spires collection – how is it, or, as an alternative, how has it been watching a e book written years prior acquire new life and followers?
It’s been nice. Bizarre, however nice. I’m undecided I can say rather more than that.
You’ve talked about the concept of Trying For Group being about discovering a neighborhood. Are you able to focus on that side and the significance of permitting that neighborhood to be a gaming neighborhood? I really feel like how we discuss gaming has modified, probably since COVID. As a result of for some time, it was one of the quick methods we might hang around with folks just about (the Animal Crossing section).
I agree attitudes to gaming have modified lots, partly due to COVID, partly as a result of we’re nicely into the period the place millennials and even older GenZ-ers are the grownups with jobs. So, persevering with to faux, as a tradition, that the one individuals who know what a Mario is are slacker teenagers dwelling of their dad and mom’ basements is getting more and more untenable.
On the time, although, there was actually lots of scaremongering about on-line interactions on the whole and gaming specifically. Which, looking back, wasn’t in any respect the kind of factor we must always have been frightened about (see above re: social media firms rule the universe now).
One of many issues I used to be very acutely aware of on the time I used to be engaged on LFG, to the extent that it’s addressed explicitly within the textual content of the e book, is that there was lots of discuss “gaming dependancy.” And don’t get me fallacious, addictive behaviors are an actual factor and gaming typically is about as much as exploit folks with addictive personalities (see loot containers.) However, on the time there was a bent to label any means of interacting with video video games that wasn’t culturally normalized as “dependancy”, which I believe was genuinely dangerous.
I’m an enormous believer within the dying of the writer and I don’t like to inform folks methods to interpret my books, however one of many issues I do discover genuinely unusual about reactions to LFG is how many individuals appear to genuinely assume that Equipment has a difficulty with gaming dependancy when, from my perspective, the purpose is that he form of doesn’t, it’s simply that his associates and his hobbies are all accessed by a digital house.
One thing I’ve observed all through your collection is how cooking for folks and gaming (whether or not off-hand or in any other case) have come up in many of the trendy set ones. Is there a purpose these parts come up, or do you assume it’s simply pure for the world they’re set in?
I’m a easy individual: I like gaming and I like meals. The meals stuff, specifically, I completely do assume is simply pure for any world the place (checks notes) folks eat issues. The video games stuff is extra of a…private quirk, I assume? I discover play as a really broad idea precious, and I believe how folks act in a play context, whether or not that’s gaming, board gaming, or simply mucking about, may be actually illustrative. And in the end, illustrating how folks work together with one another is form of my job.
I just lately learn 10 Issues That By no means Occurred and was frequently laughing aloud. Do you assume there’s a key ingredient to writing humorous dialogue? And, on that observe, are there any authors that you just learn when you might want to chuckle?
I don’t assume I’ve a magic formulation for writing humorous dialogue, however on the whole, I believe for all X, the important thing to being good at X is to take X severely. And I do attempt to take humor severely. There’s normally some extent in the course of the enhancing of a e book the place I’ll undergo the complete factor because it at present exists and make notes for tweaks and modifications, and whereas lots of these tweaks and modifications are issues like “this comma seems prefer it’s within the fallacious place” or “this wants a dialogue tag”, very often the tweak shall be one thing like “is there a joke right here?” Very often, you’ll be able to take a look at the general form of a line and see that there’s a means it could possibly be made humorous, and it simply turns into a matter of (and I’m conscious I’m utilizing this phrase lots) iterating.
When it comes to writers who make me chuckle, I believe I’m fairly fundamental. Terry Pratchett or PG Wodehouse can normally do the trick. Daniel M Lavery has been making me chuckle since The Toast. And within the romance world, there’s at all times Lex Croucher. Their books aren’t essentially at all times mild, however they are often very, very humorous. Or a minimum of I believe we share the same goofy “grew upon BBC sitcoms” humorousness.
Is there a sport or piece of media you’re at present hooked on?
I’m undecided “hooked on” is the precise time period, however I received briefly obsessive about the outdated BBC Merlin collection as a result of I’d put it on within the background whereas I used to be doing different issues. I’d by no means truly watched it throughout earlier than, and I used to be truly pleasantly stunned. Though my single greatest takeaway from the collection is that it…form of forgets to incorporate the bit the place Camelot is definitely a pleasant place to reside? One of many issues that’s solidly cool about it’s that it actually does do a full Arthur-and-Merlin arc ranging from the reign of Uther Pendragon (Tony Head, smartest thing within the present by miles) and ending with (spoilers for…mythology, I assume?) Arthur’s dying by the hands of Mordred on the Battle of Camlann.
Besides the factor is, the core dramatic pressure of the present comes from the truth that Merlin has to faux to be a bumbling servant in order that he can information Arthur to his future, despite the fact that magic is against the law in Camelot. And so they can’t change that dynamic, which suggests magic has to stay unlawful in Camelot even after Arthur turns into king. Which implies that the complete premise of the present, that Merlin goes to information Arthur into beginning a brand new golden age the place they don’t, y’know, actually burn folks like him on the stake simply for being who they’re, by no means truly occurs. And the present simply form of blanks this.
So sure, mildly obsessed in a really foolish means.
You’ve had numerous books come out that span completely different durations, kinds, and genres. How has your writing course of developed over time in tackling such a big selection of topics?
Erratically. I’ve at all times been the kind of individual to leap round between concepts, initiatives, and pursuits, so my very eclectic writing course of has at all times actually labored for me. I believe a technique to put it may be that I’ve at all times been very acutely aware that I’m the kind of one who will see a factor a few factor after which (as with the BBC Merlin) get very briefly obsessive about that factor for a interval of some months earlier than shifting on to one thing else. Which traces up pretty neatly with the time it takes to get a e book written, so long as I can keep centered.
And naturally I say “the kind of individual” however I believe most likely that’s a reasonably frequent kind of individual; an entire lot of individuals took up chess because of The Queen’s Gambit. My working observe is analogous, besides as an alternative of getting actually into the concept of enjoying chess, I are likely to get actually into the concept of writing a e book about any person who performs chess. Which has the benefit of being (a) considerably simpler than truly getting good at an especially tough sport from scratch and (b) being my precise job.
In our interview three years in the past, you talked about wanting to put in writing a e book about “Moby Dick in house.” And, now, you will have Hell’s Heart popping out subsequent yr. Do you recall when you’d already been engaged on the e book? How lengthy do you have a tendency to sit down with concepts earlier than committing to them?
Wow, that could be a deep lower (I suppose to be truthful, it’s from your individual web site). Hell’s Coronary heart wasn’t on the desk on the time, though the core premise (it’s Moby Dick, however as an alternative of looking whales within the sea, they’re looking house monsters within the skies of Jupiter) was already there.
Then a short time later (I need to say a yr, might need been a bit much less, might need been a bit extra), my agent was speaking to an editor and requested them the “what’s your dream venture” query, to which this individual got here again with “Moby Dick as a romance” and my agent was all “nicely it’s humorous it is best to point out that.”
I’ve paraphrased barely. However solely barely.
I ought to stress that this isn’t in any respect a typical course of, for me (or—I assume—for anyone, it was fairly random). I suppose it’s illustrative in a means, in that I do are likely to have a bunch of concepts sitting round which I’ll typically be capable to pivot into when alternatives come up, but it surely’s very uncommon for one thing to line up fairly as completely because it did with Hell’s Coronary heart.
Looking for Group is available now for purchase.
